Exactly! And that is how clubs survive, even super league clubs. By having fans that actually care about the club. If Bradford didn't have deep roots within the community they wouldn't be a club at the end of this month.



Survival isn't all about having a rich backer. They come and go and can leave a club in a real mess. A loyal fan base is more important. Long term unless Broncos settle somewhere fast, I see more of a future in London with the Skolars.

As i said in the Catalans match report, they lack in numbers but boy do they get behind their team... I want to give London fans some praise for that rather than knock the volume of them.

I can't see any point in Castleford, hopefully they fold soon.

Come on, I'm a Broncos fan but by absolutely no means are we deserving of a SL franchise in our current state. Kick us out and bring in another French club. Until we or someone else can put in a decent business plan for a club into capital.



Shame the Cumbrians are so narrow minded, that place is ripe for a SL franchise.

So here's the scenario....



Your team's next home match is against London, Catalans, Northampton, etc.

Do you:

a) Sit on your hands and accept that you'll get a poor turnout and then bitch about it?

b) Realise that you have a prime opportunity to go out and sell yourself to the local population?



Any club that is reliant on visiting fans - customers who'll only buy from them once a year (or twice if depending on cup / play-off draws) - has absolutely no place in the elite league. If you know that your opponents won't bring much support, you know that you have plenty of space to sell to natives.



The whole "away fans" argument is absolutely ridiculous.

I don't know where is stand with London Broncos.



One side of me says that they are a shambles of a club watched by a few hundred people, nobody cares about them, and they are a blight on RL, without a filthy rich benefactor they would have gone to the wall by now.



The other side says that a London presence is vital (I'm not sure about this sponsorship/advertisements business) but a presence in the capital seems important.



How much longer will Hugh's flog the dead horse/bronco? . It's a shame really that nobody goes to watch them any more, really sticky situation. Feel sorry for the owner and the true fans that have stuck with them.

Could not disagree more with this point. Your view seems very narrow minded, and only thinks about the one time financial benefit of away fans.



To get more home fans at games you have to provide a product that they are want to be involved in. That involves both a good on the field product, and an atmosphere in the stands that captures the imagination of the newcomers. In my opinion, it is hard to create a great atmosphere with no away support whatsoever.



If SuperLeague is to move forward I think we need to have 14 (if we are going to stick with this format, although personally i would have 10) clubs that bring the full package.



now that is going to be difficult with catalans, who will never bring a solid away support (and no one expects them to). I understand the local promotion at games that bring little away support, and wigan have done this very well over the past few seasons, but if your are having to give away tickets 3 times a season then people are not going to buy tickets for regular games, just wait for these special (free) tickets.



also, if anyone truly believes sky would drop rugby league because we don't have a london club, then I am sorry to say you are wrong. The amount of viewers for the money they pay is the best they get for a sport. It may be there preference for a london club, but they are not going to pull out if we drop them, it would be financial madness, as another corporation would pick it up, and take sky's second (according to viewing figures) sport for a price that is insanely low for the value it offers.

Agree. You should plan to fill your stadium with your own fans, not rely on those with large away followings to keep you going.

Spot on. This is why Wigan do so well crowd wiser.

While I can't agree with your prediction that we will soon see the demise of RL, I can agree with pretty much everything else. I can tell that you and many other fans care deeply about the fortunes of both clubs, but considering some of the posts on this thread and others on similar ones (such as laughing at attendances), it's hard to see past the view that many fans will criticise anything outside of the M62 corridor.

Care to expand on that point, what is it they do that has such a detrimental affect on other clubs or the sport in general?

You might well ask.







Because you get teased at work?









They already have done. It was a full house at Wembley that day. As is entirely the norm on such a day.







A very good post altogether.



This reminds me, though, of my first experience in Perpignan, when we were on a Catalans Sports Tours day trip to the nearby coast. Cas were that weekend's opposition and tb and I were in a minibus with about half a dozen Cas fans.



One part of the conversation went as follows: "Well, it's very nice, but it isn't a [iproper[/i Rugby League town". In other words, it's not a run-down, former industrial stronghold in the north of England.



To an extent, I think that encapsulates part of the problem. It's not vindictiveness, but the game as a while – as opposed to just individual teams – is (for some at least) so utterly and inextricably linked to a general sense of northern identity and culture. That sense of identity/culture is hat's perceived by some outside – to the sport's detriment, I would suggest – but positively by many within.



And as the north continues to struggle (in general) in this post-industrial world, I suspect that can become even more defensive.







Well, we are all Europeans.



And wow – what a fantastic place to go and watch a game.







There is no NEED for any RL club anywhere. Just as there is no NEED for any sports club anywhere.



End of.

Nice selective quote there.



Okay then, whilst many other Super League clubs are doing all they can to get a Super League franchise, London are seen by non RL fans as a gimmick, when they are on TV and there is less than 2,000 there, with no shirt sponsor it makes the sport look bad. They are spending a lot of money on players and never have any success, the fact that their name has changed so many times, and they have moved stadiums so many times just portrays a bad image.



As a RL fan I can see past these issues, but the facts are that anyone with a passing interest in the sport (anyone that I have met anyway) just see London as a gimmick.



I am in no doubt that we WOULD all love to see London RL flourish in Super League, but it hasn't and the signs aren't positive going forward. Like I said before, it's a sticky situation, the cash cow only has so much milk.

leave earlier then





it takes me SIX hours to drive to every Catalans home game FFS !

They are averaging about 5k more than London. Even your own fans are saying you dont deserve a franchise on this thread "Dave" stop getting so defensive.

From a Wakefield fan!!!!! Your as bad as London!!

To anyone who knows anything about travel in London and the south east, this gate should be no surprise. If Sky really do want an SL team in London they have to realise;

WEEKDAY GAMES IN LONDON ARE A WASTE OF TIME.



The roads are gridlocked by mid afternoon until well into the evening.

The public transport system is entirely geared up for travel to and from the central area, travelling between suburbs is ridiculously time consuming.



The crowd on Friday consisted of hardcore fans who are fortunate enough to live round the corner, or have jobs where they can knock off early.



And as for away fans, not many come from the heartland clubs on a weekday night, so how many did anyone think would travel from another country?



We have enough issues with crowd numbers (as done to death elsewhere on here) without Sky compounding the issue by insisting on weekday games.

Sorry Listy, but you're reinforcing prejudices with comments like that. You know full well that if you worked in parts of London like Croyden or Docklands, you would not have been in the pub for 18:30, unless your employer is prepared to let you knock off early. I'm with Tre Cool on this one, weekday games are just a waste of time.

sanjunien, you clearly have no job, or a very understanding boss who lets you leave work early when you need to. Not everyone is so fortunate.

the game (London v Cats ) wasn't shown on SKY, was it ? so what's it to do with SKY ?



shouldn't you be blaming the RFL for scheduling such a game at a ridiculous time ?

I do have a job but don't work weekends nowadays (after 35 odd years of weekends/no holidays etc) which allows me to travel the six hours to Perpignan or the three hours to Toulouse or five hours to Carcassonne etc

the last Toulouse game was on a wednesday evening at Villeneuve with a 2000 KO so I started work an hour early,worked through my dinner break and left at 1600 and drove down the three hours to get to the game - I left at 2130 and got home,managed a few hours kip then up at six as usual for work



I love the game and am prepared to make the effort to see as many games as possible...



I arrange days off around some games like monday evening I stayed in Perpignan and drove back the tuesday and took a days holiday



it's not rocket science but it helps to have a missus who is as RL daft as me !

So what were Wiggy, Stevo, and Wellsy doing there, along with umpteen cameras and a big screen then?

Of course I could be confusing this with the Wakey game. All these evening games are confusing me. You'd think I'd remember when we won, it's not like it happens every week.

Which rather confirms my point, you are fortunate enough to have a job that lets you work flexibly. Some people are still expected to work fixed hours, don't judge them too harshly.

yes,you're right



tolerance never was my strong point i'm afraid .....

Not sure if you missed what I meant. I was agreeing, clubs shouldn't whinge about small away supports coming to their grounds and work on filling them with their own. Smarter business.