Eric Perez buys Hemel’s licence, with plans to create second Canadian club (Merged Threads)

[Hemel Stag]

12 hours ago, Dr Tim Whatley said:

As much as I'd be delighted to see Hemel Stags become 'a major rugby power', the term 'resurrect' implies they've been one previously!

Some potted highlights from the recent past:

1998 Rugby League Alliance First Division Champions

1999 Entered Rugby League Conference

2000 RLC Eastern Division Champions

2001 RLC Harry Jepson Trophy Semi-Finalists,RLC Eastern Counties Cup Winners, RLC Central Southern Champions

2002 RLC Harry Jepson Trophy Grand Finalists, RLC Central Southern Champions

2003 Entered National League Three

2005 Entered Northern Rail National Cup

2006 Grand Finalists National League Three

2006 Awarded Club Mark status at the Super League Grand Final

2007 Rugby League Conference National playoffs

2009 Rugby League Conference National playoffs

2010 Rugby League Conference National playoffs

2010 Awarded Club Mark Gold Status

2012 NCL 3 Grand Final Winners

2013 Entry into Championship 1

As Coventry would say #ForTheNext - time to write the next Chapter 

 

[Hemel Stag]

11 hours ago, Smudger06 said:

The sky's not the limit or 'to infinity and beyond' 

Is this to do with how many times Wigan have won things? 

[JCXV]

3 minutes ago, Tre Cool said:

It's also got more going on than anywhere else, loads of pro sports clubs, is absolutely massive with horrible roads so living in "London" can put you 20+ miles and an hour away from another bit of "London".  I believe it can work in London but needs serious investment and a long term stadium deal and is probably far from the easiest place for a new club.  Aussies also don't have any built in respect or interest in Super League so aren't a great target audience.... although again i believe there is a target audience to appeal to if the match day experience was done right and sold right.

There are 8.6 million people who live in London but many millions more who are within a short commute to it. The attached pic shows commuting patterns into London over a year. For any aspiring new commercial enterprise that requires people to physically attend, London is by a distance the best destination in the UK. 

[Manfred Mann]

Perez added: "I don't really know how far I am along right now. There's been so many other things going on in the game. I'm just ticking boxes and working away.

"I've done it before so I can do it again. I've dedicated my life to rugby league. My goal in life is to make rugby league the most popular sport in the world."

Eric Perez is God's gift to rugby league, and the gift that just keeps on giving.

[DoubleD]

Not Hamilton then.......

[Manfred Mann]

Just now, DoubleD said:

Not Hamilton then.......

Please be Montreal or Chicago.

[Oliver Clothesoff]

Chicago would be superb. It’s a proper sport city. 

[Oliver Clothesoff]

11 minutes ago, JCXV said:

There are 8.6 million people who live in London but many millions more who are within a short commute to it. The attached pic shows commuting patterns into London over a year. For any aspiring new commercial enterprise that requires people to physically attend, London is by a distance the best destination in the UK. 

London is a #### to travel across on public transport and if you do it five days a week, trust me, you don’t fancy doing it a sixth day at the weekend. 

[Hemel Stag]

11 hours ago, Yorks Tim said:

My understanding is that this is because League 1 is a (semi-)professional division and the Conference is amateur.

Entry to L1 is by application / invitation and teams are guaranteed so many years (3?) without the threat of relegation to allow them to bed themselves in to professional level. It is obv a big commitment and so a kind of safeguarding is important to make it work. 

Hi Yorks Tim, thanks for clarifying that, much appreciated.

[Smudger06]

Montreal you'd think would tie in nicely with the Catalan / Toulouse elements plus would create a Canadian Derby including an Anglo-Francophone rivalry. 

[Hemel Stag]

4 hours ago, Manx RL said:

Any formal announcements from any parties named, Hemel, Perez, RFL etc to actually confirm or deny this news?

Hemel had their say the last time this was mooted and have a statement on their web site, from Oct 18, about precisely what their intentions are for this season. They have been following through on what they said they would do. I have been scouring Twitter, Google etc but can't find anything "fresh".

[The British Lion]

Eric Perez should be employed directly by the RFL as a strategic club planter imo......whatever title you choose to give it.

However, NOT under the leadership of Rimmer and Barwick who completely lack vision.

[The Great Dane]

There are few people in the game that don’t take the field that I can say that I truly respect, but Perez is definitely a man that I do. Even if he ends up failing in the end the mans got a vision and he is willing to back it to the death, and I can respect that.

Halifax Nova Scotia or Ottawa are fair bets that haven’t been mentioned yet, personally I think that Perez and the RFL should try and get a few stable clubs into Canada to build a good little package to sell to broadcasters there before trying to cross the border, but you know that’s just me and could be the exact wrong thing to do.

[Rupert Prince]

1 hour ago, TheLegendOfTexEvans said:

https://www.skysports.com/amp/rugby-league/news/12196/11648679/toronto-wolfpack-founder-planning-second-north-american-rugby-league-team

Perez has come out and said he is planning a north american team.

My money would be on a team in Florida.

 

9hour flight 

[Hemel Stag]

9 hours ago, Tre Cool said:

> Hemel were never looking like making a success of the pro leagues though.  They spent a loooong time trying to get there then didn't seem able to kick on on or off the pitch.

Depends on your definition of success:

Flying the flag for RL for four decades in the South of England is a success.

Owning your own premises and being financially independent is a success.

Having multiple teams in all age groups is a success.

A high level of community engagement and working with multiple schools and educational establishments is a success.

Producing multiple young players that have gone on to other teams, including Broncos and England, is a success.

> "I'm all for replacing them with a stronger club whether new or old." - REALLY ? ! ? That's pretty unfair to a club you don't know. If there were so many strong clubs queuing up League 1 wouldn't be three teams light this year either.

 

 

[Tre Cool]

56 minutes ago, JCXV said:

There are 8.6 million people who live in London but many millions more who are within a short commute to it. The attached pic shows commuting patterns into London over a year. For any aspiring new commercial enterprise that requires people to physically attend, London is by a distance the best destination in the UK. 

But London isn't 1 place in the sense of most cities where you get a train to the city centre and then you have a few beers and walk to the ground. Ealing or Twickenham are another half hour out by train from the centre and a 20 minute walk to the ground.  Easily 1.5 hrs for a huge amount of these people. Each way.  That's not realistic.

[Tre Cool]

5 minutes ago, Hemel Stag said:

 

Hemel would fail at most definitions of a successful pro club. Good amateur club. Poor pro club. Poor facilities, poor marketing, poor branding, poor results, poor attendances, poor social media.

[Hemel Stag]

1 minute ago, Tre Cool said:

Hemel would fail at most definitions of a successful pro club. Good amateur club. Poor pro club. Poor facilities, poor marketing, poor branding, poor results, poor attendances, poor social media.

Yes, good amateur club that have contributed a lot to the game over the years.

Poor facilities? - Living within their means. Perfectly adequate.

Poor marketing & social media - Ok, I'll give you that one, but that's not the hardest thing to fix.

Attendances? There's the heartlands, there's London (and I am sure you know what the attendances there are like), in between there's Hemel, Bedford, Coventry, flying the flag in the RL waste lands in between.

What do you expect deep in RU country and on a shoe string budget?

[Tre Cool]

8 minutes ago, Hemel Stag said:

Yes, good amateur club that have contributed a lot to the game over the years.

Poor facilities? - Living within their means. Perfectly adequate.

Poor marketing & social media - Ok, I'll give you that one, but that's not the hardest thing to fix.

Attendances? There's the heartlands, there's London (and I am sure you know what the attendances there are like), in between there's Hemel, Bedford, Coventry, flying the flag in the RL waste lands in between.

What do you expect deep in RU country and on a shoe string budget?

Probably not to go pro without a proper effort.  Coventry may or may not succeed but they do so many things much much better than Hemel ever did.

[Hemel Stag]

20 minutes ago, Tre Cool said:

But London isn't 1 place in the sense of most cities where you get a train to the city centre and then you have a few beers and walk to the ground. Ealing or Twickenham are another half hour out by train from the centre and a 20 minute walk to the ground.  Easily 1.5 hrs for a huge amount of these people. Each way.  That's not realistic.

Using the trains - I can get to London (Euston) in about 33 mins but to get to Skolars or Broncos takes best part of an hour and a half. Going North I can get to Coventry in an hour and the grounds near the station. Doesn't make sense "as the crow fly's" but there we are.

The one and only time I went to Twickenham it was a pain in the @r$£, get to London, cross London, take a route march to the Stadium. I didn't enjoy it, the weather was awful, the stadium is disappointingly nothing special. I really don't think I would ever bother again.

[Man of Kent]

Think Perez said a couple of years ago that Montreal was next on his list.

If there has to be another Canadian club in the British rugby league, it’s the obvious choice.

 

[Hemel Stag]

17 minutes ago, Tre Cool said:

Probably not to go pro without a proper effort.  Coventry may or may not succeed but they do so many things much much better than Hemel ever did.

Hemel started up in the 80's, Coventry in 1998, the landscape moves on. There are a lot of talented people at Coventry and I applaud them for what they are doing. My team can certainly learn a lot from what they are doing. However, what is wrong with having a nice day out at your local club? Why does it all have to about what your chances of getting into Super League are? Any sport has some sort of pyramid structure, without the "little" clubs how do the likes of Dan Sarginson and Kieron Dixon find their way through?

[PatrickB]

I agree with it not being Hamilton. As much as it's close to me, I see no reason to split up the local market at this point.

My expectations would be Montreal, or Boston.Both big markets, easy travel to UK , as well as Toronto and New York, if that ever comes to fruition.

Another thought I've had is Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Again, easy travel, (about 2 hours less flight time than going to Toronto from the UK)  reasonable mid size market, and really no pro sports there other than minor league hockey. It has a stadium with 4000 capacity, but has been expanded to 11,000 at times.

[Evil Homer]

2 hours ago, Hemel Stag said:

Hemel started up in the 80's, Coventry in 1998, the landscape moves on. There are a lot of talented people at Coventry and I applaud them for what they are doing. My team can certainly learn a lot from what they are doing. However, what is wrong with having a nice day out at your local club? Why does it all have to about what your chances of getting into Super League are? Any sport has some sort of pyramid structure, without the "little" clubs how do the likes of Dan Sarginson and Kieron Dixon find their way through?

I don't think that's the point he was making. I was a big supporter of Hemel entering the pro game and their first season was encouraging, but after that they failed on so many levels. And it's not things that were unavoidable or out of their control, last time I was there about a year ago the signs at the stadium still said 'Amateur Rugby League Club' FFS. Obviously not such a big deal in itself but it just summed up the overall slackness and amateurish nature of the club. Of course starting a pro club in a new location is hard, but it's made so much harder when the people in charge completely fail at the basics.

[The Future is League]

If Eric Perez wants to put another team from North America in the British structure on the same term as Toronto i can't see the RFL objecting as it wont cost the RFL a penny or the clubs, plus it would give the clubs in their league another home game. Win win all round