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London tough times!


IM2

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Professional RL in London is in a precarious state. DH has massively reduced his financial commitment to the Broncos which is being seen in both the quality of first team players and will hit other grades especially the academy. Massive loss Rob Powell leaving the Youth set up. He is key to that success.

Broncos have taken Skolars Head Coach and most of the spine of the first team. Offered 3 fringe players in return. More should be done by Broncos. Its very poor. More also should be done by Coleman as he has been vocal for years about Broncos lack of support for Skolars & now he is at Broncos hes done next to nothing for a club he was at for over 10 years as player and coach.

RFL has massively reduced the central funding especially to Skolars which has less than 20% of previous funding. The club has no alternative to lean on talented youngsters which is great to see but will definitely hit performances this season and next probably.

Capital Challenge the Skolars big event and funds a chunk of the budget had to be moved due to Covid. It will happen in March & needs fans to support it. Hospitality and spectators. Its key to survival but no doubt will be hit due to covid and moving the dates.

I just hope its not one of those you dont miss what you have until its gone. As a game we need to get behind London and get through what I think will be a tough few years. 

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They have attracted players there. Maybe arranged employment for them. The lads will be happy. Apart from last week, it will show on the pitch. They will be nowhere near relegation.

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I’m not sure what more Broncos can be doing for Skolars right now. Skolars had one competitive game last week and have another next week and could then be six weeks without a competitive game, so three players at this stage of the season for both clubs isn’t a terrible offering. 

The biggest worry I have is for Skolars. Less funding and no game in the City of London again is going to hit them hard off the pitch but to then factor in losing a coach and six or seven players who would be in their seventeen man squad, it’s going to be an even tougher year for them.

Broncos are a bit of a shambles and have been for some time. Yes, I know the owner has pumped in countless millions but I can’t help but think it could have been fewer millions had he been advised better or made better choices and those millions could have been spent on some form of asset(s) or something tangible. 

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2 hours ago, IM2 said:

Professional RL in London is in a precarious state. DH has massively reduced his financial commitment to the Broncos which is being seen in both the quality of first team players and will hit other grades especially the academy. Massive loss Rob Powell leaving the Youth set up. He is key to that success.

Broncos have taken Skolars Head Coach and most of the spine of the first team. Offered 3 fringe players in return. More should be done by Broncos. Its very poor. More also should be done by Coleman as he has been vocal for years about Broncos lack of support for Skolars & now he is at Broncos hes done next to nothing for a club he was at for over 10 years as player and coach.

RFL has massively reduced the central funding especially to Skolars which has less than 20% of previous funding. The club has no alternative to lean on talented youngsters which is great to see but will definitely hit performances this season and next probably.

Capital Challenge the Skolars big event and funds a chunk of the budget had to be moved due to Covid. It will happen in March & needs fans to support it. Hospitality and spectators. Its key to survival but no doubt will be hit due to covid and moving the dates.

I just hope its not one of those you dont miss what you have until its gone. As a game we need to get behind London and get through what I think will be a tough few years. 

All other clubs are visibly engaging with the community

This can be felt at barrow, bradford, widnes, north wales, halifax and of course many super league teams 

 

They realise of course that they have to adapt to survive and rather than rely on central funding they are actively pursuing getting more people through the turnstyles. 

David hughes and hector mcneil have been fantastic ambassadors over the years but peoole come and go, and london has to get more people to attend at the new ground they share

They have signed a new hooker today, and thats a positive as he seems really good 

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43 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

DH’s residency as the sole owner of the Broncos has been nothing but calamitous, starting with his hiring of Goose McKay. It’s been a landslide since.

Was/is there an alternative?

Sport, amongst other things, is a dream-world offering escape from harsh reality and the disturbing prospect of change.

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1 hour ago, Sports Prophet said:

DH’s residency as the sole owner of the Broncos has been nothing but calamitous, starting with his hiring of Goose McKay. It’s been a landslide since.

Where would they be if he hadn’t got involved though? 

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2 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

DH’s residency as the sole owner of the Broncos has been nothing but calamitous, starting with his hiring of Goose McKay. It’s been a landslide since.

He may have made many mistakes, and the final outcome may be grim, but it wasn't for want of trying or - crucially - spending. 

If DH hadn't come along we may have been where we are now -  no full time rugby in London - a decade ago. 

Is there a way back? It's tough. I had a good time at Plough Lane last week and it's an excellent facility. I hated Ealing. But without some level of success on the field - which I count as winning more of your home games than you lose - I struggle to see how you build a new fanbase beyond the diebhards. But here's hoping, retreating to the heartlands would be a really bad outcome. 

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I hope we can all agree that it would be a backward step to retreat to the heartlands but it is going to take more than wishful thinking to prevent it.

I have never understood the obsession with the name London in the  club's name.  The began life as Fulham and there are no leading football clubs called London something; rugby union clubs such as Harlequins, Saracens - and Wasps (ex-London) manage without the name of the city. 

The storm talked about how clubs such as Barrow, Bradford, Widnes, Halifax and others were engaging with their communities. A city of eight million plus or whatever it is can hardly be classed as a community so maybe David Hughes and his staff have been trying to spread their appeal too wide.  All the various homes down the years would suggest this is the case. Excuse my ignorance but does anybody living in the new home of the club in Wimbledon really think of London as a home town?   Simply dropping the name the London moniker might not make a difference but as we are going all Aussie and American these days maybe The Broncos would be enough. Nobody seems to be put off by the Eels v Rabbitohs in Australia or Bengals v. Rams in US. Rugby Leageu is essentially a community game after all.

Having said all that I haven't got a clue how to make Londoners love rugby league enough to sustain even one fully professional club in the city.

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24 minutes ago, Rowan said:

I hope we can all agree that it would be a backward step to retreat to the heartlands but it is going to take more than wishful thinking to prevent it.

I have never understood the obsession with the name London in the  club's name.  The began life as Fulham and there are no leading football clubs called London something; rugby union clubs such as Harlequins, Saracens - and Wasps (ex-London) manage without the name of the city. 

The storm talked about how clubs such as Barrow, Bradford, Widnes, Halifax and others were engaging with their communities. A city of eight million plus or whatever it is can hardly be classed as a community so maybe David Hughes and his staff have been trying to spread their appeal too wide.  All the various homes down the years would suggest this is the case. Excuse my ignorance but does anybody living in the new home of the club in Wimbledon really think of London as a home town?   Simply dropping the name the London moniker might not make a difference but as we are going all Aussie and American these days maybe The Broncos would be enough. Nobody seems to be put off by the Eels v Rabbitohs in Australia or Bengals v. Rams in US. Rugby Leageu is essentially a community game after all.

Having said all that I haven't got a clue how to make Londoners love rugby league enough to sustain even one fully professional club in the city.

Most people consider London as their home city. Very few people have an affinity with their borough. The football clubs were all founded before London was expanded in the 1960s. You comparison with the American teams doesn't make any sense. All of them have their home city or region in the name.

NY Jets and NY Giants. New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals. LA Rams and LA Chargers. You'll often hear NFL commentators refer to teams by the city.

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IM2 is right about the state of RL in London. 
 

My daughters boyfriend is from Beverly. His parents were in town this weekend.  Both are RL fans. Neither really understand the notion of expansion as they are surrounded by the sport. Bought home to me the internal battle that needs to be won. 

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One thing I think London Broncos must do is keep the name London.They must not rebrand themselves as either Wimbledon or Merton.
 

By the sounds of it,it looks like they have found the place that will be their forever home and this is their opportunity to really put down some roots in London once and for all. And in my opinion they should show the people of Wimbledon and Merton that they are good neighbours and engage themselves in the local community.

Do that and it should pave the way to a successful future.

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2 hours ago, Robthegasman said:

One thing I think London Broncos must do is keep the name London.They must not rebrand themselves as either Wimbledon or Merton.
 

By the sounds of it,it looks like they have found the place that will be their forever home and this is their opportunity to really put down some roots in London once and for all. And in my opinion they should show the people of Wimbledon and Merton that they are good neighbours and engage themselves in the local community.

Do that and it should pave the way to a successful future.

London "Dons` would work 

Come on you Dons 

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6 hours ago, Robthegasman said:

One thing I think London Broncos must do is keep the name London.They must not rebrand themselves as either Wimbledon or Merton.
 

By the sounds of it,it looks like they have found the place that will be their forever home and this is their opportunity to really put down some roots in London once and for all. And in my opinion they should show the people of Wimbledon and Merton that they are good neighbours and engage themselves in the local community.

Do that and it should pave the way to a successful future.

We have heard this on rinse and repeat all before (no disrespect to the Dons here). And the common denominator to why it goes sour after 2-3 years is still running LB even when the host club (insert name here) does everything they can to make it work.

Until and unless there is a significant change in the Broncos Leadership, I don't see any difference to when we first moved into stoop, charlton, brentford, stoop, ealing. Wimbledon may say they are different, but the broncos leadership is not different, and its them who are the common factor in falling out with Landlords

The only difference with this move is that we don't have any chance of ever getting into superleague now, and seem to have accepted championship mediocrity. How that is going to equate to 5K fans in three years?

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5 minutes ago, crashmon said:

The only difference with this move is that we don't have any chance of ever getting into superleague now, and seem to have accepted championship mediocrity. How that is going to equate to 5K fans in three years?

What? No chance of reaching SL in this beautiful stadium? Yet playing out of a park in Ealing was going to get them there? 

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18 hours ago, Blind side johnny said:

Was/is there an alternative?

Doesn't really mean that calling it calamitous isn't a fair description. 

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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Was not aware that quality of stadium alone was how you get promotion.  Why then are Wimbledon not in the championship or Premier League? Or are you saying that the Wimbledon stadium is worse than some championship stadiums.

Might be wrong but its the quality of the people on the pitch which gets you promotion, not fancy seats. And right now the quality of the people in the London squad is the worst squad EVER assembled by a London team.

So again how do you think the current London Squad is ever going to get to Super League?

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4 hours ago, The storm said:

London "Dons` would work 

Come on you Dons 

If they must change name, That is the one that would be able ok.

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1 hour ago, Archie Gordon said:

Spot on.

Except for that part when they got to SL at Ealing.

Touche 😂

I would argue though that it did not help keeping them in SL. I always though that venue was an embarrasment for Championship level, let alone SL. 

Anyway, I know it is not the only factor. But one of many. There may be many crosses against them in other areas, but I think for stadium they get a giant tick now, and if/when they get back to SL, they already have an SL-worthy stadium to call their home. 

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20 hours ago, The storm said:

All other clubs are visibly engaging with the community

This can be felt at barrow, bradford, widnes, north wales, halifax and of course many super league teams 

 

 

Engaging with the Community ?

TBF to Skolars think getting these numbers in participation at School Level, could only be dreamed of by a lot of 'Traditional' Clubs.

 

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