London Broncos & London Skolars

[bangersandmash]

9 hours ago, Barley Mow said:

 

You can see the ground in the video above from Broncos' challenge cup match against Dewsbury earlier this year.

Thanks, presumably there is seating in the stand game was filmed from…

 

??

 

 

[Barley Mow]

7 minutes ago, bangersandmash said:

Thanks, presumably there is seating in the stand game was filmed from…

 

??

 

 

I haven't been there, but from photos it looks like there is a small stand on the side where the camera was, running about a quarter of the length of the field.

[langpark]

Is the Skolars take over still happening? 

[OriginalMrC]

12 hours ago, langpark said:

Is the Skolars take over still happening? 

Yes it surely must be because it was announced in January by some random bloke

[Jughead]

13 hours ago, langpark said:

Is the Skolars take over still happening? 

The Guardian ran an article on it two months ago, there’s been no word officially or unofficially since. 

[steve oates]

On 23/06/2023 at 01:15, Londonbornirishbred said:

In reality they're solely reliant on his benevolence due to his utter contempt for any form of marketing or promotional work. The little that is done is usually a "one off", with no follow up and no patience shown. If something is tried once and doesn't deliver immediate results its deemed a failure. hes benevolence, but hardly Lucky. Well, that's my thoughts after 21 years following them anyway.

I would assume that Mr. Hughes does not bother with Marketing on the basis of the reality that Broncos or Skolars are probably unable to get ant return on such marketing "investments".

If a marketing campaign for more bums on seats at a match costs £1,000 and only £200 worth of extra fans show that's not "marketing".  It's a stupid waste of money that can be ill afforded....

On Skolars I am not up to date, but what is any new owner looking at in terms of the receipt of TV money next year and onwards??  

[langpark]

1 hour ago, Jughead said:

The Guardian ran an article on it two months ago, there’s been no word officially or unofficially since. 

Really worrying. I fear they are headed towards disaster. They seem a mess and cannot even beat the likes of Cornwall these days. 

[DI Keith Fowler]

33 minutes ago, langpark said:

Really worrying. I fear they are headed towards disaster. They seem a mess and cannot even beat the likes of Cornwall these days. 

From the outside looking in, it looks like the Broncos going part time has absolutely messed up the London RL ecosystem and Skolars are feeling the brunt of it. 

[Click]

5 hours ago, steve oates said:

I would assume that Mr. Hughes does not bother with Marketing on the basis of the reality that Broncos or Skolars are probably unable to get ant return on such marketing "investments".

If a marketing campaign for more bums on seats at a match costs £1,000 and only £200 worth of extra fans show that's not "marketing".  It's a stupid waste of money that can be ill afforded....

On Skolars I am not up to date, but what is any new owner looking at in terms of the receipt of TV money next year and onwards??  

Then clearly they haven't been doing the right type of marketing ...

If the only reason you don't do marketing is because when you did it in the past it didn't work then you might as well close up shop.

[Ivarr the Boneless]

Marketing the move to Wimbledon on trains during the work from home order is no reason to abandon marketing. Though it may give you reason to review those in charge. Likewise the dumping of free ticket leaflets in random cafes in Ealing not working doesn't mean marketing can't ever work.

The honest truth is their strongest marketing tool was the fans. (Word of mouth.) Unfortunately they alienated most of them and had no marketing strategy of any value to generate new support 

What followed was as inevitable as night following day.

[Cb2]

21 hours ago, langpark said:

Really worrying. I fear they are headed towards disaster. They seem a mess and cannot even beat the likes of Cornwall these days. 

It’s very possible. Who knows if League 1 will even exist next year!

[Cb2]

20 hours ago, DI Keith Fowler said:

From the outside looking in, it looks like the Broncos going part time has absolutely messed up the London RL ecosystem and Skolars are feeling the brunt of it. 

It’s true - the stronger Broncos are, the stronger Skolars are. In years gone by the academy lads that didn’t quite make it at LB would sign for Skolars and there would be a fresh intake each year, almost non existent now. 

[Toby Chopra]

22 minutes ago, Cb2 said:

It’s true - the stronger Broncos are, the stronger Skolars are. In years gone by the academy lads that didn’t quite make it at LB would sign for Skolars and there would be a fresh intake each year, almost non existent now. 

Many predicted this outcome at the start of the year, and so it's come to pass. But in typical Broncos fashion Hughes seems to have U-turned and realised that he'll need a better team to make any impact, so hopefully the previous pattern can be restored.

Except... the new Skolars owners seemed to be promising to beat the Broncos at their own game and be the biggest full-time club in the city. Well, we'll see, but I have my doubts.

The whole idea of two London clubs directly competing with each others for fans and players is ridiculous anyway. This isn't the heartland where there are surplus clubs and latent fan bases, we need a comprehensive London plan. That involves a full time team aspiring to Superleague, which inevitably has many players brought in from elsewhere, and part-time team to bridge the gap to the community game and academy.

Which teams they are and what they're called is a different matter.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Toby Chopra

[Cb2]

16 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

Many predicted this outcome at the start of the year, and so it's come to pass. But in typical Broncos fashion Hughes seems to have U-turned and realised that he'll need a better team to make any impact, so hopefully the previous pattern can be restored.

Except... the new owners seemed to be promising to beat the Broncos at their own game and be the biggest full-time club in the city. Well, we'll see, but I have my doubts.

The whole idea of two London clubs directly competing with each others for fans and players is ridiculous anyway. This isn't the heartland where there are surplus clubs and latent fan bases, we need a comprehensive London plan. That involves a full time team aspiring to Superleague, which inevitably has many players brought in from elsewhere, and part-time team to bridge the gap to the community game and academy.

Which teams they are and what they're called is a different matter.

There definitely should be two teams - but as you say, one needs to be SL and the other in the Champ or L1 (if it’s to exist from 2024 onwards). 
 

Skolars issues this year are not the fault Broncos. The issues and adversity Skolars are dealing with is incredible. Broncos at least have some idea of what they are doing and I would expect with IMG proposals not far off - LB will be strongly be considering going back to full time. 

[Tommygilf]

13 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

Many predicted this outcome at the start of the year, and so it's come to pass. But in typical Broncos fashion Hughes seems to have U-turned and realised that he'll need a better team to make any impact, so hopefully the previous pattern can be restored.

Except... the new Skolars owners seemed to be promising to beat the Broncos at their own game and be the biggest full-time club in the city. Well, we'll see, but I have my doubts.

The whole idea of two London clubs directly competing with each others for fans and players is ridiculous anyway. This isn't the heartland where there are surplus clubs and latent fan bases, we need a comprehensive London plan. That involves a full time team aspiring to Superleague, which inevitably has many players brought in from elsewhere, and part-time team to bridge the gap to the community game and academy.

Which teams they are and what they're called is a different matter.

I absolutely get what you are saying and agree mostly with it. I too think the Broncos decision to go part time has tipped the balance out of whack and the Skolars are bearing the brunt of that.

However, if possible, I do think that sometimes having a "rival" can help a team trying to make headway in an outpost area. It gives at least 1 or 2 big games a season they can draw attention to. On field rivals but off field partners can be a good mantra. I think its particularly effective very far off areas, including internationally, but can be seen in a domestic context too.

[Toby Chopra]

3 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I absolutely get what you are saying and agree mostly with it. I too think the Broncos decision to go part time has tipped the balance out of whack and the Skolars are bearing the brunt of that.

However, if possible, I do think that sometimes having a "rival" can help a team trying to make headway in an outpost area. It gives at least 1 or 2 big games a season they can draw attention to. On field rivals but off field partners can be a good mantra. I think its particularly effective very far off areas, including internationally, but can be seen in a domestic context too.

As you say, if you can pull off "on field rivals but off field partners" then all to the good. But in the current context of trying to save RL in London the partnership is way more valuable than those two games, even if you can brand it as North London Vs South London.

The biggest selling point the Broncos have always had is when teams like Wigan or Leeds come to town, you can do so much more with that if you try than with a local rivalry that means very little even to existing fans. 

[JM2010]

13 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I absolutely get what you are saying and agree mostly with it. I too think the Broncos decision to go part time has tipped the balance out of whack and the Skolars are bearing the brunt of that.

However, if possible, I do think that sometimes having a "rival" can help a team trying to make headway in an outpost area. It gives at least 1 or 2 big games a season they can draw attention to. On field rivals but off field partners can be a good mantra. I think its particularly effective very far off areas, including internationally, but can be seen in a domestic context too.

If Skolars do get significant investment and Broncos go back full time I hope they can work together on the development side to increase playing numbers in schools and local junior sides

[steve oates]

17 hours ago, Click said:

Then clearly they haven't been doing the right type of marketing ...

If the only reason you don't do marketing is because when you did it in the past it didn't work then you might as well close up shop.

So marketing works full stop

You just need the "right type" eh??

I guess your a Billionaire then

Hetherington is one of the best at marketing RL, so I wonder why Leeds have not opened a new 100,000 capacity stadium in Leeds or at least sold out every Headingley game.

[steve oates]

25 minutes ago, JM2010 said:

If Skolars do get significant investment and Broncos go back full time I hope they can work together on the development side to increase playing numbers in schools and local junior sides

Over the years (and London do go back decades now) amateur and junior RL has declined significantly. The changes in what kids want to do in their spare time, and the head knocks debate has seen numbers decline massively. In addition TV money is down, so the reality will be players and fans probably having one  part time team in London if there is enough private backing from an owner......

[Archie Gordon]

1 hour ago, Toby Chopra said:

...

The whole idea of two London clubs directly competing with each others for fans and players is ridiculous anyway. This isn't the heartland where there are surplus clubs and latent fan bases, we need a comprehensive London plan. That involves a full time team aspiring to Superleague, which inevitably has many players brought in from elsewhere, and part-time team to bridge the gap to the community game and academy.

...

And, very sadly, none of the interested parties who might fund a small team to develop such a plan are in the least bit interested in doing so. 

 

[OriginalMrC]

1 hour ago, Cb2 said:

There definitely should be two teams - but as you say, one needs to be SL and the other in the Champ or L1 (if it’s to exist from 2024 onwards). 
 

Skolars issues this year are not the fault Broncos. The issues and adversity Skolars are dealing with is incredible. Broncos at least have some idea of what they are doing and I would expect with IMG proposals not far off - LB will be strongly be considering going back to full time. 

I disagree here on two of the points. Skolars have never quite recovered from Broncos poaching their coach and most of their squad a couple of years ago. They've had to try to rebuild and that's hard on a limited budget. Broncos really did do them over and don't appear to have done anything to help in return. 

Secondly I don't think Broncos have any idea what they are doing. They've poured money down the drain for years and alienated their fan base. They are in a stadium that allegedly costs £200k a year and average crowds of a few hundred. They've sacked a succession of good coaches and other staff and yet retained an underperforming management team. In short they are one of the worst run clubs in the country 

Edited July 18, 2023 by OriginalMrC

[Click]

37 minutes ago, steve oates said:

So marketing works full stop

You just need the "right type" eh??

I guess your a Billionaire then

Hetherington is one of the best at marketing RL, so I wonder why Leeds have not opened a new 100,000 capacity stadium in Leeds or at least sold out every Headingley game.

I would say - Generally speaking yes, Marketing works. Does every type of marketing work for every type of business? Far from it. 

If you think that the Broncos have ever been marketed properly or correctly in its existence then I am not sure what to say. 

I am not sure if you are saying for them to pack it up or not now? They are sub 1k crowds, I am not sure how you could possibly gain any traction and start to gain more fans without marketing.

The club barely has a working website, the twitter and facebook seems to be run by a volunteer who if he doesn't show up, then there is now social media output - This is basic marketing which barely costs a penny but they fail at the basics.

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, Toby Chopra said:

As you say, if you can pull off "on field rivals but off field partners" then all to the good. But in the current context of trying to save RL in London the partnership is way more valuable than those two games, even if you can brand it as North London Vs South London.

The biggest selling point the Broncos have always had is when teams like Wigan or Leeds come to town, you can do so much more with that if you try than with a local rivalry that means very little even to existing fans. 

As I said its not necessarily translatable to London or the South East specifically, but I think these things can all work together. 

As you say I think the RL situation is far from ideal, and is closer to critical.

[Tre Cool]

16 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

I disagree here on two of the points. Skolars have never quite recovered from Broncos poaching their coach and most of their squad a couple of years ago. They've had to try to rebuild and that's hard on a limited budget. Broncos really did do them over and don't appear to have done anything to help in return. 

Secondly I don't think Broncos have any idea what they are doing. They've poured money down the drain for years and alienated their fan base. They are in a stadium that allegedly costs £200k a year and average crowds of a few hundred. They've sacked a succession of good coaches and other staff and yet retained an underperforming management team. In short they are one of the worst run clubs in the country 

There's plenty to criticise Broncos for, but it gets a bit tiring hearing people involved in other failing semi-pro clubs constantly talking down about them as if they can do better.  Hemel and Skolars people are terrible for it.  And both clubs have failed terribly at going pro no matter which way you look at it.  At least Broncos have offered a great pathway to fully pro for loads of players from the SE.  And there's a number of very succesful fully pro players who would probably never have made it without Broncos if they were just relying on Hemel and Skolars.  Clubb, Sarginson, LMS, Dixon, McMeeken.....

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, JM2010 said:

If Skolars do get significant investment and Broncos go back full time I hope they can work together on the development side to increase playing numbers in schools and local junior sides

Agreed, they have to work in partnership off the field.