So successful that Mr Clay sold it off and through them out of the ground?

as ive said before, the crowds fulham got OUTSIDE the top division were bigger than they get today in SL.

prior to fulham being promoted it was always happy days for everyone

there would be quite a few london soccer sides without realistic chances for Premier league

if wrexham continues as it is, im sure lewis will take note if quins fail

I think one of the problems Quins have is that there isn't that default fondness towards rugby league that you get in the north.

For example, Wakey have a hardcore, week in, week out support of 5,000. If we string together a few good weeks or have a decent fixture, a few more will come out of hiding and watch, because people in Wakefield like rugby league as it has been part of the city for over a hundred years, is played in the schools, and everyone knows someone who goes to games regularly and talks the sport. Salford is ths same. The hardcore support is lower, but people in Salford and Manchester are prepared to like rugby league. They have done in the past, and are aware of the sport. They just don't want to go to an iffy part of town and watch a poor game. When they move, there is every chance that the people of Salford and Manchester will turn up, as it will get good coverage in the North West and there is an inbuilt willingness to like the sport.

The problem the Quins have is that the average Joe Public in London doesn't have that default willingness to like the sport and thus is less likely to go along unless they have taken a keen interest in the television version. I'm not sure a successful Quins would have much of an impact either, for the same reason. A successful Salford would begin to fill The Willows, and may well fill the new stadium.

Having said that, I want Quins to do well. As someone has said though, would they do better hosting competitive Championship games? Would the game in the south suffer if rather than a failing London club there were more competitive and successful southern town clubs? As far as I understand, there are some real pockets of amateur success in the south. Would there be an appetite for a professional club?

I must admit that I lost interest in London when the Broncos brand was dropped in favour of Quins.

wow, another day, another article in the Times about RL dying off! Do they ever have anything positive to say about the sport?

I don't know why you would bother reading that ra ra loving trash!

I wouldnt target Quins RU fans most are not interested.

I would giving out tons of free tickets to familes who go to the football. Show them what a cheaper, friendly and great game.

Quins RL has to offer.

Why not also run comps in newspapers and local radio giving away tickets. With this you get plenty of publicity and free advertising.

Free tickets doesnt mean you will lose money as most people will purchase a programme or a drink from under the stand. I dont know how much quins rl get from this but I would hope they get a good slice.

So let me get this straight... are you trying to say lack of marketing is to blame?

The idea of a franchise at Loftus Rd has some appeal

Queens Park Rovers

ANZAC heartland

cracking ground (if you've got short legs)

Good stripey kit

and that naughty F1 chap needs something to do - at least he knows about marketing

Shep-Bush Walkabout holds about 1,000 people. There are a few other bars around that a few Aussies go to, but to place a club into Loftus road based on the drinking habits of an audience who are more into AFL (THE PUB SPONSORS THE LOCAL TEAM)...would seen a little strange.
Quins can thrive in TW2......they just have to tell the local residents they exist. Did I mention Marketing BTW

To be honest I really don't think it matters what crowds they get - the RFL just will NOT ever kick them out of SL, to do so would be admitting failure which IMO they couldn't handle doing.

In other words, they're a guaranteed shoe-in everytime.

The lack of relegation may mean we're not in the state of panic we would be if it existed, but the real problem is we've failed to replace Ian Lenagan as an investor, and the commercial operation is still underdeveloped.



We do (I wear my Quins RL winter jacket almost every day at the moment) although replica kit availability has become a running joke.



Unfortunately the cost base contradicts this.



It's investment that's at the root of it. If you look at a successful Australian expansion team like Melbourne they've had significant, systematic investment via Fox Sports and the NRL, if we got that we'd have the parochial element posting death threats. So we make the most of what we have. Marketing costs money, the club doesn't have money, simple really.



Without investment there's a limit to what will ever be achieved, and past experience has told us that patience is the least bad option.



The club is at the centre of a huge development effort, one that simply didn't exist as little as 10 years ago, now we've now got at least 7 players who've come through the development programmes contending for first team places, some like LMS, Clubb and Sharp are first choices, others like O'Callaghan, Bryan, Bolger are making the 17 regularly. Of course there are questions over how much some RL fans are really interested in the expansion of the player pool and what that brings. Besides there's never been a begging bowl, it might be an enduring myth, but that's all it is. David Hughes has spent millions keeping us alive, not the RFL or other clubs, the only "favour" the other SL clubs did us was allowing the club to continue after the previous holding company was liquidated, and even that was a self-interested decision rather than one from the kindness of their hearts.

Spot on, and worryingly so, despite Gufaxs protestations, I don't think marketing is the answer anymore......the love of the sport is not in the mind of the average southerner. A professional team cannot survive on the whims of a few hardy suvverners, a fair sprinkling of exiled northerners and the casual viewer.

Not sure Quins as is can survive outside of SL but not too sure they are surviving in it either. There has always been this mentality that the game will sell itself to any new viewers, but that is not true, it needs to imbed itself into the psyche so that hardcore supporters come in bigger numbers than our 2k constant regardless of performance.

I got into rugby league watching internationals and the NRL. Intially when I started watching Quins in 2006 I really enjoyed myself and the rugby that was being played. As the seasons have gone by, I fear the standard has dropped and I'm becoming quite disheartened. My optimism is slowly disappearing.