An interesting article in Rugby League World, by new scientist writer Michael O’Hare, on rugby league in London. Firstly a few facts that will have flat cappers choking on their corn flakes, 300 schools in London are to play in the 2011 Carnegie Schools Champion competition, with a total of 30,000 kids playing Rugby League in the capital across more than 100 clubs. No London rugby league club has ever received any additional funding from the RFL, despite the claims from Cas, Wakey and Leigh fans. The number of sky viewing figures watching RL in London matches the figures for the number of people watching in Northern England, although due to London’s size and population they are far more spread out than those up north (although worth the same, if not more, in terms of £’s in the sky TV contract.)

So what is the problem with RL in London? Well of course that is already well documented by the flat cappers, Harlequins, London’s leading RL club, have low attendances. O’Hare claims London RL has never been tried, with no marketing, plonking a club in various locations around the capital has had 0% chance of working.

His suggestion, the club to be based in a non union clubbed region of London, having their own identity, given extra assistance (RFL£’s) to market the club to the local people, as has already been successfully done in the NRL and Rugby Unions Super 15’s.

Makes sense to me, lets do it.

I agree completely , let's do it , anybody got a spare twenty million in the bank ?

What's most shocking about this to me is the fact the RL press have apparently collared someone decent to start writing interesting articles about the game.

I'll have to find a copy.

Maybe Michael O'Hare just read the VT and said what most sensible posters have been saying on here for eons!

i live in london, and try to get to see as many super league games on a fraiday night, where ever i am. pubs often have games on. i have watched super league in such diverse places as the city, oval, the strand and the east end. there is always a passing interest, and a lot of knowledge about the game. the word is spreading among the tv audience, which is why it is essential that there is a london entity. as everyone knows, its getting the tv audience, and the youth who are playing down to watch the game live. what rl in london certainly isn't doing is failing.

And there we have it folks.

In approximately 3 lines this bloke has summed up why Harlequins are in the situation they are.

No one from London actually pays to go along and watch them.


If a genuine rugby league fan who actually lives in London can't be bothered going along then the club have go no chance of attracting anyone with passing interest

You do realise that for the piece you underlined the poster was talking about the live Sky games on Friday evening and not the Quins home games which are usually scheduled for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon kick off (less than 25% of Quins home games are Friday evening fixtures)?

FFS, haven't they been given enough already?!!

Just simply never going to work there unfortunately, never has been an RL city and never will be.

A team from OUTSIDE the wastelands trying to succeed by trying new things? Perish the thought.....BAh HUMBUIG even!

We've tried expansionism, which as every parochial flatcapper knows, does not work.

Why not try contractionism? Ban the game from everywhere outside a 4 mile wide corridor centred on the M62. To further encourage the contraction of the game, every fan of the greatest game should pi55 and moan and b1tch at anyone who lives more than 5 miles away from them and expresses an interest in the sport. What???? Doing that already?????
Umm reduce the sport further by banning all teams with attendances regularly below 5000? So that would leave just 'Ull, Leeds and Saints.

THAT'LL make Yorks and Lincs the top countries in the game surely.

Obv Lancs not Lincs. Not that it makes any diff to me. You northerners all look the same anyway.

I'd take the million quid they give Quins a year and spend it on Jnr and amateur RL in the whole area. It would be far more effective in our main goal of spreading the game and creating a bigger Jnr base. The Quins are clearly not the reason kids start playing RL in London, spend the money better, kick the failure that is Quins RL into touch and spend the money where it actually makes most difference. Unless of course someone can provide empirical evidence that having Quins in SL actually makes a difference to Sky viewing figures.

JB you lummox. Kids play the sport in the hope of reaching the heights. CLEARLY they already do this in large numbers in Lahndahn.
What das kapital is short of is spectators / viewers / supporters.

The problem is all tastes and kinks are well catered for in Cockney headquarters. 26 excessively tattoed, gimlet eyed northerners and colonials running into each other in converging straight lines over and over again is of limited interest to the spoiled pearly kings and queens.

To get stabby cockneys though the turnstiles you would have to give away free knives at half time or something.

Depends where you are. Especially considering where Twickenham is. Otherwise it's like slagging off Scousers for failing to turn up regularly at the Galpharm.

Of course he didn't realise, he's too busy shouting about his opinions to actually read what people say.

I know and he even underlined the bit he didn't understand

As Mark Twain said "It's better to keep quiet and have people think you stupid, than to talk and confirm it"