JB Down Under is obviously far more knowledgeable and shrewd than the executives/investors of the most powerful and successful broadcaster in the UK.

Clearly!

Would be interesting to see what Fulcrubronquins drew these days for a big game like a CC Semi-Final or Final, the turnouts they had in the 90's for such games were appauling IMO.

Wow....just Wow.

There are occassionally some intelligent posts on this thread...but man, some of these posts are just deluded! I won't name name's as all that does is just start/continue a slanging match.

1) Hardly any seats at the Stoop are now uncovered or uncomfortable. But take it a step further...what stadium has very comfortable seats? Its a stadium ffs!! The Stoop is better than quite a lot of the stadiums (inc QPR, Brentford etc) in London.

2) People watch the game in London - maybe they don't go to the Stoop (which is an issue admittedly), but anyone in London (born and bred) following SL would probably have at least an eye on Quins results etc.

3) Lets give this season a chance shall we? New CEO, will be new marketing staff involved....sunny weather has only just arrived - which will entice more people outside! I know for their next match they are giving away 5000 tickets in the Evening Standard and linked on money saving websites. Incase people didn't realise London is a large City...when its pi33ing down with rain and cold there are other things to do other than go to rugby matches!

The sad thing is that people on this site will have gone once or twice to the Quins and not enjoyed it and aren't willing to go again...full stop...get the blinkers out...do all you can to slap it down. You people are just bores...end of!

If there was no Quins (London) side in SL....RL wouldn't have/be cracking the London sports market...people wouldn't watch it in the south nearly as much....viewing figures would fall....Sky wouldn't spend half the money bothering with it....the so called big teams and RFL would lose money....their progress would halt...RL would shrink back to factory towns....only a combined amount of about 200k people would watch the game....playing figures would drop....more top class players would defect to RU.....England would be even further behind Aus and NZ.....

All this would equal those whinging now about London RL failing to eat their hats and realise their team would take a big step backwards as a result.

Hope that's not too ranty....lack of sleep, forced to work in an office during the sunshine etc...

Hear ye you've "been had" by those who still want this www.flickr.com/photos/groundhopp ... 163226921/

Hear ye you've "been had" by those who still want this www.flickr.com/photos/groundhopp ... 163226921/

Bollox.......Murdoch had AFL (well half of it) in his pocket before any of that.....the negotiations were way down the road....but you bang on about the SL wars.....how it killed ARL. Fact is, average crowds before the SL wars were 11 to 13k before the war....the game is better for Murdock taking control, but Aussies are an insular lot and more concerned with the fact that they are still No2 at home after AFL

BTW......If I want an education, I wont be going to google or wiki...but knock yourself out

Murdoch had AFL? are you drunk??

I was with you up until you started this paragraph.

This is scaremongering and conjecture based on zero evidence.

I am still waiting for someone to post the Sky sports viewing figures that show there is a big spike in viewers when Quins are featured. Waiting.........

And why would Sky think that? Maybe because at times crowds of 10,000 plus have turned up to see Fulham, or Crusaders or Broncos play. As many have pointed out, even the overall average in their history, dragged down by more recent years, would compare favourably to Salford or Wakey or Giants - all 'hotbeds' of the game.

And since when did senior media executives go on record in the general press about key contract negotiating points? That's why you'll never see the 'quote' you're after. On the other hand I can tell you that more than one SL club director has told me that the presence of the London team adds value to the TV contract.

yeh and the pixies at the end of the garden told me that the existence of Quins has zero effect on TV viewing figures in the Sth of England.

Splendid. Over here it's more difficult to meet pixies than to meet directors of SL clubs, so we'll have to take your word for it.

Is that the clubs cumulative total since 1980?