Quote: EastLondonBroncos "Being a Londoner and loving rugby league I really dont want to see London out of the super league any time soon but believe we need to move locations, community RL is growing in London, loads of schools and kids playing across the capital and a strong origin series has been around for a few years.
But with low crowds stops first time fans are getting put of from coming back as well as the poor results and performances.
Id love to see us move to a slightly smaller stadium to get more of an atmosphere and move to a better more transport friendly ground and maybe attract more fans with better commerical presence around London.'"
Welcome to the RLFANS.COM boards.
On the topic of a move, I have no problem with the identifying of, research into and exploration of the possibility of a move to a new ground.......but, and as a poster of some 13,000+ comments on the subject, ONLY AFTER THE CLUB ACCEPT THAT THEY HAVE TO SPEND SOME PROPER MONEY ADVERTISING THE FACT THEY EXIST AND INVITING PEOPLE TO COME ALONG TO GAMES AT TWICKENHAM.
I have a delightfull spreadsheet which highlights the attendances at all the London SL teams games since the start of the comp, including the 11 games taken on the road...the current average across all seasons is 3,758.
The reason the club are currently attracting 2,883 this year is a combination of the dross on the park, caused by the BLANK REFUSAL OF THE CHAIRMAN TO SACK THE UNDERPOEFORMING COACH as well as the TOTAL AND UTTER REFUSAL OF THE CHAIRMAN TO FINANCE ANY MARKETING OF SUBSTANCE because he doesn't understand how to run a professional sports business.
David Hughes is both the problem and the current saviour of Londons Superleague side....it's his toy and he will play with it as he sees fit.....
At some point last year, the CEO, the second to be employed from Cricket and the second to have failed in their stated aims BTW, managed to convince the Chairman that the Name Harlequins Rugby League was the problem.....Now apparently the problem is the ground and where it is situated. The club will have had no shirt sponsor for 47 games of 54 under the CEO's tenure, attendances have dropped 15% since he came on board, he employed a cricket wear manufacturer to produce the clubs RUGBY LEAGUE kit, he has opened up a 14,850 seater stadium on all sides to accommodate 20% capacity crowds therefore reducing the atmosphere at games and now after sacking the commercial sales manager and Marketing and Comms manager, both I will add who were hand picked by him from.......wait for it.......CRICKET BACKGROUNDS.......he is touting a move as the "answer"
Put simply, the answer is for the club to be taken over by the RFL/SKY with 100% transparency. Then Build David Hughes a statue, make him a life member forever and then tell him Thak you.....and goodbye!
Since Ian Lenegan went north in 2007, DH has pumped about 8 million into the club....he has spent more on failed CEO's, failed Commercial Sales Managers and failed Marketing Managers in this timne than the club has spent on actually attracting fans, corporate sales, sponsors or any other form of revenue stream that could see them move towards self sustainability.
As I said, welcome to the boards