London Broncos & London Skolars

[Henson Park Old Firm]

London need to be sold, talk about flogging a horse.

[DI Keith Fowler]

3 minutes ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

London need to be sold, talk about flogging a horse.

Absolutely, its just a slow and painful decline.

The involvement of IMG and London becoming a target area for growth should have re-invigorated the club, but you can't have any faith in the current ownership to capitalise on this.

[Jughead]

19 minutes ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

London need to be sold, talk about flogging a horse.

Who’s going to buy them and what exactly are you buying? Some balls and bibs kept in a container at a rugby union club is about all you’re getting and you’d be buying a tainted brand, where relationships have been broken well beyond repair. 

[Henson Park Old Firm]

25 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Who’s going to buy them and what exactly are you buying? Some balls and bibs kept in a container at a rugby union club is about all you’re getting and you’d be buying a tainted brand, where relationships have been broken well beyond repair. 

Bogdan, he's my Polish Butcher.

[OriginalMrC]

Broncos are completely rudderless. No vision, no long term plan and currently no hope. I really hope things can turn around but can't see it under the current ownership/management structure 

[westlondonfan]

The other option for London I suppose is for IMG to put their weight behind Skolars instead of the Broncos.

[OnStrike]

1 hour ago, westlondonfan said:

The other option for London I suppose is for IMG to put their weight behind Skolars instead of the Broncos.

Wasn't there some talk about people wanting to put some money into the Skolars recently? Appears to be a well run community club from the outside

[David Shepherd]

16 hours ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

London need to be sold, talk about flogging a horse.

I think a vet with a bolt gun needs to be called. 

[DI Keith Fowler]

1 hour ago, OnStrike said:

Wasn't there some talk about people wanting to put some money into the Skolars recently? Appears to be a well run community club from the outside

Think it's been approved now? They don't sound particularly wealthy but it would take very little for them to leapfrog the Broncos as it stands. 

[crashmon]

TBH I don't think either Skolars oe Broncos are the answer for a sucessful London club at the top level

I just think that the sport field in London is too crowded for a top flight RL club.  I've tried for 20 years to get people near me interested in it, and I did manage to get a few of them to games in 2013 world cup, when we had some decent games played outside of m62 \ cumbria.    But they had pretty much 0 interest in last years WC, althiough they did go to the Semi final in London

[Magic XIII]

5 hours ago, crashmon said:

I've tried for 20 years to get people near me interested in it, and I did manage to get a few of them to games in 2013 world cup, when we had some decent games played outside of m62 \ cumbria.   

But they had pretty much 0 interest in last years WC, althiough they did go to the Semi final in London

Likewise and after 20 odd years of home and away and multiple home grounds even the likes of me cant be bothered putting myself out for the current management who Ive had my fill of.

On the latter point, the trouble isnt with London in itself, its the complete lack of interest nationwide as a result of the sport becoming so insular and held back by parochialsim and small mindedness it just plummets down the favourite sports hit list.

[Josef K]

49 minutes ago, Magic XIII said:

Likewise and after 20 odd years of home and away and multiple home grounds even the likes of me cant be bothered putting myself out for the current management who Ive had my fill of.

On the latter point, the trouble isnt with London in itself, its the complete lack of interest nationwide as a result of the sport becoming so insular and held back by parochialsim and small mindedness it just plummets down the favourite sports hit list.

It’s all very sad & depressing. I only went to one away game at London B and that was when they played at Brentford, it was a great day out watching the Saints match there. 

[EssexRL]

Whilst I think with enough energy, resources and creativity London could support one or more pro RL teams, sadly, I don't see LB or Skolars as the vehicle any more. Over the last 20-30 years there have been opportunities with both clubs (Skolars maybe 3-5 years ago( but it is hard to see how either could deliver now. The lack of any information about the takeover of Skolars is concerning. Even with takeover money any new owners will need to spend £££ on getting a competitive squad together, most of whom won't be living in the south. There's no pool of RL players down here.

At the moment pro-RL in London feels like it's almost at the end, although it will limp on. That may not be a bad thing long run as it could hopefully create space for something new to evolve.

[bbfaz]

I'll be completely honest.  My amateur club had terrible issues with London Skolars.  We had a few players who'd played for Greenwich and then had a crack at Skolars but left the game.  We brought them back into the game and, from the very first game, there were Skolars people at our ground, trying to poach these players and anybody else who tickled their fancy.  This continued throughout our existence.  At one point, they signed our captain and he tried to take a number of players with him.

So I have no sympathy for them being stripped, bearing in mind what they did to us.  Sure, it's a paid gig but it's not paid well enough to make it worthwhile for most players.  They were stripping a club who did the work of bringing players back into the game, giving younger players more experience or, in most cases, converting players from union.

That's fine to an extent, players move up when they're good enough, but they didn't want to give back the other way.  They didn't just want their bit, they wanted ours and we were supposed to like it.  It would be an idea for them to actually have relationships and a dialogue to push players who want to drop from semi-pro to amateur clubs or place players they're trying to develop to get some game time.  They don't want to do that themselves and then they don't want anybody else to do it.

So Skolars wanted to steal our players and Broncos are wearing a kit that looks like one we would have rejected.

[IM2]

34 minutes ago, bbfaz said:

I'll be completely honest.  My amateur club had terrible issues with London Skolars.  We had a few players who'd played for Greenwich and then had a crack at Skolars but left the game.  We brought them back into the game and, from the very first game, there were Skolars people at our ground, trying to poach these players and anybody else who tickled their fancy.  This continued throughout our existence.  At one point, they signed our captain and he tried to take a number of players with him.

So I have no sympathy for them being stripped, bearing in mind what they did to us.  Sure, it's a paid gig but it's not paid well enough to make it worthwhile for most players.  They were stripping a club who did the work of bringing players back into the game, giving younger players more experience or, in most cases, converting players from union.

That's fine to an extent, players move up when they're good enough, but they didn't want to give back the other way.  They didn't just want their bit, they wanted ours and we were supposed to like it.  It would be an idea for them to actually have relationships and a dialogue to push players who want to drop from semi-pro to amateur clubs or place players they're trying to develop to get some game time.  They don't want to do that themselves and then they don't want anybody else to do it.

So Skolars wanted to steal our players and Broncos are wearing a kit that looks like one we would have rejected.

I was involved with Skolars for 25 years and I dont recognise this at all. first up I cant remember anytime the club tried to poach a cohort from greenwich. also I pushed coaches for years to get out and scout & no one ever did eventhough I personally always thought there was tons of talent out there in the amateur game. so I cant refute your specific claims but its something I dont recognise and I was around the club longer than anyone. 

Edited April 26, 2023 by IM2

[IM2]

2 hours ago, EssexRL said:

Whilst I think with enough energy, resources and creativity London could support one or more pro RL teams, sadly, I don't see LB or Skolars as the vehicle any more. Over the last 20-30 years there have been opportunities with both clubs (Skolars maybe 3-5 years ago( but it is hard to see how either could deliver now. The lack of any information about the takeover of Skolars is concerning. Even with takeover money any new owners will need to spend £££ on getting a competitive squad together, most of whom won't be living in the south. There's no pool of RL players down here.

At the moment pro-RL in London feels like it's almost at the end, although it will limp on. That may not be a bad thing long run as it could hopefully create space for something new to evolve.

have hope change takes time and any progress really comes down to money and investment. foundations are there to build on. lets see Richard 

[Jughead]

The takeover at Skolars has been agreed by the RFL now, hasn’t it? I don’t think the lack of information is a concern, I think the impromptu, over-excited announcement has probably lead to this rather than there actually being any issues. Maybe the consortium shouldn’t have announced it how they did and some of the initial excitement has waned because of the actual process of ratifying new owners taking its normal length of time. 

[EssexRL]

3 hours ago, Jughead said:

The takeover at Skolars has been agreed by the RFL now, hasn’t it? I don’t think the lack of information is a concern, I think the impromptu, over-excited announcement has probably lead to this rather than there actually being any issues. Maybe the consortium shouldn’t have announced it how they did and some of the initial excitement has waned because of the actual process of ratifying new owners taking its normal length of time. 

I don’t know TBH whether it has. No comm’s. Fingers crossed though 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

On 25/04/2023 at 20:00, crashmon said:

They won't go back to Ealing, that ship has sailed.

Right now with London I take it season to season, I would not be surprised to see the club cease to exist in the next 2-3 years

In what way has the ship sailed?

[Magic XIII]

13 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

In what way has the ship sailed?

What circumstances at Ealing would change to make it realistic for them to return ? Also, didnt Hughes pee off another landlord .....

[The Future is League]

On 24/04/2023 at 19:42, ATLANTISMAN said:

Broncos will not be at Wimbledon after this season.

My bet is Roslyn Park.

Think North kent

[Jeff Stein]

30 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

Think North kent

Rumour has it that there is opposition amongst the RFL hierarchy to that so that will mean a few more bridges to burn for the Broncos management 

[gingerjon]

Just now, Jeff Stein said:

Rumour has it that there is opposition amongst the RFL hierarchy to that so that will mean a few more bridges to burn for the Broncos management 

There's a spare 4G over at Bexhill College.

No facilities but will probably do for the number of attending Broncos fans that will be left after another move.

[Archie Gordon]

We have an area of the country with around 10 community clubs sitting underneath a couple of semi-pro clubs, one of which runs an RFL-accredited academy. The same area generates strong TV viewer numbers and delivers strong attendances for 'event' RL. It has different demographics to any other RL stronghold in the country. 

But there is no plan to exploit any of this.

[fighting irish]

Just now, Archie Gordon said:

We have an area of the country with around 10 community clubs sitting underneath a couple of semi-pro clubs, one of which runs an RFL-accredited academy. The same area generates strong TV viewer numbers and delivers strong attendances for 'event' RL. It has different demographics to any other RL stronghold in the country. 

But there is no plan to exploit any of this.

There should be 50 or 60 community clubs.