Sure is.

The fact is people in London have little or no interest in watching or supporting Rugby League. Whether this is down to Union, football or any of the other many varied past times people in London have I have no idea.

If SL died in London tomorrow no one other than the small handful of Quins RL fans would even notice.

What about fans of London Skolars?

Or the local, community teams?

The impact would be more widespread. I just feel if location/brand is not helping Harlequins to progress then something needs to be done. I think I read a few weeks back that Quins were looking at getting their own stadium, which would be one step forward. Just a question of the location.

The Skolars have no supporters in any numbers either.

The local community teams have no supporters in any numbers.

They are a mere drop in the ocean that is the population of London and the South East...which is the area you would expect Quins fans to come from.

As for their own stadium.... you could give Quins any of the stadia in London and they still wouldn't get anyone along to watch.

To get people along to watch you need to be worth the entry fee.

Quins are hopeless. There is no atmosphere at the Stoop because hardly anyone goes to watch the team play. Word gets round. So prospective supporters think 'Can't be bothered' and people that paid to go along expecting to be entertained ...and found it was boring... won't go back.


If I lived in London and was a Rugby League fan give me one good reason why I would fork out my hard earned wonga on a ticket to go and watch a Harlequins RL home fixture?

They are woeful, there is no atmosphere and the entertainment value is zero. I'd do better to get some cans in and watch whatever match is on Sky or go down the pub (if I could find one in London that showed RL) and watch it there.

If people want to pay us money to watch a team they hate win they are more than welcome so far as they behave themselves as well as the french supporters did on Thursday.

which is fine except
A) It is financially unsustainable to be getting crowds of sub 3K
B) It is embarrasing for a game that is trying to promote itself as the second biggest game in the country to have a top flight team getting crowds of sub 3K

I'm an expansionist, i believe a strong RL club in london could be massive for the game as a whole. However becoming a pseduo RU club (given the general dislike of the two codes by fans of each) and expecting a club to flourish in the very tough London sports and entertainment arena with no additional centralised funding to grow the game and fanbase is not the way to go about it.

I'd be happy to see the RFL say:
1. Go back to being a RL club and come up with a name and logo that is marketable
2. Find a home base that is close to your spectator market and easy to get to from across London and the Nrth
3. Here is an additional 1million pounds a year to be used for marketing and corporate targetting.

Quote: PHIPPS "Its because Harlequins are a famous name in the world of RU, have a big supporter base and unlike the league side that bears the same name they do occassionally win games.'" www.union.quins.co.uk/news/12831.php Harlequins rugby union do not have a massive supporter base that a Leicester, who would be similar in most respects to Wigan in our code. Quins crowds were averaging only 3,000 nearly seven years into professionalism. Now they average 12,000 largely because they are the only other professional rugby club in London, the other also plays at the Stoop, but as you say one does win games once in a while and one has been marketing itself to punters and high level sponsors, we are only just starting to do that and no-one wants to be associated with poor crowds, poor team, hence the drop off to a core home support of around 1600 people.

Quote: PHIPPS "Its because Harlequins are a famous name in the world of RU, have a big supporter base and unlike the league side that bears the same name they do occassionally win games.'" www.union.quins.co.uk/news/12831.php Harlequins rugby union do not have a massive supporter base that a Leicester, who would be similar in most respects to Wigan in our code. Quins crowds were averaging only 3,000 nearly seven years into professionalism. Now they average 12,000 largely because they are the only other professional rugby club in London, the other also plays at the Stoop, but as you say one does win games once in a while and one has been marketing itself to punters and high level sponsors, we are only just starting to do that and no-one wants to be associated with poor crowds, poor team, hence the drop off to a core home support of around 1600 people.

So who's fault is it then ? Einstien

How about we don't ' kick ' anybody out , we just play RL and the best team in the lower league replaces the worst team in the higher league every year

That is THE question!

Answers to the RFL, BARLA and SL (Europe) Ltd.

The converted already know, but how do you get the rest even interested?

Wouldn't Leigh be in Championship 1 now?

Jeez!!! you just don't get it do you!!!

What happens on the field is of little interest anymore.

Pretty coloured bog seats, Ridiculous replica shirts for clashes that are not there, who goes where and how many, stadia that are "promised" etc..

That is THE future of the game, oh and moaning about match officials constantly.

The actual game on the field?

Irrelevant!!!!!!!

Possibly , although we might have been promoted back into the Championship by now , we were relegated , but placed back into the Championship because of yet another badly thought out attempt at expansion , one that like the ones being discussed on this and other threads is unsustainable due to lack of public interest

Not forgetting the ' protection ' given to a club that also cannot sustain itself at Championship level , which devalues the competition , a club that was supposed to add value , yet another ' own goal ' by the RFL

Whilst your sentiments are to be applauded, who is going to pay the deficit year on year?

Do you expect their current Sugar Daddy to bail them out ad-infinitum, or maybe our Masters a Red Hall could slip ‘em a few quid each year to keep them afloat, perhaps the RFL could put a levy on all other clubs, say a pound on the admission fee, to go towards propping up the expansion utopia.

A fine example of the classic internet fail, flawlessly executed.