After 40 years have we finally given up on cracking the London market?

[Tubby]

8 minutes ago, RL Sonja said:

Sorry 99,801. 1985. 

99,749 weren’t Londoners. 

[westlondonfan]

58 minutes ago, langpark said:

Yes, that is a fair concern, hence why I suggest both parties discuss it and find a solution that both parties can benefit from. 

Looking at it from an "overall London RL" point of view, if Skolars would get a +1000 higher gate on that day, but Broncos could get +3000 higher, then it makes sense for the event to go there. I would even be prepared to financially compensate the Skolars if I were the Broncos.

As discussed above there is no “overall London RL” plan and it doesn’t look like there will ever be one. Is there even an overall Northern hemisphere plan?

[Big Picture]

On 29/01/2022 at 02:38, watcherofRL said:

This is so true, why should broncos carry the responsibility of all of the region and their successes (or not)be the only thing that is reported. The RFL and SLE need to invest in what the they truly want and if that is expansion in London then fund it appropriately 

That's how things ought to work, but they can't work that way due to the lack of money in the game.  Neither the RFL nor SL has any money to spare to spare for it, let alone the sort of money needed to do it successfully.  Another result of the lack of money is that they have hands full keeping what they already have going.

That's also why they're constantly pulling the plug on expansion efforts when they don't take off in short order, they simply don't have any money they can afford to use to support them.

[Sports Prophet]

2 hours ago, RL Sonja said:

Sorry 99,801. 1985. 

What game?

[Stuff Smith]

2 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

What game?

Challenge Cup Final. Wigan v Hull.

[Sports Prophet]

3 hours ago, Jughead said:

When I went in 2019, the Skolars had sent people to the supermarket on the high street to buy cans to stock their bar, which we learned, they own. The mark up on a set of 14 cans at £10 on a night where they get a bumper crowd (by their standards) is quite significant.

That story right there tells you just how miserably managed Skolars are.

[langpark]

They are down 24-4 at half-time. 

[DI Keith Fowler]

7 minutes ago, langpark said:

They are down 24-4 at half-time. 

Should have been more by the sounds of it. 

[RS]

2,182 at London - 400 from Widnes 

[Archie Gordon]

6 minutes ago, RS said:

2,182 at London - 400 from Widnes 

That's a great start for them. Managing a respectable loss too. They should be pretty pleased.

[Damien]

10 minutes ago, RS said:

2,182 at London - 400 from Widnes 

Great crowd.

[Guest]

34 - 12 to Widnes. Not the worst result but I wouldn't be looked forward to seeing what Leigh and Featherstone will do. This is why I still understand the move to Wimbledon and going part-time. Hughes should have stuck at it for another year if this is a last ditch effort. At least they would have had a competitive team.

[langpark]

As someone who wasn't there, just looking at the scoreline, seems a decent result. Each team scored two tries in the 2nd half and Widnes won by 6 tries to 3 (lack of conversions makes the scoreline look more severe). 

As I understand, the majority of the team are newcomers so they would not have had the chemistry that Widnes did. Hopefully as the season goes on, this is something that will improve. 

2,182 is a solid crowd (would they have even all fit at the Trailfinders ground?). If they can maintain an average of 1000 for the "lesser" fixtures, and hit 2000 for the bigger fixtures, then I think that will be a decent outcome for them and the move will be justified. 

[Tommygilf]

52 minutes ago, RS said:

2,182 at London - 400 from Widnes 

Must be one of London's highest Championship crowds in recent times

[Man of Kent]

10 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Must be one of London's highest Championship crowds in recent times

Highest since 2013.

I was a bit worried at about 2.40 so I went for a wonder and saw that most people were in the pub or the bars. Concourses we’re doing a brisk trade throughout, so hopefully people enjoyed themselves and will come back.

I’d like to think that was just the start, and come summer Broncos will up the ante with the event culture, perhaps with live music or other entertainment in the fanzone. 

As for the match, three tries in the opening 10 minutes or so with tackles falling off all over the shop showed Broncos’ lack of pre-season. Once the cobwebs were off they gave Widnes a decent game. 

[Jughead]

2 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

That story right there tells you just how miserably managed Skolars are.

Why would they need anything more for a bar that gets used for nine-twelve Saturday’s a year? Attached to a  national brewery, which they probably can’t do anyway, they’d be pouring beer away. 

[Twickbronc]

We were there today. Firstly I will mention the crowd and atmosphere. 2,182 both stands were virtually full. Lots of Wimbledon fans there who seemed to enjoy it and I heard a few mention they were looking forward to coming back and seeing how the season panned out. Atmosphere was great and there was definitely a feel good factor.
 

Now to the game.

We lost it in the first 10-15 mins. We were very slow off the Mark and made plenty of errors. Twice Juma attempted an intercept during to an overlap and they strolled in the corner, which is amateur defending. Two high tackles lead to back to back pens in which they scored from repeat sets. We didn’t have an attacking set in their half until about 20 mins in! 
Leyland failed to kick on the 5th two sets in a row when we were putting the pressure on and killed our momentum.  
 

2nd half we were much better and there wasn’t much between the two teams. We were held up on the line a couple of times and also knocked on in the act of scoring. That said the ref made some bizarre called to prevent Widnes from scoring a couple so the score line reflects the game. 
 

We played well when Parata bienek palumbo tuliatu were on the field. 
Not to be rude but Greenhalgh is overweight and shouldn’t be playing for us, no surprise he got took off in the first half and never returned. 
 

We need siti, Curran and Ulberg in ASAP to steady the ship as we lacked that quality and experience.
 

Considering it was our first competitive game v Widnes who started preseason in October and comfortably beat Batley, it wasn’t a bad effort. 
 

We will improve with more experienced heads coming in over the next couple of weeks. 
 

Bring on Haven in a couple of weeks!

[crashmon]

Widnes are a mid table team (will finish around 5th-8th). They are not Leigh, Fev, fax or Bradford who are all superior.  And we (2 years ago in Super League) are saying that losing to a mid table championship team by 7 tries to 3 at home was a good result.   Maybe for the squad we have, but for the club, its a long long way back to super league if we are happy losing 7 tries to 3 to a team at home who at best will finish 5th. And if we are not planning a return to super league why then are we paying so much for super league facilites

I'm really happy for the attendance today, but that will be the highest this season. Lets see what happens in two weeks, needs to be at least 1.5K for the already 4 pointer vs Haven

 

[devonhawk]

On 28/01/2022 at 14:58, NW10LDN said:

Don't understand this at all. There are hourly trains to London. Wakefield is served by LNER. Football fans have no problem with travelling. QPR have to travel to Barnsley and Blackburn next month.

I am a season ticket holder at QPR, I live in Devon. There is something about rugby league fans that think travel is a bizzare concept if it isn’t in’t next tarn o’er….

[westlondonfan]

4 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

Highest since 2013.

I was a bit worried at about 2.40 so I went for a wonder and saw that most people were in the pub or the bars. Concourses we’re doing a brisk trade throughout, so hopefully people enjoyed themselves and will come back.

I’d like to think that was just the start, and come summer Broncos will up the ante with the event culture, perhaps with live music or other entertainment in the fanzone. 

As for the match, three tries in the opening 10 minutes or so with tackles falling off all over the shop showed Broncos’ lack of pre-season. Once the cobwebs were off they gave Widnes a decent game. 

I don’t think we were in the championship in 2013. Anyway there was a pretty good crowd there today. Widnes were a bit too good especially down our left side. Enjoyable afternoon despite the result.

[londonbronco]

5 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

Highest since 2013.

Nope.  3,057 v Leeds in 2019 at Trailfinders.  London was in SL 1996~2014 + 2019.  I'd agree it was probably their highest Championship attendance today with the 2,184.  I took 5 others and other than the loss it was a good day out.  We all had a meal out after the game (50miles away near home) and bizarrely there was a Widnes fan dining too, who lived locally and  watched Skolars regularly, who was very interested in how the game panned out.

[Man of Kent]

14 minutes ago, londonbronco said:

Nope.  3,057 v Leeds in 2019 at Trailfinders.  London was in SL 1996~2014 + 2019.  I'd agree it was probably their highest Championship attendance today with the 2,184.  I took 5 others and other than the loss it was a good day out.  We all had a meal out after the game (50miles away near home) and bizarrely there was a Widnes fan dining too, who lived locally and  watched Skolars regularly, who was very interested in how the game panned out.

Ah, OK. Either the PA was wrong or I misheard him. Thought it sounded wrong at the time. 

Anyway, I’m glad most people who went seem to have enjoyed it and been impressed by the facilities (I did state on here repeatedly that it is a good ground!). Hopefully word will spread and Broncos keep spreading the word.

Of course, in many ways, today was the easy bit. Good start but it is just the start. 

[Jughead]

Where’s the nearest junior/amateur club to Wimbledon?

[Man of Kent]

1 hour ago, Jughead said:

Where’s the nearest junior/amateur club to Wimbledon?

Rutlish Raiders, Wimbledon.

[Quinskolar]

I am a southern based RL fan of 60 years standing, having moved south in 1980. I  supported Fulham/Crusaders/Broncos for 40 years but the Wimbledon move was the straw that broke the camel's back. We are back at year zero, where brave statements are made and yer another football club/area is the new saviour of the club. David Hughes has put in untold millions into the club with increasingly fewer returns. The failure of the RL to but give the Broncos the TWP place in SL was the final straw. I will continue to support the Skolars who although have few resources dogged attempt to build and do more for youth development than many northern teams. As for the Broncos they will be lucky to avoid a relegation dogfight.