There were 8 London born players on the field at once yesterday. 8. That is massive.

Keep pumping investment into the academy. The other things will follow.

Clearly it is a good strategy to invest in the academy and develop local players as the foundation for the team.

It puts the club on a more sustainable footing but doesn't really address anything in terms of attracting new fans.

Nad, have you possibly thought that they were dictated to by the centre itself!? They are managed centres with lots of organisations and businesses wanting to be in there! It was something it could have been nothing. Ideally it should have been sat afternoon, but it wasnt. They can't just pitch up though!

Local players are more likely to bring local fans in!

Really, where is your evidence for that alone being more likely to bring in fans ?

If a local lad plays locally then yep his family his mates are more likely to come and watch him. Evidence, LMS did you ever see how many of his family and mates just come to see him. Tony Clubb was the same.
Have chatted to mates of KD who have started watching again since he came back.
So yep have seen the evidence of local players bringing people through the gate.
Get them coming and they spread the word.
So If it's new fans to the game it's local players that will generate interest. If you want the dormant RL fans in the region to start coming back only way that will happen is by being competative.
What's my evidence of that? I know London based saints Leeds Warrington fans, came to Broncos week in week out when we were competative, stopped coming when we were a team losing badly and in champ.

Right, so you are really only talking about friends and family. I can see how that might add a few to the gate but it is hardly the basis for a strategy to grow the fan base.

Absolutely, the only time slot EBC had unbooked was 2 hours on a Friday morning. When did Broncos phone and ask, the night before?



Make all the excuses you want, but the club is absolutely abysmal in this regard. Always has been.

17 local players bringing 10 family members would bring in an extra 170 people. Well, that's a new scrum half paid for!

"Local players bringing in local fans" is the kind of thing you expect to hear from a shinty club in a remote village in Scotland. Or a genius like Ralph Rimmer. For a professional sports club in one of the world's biggest, richest and busiest cities it's suicidal.

Based on northernbloke's theory, LMS must have brought about 2000 mates when he was playing for us

.

you can't spend it twice