Another argument in favour of a high-profile London club is the national newspapers might actually bother to cover the game a bit.

(I'm aware there is a reasonably competitive London club but nowadays they play to piddling crowds at a glorified leisure centre)

Interesting......

Looked it up and The Valley provided a 5,400 average crowd. Wigan 10,000 was the best and Halifax 3,200 the worst. Last year in Superleague 2,000 average, 1100 worst crowd.v.Salford, best v.Leeds 3000.

So the question would be would the the extra costs of operating at the valley be more than the extra revenue from an average 3,400 fans? I suggest they may be??

The other point may be that if the owner is happy settled at Ealing, and if the reserves and Academy and development foundation is working well out of Ealing then they really do need to stay there. That we have a formal RL player development system going on in London and a settled professional club is important, I would not like to see them move for the umpteenth time. In the end fans are not as important as a stable cost effective home, the development of southern players and the presence of top class RL in the capital...

Or are they?

I don't remember what made them move from The Valley.

But besides Chelsea, Fulham, QPR and Brentford, West London is also catchment area for Twickenham, Harlequins, London Irish (though they play out at Reading now), Richmond RFC. There is definitely a lot more competition around Ealing and most people I know can only afford the time and money to follow one sports team properly.

Funnily enough, I am usually a supporter of the BBC, but I have noticed that now the RU Premiership has restarted RL doesn't even get a mention. In fact this morning on R4, they didn't even bother saying 'and in rugby union....', they simply said ' In the Premiership Exeter won...blah blah blah....'

It seems we ra back to being those ' idiots up north'.

The Guardian coverage is also poor, usually just an afterthought. Notice the banner on the web site sports page - rugby league way over on the right whereas rugby union is placed with football and cricket. Clearly forgotten its Manchester Guardian heritage.

The Independent's coverage was always very good, but with Dave Hadfield unfortunately long term sick, the game doesn't seem to be pushed as much as it once was.

So, basically, the anti-establishment broadsheets can't be bothered with league anymore, and we will never get a fair go in The Telegraph because of what the paper is.

Very few newspapers are sold nowadays.
With the only apparent ambition for the sport of rugby league being the ability to repeat own goals,this may be a good thing.
I think having a club in London is a very good thing - as is having the 2 we do have.
However,the oft called requirement for adding press and tv coverage is a red herring.

Until,or If ever Elstone,Ian Lenagan,McManus et al can give rules,regulations,criteria for Super League clubs, then the sport should refrain from compartmentalising the sport.

It may sort itself out in another 125 years...

I don't think you can make a statement like that without justifying it.

Increased TV coverage raises the profile of the sport, which in turn encourages people to attend, buy replica shirts and merchandise, which brings in further sponsorship and investment.

I would like to see a study that somehow refutes this.

Yes exactly, look at the media cut through success Toronto had before the current calamity.

Obviously not tv but media nonetheless.

For those who want the truth here, it was TWP themselves who pumped out vast amounts of "aren't we great" stuff across social media and then made their own count of the number of "eyeballs" that supposedly read that rubbish. I think they boasted there were 80,000 people somehow following them. None of it at all verified and even if people did read it it didn't generate a cent of income.

They put out this particularly over contrived nonsense when they were under pressure to justify themselves, as they hadn't found a single cent of TV money or developed a single Canadian player. Moving into Superleague they appeared at Headingley for the opening double header and in terms of real eyeballs I saw a small group of half a dozen fans wearing TWP gear and shouting for their team.

That was it, so on real "I was there" evidence there was no [i"media cut through"[/i. Only 12 eyeballs.....So you've had your reaction you craved, no need to reply

CCcoooooooommmmmee Onnnnnn UUUUUU Buuuuuls!

My point is that despite having 2 clubs in London the press and media coverage has NOT improved.

The sales of the printed word is very much down.

MORE exposure for the sport is what we all want.

Agreed. BIG games are what are needed. Sadly it must also be more violent, and fast. the '6 again' is great. NO scrums is brilliant. As a quick and fit, old fashioned hooker, I think they are a complete and utter wasts of time. That said, the 'central scrums in RL look good. Thread started.

We move with the times...... Honest.