I think it is. Hughes managed to get the RFL to take on some of the cost of youth development in London. I was pretty surprised to discover how much of the youth development in the South had historically been funded only by the Broncos/Quins, until this year. Some of that is now being helped by the RFL.

I think the problem is that we've approached RL in London (and elsewhere) in a typically half-d RL way. We say we'll do something, then sit back and wait for it to happen through the efforts of someone else, offering little more than warm words. A decision needs to be made about whether we are serious about establishing a successful professional presence in the capital. If we are, then we need to fund it, in the same way the Aussie sports' governing bodies fund their attempts to expand into each others' territory. If we don't think that it's a strategic necessity for our competition, then we carry on the way we are, and when Hughes runs out of cash/motivation, then Quins/Broncos will be history and 30 years of professional RL in the capital will come to an end. Ironically, that would happen just as the talent conveyor belt is beginning to start producing interesting results, but that would end too.

I think we are at a turning point, but I for one would like to see us finding ways of investing in what we want to achieve, rather than simply shrugging our shoulders and saying "well, it's all , let's get back to the M62".

Sadly bringing Widnes in has just done that.

RL has one thing that other sports lack, a real exciting game on the field.

The game just seems to struggle with the secondary aspects of running the sport.

There is a "hybrid" thread somewhere else about "merging"

Perhaps RL needs RU business acumen.

You would be correct but seeing as you and Starbug were talking about the best and worst team in either league, it's also redundant.

Ah ok. I thought by worst he meant the team(s) finishing lowest.

What did he mean by worst then?

Plenty of z's in that post.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


You say in 79 words something which could have been said in 8.

Just how many of the moaning mini's have bothered to attend the Stoop rather than slagging off the club?

I was their for that one boy it was a cold night and a crap game of Rugby.

I love for quins to do well but I'm now at a lost of how to do it. They couldn't even give away 2,500 pairs of tickets. For me the ground is great sometimes its a pain in the ass to get to. But I dont think the Quins brand works. I would drop it and I would like to them to leave the stoop but thats the question where to. There is no where unless they can build their own ground.

East End of London. Plenty of room at Dagenham now that Ford has slimmed down and released land for development. Next to the high speed line, M25, national rail and tube.

Not that simple though is it?

In spite of what some of the bores on this site say, analysing the current state of Harlequins is entirely fair. We're living in an era where clubs are being judged with a fine toothed comb on and off the pitch. Not just Harlequins. Everyone. It's pretty tough to run a club during a recession, any club. Yet the RFL are making large demands of clubs. Except one or two who are exempt. Are these for the good of the game as a whole? Probably. Can they be sustained in the long term without someone losing a lot of cash? Probably not.

Crowds in this game are a massive source of income. It's understandable that teams in danger of losing their super league place because of their off the pitch presentation and look towards the likes of quins with annoyance. Their crowds are getting worse. The likes of wakefield and cas have stronger clubs on the whole, and they're in rugby areas not dominated by a local union club. Yet they are the ones up for dropping out of super league for god knows how long. I suspect 3 years will be too optimistic considering there are teams waiting longer.

It is natural the quins question pops up now and again. It's not particularly helpful, they are probably a necessary evil and by that I mean a weaker team being kept up top artificially and to the expense of others. But they do have to change and it isn't always cloth cappery which brings a spotlight on their fragility. That's just a convenient and frustrating get out clause around here. It's okay to pour as much scourn on some clubs as you like but leave the RFL's projects alone and don't dare question their long term viability.

Of course, there are precious few answers to the big questions surrounding quins. They've moved here there and everywhere. There are always calls to move. Yet they move and then when the crowds don't turn up they need more time to settle because they've moved too much. Until people realise this latest move wasn't the answer and they move again. They even appear to be bumping crowds up to the 1900 mark judging by the television I saw on Saturday. With this in mind I can totally understand the frustration of any fan about to see their team significantly weakened by licensing maneuvres, I've been there myself, it feels like an injustice.

I suspect sky money or no sky money, London are going no where. They're staying in the top league. I do hope they manage to find a better solution than Quins though, as it isn't working there and that is obvious. But given the increased costs of life in the capital and the scarcity of suitable stadiums like I say the answer is difficult.

Which clubs are exempt and what evidence for this exemption do you have? All clubs are going through the license process so its difficult to see which are exempt.
If clubs cant get an SL license they only have their selves to blame. We arent demanding a particularly high standard.

The league does have some artificiality to it. Christ, we put limits on the teams clubs can and cant put out, we have a salary cap which has a stated purpose of artificially levelling the competition. If we are artificially creating competition why isnt artificially deciding who is in the competition simply a natural part of what we are already doing.

They do need to find answers, nobody denies that, nobody denies they need to increase crowds, but thats only one part

Smokey, I've told you. You are wasting your breath. I wont play your games so don't bother replying to me. Anyone else wants to reply, fine. But you, no.

For what it's worth - your post was bob on mate. Smokey's on a different planet to everyone.

Which was Doncaster was it not? If it wasn't then it was Toulouse, no?

Yes. Let's bring in Fax, Leigh, Barrow and Sheffield.