Quote: Saddened! " I'm not trolling, what reason would I have for that? You cannot possibly run a viable professional team when you get attendances of just 1,900 with supposedly no central help.'"
You can run a team with no fans at all as long as you have a rich enough guy willing to put his hand in his own pocket. It's a red herring. The issue is not one for the RFL, or the other clubs in the game, it's for David Hughes. Just like Salford's crowds have always been the concern of Wilkinson, not the RFL.
Quote: Saddened! "You mention the 2,000 hardcore fans. I don't believe that. I would just love to see the figures for season ticket sales this season. As mentioned there were no more than 800 people there against Salford. The 1,900 figure is fantasy. '"
Whether you believe it or not is hardly a reasonable criteria for franchise assessments. As for the idea that Quins would overstate their crowd by more than 100%, when they'll pay tax on the higher figure, is a bit silly. Quins' back office is pretty crap, but overstating their tax liabilities would be pushing it even for them.
Quote: Saddened! "To be in Super League a club should be able to post crowds of 10,000 ideally. '"
Which would currently rule out the majority of our SL clubs, including Saints.
Quote: Saddened! "At the moment we're revising that figure down to 6,000 or so for [iyour [/ihome games,
'"
I am a Saints fan.
Quote: Saddened! "even if there are no away fans. Catalans more than manage it and haven't been playing well either, so why can't London. '"
I think at present, Catalans' version of not playing well is a standard to which most Quins fans can only aspire.
Quote: Saddened! "They have the biggest market to play with in the competition. It is an absolute crime that they are allowed to carry on in SL when they make no effort at all to market the sport and sell tickets. If they were making an effort, for example ditching the Harlequins monicker, being inventive with ticket sales like Bradford or Widnes or moving to another location then I wouldn't mind them being there. '"
If an ability to successfully market the sport was a franchise criteria, then we'd probably be down to matches between Wigan and Bradford every weekend. Quins' marketing is shocking. Gutterfax can happily explain why and how to improve it until he's blue in the face. Personally I think they're in a downward spiral right now - poor crowds, poor atmosphere, poor performance, poorer crowds, less money for marketing, poor crowds etc etc etc. Hard to see how they'll crack that for a while. Salford took decades, and still haven't cracked it. Huddersfield also took decades but now have cracked it after depending on Ken Davy for years - their own version of Ian Hughes. I can't recall anyone ever suggesting we should abandon our sport in Huddersfield or Salford.
Quote: Saddened! "After a good 15 or so years on SL funding they have crowds of less than 2,000 which are falling. There appears to be no effort at all to increase that. One can only wonder just what is going on at Harlequins. One thing for sure is that unless they improve they won't be around for long. '"
It seems to me that part of the problem is that the only way to stop the spiral is to invest a large amount of cash in marketing and players (ultimately, Quins are taking the field with less player capital than every team they face, every week. In our game, that's unforgiving). But the more the usual suspects call for the end of RL in London, the less likely either Hughes or anyone else are to actually make that investment. Why would you hand over lots of cash if you think the decision to end London RL has already been taken ?
My issue with this is simply that I want all clubs to be successful, I want all clubs to grow their fans and budgets, and I want all clubs to develop and identify top new players. I would sooner cut my own arm off than call for the death of any RL club, and the more they struggle, the more I feel sympathy for them, and that includes clubs from the RLC, through the chanmpionship, to SL. I can't understand anyone who professes to be an RL fan who demands an end to any club, rather than demanding more help for them.