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.

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?

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.