nadera78

I've been thinking about doing this for a while now. We did a family tree on my dad's side and for at least 200 years they're all based in London which we expected from family tales. My mum's side will be more diverse, her mother being from Red Cross in Wicklow and her London-born father having an Anglo-french mum and Russian Jew father. That's the bit I'm more interested in taking the DNA tests for, because we just don't know where in those countries they came from. TBH I'm not even sure how specific the results would be in that sense.

I think this is actually the main thing that I see happening. Most of what V'landys has done is pretty standard league management and taking advantage of the existing opportunities in front of the NRL. He's certainly not a visionary or anything. But the result is that the NRL is finally flexing its muscles and assuming its rightful commercial position. It says something that this is the first time we've seen this someone in charge of the game who is not beholden to a particular club or broadcaster.

Lots of people in Singapore with money and a desire for events to spend it on. When I lived there every NRL game was shown on TV, so people know it exists, and - providing they don't simply turn up and expect a crowd to walk through the gates - I could see an annual game selling well.

That depends on the land's designation. If it's greenbelt or Metropolitan Open Land or something similar then you'd never get planning permission to build anything other than a training ground or public park on it. If the Broncos were ever to go bust or the owners wanted their money back for whatever reason then the only potential purchaser would be another sports club and tbh there aren't many who'd both want it and could afford it. Obviously, that calculation changes if the land doesn't carry any restrictions.

I love that the Singaporeans went with a very angry looking otter. Even at their cutest the bloody things float up and down that river looking like they want to start a fight.

Who mentioned the PL? Wimbledon are struggling to survive in L1, realistically their level is L2. They lose money every single year and will do forever and a day with no prospect of that ever changing. If Lockyer bought a minority of AFCW, he would still be on the hook for the costs - whether that's in the form of annual rent or a contribution to AFCW running costs - so there's no real saving. And it wouldn't be an asset for the Broncos anyway, it would be the owners who then owned part of AFCW and Plough Lane. None of which gets away from the fact that the owners have a hell of a job on just getting the Broncos right, the last thing they need is the distraction of a failing football team.

How is it a gift horse? Anyone buying shares in AFC Wimbledon will be on the hook for perpetual losses at a club that can barely survive in L1 and in an area where they are dwarfed by numerous other clubs. Why on earth would Lockyer et al want to throw money into that? What would they gain from it? Besides which, they haven't yet shown they know how to run a RL club, let alone take on a distraction like this.

Putting "a lot of thought" into it and still deciding to base the club in Woking is, possibly, even worse. Edited to say I'm reverting to silence on this issue, I don't want to pee on other people's chips.

Presumably it's the entire club though, not just the first team? From scholarship up, plus women and the off-field functions too. To put it in a way Lockyer would understand, Woking is Woop Woop.

For a club that only has a future by making itself visible in London in a way that it's never managed before, Woking might as well be Brisbane. Someone's looked at a map and decided "it's only a 50 minute drive to Wimbledon" but, in terms of the people behind this re-boot and their understanding of the situation, this is a real red flag.

The flaw in having 3 teams playing is that 1 always comes in cold in week 2 against a team that is up and running. The lack of warm up games is an ongoing issue.

Nope

I've refrained from commenting on this thread for a while now because, well, basically it doesn't concern me anymore. As I've said previously, I'm done with the club and I think more widely the sport has missed the boat in London (in terms of club RL, there's still space for big events obviously). That said, I think a couple of the comments above are a fair assessment of the situation. There are quibbles over individual aspects of what's being done, but the new owners are trying at least and only time will tell how it plays out. Those people who are still interested in the club are going to have to get behind this, support the owners where necessary and offer (constructive) advice if possible. Then hope for the best.

I'd actually forgotten about people being banned. Such a pathetic thing to do.

26 years - that's how long I spent supporting the Broncos. Being taken for granted, wasting money and time and resources, fobbed off with lies and condescension. There's nothing anyone could do to convince me to give them a penny or a minute more.