London Broncos & London Skolars

[The Partisan]

14 hours ago, JM2010 said:

Both clubs need a permanent home (which the Skolars have) and money to spend on building a strong community game in their areas 

Would there be any dramas with both clubs playing out of the same venue ? New River Stadium for example.

Would need some assistance from those who work out the fixtures draw each year but you could make it work to be the hub of Rugby League in London. 

Having visited NRS as a visiting Aussie tourist a few years back I found it easily accessible and with a warm welcome. 

[JM2010]

31 minutes ago, The Partisan said:

Would there be any dramas with both clubs playing out of the same venue ? New River Stadium for example.

Would need some assistance from those who work out the fixtures draw each year but you could make it work to be the hub of Rugby League in London. 

Having visited NRS as a visiting Aussie tourist a few years back I found it easily accessible and with a warm welcome. 

Not sure if there would be any problems with that or not. It could be a good base to develop RL in London. Both clubs could even work together to develop the junior game in schools and at community level 

[westlondonfan]

The Broncos seem to have become dissatisfied with every landlord that they  have ever had recently so why would it be different at Skolars?

[Guest]

Wood Green is horrible.

No thank you. 

[Odsal Outlaw]

On 27/05/2023 at 19:10, Damien said:

Wtf, so what happened to this? This is gross incompetence even by RFL standards 

It would be great if this could be put to the RFL wouldnt it, but in the grand scheme of their incompetence it’s probably small fry

[IM2]

On 28/05/2023 at 19:46, westlondonfan said:

The Broncos seem to have become dissatisfied with every landlord that they  have ever had recently so why would it be different at Skolars?

cheaper and not demanding landlord

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

9 minutes ago, IM2 said:

cheaper and not demanding landlord

Also a single stand that will accommodate our average gate....with more room needs around ground if ever needed 

The more I think about it the more it makes sense

[bbfaz]

On the takeover, knowing Shaun Lunt a little bit, he's a good bloke but knows little to nothing about RL in London.  So if they do complete this takeover, I can't see much changing.  I know a couple of people they could bring in who would help them who are outside the Skolars' sphere but I can say with virtually 100% confidence that they won't be considered.

As for New River as an RL hub, it's a council-owned leisure centre.  New River is an athletics stadium and not even a nice athletics stadium at that.  Somebody would need to buy it and turf everybody else out, which would cause an uproar locally.

Off the top of my head, the obvious move would be to try to buy the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.  It's run down now because no money has been spent on it in recent years.  It is currently not in any regeneration plans either.  The site has all the infrastructure, you'd just need to rebuild the stadium.  However, this requires very deep pockets and you'll likely be looking at taking on tenants, whether you want to or not. Suddenly, RU clubs are going to have a new target in London to play games.

I've said the same for 10 years now.  It needs a crazy billionaire who can lose 100m before making a single penny in profit and be OK with that.

[Anita Bath]

4 hours ago, bbfaz said:

On the takeover, knowing Shaun Lunt a little bit, he's a good bloke but knows little to nothing about RL in London.  So if they do complete this takeover, I can't see much changing.  I know a couple of people they could bring in who would help them who are outside the Skolars' sphere but I can say with virtually 100% confidence that they won't be considered.

As for New River as an RL hub, it's a council-owned leisure centre.  New River is an athletics stadium and not even a nice athletics stadium at that.  Somebody would need to buy it and turf everybody else out, which would cause an uproar locally.

Off the top of my head, the obvious move would be to try to buy the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.  It's run down now because no money has been spent on it in recent years.  It is currently not in any regeneration plans either.  The site has all the infrastructure, you'd just need to rebuild the stadium.  However, this requires very deep pockets and you'll likely be looking at taking on tenants, whether you want to or not. Suddenly, RU clubs are going to have a new target in London to play games.

I've said the same for 10 years now.  It needs a crazy billionaire who can lose 100m before making a single penny in profit and be OK with that.

But Richard Branson already had a go. Is there another crazy billionaire.....

[fighting irish]

8 hours ago, Anita Bath said:

But Richard Branson already had a go. Is there another crazy billionaire.....

He won't be a billionaire for much longer. 

[bbfaz]

How involved was Branson?  Hands on or just his usual gimmick of licensing his image etc?

[Guest]

Just now, bbfaz said:

How involved was Branson?  Hands on or just his usual gimmick of licensing his image etc?

Yup  Branson rarely risks his own cash or at best makes sure he gets his money out first in later fundraisings. 

[Jughead]

Looks like the takeover has happened or is very close to. I can’t remember Skolars getting so many players from northern clubs as they have so far this year, so I think Lunt has been pulling in favours with some in the game to get the likes of Guzdek (he was quite highly rated, I thought) and three young lads from Huddersfield. 

I don’t think Skolars even need to do anything regarding stadia. They appear to have a good relationship with the landlords and there’s no need to purchase it or annoy anyone else who uses the stadium. There’s also Park View   FC who play on the New River and so it makes it difficult to see Broncos moving in just given how much time there is in a weekend, though in true Broncos fashion, they’d probably do it and ruin the relationships that exist, including those Skolars have. The best thing Skolars can do is engagement in the community, they already do a reasonable amount it seems from the outside. Get into schools, get into local groups, get into foodbanks, get local bands and community groups in on matchday, that sort of thing. 

 

[bbfaz]

2 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Looks like the takeover has happened or is very close to. I can’t remember Skolars getting so many players from northern clubs as they have so far this year, so I think Lunt has been pulling in favours with some in the game to get the likes of Guzdek (he was quite highly rated, I thought) and three young lads from Huddersfield. 

Lunty knows everybody and is a likeable lad.  His involvement is a net positive.

[IM2]

5 hours ago, bbfaz said:

Lunty knows everybody and is a likeable lad.  His involvement is a net positive.

think having a great bloke who knows the north is ideal for Skolars. they will need to add players from the north to compete and thats what they are missing. London knowledge there are a ton of people around

[westlondonfan]

23 hours ago, IM2 said:

cheaper and not demanding landlord

There are a lot of assumptions in that statement.

[bbfaz]

4 hours ago, IM2 said:

London knowledge there are a ton of people around

Most of those people are worthless. Plus, you said it yourself, Skolars have never been the best at doing the hard yards with local recruitment.

[IM2]

On 31/05/2023 at 00:54, bbfaz said:

Most of those people are worthless. Plus, you said it yourself, Skolars have never been the best at doing the hard yards with local recruitment.

no I said local amateur recruitment. think the club has been good at junior pathways and feeding In and taking the next level academy lads, but agree the amateur open age game has been neglected 

[DI Keith Fowler]

On 31/05/2023 at 00:54, bbfaz said:

Most of those people are worthless. Plus, you said it yourself, Skolars have never been the best at doing the hard yards with local recruitment.

Bit harsh.

[bbfaz]

18 hours ago, DI Keith Fowler said:

Bit harsh.

I am a bit harsh as a human being.  However, it's Rugby League so I'm likely right even if I don't know these people.

[Man of Kent]

Rob Butler, Dean Whare and Corey Norman. Broncos mounting a playoff push?

[DI Keith Fowler]

7 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

Rob Butler, Dean Whare and Corey Norman. Broncos mounting a playoff push?

It's an open field Featherstone excluded. I just don't really understand what it's gaining them in the long term unless they think this is money better spent than on... literally anything else to do with the club. 

[gingerjon]

2 minutes ago, DI Keith Fowler said:

It's an open field Featherstone excluded. I just don't really understand what it's gaining them in the long term unless they think this is money better spent than on... literally anything else to do with the club. 

There is no thinking involved.

[Click]

22 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

There is no thinking involved.

I have no idea what the thinking behind all of these signings are, unless they are for at least next season then what is the point at throwing money away this year, when they already underspent by so much leading into the year.

One thing is that it is making me more interested in actually going to watch them again for the first time in awhile.

[OriginalMrC]

1 hour ago, DI Keith Fowler said:

It's an open field Featherstone excluded. I just don't really understand what it's gaining them in the long term unless they think this is money better spent than on... literally anything else to do with the club. 

Literally throwing money down the drain at this stage of the season.