When away fans come down to London they always say we struggle because "London is a rugby union town", and I always disagree.

But here's the rub. Today 'London' Wasps have announced that they are moving to Coventry.
In 1995 seven Union teams in London went professional, since then:
Richmond folded in 1999 (an amateur club of the same name plays in the lower leagues),
London Scottish folded in 1999 (an amateur club of the same name has since turned pro),
Saracens spent 16 years playing in Watford, Hertfordshire, before moving to north London,
London Irish moved to Reading, Berkshire, 40 miles from London,
London Welsh moved to Oxford, 50 miles from London,
Wasps are moving to Coventry, 100 miles from London,
Harlequins are the only club to have stayed put and experience growth in London.

If a game that's been played in London for 100+ years is apparently struggling to make a go of it at club level, is it any wonder the Broncos with poor administration, poor marketing, and constant relocation have failed to make any impact?

Question is, does Union clubs heading for the hills indicate that London will never be interested in club rugby of any sort?
Or is this the opportunity to plug a gap and really sell Rugby League (Broncos, Skolars, the whole game) to the capital?

I honestly think it's too late now to ever get a London club with enough support to sustain it with a view to having a full professional set up top to bottom..the chance/s have gone which is a disgraceful reflection on the insular nature of those in charge at the RFL. I don't think the RFL are/were all that bothered about having a pro London club, too much effort on their part and having to spend a bit of dollar investing in schools/constant promotion/marketing (which we fail to do as a sport as a whole anyways).

I honestly think gettting a pro team outside of the heartlands somewhere down the line (10/15 years) needs to come from the likes of Coventry/Sheffield, maybe Nottingham. I don't think there is enough for Hemel to get much further than where they are now (which is a fantastic achievement by any std) geographically and also the type of population as well as lack of a large town/city. Gloucester could get into the Championship further down the line but again I can't see them ever having a full on pro team.

The game isn't dying but it is hanging on by its fingernails..mainly in part due to the amazing people running the amateur scene and that the sport is just a fantastic spectacle as well as playing it. You only have to look at the lack of sponsorship at the top level to see how far we are behind other sports and that lack of brand awareness (& money) is a massive reason why I don't think we'll ever have a team in London at the pro-level again if not for a very very long time.

It has always annoyed the hell out of me when I see past comments about how much the RFL were suppoedly helping out London (in whatever guise they were), when that was complete b0llox. It annoyed me even further when I know that fledgling clubs such as my old club St.Albans and various other London/S.East/East clubs get next to nack all support from the RFL in terms of awareness within communities, helping bridge the gaps compared to other more popular/ingrained sports especially in areas where enough amateur clubs are running that it is obvious there's a market for the sport.

Soccer is so popular in London for one thing, that and you have such a massively diversity of cultures many of whom have never heard of RL and aren't particularly interested even if they were given freebie training/game tickets. That's not to say that some wouldn't come but it needs constant effort, starting in schools (which is where our old coach went in and started up a nice local schools league some years back).

I went to play masters at Medway a couple of years ago and it seemed they were really gearing up to do something special over there..huge numbers of kids coming for mini tournaments and a great bunch of people..They're gearing to go into Championship 1 in 2019..I really hope they achieve that and more..

I think it is also a case of lack of any spare land that could accommodate the size of a reasonable stadium in London. All the stadiums that are currently in place are used and owned by football clubs/Councils or Harlequins. The is no real room for a club "in" London to thrive, own their own ground and not be crippled by rent and the cost of land in London. It is such a built up area that any spare space is snapped up in no time and built on with flats or offices. I think the lack of a "Home" base that clubs can build on is a real issue - no matter how much marketing you carry out - if you don't have a base and that security, then you'll always be moving about.

That is why Wasps have moved about in RU and in order to get that security had to leave London and head north. London Welsh are the same.

London's RL team have no choice but to shack up with football clubs and play second fiddle or to move out of London - neither give them a secure future in London.

Many other reasons are in place that act as barriers to London having a proper RL team that can suit the overall population of the city.... yes, football sadly always comes first... but it doesn't mean there isn't an appetite for a London club.... just lack of options as to where they can base themselves for a long term future.

Hopefully they can settle in Barnet (not where I'd prefer them - but that's just a selfish opinion being based in SW London)... But I just hope they can get that security off field to build on it. Only time will tell.

Anway, will be interesting to see what "fans" of the game have to moan about now that London have no SL presence. Who will be turned on first?? They all love a moan!

Hmmm..

This is the reason, spot on. If you don't have your own stadium and revenus streams you can't make it as a pro-sport's club. It's almost impossible to build / develop a stadium in London or home-counties without MEGA bucks (or berks).

There needs to be a strategy for all clubs entering an elite sports comp, there never was one for London RL and still isn't. The smart thing would have been to play in MK, (where the council and media would have thrown their support behind the club) or to merge with Skolars and throw some Sky money at the New River (northern parochialism would probably never have allowed that to happen) but to just stick a club in London renting on short term deals at soccer/rah rah clubs is just asking for failure.

We may now be getting a 20 year deal at the Hive which would have been ideal a few years ago, but now we've alienated 70% of our fan-base and now promotion to SL is as good as impossible that's it now, no more top-level RL in London.

Cheer up can you not see the light at the end of the tunnel

London is a football town. Everything else is little more than a social event.

Pretty much the same can be said of the entire country. That said, quins and Saracen's seem to do ok attendance wise for the small stadiums they have.

I fear you may be right.
Back on my original point though, what I find interesting is how far away the RU clubs have moved, that's what makes it look like they've given up on London, hence mt comment about it being a football city.



All good points. I do still wonder if we could have had joint ownership of a ground with one of the more impoverished football clubs, given the right management at the Broncos and RFL? Pipe dream I know.



You've obviously been to the Union "London" double header.

I agree with your points and perhaps the future is a ring of smaller clubs around London. The growth and development at Medway is excellent but where do the RFL sit in supporting this aspect of the game. Its never too late for a long term pro team in London but the opportunity at a fully professional level is back at base level again and you don't need a rehash of how it got there. I don't agree with the new structure but if the RFL is serious about the sport growing, the new structure is the ideal opportunity to start to promote the game in a structured way including building the sport in London. You just know it'll never happen and the insular approach will continue to dominate. A SL team in London will always draw from a wide area (South East rather than London), I can't see just one area becoming the fan base for a SL team in London, community clubs perhaps. Thus to get brand knowledge you really need a consistently successful team in a good location, be prepared to spend on marketing and not see a direct return for 10 years. It has to be a whole sport approach not a form it and pray it'll survive. There is potentially a market for League just no one centrally is prepared to make the effort it really requires.

There is a market for Rugby Union in the capital but Scaracens and Quins have it sown up though is either profitable or are they like most teams funded by one or more people. They are probably the two replicas you'll see people wearing across London. The other clubs have sought out new pastures. Below the pro level union has quite a strong foothold across the capital, but the finances (most clubs do not have a multi-millionaire) mean they operate at a more sustainable level, Blackheath would be a good example.

Given the way the RU clubs in the south of France are distorting the financial playing field I suspect plenty of English RU teams are at least part reliant on benefactors.
Trouble is, all the money swilling round union is enabling them to buy up the best RL players.

Leicester are probably the only self sufficient club in the aviva....quins arent far off through.
Owning your own ground is the key......sarries will get there eventually.....and wasps now realise this too.

I agree but there has never been the financial wherewithal to deliver a stadium and team in London for Broncos. Nor has there been the foresight to sign up as an equal partner with a football team and have joint ownership of a ground. Whether that is deliverable with Barnet is open to debate.