Pretty much the same can be said of the entire country. That said, quins and Saracen's seem to do ok attendance wise for the small stadiums they have.

I fear you may be right.
Back on my original point though, what I find interesting is how far away the RU clubs have moved, that's what makes it look like they've given up on London, hence mt comment about it being a football city.



All good points. I do still wonder if we could have had joint ownership of a ground with one of the more impoverished football clubs, given the right management at the Broncos and RFL? Pipe dream I know.



You've obviously been to the Union "London" double header.

I agree with your points and perhaps the future is a ring of smaller clubs around London. The growth and development at Medway is excellent but where do the RFL sit in supporting this aspect of the game. Its never too late for a long term pro team in London but the opportunity at a fully professional level is back at base level again and you don't need a rehash of how it got there. I don't agree with the new structure but if the RFL is serious about the sport growing, the new structure is the ideal opportunity to start to promote the game in a structured way including building the sport in London. You just know it'll never happen and the insular approach will continue to dominate. A SL team in London will always draw from a wide area (South East rather than London), I can't see just one area becoming the fan base for a SL team in London, community clubs perhaps. Thus to get brand knowledge you really need a consistently successful team in a good location, be prepared to spend on marketing and not see a direct return for 10 years. It has to be a whole sport approach not a form it and pray it'll survive. There is potentially a market for League just no one centrally is prepared to make the effort it really requires.

There is a market for Rugby Union in the capital but Scaracens and Quins have it sown up though is either profitable or are they like most teams funded by one or more people. They are probably the two replicas you'll see people wearing across London. The other clubs have sought out new pastures. Below the pro level union has quite a strong foothold across the capital, but the finances (most clubs do not have a multi-millionaire) mean they operate at a more sustainable level, Blackheath would be a good example.

Given the way the RU clubs in the south of France are distorting the financial playing field I suspect plenty of English RU teams are at least part reliant on benefactors.
Trouble is, all the money swilling round union is enabling them to buy up the best RL players.

Leicester are probably the only self sufficient club in the aviva....quins arent far off through.
Owning your own ground is the key......sarries will get there eventually.....and wasps now realise this too.

I agree but there has never been the financial wherewithal to deliver a stadium and team in London for Broncos. Nor has there been the foresight to sign up as an equal partner with a football team and have joint ownership of a ground. Whether that is deliverable with Barnet is open to debate.

No debate needed.....barnet is a non starter.....brentford on the other hand

Another non starter realistically. Brentford put forward a planning permission request explicitly stating the stadium will not be used for professional rugby. They have hinted about potentially revisiting this and it appears to have been a conscious decision to do it that way around for planning reasons. If do there was no chance of us/Wasps/Welsh ever being more than tenants. It is known Wasps talked to Brentford and it is believed that's the exact reason they ended talks and focused on Coventry.

I thought London Welsh are already signed and sealed as Brentford's tenants when the new stadium is completed.

long chat with bentfords chairman last night......lionel road is a few years away yet.

Have either code ever looked at East London? What about Leyton Orient? 10000 capacity stadium, I assume it's an untouched area for rugby, "The Orient RLFC"?, East London's rugby club for lads looking for a tougher sport than association football...

Was discussing this with my Dad last night, and if you think about it only international sport outside of football has a chance of being profitable.

At club level in rugby union, cricket, rugby league, basketball, ice hockey the monies earned to sustain a professional club just aren't there. Whether that's interest from the local communities, which are now much more multi-cultural than 30-40 years ago, or resident's finances with Greater London are tighter than in the past, I personally think there are several socio-economic issues as to why the majority of professional sport struggles inside London.

With the plethora of alternative entertainment in London, whatever you do has to be a quality product that looks after it's customer base, London Broncos for the best part of the last ten years have failed in that! Its that simple.

Even if we had our own stadium (or at least a BASE) we'd still struggle because the quality wasn't there or what was there quickly diminished and those disolussioned with the it are NOT going to come running back any time soon.

We've played a couple of games at Orient (one of which, given your user name, I'm sure you'd like to remind us of). It's a tidy little ground but the pitch is just too short, even compared to Brentford or The Hive. The proximity of housing all around means it's unlikely to get any longer any time soon.


To be honest you can narrow it down from that, there are only a handful of football clubs who are truly solvent, even with the new financial rules.