THE RED ROOSTER

It was not free, it was £ 25.00. I should know because I purchased Social Membership on 23rd October 2025 and the £ 25 came off the cost of my season ticket membership. I have not noticed anything deducted from my Bank account as yet, though would point out on my receipt it does state Social Membership starts Sunday 1st February so if you registered and did not pay that explains why you have been charged. Though if I do end up being chargedtwice I will be .. very cross....

And he would be right, He would also have seen Grant Wechsel and Darren mixing with the fans on the open terrace in front of the main stand. Darren joining Alan Elrick in banging the drum for the London Broncos. You woud not see that at Suncorp..... The game itself, London started slowly and bulit up a 28-0 lead by half time. In the second half the superior fitness of a full time side against amateurs took its toll and London simply ran over Wests Warriors. to win 86-0 . Alex Max Man of the match and simply unstoppable Jimmy Meadows kicking conversions from the touchline, Ben Hursey-Hordstarting things off in the second half running through West's defence like a knife through butter and and another big shift from Lewis Bieneck. Jason Demitriou will be pleased with Wests being nilled and a good hit out for a side denied a pre-season trial game by the weather. It'a an achievement to get 1000 to come along to what was a forgone conclusion in the biting cold and a sign that the new ownership has reconnected with the old Broncos fanbase, whether they can add to that is the question.

Patriots and Seahawks

Interesting times across the pond, In respect of sackings, Sean McDermott has had Josh Allen for the majority of his nine year tenure at the Bills. They have not appeared in the Super Bowl during that time so the ownership has moved on. It was the same with Mike McCarthy who spend a lot of time as coach at Green Bay with Aaron Rodgers in his prime, and won juat the ione superbowl. McCarthy is a prime candidate to replace Mike Tomlin another long standing coach who has retired. Although he had not had a sub-par season in years, the last appearance of the Steelers in the Super Bowl was 15 years ago so time to call it a career. The Interesting firings are John Harbaugh at Baltimore, allegedly because he did not get on with Lamar Jackson and with the ownership faced with a choice between the franchise Quarterback and coach, chose the QB with John Harbaugh snapped up by the New York Giants to be their Head Coach. Kevin Stefanski was sacked at Cleveland as the "factory of sadness" rerasserts itself mainly due to the owners desire to give a lengthy and expensive contract to Deshawn Watson. Stefanski too was snapped up by the Atlanta Falcons to replace Raheem Morris. A tough assignment for the LA rams to go to Seattle, which is bothg geographically isolated from the rest of the US and has a fanatical fan base. Matt Stafford though is a better QB than Sam Darnold. New England travel tio Mile High Stadium in Denver, which again is problematic for away sides due to the altitude issue and against a fanatical fan base. But there is no Bo Nix for Denver and Drake Maye and the Patriots must be sniffing an upset. I have been to both stadiums in Seattle and Denver so can can testify to how had it is to win there, but bear in mind the NFL, more than ever is a QB driven league. No hard news about the International Series expected until Riger Goodell gives his "state of the NFL sreech" just prior to the Super Bowl. Rumours that have flown around Dallas v Arizona in Mexico City New Orleans proposed game in Paris seems to be on the verge of being called off. Detroit Lions are apparently going to Munich for their "home" game. Atlanta Falcons though marketing in Germany are not thought to be returning their in 2026 It's gone quiet about a return to Dublin by the NFL Equally it has gone quiet about the Jaguars playing more than the one game at Wembley next year with stadium capacity at Everbank field cut to 43,000.

Posting as someone who was at the game, I found out about the Season Member Box on Instagram on the train up to London and duly collected my A4 box containing Broncos Beermat, Lanyard with Season Member tag, Seven London Broncos stickers, a Broncos branded bottle opener and Broncos branded Key ring and welcome leaflet from Darren Lockyer. I am pleased to report however, that it would appear from the list they crossed my name off that there are more season ticket holders than the doomsayers on TRLwould have you believe. I have switched stands to the Cappagh Stand this year and was within arms distance of Mr Mascord's one man broadcasting operation which presumably most of you were listening to. I envied the fact he had a team sheet because to my recollection the teams were not announced over the tannoy or on the main screen pre-game. As we have the annual Broncos churn in which the starting XII is overhauled each season, this year on a positive note, it would definately have helped Brixton Bulls formed the honor guard for the Broncos entrance marshalled by you Pen-y-bont ? As for the game itself Morea Morea at No 1 had a bit of a mare under the high ball in the first half and there were a number of occasions where the Broncos had three players in the tackle and the Widnes player was still able to offload. The Broncos raced into a 12-0 lead and then an offload error led a Widnes try and a period of dominance for about 15 minutes when they levelled the score. London scored about 2 mins before the break to go in 16-12 up. It's a moot point as to what might have ben had the scores been tied at the half. Should RCG had ben carded in the first half?. I have got to admit I did not see the incident cleaerly myself because this came after London had blown a six tackle set near the Widnes tryline. What I will say is that the Referee did get input from both her linesman before leaving it as a Widnes penalty. Second Half whatever JD had said had been taken on board. Morea was much more secure under the high ball and London's tackling improved and they came out in te second half and had basically won the game by the 51 minute mark. They gave Player of the Game to Dean Hawkins but IMO Lewis Bienek made a definate impact when he came on te field as did James Meadows when he came on(and I never thought I would be writing that...). As for Widnes, the Chemics did not give up and definately put in a shift, and of course I always have rated Jordan Abdull ever since the 2019 season with us but also looking at him these days he is more like and old time prop forward than a playmaker and needs to shed a pound or two to be really effective for the black and whites. Now the bit your all wanting to know about, the crowd. It was bigger than anything last season and I could not see how many were in hospitality or the much larger group of fans the other side of the press benches but I would say 3,000 plus would probably be right. Just to add to my earlier post, the best time I have had following the Broncos was the Ian Lenargan / Keith Higg era when there was a genuine attempt to engage with the fans, and if as a sporting body you do explain what the situation is at the club then most reasonable fans will be understanding of the club's position. Equally constructive criticism from your fan base does need to be given consideration to, I have been watching the Broncos for 30 years and many have been watching the club for far longer than that and we would all have our views as to what works and what is problematic. As fans we do not own the club nor run the club but are the customer base and to quote Peters and Waterman being close to your customer is the secret to business success.

Day of the game and for or those of use who are paying members, no communication from the Club whatesoever by e-mail, and I am a social member and seasonal member, and nothing in spam either if you ask. It's a good that conducting investigations is part of my job because that's been the only way you find out what is going on on Facebook, Instagram or through the "movers and shakers" on TRL. Wile I realise there appears to be no CEO at present, reconnecting witrh those who pay to watch you should be a priority, especially with the issue of seating at The Richmiobd Athletic Ground next week where there is only the one stand and members like me do intend to go. You will be getting a replacement club for the Twickenham Stoop game possibly annouced this week as one of the clubs the Broncos were not scheduled to play home and away as the RFL is determined to keep the 24 game schedule in the championship following Featherstione's demise. Jarring to read Darren Lockyer stating te club will be looking at taking games all over London. I mama not a fan of the wimbledon area as a RL hotbed ,but FFS th club needs to stayand play in one area in order to grow a local fanbase. as with the 7.30pm Saturday kick off for North Wales Crusaders, our new owners may fiund out the reality of outpostr RL life the hard way. We need a Fan Forum sooner rather than later Gary.. Oh the game today, I do not expect the Chemics to lie down in this game, nor the Broncos to have he cakewalk internet posters and media expect. Cold, wet and muddy conditions and hostile away crowds are a long way from Port Moresby. Still at least Jason Demitriou acknwledges this. COYB

Richmond Athletic Ground for the cup game v West Warriors on Australia Day https://www.facebook.com/LondonBroncosRL/

Saturday, Jan. 17 (6) Bills at (1) Broncos, 4:30 p.m. ET (CBS) (6) 49ers at (1) Seahawks, 8 p.m. ET (Fox) Sunday, Jan. 18 (5) Texans at (2) Patriots, 3 p.m. ET (ESPN/ABC) (5) Rams at (2) Bears, 6:30 p.m. ET (NBC)

Saturday, Jan. 10 (5) LA Rams at (4) Carolina Panthers, 4:30 p.m. ET (Fox) (7) Green Bay Packers at (2)Chicago Bears, 8 p.m. ET fOX Sunday, Jan. 11 (6) Buffalo Bills at (3) Jacksonville Jaguars, 1 p.m. ET (CBS) (6) San Franciso 49ers at (3) Philadelphia Eagles, 4:30 p.m. ET (Fox) (7) LA Chargers at (2) New England Patriots, 8 p.m. ET (NBC) Monday, Jan. 12 (5) Houston Texans at (4) Pittsburgh Steelers, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN/ABC)

On point 1 there is a developing trend that the Test Match Grounds that have guranteed revenue from International Cricket in addition to money derved from the sale of their franchise gifted to them by the ECB, now have financial imbalance baked in . 44% of all County Revenie in 2023 was generated by just three counties, Surrey, Lancashire and Warwickshire https://www.cricexec.com/surrey-tops-county-cricket-financial-table-as-report-warns-of-widening-wealth-gap/689558157/ Whether you are a Gloucestershire or Sussex you struggle to stay in Division one becaue the odds are against you This has meant some counties beginning to concentrate on winning the Vitality Blast and to a lesser degree, the Metro Bank One Day Cup rather than red ball cricket, Northamptonshire being a case in point. The only thing that prevents some of the rich counties from being in Division one is either ineptitude in the management of the club or climate isues, one example being Lancashire where it rains a lot in April. May and September so they have a higher number of draws. On Point 2 a one word response - Glamorgan who benefit from International criclet and the sale of their franchise are not reknown for producing test match players. Compare them with say Northampton who produced Graham Swann, David Willey, Ben Duckett and Monty Panesar of which only Panesar played the whole of his interational career with the county. The big counties offer more money and a higher profile which is why for example, Essex lost Dan Lawrence and Ben Foakes to Surrey. There has always been a feeling that if you play for an unfashoable county it is much harder to get into the England side than if you played at one of the Test Match grounds. James Hildreth for example, was good batsman at Somerset with a high career average but never got a sniff of the Test Side. Jaime Overton only gained international honours aftertr moving from Somerset to Surrey. You may get your concerntration of talent in the tiop division by default due to financial inequity. Point 3 - Test trials used to be played in my literal infancy at the start of the 1970's and in respect of the 50 overs game there was a North v South series played in Dubai IIRC about 10 years ago. The MCC v Champion County game that has been scrapped also gave an opportunity to view up and coming English qualified players. As was the case on the current Ashes tour though with the England v England A game at Liliac Hill this is not seen as the best warm up for facing Australians in Australian conditions. I am not satying your idea is without merit but the English summer is congested already. There is an England Lions side that plays against touring countries A teams but Counties beef about losing their players during this time. Point 4 - The counter argument being that if you played county cricket on what are described as"result wickets" against County trundlers you might be able to cope with this being repriesed at International level. Sam Cook is not quick enoughh for international cricklet and has the advantage of playing at Chelmsford. A postage stamp groud with a wicket that favours seam bowling. Your points are not invalid but the issues that affect English Cricket are structural and deep and there is no instant solution. The Harry Brook story breaking proves that with English Cricket that every cloud has another darker one following... it's surely punishment enough for Brook now to be the subject of ridicule with a lot of qualilty banter on the BBC TMS Have Your say about England batsman flailing at a bouncer etc..

Lunch Australia 71 for 2 (14.2 Overs)n chasing 160 Just to respond to this, other countries players do not play as much short format Cricket as English players do because of England being in the Northern Hemisphere where you can suppliment your County contract with an overseas gig or three. To give yo an example, both Jofra Archer and Jacob Bethell will not play another red ball game until the start of the New Zealand Series in June. Their schedule being ODI and T20 series in Sri Lanka, (Jan / Feb), World T20 (Feb/ March), Indian Premier League (April / May) and as you say not easy switching betwebn format's. Plus players overseas do have time to play in their domestic competition as Australia's did in the Sheffield Shied prior to the Ashes. England's players are notably absent from the County Championship in the main. For teams to score quickly to put the opposition under pressure is not a Bazbell invention, First the West indies and then the great Australian side of 1995-2005 also scored quickly but without trying to belt every ball to the boundary. If you look at this series Australia's scoring rate has exceeded England's despite the Bazball approach. You can score quite quickly by simply pushing th singles and running the two's. Joe Root being the classic English example in that you can look up at the board and he already on 30 without many memorable shots. I will adrdess the points from your earlier post when i get a bit of time.

Diabolical snicko rerview against Weatherald where there is a clear murmur when the ball goes off the bat but he is not given out (Unlike Jaime Smith at Perth for a simikar "murmur") Carse steamed , Stokes playing the peacemaker and Barmy Army outraged. If you are having a DRS system you need to apply the rules consistently, as with the Alex Carey decision at Brisbane "wrong button pressed" It has not been this series. Watch the highlights and decide for yourself.

No realisrtic chance with only a lead of 119 and two tailenders coming in. The real interest today is post-game as to what the ECB suits who have been at this game intend to do next long term. The other question would be with this being Usman Khawaja's last test match will they push him to open with Travis Head instead of Jake Weatherald, given it is likely to be a low target.

Can those in the know on thios forum let me know exactly when the physical membership cards are being sent out to season ticket holders ? All I read on social media is Wally Lewis has come and gone.... and the visit of some bloke who recently was refused entry to Australia and sent on the first plane back https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy196k9p4po No communication to anyone who has actually got a ticket as yet and the 18th is fast aproaching.

Tea England 174 for 3 in 41 Overs, Bethell 79 not out and some points about team selection being underlined...