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London Broncos New Investment?


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London Broncos only ever left 1 ground with more fans than they arrived with. 

Griffin Park is where I began my RL addiction and whilst the move to Quins was fiscally required, the club missed a huge opportunity by not staying at Brentford.

As other have said, thr ub also should have made Quins [part 2] work, but a combination of factors mainly caused by the SL clubs enforcing Lenagan to give up his shares but exasperated by Hughes ineptitude in many areas such as recruitment ensured that the relationship and prospects fell apart.

Griffin Park and The Stoop are a 20 minute bus ride apart and a great many fans that were collected in Brentford made that trip, but iffy results and disappearing fan engagement soon chipped away and a 100% lack of any marketing effort resulted in the move to the Hive with nearly 3,000 fewer fans than they had at the stoop 5 years earlier. The club has never recovered those fans even though Ealing is only a 20 minute bus ride from Bentford.

Point is, geography is important, but gaining and retaining fans through marketing and customer service is key and Hughes admits he is rubbish at both. 

Having cash is great, but it shows a stubbornness akin to Einsteins theory of insanity to keep ignoring thebissues and expecting a different outcome.

As for that article. Being better than last year is the on field aim? Hardly inspiring any confidence with that statement is he?

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2 hours ago, Londonbornirishbred said:

London Broncos only ever left 1 ground with more fans than they arrived with. 

Griffin Park is where I began my RL addiction and whilst the move to Quins was fiscally required, the club missed a huge opportunity by not staying at Brentford.

As other have said, thr ub also should have made Quins [part 2] work, but a combination of factors mainly caused by the SL clubs enforcing Lenagan to give up his shares but exasperated by Hughes ineptitude in many areas such as recruitment ensured that the relationship and prospects fell apart.

Griffin Park and The Stoop are a 20 minute bus ride apart and a great many fans that were collected in Brentford made that trip, but iffy results and disappearing fan engagement soon chipped away and a 100% lack of any marketing effort resulted in the move to the Hive with nearly 3,000 fewer fans than they had at the stoop 5 years earlier. The club has never recovered those fans even though Ealing is only a 20 minute bus ride from Bentford.

Point is, geography is important, but gaining and retaining fans through marketing and customer service is key and Hughes admits he is rubbish at both. 

Having cash is great, but it shows a stubbornness akin to Einsteins theory of insanity to keep ignoring thebissues and expecting a different outcome.

As for that article. Being better than last year is the on field aim? Hardly inspiring any confidence with that statement is he?

Agreed, I was there for all of this. Brentford was the best location at acquiring new fans, but not a sustainable location. The Quins plan was our best shot, and the proximity meant we took the Brentford crowd with us. Mark Evans the Quins CEO (who likes League, and went on to run Melbourne Storm) was bang up for it on every level, but David Hughes frankly f***** it right up with a lack of desire to invest in marketing and community engagement versus marquee player salaries…

I was doing some pro bono work for the RFL at the time, had a conversation with Nick Cartwright at Broncos back then and pretty much guaranteed that given the money spent on Henry Paul’s wages over 3 years (don’t ask) we could build a sustainable audience. David wouldn’t do it. 

He’s spent almost £1m/season on average bridging the commercial revenues gap since. It depresses me so much I try not to think about it to be honest, and focus my emotions on Rovers instead who have grabbed the opportunity since promotion instead. 

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Apparently this site says I "won the day" here on 23rd Jan, 19th Jan, 9th Jan also 13th December, whatever any of that means. Anyway, 4 times in a few weeks? The forum must be going to the dogs - you people need to seriously up your game. Where's Dutoni when you need him?

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14 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Any chance of changing their name to Wimbledon?

Would it help?

It was seriously considered whilst the move was being planned. A little birdie tells me it went as far as Wimbledon RL branding being drawn up before the idea was vetoed.

Whilst David Hughes is around I can't see the name changing. It's an open secret Broncos is his preferred option.

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2 hours ago, Ivarr the Boneless said:

It was seriously considered whilst the move was being planned. A little birdie tells me it went as far as Wimbledon RL branding being drawn up before the idea was vetoed.

Whilst David Hughes is around I can't see the name changing. It's an open secret Broncos is his preferred option.

Vetoed by who?

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26 minutes ago, Ivarr the Boneless said:

I think I can make an educated guess.

Be grateful to them.

Imagine how much more embarrassing the whole debacle of last year would have been.

I'll assume the now-departed tracksuit seller was the one drawing up the branding.

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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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2 hours ago, Ivarr the Boneless said:

I genuinely don't know.

However it was widely reported the CEO recommended a totally new name when the club stopped being Quins, but was over-ruled by David Hughes. As such, I think I can make an educated guess.

How about the Wombles of Wimbledon? 

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11 minutes ago, Eddie said:

How about the Wombles of Wimbledon? 

Very Woke.

The Woke Wombles of Wimbledon.

Exactly the kind of (image) tag line, the game(and the club) needs to project it onto the world stage.

Now, if only you had a suitable pic. 

Ha ha ha.

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5 minutes ago, Ivarr the Boneless said:

There's a trademark on Wombles. MK Dons hit trouble with that one. Given the club is based in Wimbledon it might get permission, but presumably at a price.

It's tightly controlled as I recall. The author of the Wombles, Elisabeth Beresford, chose the name of the AFCW Womble mascot Haydon.

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35 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

It's tightly controlled as I recall. The author of the Wombles, Elisabeth Beresford, chose the name of the AFCW Womble mascot Haydon.

Ask her if we can have ''Wally the Womble''.

I bet Wally Lewis would love it. 

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5 minutes ago, Eddie said:

The Broncos could have Uncle Bulgaria as their new mascot. 

You beat me to it, see my post above?

 

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1 hour ago, Ivarr the Boneless said:

There's a trademark on Wombles. MK Dons hit trouble with that one. Given the club is based in Wimbledon it might get permission, but presumably at a price.

I know someone who volunteers on a steam railway. Apparently it costs serious sums to run a Thomas the Tank engine event.

Really serious sums have been to a few, sadly my youngest is now 13 so no interest anymore however i am the one with the train set in the garage:)

Paul

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The Broncos are to play 2 homes on the road at the Kuflink Stadium Northfleet Kent home of Ebbsfleet Utd FC against Newcastle Thunder on 2nd of July and against Toulouse on the 8th of July. They played 2 on the road home games there last season as well

https://londonbroncosrl.com/fixtures-results/

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32 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

The Broncos are to play 2 homes on the road at the Kuflink Stadium Northfleet Kent home of Ebbsfleet Utd FC against Newcastle Thunder on 2nd of July and against Toulouse on the 8th of July. They played 2 on the road home games there last season as well

https://londonbroncosrl.com/fixtures-results/

I know that this is because they can't use their home ground between mid-May and mid-July - great deal, guys - but being forced into 2 or 3 'on the road' games is also an opportunity IMO. Given that we have a few RL hotspots around London, I would go for a game in Kent (as now), Essex and Herts - each close to the M25 and/or with good train links. Each one could become an annual event just as county cricket clubs have festivals at outgrounds.

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With the early success of the new matchday experience, losing home games during what is typically some of the best months of the year for weather is a bit of a loss. 

I can’t remember there being much space around Ebbsfleet’s ground to replicate such an environment that they brought to Wimbledon last week. 

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On 08/02/2023 at 22:14, Hull Kingston Bronco said:

Agreed, I was there for all of this.  David Hughes frankly f***** it right up with a lack of desire to invest in marketing and community engagement. He’s spent almost £1m/season on average bridging the commercial revenues gap since.

Surely how he chooses to spend his money must be his choice. The London experiment has been going for 43 years and "ideas" and "investors" for RL in London have come and gone aplenty, as has their money.

Your idea of his lack of desire for "investing" ln Marketing and community engagement seems to indicate he has some sort of responsibility to "grow the game" in London, which he certainly does not have. What he has (as did Tony Rea) is a full grasp of the reality that the more money you spend on grass roots, Marketing, chasing the locals to play, and people to buy into RL in the wrong area, the more money it washes down the pan.

It's not "investing"...........

If he chooses to use a restricted (by his family needs) part of his own personal wealth, to keep London Broncos alive as a semi pro championship level club, that can accomodate the few London based lads who are good enough to try, or regularly play pro-RL then we should be thankful for that.  

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27 minutes ago, steve oates said:

The London experiment

A club that's been around longer than anyone currently playing professional rugby league.

Quite a successful experiment, really.

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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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1 hour ago, steve oates said:

Surely how he chooses to spend his money must be his choice. The London experiment has been going for 43 years and "ideas" and "investors" for RL in London have come and gone aplenty, as has their money.

Your idea of his lack of desire for "investing" ln Marketing and community engagement seems to indicate he has some sort of responsibility to "grow the game" in London, which he certainly does not have. What he has (as did Tony Rea) is a full grasp of the reality that the more money you spend on grass roots, Marketing, chasing the locals to play, and people to buy into RL in the wrong area, the more money it washes down the pan.

It's not "investing"...........

If he chooses to use a restricted (by his family needs) part of his own personal wealth, to keep London Broncos alive as a semi pro championship level club, that can accomodate the few London based lads who are good enough to try, or regularly play pro-RL then we should be thankful for that.  

It's 100% down to David what he spends his money on, nothing I said contradicts that. But if you think his personal goal when Broncos entered the Quins partnership was to stay there for 3 or 4 years without crowds growing, and then later revert to Broncos, ultimately slowly declining to a part-time Championship side which he had to fund otherwise it would die the very next day, then I've a bridge to sell you.

One of us was there and doing work alongside the organisation, and one of us wasn't. So I can tell you first hand that the whole point of the Quins partnership was to build a sustainable, long-term competitive Super League side with growing crowds and the commercial revenues to support the club. Precisely to enable David to not have to spend £1m/season keeping his passion alive. How could it have been anything else? So yes by the measure of his own goals, not some random ones I might pick, and with his own money, he did f*** up.

I swear some people would argue black is white such is their allergic reaction to suggestions we market the game properly. 

 

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Apparently this site says I "won the day" here on 23rd Jan, 19th Jan, 9th Jan also 13th December, whatever any of that means. Anyway, 4 times in a few weeks? The forum must be going to the dogs - you people need to seriously up your game. Where's Dutoni when you need him?

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1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

Quite a successful experiment, really.

Given how long it's been around now words like experiment must say more about the fingers that typed it than London as a club.

It's in the nature of lots of fans now to see failure as the only outcome of expansion.

 

 

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2 warning points:kolobok_dirol:  Non-Political

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, Oxford said:

Given how long it's been around now words like experiment must say more about the fingers that typed it than London as a club.

It's in the nature of lots of fans now to see failure as the only outcome of expansion.

 

 

If failure amounts to the number of players London have produced for Super League teams as well as England RL then we need more failures like London.

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