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London Broncos - Looking more positive now


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RL in London on its own will never get anywhere, there is far too much competition.  RL in london is behind football, cricket, union, basketball, ice hockey, netball (those sports get higher attendances than RL in London).  You want to bring RL forward in London you need to tie it in with something external which will get new people though the gate.   Football and Union have been tried many times and failed (Barnet, Quins, Brentford, Charlton, Wimbledon, Ealing), although quins could have worked apart from DH.  

It won't survive by itself, so you need something outside the box to generate interest, and NFL probably has the most reach and synogises more than NBA or Baseball.  But you need something novel to regenerate RL in London, and get interest going in the game again.   London Broncos exists only beacuse of one man right now, and he is making all the wrong decisons on it

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13 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

Don't take this the wrong way , but why is the aim to return to SL ? , What's wrong with being a viable sustainable Championship club ? , That's what us fans of northern clubs keep being told we should be content with being ? 😉

if you want to bring 3,000/5,000 to games ..its leeds,wigan saints etc ..not batley whitehaven

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52 minutes ago, Jughead said:

The premise that the behemoths of NFL would be remotely interested in Rugby League is amusing. 

 

As I said in my original message it will never happen, my point is you need something this seismic if you want to spark interest in RL in London, as its too far down the pecking order to ever have a chance unless something completely world shattering was to happen.   A tie up with a NFL side would be that level of earth shattering...., with comcast owing sky, also would get more interest from the TV as well.

But there is more change of Larry the cat being next PM (Sigh), than this happening

 

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1 hour ago, ShropshireBull said:

What i never understood was moving to brand new ground and just half arsing it ruining best chance to make a new  Impression. Moving then saying we are part time seemed crazy.

Everything that happened was predicted and predictable.

The only people surprised were those who haven't followed the Broncos for long enough.

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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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On 05/09/2022 at 00:22, The Daddy said:

At some point during the season we were faced with the threat of relegation and I really thought the club was dying a slow death, the fans we're losing hope. 

Since Mike Eccles has taken over the performances have improved considerably. They've not been perfect but standards have improved and the fans are now awaiting announcements of the club's plans for next season. That includes the decision as to whether Mike Eccles will become the permanent head coach and the backroom staff structure for 2023. What's of major importance now is that the club makes some good, ambitious signings, beefs up the pack and shows the fans that they mean business. 

The club has also recently appointed a new head of commercial Mark Kemp which is a good sign, the appointment shows ambition and adds expertise  into the back office. I hope we see the benefits of it next season coz there is some indication already of improvement in the way that the club is being run. 

Altogether the move to Wimbledon has worked out well but clearly the team, results and performances need to match the quality of the stadium, but generally speaking Plough Lane is a step up from what we've had in recent years it's been a much needed move. 

The great thing to hear as a fan is that the club has stated it's aim is to return to SL a huge relief when you consider how poorly the season started 

 

When i saw london play at widnes i saw great promise

So yes they managed to turn their season around and come up with some great results

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2 hours ago, crashmon said:

RL in London on its own will never get anywhere, there is far too much competition.  RL in london is behind football, cricket, union, basketball, ice hockey, netball (those sports get higher attendances than RL in London).  You want to bring RL forward in London you need to tie it in with something external which will get new people though the gate.   Football and Union have been tried many times and failed (Barnet, Quins, Brentford, Charlton, Wimbledon, Ealing), although quins could have worked apart from DH.  

It won't survive by itself, so you need something outside the box to generate interest, and NFL probably has the most reach and synogises more than NBA or Baseball.  But you need something novel to regenerate RL in London, and get interest going in the game again.   London Broncos exists only beacuse of one man right now, and he is making all the wrong decisons on it

Total ######

 

 

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2 hours ago, crashmon said:

RL in London on its own will never get anywhere, there is far too much competition.  RL in london is behind football, cricket, union, basketball, ice hockey, netball (those sports get higher attendances than RL in London).  You want to bring RL forward in London you need to tie it in with something external which will get new people though the gate.   Football and Union have been tried many times and failed (Barnet, Quins, Brentford, Charlton, Wimbledon, Ealing), although quins could have worked apart from DH.  

It won't survive by itself, so you need something outside the box to generate interest, and NFL probably has the most reach and synogises more than NBA or Baseball.  But you need something novel to regenerate RL in London, and get interest going in the game again.   London Broncos exists only beacuse of one man right now, and he is making all the wrong decisons on it

What is your definition of failed? London seemed to do quite well with good crowds at both Charlton and Brentford. It was due to the Football club turfing them out that saw them forced to move on.

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Just now, Damien said:

What is your definition of failed? London seemed to do quite well with good crowds at both Charlton and Brentford. It was due to the Football club turfing them out that saw them forced to move on.

To be fair, I was not stating that it was all London's fault (although from when DH took over, it usually been him which has caused the breach), my point is that for one reason or another London had to move which had a negative effect. By always sharing / renting grounds, London are always at the whim of the landlords, just look at this season with having to play 2 games in Kent.  Renting from any football or union team will always have london at the whims of the Landlord.   

We had two chances to build, one at Quins and one at Ealing, and London messed both up.  I strongly believe we should have stuck with Ealing and helped develop it into a better ground, we had been growing at Ealing, it was the perfect size for what we are right now, and potential for growth.   Now we are at a soulless husk with at best the same amount of fans as we had last full season in the champ at ealing,  paying three times the price with a part time squad which are at best mid table championship.

London are in a self fullfilling propecy right now, and unless something really radical changes, will not survive.  Its too expensive in SW london to be a part time RL team in front of 800 fans (and this will decrease next year not increase without some major changes).   This is why London need something seismic to survive....   We are not in the M62, paying M62 rents and salaries.  40K a year in London is like 5K a year in Leigh, and thats not pulling down the north, its the reality of the gap we have right now

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34 minutes ago, MonkeyGone said:

I think someone else could spend the same amount of money and produce much better outcomes.

When he was (badly) spending millions in the past, yes. 

But with a part time team there's no future however well managed, even if they moved back to Ealing. 

We already have a part-time London team playing in front of a few hundred spectators in a bare bones satdium: the Skolars. There's not the room - or need - for another. 

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Ealing wasn’t an elite sporting venue by any means but I don’t think London Broncos maximised their time there, whether through being reigned in by Ealing, their own inability to do so based on vision and finances or a combination of all three. 

Toronto and Hull KR (even Wigan and probably some others) put a focus on matchday experience and saw or are seeing the positives from that. There was an all weather pitch next to the pitch Broncos played on that was left idle. The amount that could have been done there to improve the matchday experience was huge but alas, it ended up being used for bored kids running around. In the early years of Super League, I remember the car park at The Valley being full of games for kids, free cans of Virgin Cola, bouncy castles etc and even at Brentford seeing areas for new fans to the sport.

Never staying anywhere long enough to attempt to even surface on the radar for people in that borough has never helped Broncos, either. 

As for needing something seismic, right now a return to full time rugby would be seismic. I don’t necessarily agree that they need a Branson, again.

 

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5 hours ago, crashmon said:

London need another Richard Branson,  a figure with an already known Brand which then adopts London as a way to extend that brand.  Thats the only way you get newbies in.

A smart play would be tying into one of the NFL clubs, after all NFL wants to play more and more games in London, have a RL club in the capital with the same colours and last name as the NFL club, and you would attract a market. Then make the squad competitive enough to get promotion and I can see a way to 5K fans.   You tie up with Denver and you don't even need to change the name or colours much (Orange and Black are Denver,  you just make London Black with an orange chevron)

Of course this is never going to happen, and London will probably go out of business when DH pulls the plug.  London fans all are very appreciative of what DH has done in terms of keeping the club alive, but his decisions over the last 10 years have been catastrophic.

And when ' another Richard Branson' gets annoyed that he isn't getting appearances on TV at Wembley every season and the plug gets pulled........

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2 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Nothing succeeds like success 

Put us in SL and 3/4 seasons of at least play offs or near then we'd get back to 5000 crowds in my view 

The ground is great and even with a 1000 the atmosphere is okay.....the potential is there but need SL and need a decent team

Needs to be market successfully.   Remember London have alieniated many of the existing fans over the last 5-10 years.  The only way I would buy a ST again for the Broncos would be with a clear change of ownership (the current CEO needs to be long gone for instance).  Yes Wimbledon could work, but only with a different executive team running the Broncos

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6 minutes ago, crashmon said:

Needs to be market successfully.   Remember London have alieniated many of the existing fans over the last 5-10 years.  The only way I would buy a ST again for the Broncos would be with a clear change of ownership (the current CEO needs to be long gone for instance).  Yes Wimbledon could work, but only with a different executive team running the Broncos

I get it mate but I'd they did get to consistent mid table SL status over a few years plenty of disillusioned fans would be back

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3 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Nothing succeeds like success 

Put us in SL and 3/4 seasons of at least play offs or near then we'd get back to 5000 crowds in my view 

The ground is great and even with a 1000 the atmosphere is okay.....the potential is there but need SL and need a decent team

Get back to 5k crowds? I think they probably topped out a fair bit below that even with Dymock, Barnett, Hetherington, Moran, Bawden et al. And back then they had a matchday experience and put some effort in off the field.

"The potential is there" - well, it always is.

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I believe that Bridges were burnt at both Ealing and the Stoop to the extent that if Hughes was still involved, a return would be impossible. Barnet was an awful mistake where both parties never liked each other but the RFL made (and paid for) the move there happen. 

Wimbledon is another rich man's folly and will see another relationship suffer when Hughes gets angry at fans not flocking to games.

This is the way of expansion when it is attempted on the cheap. Not saying Melbourne Storm are the blueprint as they've cost eye watering amounts so far, but they have shown what can be done in a city where League is a tiny sport compared to then local giant. Also, TV deals are far more complex now than they were 25 years ago. It's not just about dishes. It's about people watching and advertisers and it would seem the London & South East are happy to watch Leeds as much as they were to watch London.

I suspect a top flight London side will never be seen again, but if it is, it won't be with anyone at the Broncos involved.

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12 hours ago, Toby Chopra said:

For me, it all starts with an on-the-pitch turnaround. 

London is effectively a brand new expansion market again, and that means 'doing a Toronto' or even 'doing a 2018 version of London' and investing in the sort of full-time team that can win against the top championship teams and be a viable promotion candidate. 

Do this, and the crowds and positive vibes WILL rise, and the club will start moving forward. 

Obviously that costs serious money and it's not for me to tell Hughes or anyone else to do it. 

But if they don't do it, the club won't go anywhere off the pitch. 

 

I had a very long post re the situation at the Broncos and what it would take to turn it around, but it isn't really worth it. It will never happen. The club's dead, it is long past being revivable, we're all just waiting for someone to sign the certificate.

Edited by nadera78

"Just as we had been Cathars, we were treizistes, men apart."

Jean Roque, Calendrier-revue du Racing-Club Albigeois, 1958-1959

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Fulham/London have spent the best part of forty years moving around and doing so, especially across a capital city, is always going to see some drop off with each move. The problem is that with moving with the regularity they have, they’ve never really made that much of an impact in any one area that has accounted for and improved on the crowds previously. Looking at where they started in Super League at Charlton, they ended up being relegated eighteen years later twenty-five miles away at Barnet. That’s roughly the equivalent from Wigan to Blackburn. 

If we’re honest, they’re a tainted brand and I’m not sure why anyone would get involved with financing the club (arguably any club but certainly not London Broncos). That said, even if someone come in and renamed them and either carried on at AFC Wimbledon or moved elsewhere, a lot of the damage has been done already. Wimbledon appears to be quite a good venue. The football side manage events at the stadium and have matchday offerings that are not the norm, whether London can’t or cannot be bothered to do similar, I’m not sure but matchday experience is as vital as the onfield product these days, we’re seeing it more in football and certainly rugby league teams are becoming more aware of this.

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1 hour ago, nadera78 said:

I had a very long post re the situation at the Broncos and what it would take to turn it around, but it isn't really worth it. It will never happen. The club's dead, it is long past being revivable, we're all just waiting for someone to sign the certificate.

Many an opus has been written over the last 25 years as to the why's when's, who's and how's of London Broncos RLFC, but I believe the following sums up the clubs history from 2007: 

  • When David Hughes became the main owner at London Broncos in 2007, the prior season they'd finished 6th and had an average gate of 4,917 (adjusted down to 4,250 to discount the 12k double header).
  • As we arrive at the end of the 2022 Rugby League season, London Broncos sit 22nd on the European League and have been watched by fewer than 1,000 paying fans per game.
  • In the years in between and under the stewardship of David Hughes and his appointed staff, London Broncos have changed names, changed club colours & changed home grounds3 times and never finished higher or been watched by more people than they were in 2006.
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1 hour ago, Londonbornirishbred said:

Many an opus has been written over the last 25 years as to the why's when's, who's and how's of London Broncos RLFC, but I believe the following sums up the clubs history from 2007: 

  • When David Hughes became the main owner at London Broncos in 2007, the prior season they'd finished 6th and had an average gate of 4,917 (adjusted down to 4,250 to discount the 12k double header).
  • As we arrive at the end of the 2022 Rugby League season, London Broncos sit 22nd on the European League and have been watched by fewer than 1,000 paying fans per game.
  • In the years in between and under the stewardship of David Hughes and his appointed staff, London Broncos have changed names, changed club colours & changed home grounds3 times and never finished higher or been watched by more people than they were in 2006.

The facts don't lie. 

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Hughes get a mention quite a bit but why does the CEO not cop any blame, his been at club near the same as Hughes and is actually in charge of running the joint.

The club is just a side hobby for Hughes but there's a CEO who couldn't organise a shag in a brass house.Stealing a living he is.

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