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1 hour ago, 17 stone giant said:

So what went wrong?

My dad was there that day, and has been a season ticket holder with the Broncos pretty much ever since to this day - Turning myself into a lifelong RL supporter when I was born a number of years later.

So, on an individual basis, I don't view it as a failure 😉

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Went to a game (as an away fan) at the Cottage at the start of Fulham`s second season. The fact that it was a Lancashire Cup tie kind of told you something. More to the point, it told Londoners something.

The Fulham home fans were great. Met some of their away fans the previous season, they were great too. Far cry from the Chelsea and Millwall fans that I was more familiar with.

 

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

So what went wrong?

It lost money so the soccer guys pulled the plug, then for a few years it was an undercapitalized outfit which moved to Crystal Palace, then Chiswick, then Barnet Copthall. Then it managed to find a couple of money men, who both lost money and interest. Whatever people say about David Hughes he has been incredibly loyal. In addition as has already been pointed out it didn’t really put down any roots till Super League started, had the roots been put down in the early days then the team wouldn’t have been so dependent on importing players. Lesson for all expansion clubs, to succeed you need a ton of money, a patient owner willing to give things time, and an emphasis on getting local youth to play, get all three, amazing, miss any one of them then you run the risk of failing.

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One of my mates is a Northerner working in the city and I used to go down on occasion also saw them play at Leyton Orient's ground as well which was a good size in the wrong area. I enjoyed it at Barnet too however not the easiest to get through. Fulham/London now need to be at Ealing permanently so they can establish themselves in the area. 

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47 minutes ago, HarrogateKnights said:

One of my mates is a Northerner working in the city and I used to go down on occasion also saw them play at Leyton Orient's ground as well which was a good size in the wrong area. I enjoyed it at Barnet too however not the easiest to get through. Fulham/London now need to be at Ealing permanently so they can establish themselves in the area. 

Having been to Orient a couple of times for Football and Barnet for Football and Rugby League, I’d say Orient would be a better home for Rugby League in London. 

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7 hours ago, SL17 said:

What part did Roy Lester play in that?

Roy coached them for a while , in the mid 80 s they trained at Lowton High school , all except Hussain Mbarki who trained at a union club in London  

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20 minutes ago, metallithrax said:

I remember going in 1981 for the cup game against Trinity.  A good day out as I remember and Wakey won, so all good.

Was also there Ernie Clay creamed over 8000 off the gate (Announced as over 15000) was actually an incredible 23000 + the terracing was heaving:)

Paul

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10 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

Was also there Ernie Clay creamed over 8000 off the gate (Announced as over 15000) was actually an incredible 23000 + the terracing was heaving:)

Paul

Understating gates went on in a lot of sports, mainly to avoid the VAT man. As far as the broader Fulham picture's concerned, when Ernie realised that he was going to have to put in more than the original investment to make a successful profitable club in the long term he lost interest (rumours of the club's imminent demise were circulating by Christmas of the second season). As far as Roy Lester's concerned, without him there wouldn't be a London club now. By persuading the core members of the playing squad to continue training while Roy Close was trying to clinch the deal with the liquidators he ensured that there was a basic team available - without that Roy Close would have pulled out. Very much the hero with us old Fulhamites.

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1 hour ago, metallithrax said:

I remember going in 1981 for the cup game against Trinity.  A good day out as I remember and Wakey won, so all good.

During a recent clear-out of my loft I came across the programme for this game.  Good win for the mighty Trin thanks mainly to the class of Keith Smith.

This world was never meant for one as beautiful as me.
 
 
Wakefield Trinity RLFC
2012 - 2014 "The wasted years"

2013, 2014 & 2015 Official Magic Weekend "Whipping Boys"

2017 - The year the dream disappeared under Grix's left foot.

2018 - The FinniChezz Bromance 

2019 - The Return of the Prodigal Son

 

 

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6 hours ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

Was also there Ernie Clay creamed over 8000 off the gate (Announced as over 15000) was actually an incredible 23000 + the terracing was heaving:)

Paul

You say the gate was 23,000, the BBC reporter said it was 15,000 but Ernie stated ''we had 5000 here today''. Lol, 

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18 hours ago, Damien said:

Saw this footage earlier. I had heard about the start of Fulham but had never really seen much footage before. It seems a pity that it didnt work out staying there:

 

Did anyone notice the Welsh winger scoring the two tries that sunk the mighty Wigan?

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1 hour ago, fighting irish said:

Did anyone notice the Welsh winger scoring the two tries that sunk the mighty Wigan?

Yep, Adrian Cambriani - when I last heard (albeit many years ago) he was back in South Wales working for Astra Zeneca and playing RU in the second team of one of the Pontys - can't remember which. Be in his late fifties now, how time flies!

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1 hour ago, Chronicler of Chiswick said:

Yep, Adrian Cambriani - when I last heard (albeit many years ago) he was back in South Wales working for Astra Zeneca and playing RU in the second team of one of the Pontys - can't remember which. Be in his late fifties now, how time flies!

Here's an article on Adrian and his son Ben, from a couple of years ago: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/gifted-son-wales-rugby-league-14961511 

At the end of the article, there are some other "where are they now?" articles linked, including David Bishop.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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6 minutes ago, unapologetic pedant said:

Hussein M`Barki is a culturally significant player from Fulham`s early days when you look at how many Arab French RL players there now are. Think he was involved in early efforts to establish RL in Morocco.

Although, judging by the chapter on him and Morocco in XIII Worlds, those efforts were a little chaotic.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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50 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

Here's an article on Adrian and his son Ben, from a couple of years ago: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/gifted-son-wales-rugby-league-14961511 

At the end of the article, there are some other "where are they now?" articles linked, including David Bishop.

BISH what a guy i remember him at Hull KR with great fondness wonderful stories top man:)

 

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10 hours ago, Chronicler of Chiswick said:. As far as Roy Lester's concerned, without him there wouldn't be a London club now. By persuading the core members of the playing squad to continue training while Roy Close was trying to clinch the deal with the liquidators he ensured that there was a basic team available - without that Roy Close would have pulled out. Very much the hero with us old Fulhamites.

Didn’t Roy also have to cobble together a team after the Paul Faires takeover fiasco? I remember stories of players jumping into a workman’s van and travelling north to away games in the Chiswick days, was Roy the coach or had he moved on and Bill Goodwin taken over, its so long ago I can’t really remember now.

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I remember playing against Bill Goodwin (who was player coach for Peckham) and we were 3 points behind with 5 minutes to go.

My brother was in mid-air 2'-6'' from the ground, diving to score a try and Bill (who was too late to stop him) punched him in the face.

My brother took it, without flinching and grounded the ball over the try line. We were cock-a-hoop.

The referee, disallowed the try and gave us a penalty.

Bill couldn't believe it. Nor could we.

But it happened and we lost the match.

He had the good sense, not to mention it in the bar afterwards, but he had a wry smile every time we made eye contact.

The match went down in history as the one that got away.

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15 hours ago, HarrogateKnights said:

One of my mates is a Northerner working in the city and I used to go down on occasion also saw them play at Leyton Orient's ground as well which was a good size in the wrong area. I enjoyed it at Barnet too however not the easiest to get through. Fulham/London now need to be at Ealing permanently so they can establish themselves in the area. 

Orient? When was that? I don't remember them playing there. Fulham, Brentford, Charlton and Barnet are the soccer grounds I remember. Apart from Crystal Palace, chiswick, the stoop, etc.

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