Ivarr the Boneless

Sad news. I always enjoyed the Oxford / Gateshead matches, Kev was a big part of that. Condolences to his family and friends.

Apologies Hendon Park Old Firm but the person who saw the badge wasn't given a copy and no longer watches the club. The official who showed it to them has left the club. (Not connected. I personally didn't see it. I 'd imagine it was the football club badge with Wimbledon RLFC added on, probably in a scroll? I think the person who showed it off may have done the design. If so, I suspect any rebrand to Wimbledon RLFC will see someone else design a badge due to possible copyright issues. To be clear, I have absolutely no idea whether the rebrand will be to Wimbledon. I just happen to know it was very very seriously considered previously.

That nearly happened when Broncos moved in.The one year only blue and yellow kit was also going to be permanent, then someone, and I think we can guess who, vetoed both changes. The planned Wimbledon RLFC badge is out there somewhere, a friend was shown it by a club official.

I heard one of the club officials refer to it many years ago whist addressing the fans at a Q&A. I'm afraid I can't remember who but it's the sort of stuff Ian Lenegan was, very open on. I suspect it may have been him in the aftermath of the Quins rebrand? I also seem to recall it was a club commissioned study, but must say I'm not 100% confident on that. It seems an odd detail to remember all these years on, so may have read that element third hand.

There's a strong argument for a rebrand. Infamously a study suggested most people in London thought London Broncos played American Football. Sadly the suffix is also now pretty toxic to many of the minority of southern based people who follow RL. The symbolism of changing name, to break with the past, may well appeal to any new owners / investors irrespective of any desire to use a corporate brand they may own elsewhere.

Iffley Road, Oxford, was a glorious place to watch RL on a nice day. The ground at Abingdon was best viewed on a very foggy day.

40/20 are reporting the London event was entitled "The future of London Broncos and rugby league in London" it was due to announce new owners, key partners and a vision for the future. Hopefully it is genuinely postponed and not cancelled. The club, and sport, are barely treading water down south right now

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/apr/08/nrl-takeover-bid-super-league-catalans-dragons-toulouse Was the room unavailable or is Rugby League ripping itself to bits?

It's been a few years since I went but back then all football kit was banned. Easier to impose than banning clubs x, y & z. The Belfast Giants kit was specifically designed not to carry the colours of either the British or Irish flag. They have done an admirable job. Last time there I also went went to Carrick Rangers versus Donegal Celtic at football. Protestant versus catholic. Almost as many armed police as fans. The two sets of fans spent 45 mins huring abuse at each other. At half time the Donegal fans opened the segregation gate and joined the queue for food. No trouble. After being served they returned behind the goal, pulled the segregation gate shut and another 45 mins of sectarian abuse started. The people who set the ethos at Giants deserve respect.

Guildford Flames etc are indeed largely foreign born players. But the likes of Cardiff and Guildford run large junior set ups, which feed players into tier two and three, which are semi pro and largely British players. They contribute substantially to the health of the sport across all levels. Many lads from places such as Telford and Guildford have made a living from hockey, both here and abroad. One Sheffield lad got drafted by the NHL. Had those lads been born before those rinks appeared they would never have played the sport. This is the real loss to RL through the failure of Gloucestershire, Oxford etc. Who knows what talent will never play RL now. If the Tomkins family had not moved to Wigan perhaps Sam would have been a top ice hockey player? The men behind Oxford were clear, they wanted to be a development pathway. It was close to breakeven financially until multiple northern sides were dropped into League One. After that the standard was too high to follow that model and it all started to go horribly wrong. (There were additional factors too.)

Ice hockey too. The likes of Belfast, Cardiff and Guildford in relatively recent times (all are newer than Broncos) here and plenty of places in America which see no snow. It needs deep pockets from the backers early on and a sport which sees the value in such expansion, but it is possible. It won't happen in RL unless someone can throw very serious money it. The clubs wield too much power. Even when they leave well alone, the RFL keep switching tack. If you speak to the people who founded Oxford, they'll tell you they wouldn't have done it if they knew a group of Championship clubs would be dumped into their division after two yea

As another Oxford fan I was the opposite. I viewed finishing top of the expansion clubs as the key aim and felt they were the critical matches. Shipping heading towards 100 points in a match against the best Northern sides was never going to help the club build a support base. I'll never forget a home player in the Oldham 80 Oxford 0 fixture walking to the sideline mid match and telling his mate he was "so bored." At least he was being paid to be there, the rest of us paid to endure an embarrassment of a match.

The Match issue of 40/20 mentioned an April relaunch and rebrand.

Buying Ealing is almost certainly no go. I believe the rugby club owner has signed the land over to a charitable trust. Even if you got your hands on it, planning is a serious challenge. I believe that's why the stands which have appeared are basically temporary stands which are expected to stay for a while. I seem to recall they had challenges with the height and depth of the stand at the ground entrance end too

Not as big as it seems at first glance. Even if people in, say, the London Borough of Romford or Hackney, are aware of RL they are fairly unlikely to haul across London to watch a game on the off chance. Broncos shed most of their support base when moving from Greenwich to West London. Cross London travel is usually a total pain. If I was marketing Broncos I'd firmly focus on locals for that reason.

Whilst I accept the broad point, I'm not sure about the first Quins game. Take away a big Saints following and there were a lot of empty seats well before the end. Quite why the EFL thought sending the best team in the country to demolish us would win over Quins RU fans, used to winning teams, remains a mystery. I also suggest the occasional peak attendance chimes well with the abject failure to invest in fan engagement and retention to date.

There's plenty of people in London who don't watch football. Not that being a football fan stops you watching RL. In my experience a fair chunk of Broncos hardcore fans were - though usually of lesser league or non-league clubs rather than the big names. It's getting people to come to their first match which is the challenge in London. RL simply isn't on the radar of probably 97% plus of the population. They aren't going to think "let's watch Broncos." Broncos have to go to them, something the historically have been spectacularly bad at.

It's possible, I'm sure if that. But it will take the right location, a successful team, proper fan attraction and retention strategies and substantial sums of money in the short to medium run. Ideally it will also involve finding a ground they don't have to vacate for weeks every summer. Gary Hetherington's likely approach offers some grounds for hope. He really can't do any worse than the last lot.

The sad truth is the away support provided a substantial % of the gate on the two occasions I visited Wimbledon last season. I did about 50 away games over the years, and visited Huddersfield a few times. It's fair to say that as a travelling Broncos fan I can't really comment on whether the same is true of Huddersfield. The home crowd sizes last season were also a substantial contributing factor to David Hughes walking away. The club plucked a 10k crowd figure out of thin air, did absolutely nothing sensible to try and build the gates and then got upset when no-one showed up. As ever there was no fan recruitment or retention strategy. (The latter bit contributes to the current debate re lapsed fans...) Off popped David... Only fair to record they did put a few ads inside train carriages on the Wimbledon line - from memory during work from home due to COVID. It was about as successful as getting people wearing t-shirts with"Broncos are back" written on the back to mooch around the vicinity of Wembley on Challenge Cup Final day after the change from Quins was confirmed. And then basically doing nothing for months in the belief thousands of lapsed Broncos fans who hated the Quins name would flood back. Spoiler alert - it didn't happen.

Believe me out of the group of up to twenty I used to go with, I'm the only one who could tell you what division Bronco are currently in. Most couldn't even tell you where they play. Most ain't ever coming back. If Broncos sort it one or two might, but that's absolute tops. Should add sadly a few are dead meaning the % lost, whilst awful, isn't as bad as it looks at first glance.

I thin some would come back but by far the majority have moved on. Personally I can't see me ever doing more than one or two games a season, irrespective of what they do. I had a season ticket for twenty or so years. Last time I went it was noticeable how few familiar faces I spotted in the crowd. (That was last season, not been yet in 2025.,) Nothing wrong in trying to get lapsed fans back but the main emphasis must be building a new locally based support - assuming the club expects to remain in Wimbledon.

The Wasps stadium is planned for a relatively small village. I anticipate serious planning issues for them. Turning it into a 52 week a year use stadium would exacerbate that. I'm also not sure building a stadium pretty much everyone in London would have to haul round the M25 to would be a great idea for Broncos. Basically doing so would be waving goodbye to nearly all the current support base and trying to build a totally new one. It's been proven enough times moving a few miles across London sheds a large chunk of the fans, never mind that sort of move. Let's be honest the current support base isn't big enough, if there was evidence Kent is a potential RL hotbed there may be a logic. But...

The post Brexit trade deal with Australia saw an agreement the visa would become up to three years. Not sure if it has kicked in yet. I'd also say in my twenty years as a season ticket holder, I rarely heard Australian accents at Broncos. In the unlikely event they think they can turn the club around solely by selling tickets to Australians, I respectfully disagree.

Here's a good breakdown of non league crowds. I was thinking.of the likes of West Didsbury & Chorlton if they get big end of season gates. Bury are pretty much nailed on to do it but are the successor toa Football League club so not really a fair comparison as a Step Nine side. https://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/global/attendances/

Obviously we'll have to wait and see what 2025 brings but it's quite likely some ninth tier English football clubs will average bigger gates in 2024/25 than some Tier Two RL clubs will in the 2025 season. It's also worth noting basketball is second in English participation numbers, miles ahead of both codes of rugby. They would also seem to have a stronger claim to be the people's game. Edited to say it would be interesting to know how many of the England RU players who were privately educated were on scholarships, possibly provided by a club. This is increasingly common in sport. In football the like of Manchester City and Arsenal now have links with a private school.