Blimey, are we all beginning to think we're done?

Being a pessimist, I've thought this for more than a few seasons since I started supporting the club in 1994. Where I've driven across half the country because this might be our last game.

I really enjoyed the game as a neutral. The quality wasn't particularly great but entertainment wise, it had a lot and then throwing in the madness that is Golden Point, the 80 minutes rugby was great value and the atmosphere in the bar and around the food trucks with a DJ playing in the late summer sun, it was what rugby league should be about and surely what Super League was invented for.

The Broncos are a real complex. They're an example of why and how promotion and relegation works yet also prove and disprove the idea of grading clubs. A run of twelve wins from fifteen, culminating in away wins at Featherstone and Toulouse with a part-time team, largely made up of blokes from places like Maidstone, Tottenham and one bloke who was playing rugby league in parks across London barely two years before, that in itself is something any credible filmmaker would laugh at as a storyline, let alone any possibility that those part-time players go on to push all year and are going toe-to-toe with a full-time team, no doubt committed to spending double what Broncos, it's something that wouldn't even get considered to be made for a film. It's probably one of rugby league's greatest storylines in the Super League era but I think that London Broncos have not got the credit they've deserved for what they have done on the pitch because everyone is talking about what is happening off the pitch.

As for IMG, it's a real mess. If you looked at London Broncos subjectively, it's a club that has little to no assets, a relatively small fanbase and hasn't really shown any signs of growth. If this was Halifax, Wakefield or Batley in London's current position, I don't think anyone would care that they're going down at the end of the season. That said though, London have engaged in marketing this year (the first time I think I've ever received weekly emails from them, let alone ticket offers), they're in a stadium that is more than suitable for Super League, have a matchday experience that is the scourge of nearly everybody else, are playing 10+ of their own academy products every single week and have attracted decent crowds in doing so, despite the cards they were handed then surely there is a very good case for Super League in London.

I didn't get the sense of it being a final dawn for the club at the weekend, it seemed more of a party than a funeral, but maybe it was partying the club rather than pitying it. As I've said elsewhere, a reasonable priced season ticket in the Championship being offered via email and I may well just get one next year, that is if there even is a next year.

Moe,

That's an excellent post and so much resonates with me. I'm not a legacy Broncos (or Rugby League) fan and the truth is I will follow the(a) team whilst playing out of Plough Lane, but probably not if playing elsewhere. But I'm not convinced with IMG's strategy. I don't believe the sport will remain anything but niche if it is so M62 corridor limited. That's a fabulous core any sport would love to have, but the modern world needs expansion. Aussie Rules was a Victoria sport, but they realised the need to expand nationally. The majority of teams are still Victoria based, but now it's truly national.

I see know route for a London team or any new regions into the Super League. That is a mistake. From what I understand the northern teams have been picking off London trained talent for years at no cost. That is just ludicrious and IMG have just made it worse.

This is not about pushing out the traditional teams (although I think IMG are achieving that themselves to be honest). The most obvious way was a two league structure with no protection to any teams whilst driving up standards (the good part from IMG with the caveat clubs are trying to make grade increasing changes rather than the best changes per se). When I look at the clubs nationally, there is enough to warrant two divisions including expansion from major locations. Furthermore it would allow a team like Oldham to be promoted into the system.

Whilst I prefer promotion to be related to on field success, I would agree that a team would not be promoted if they hadn't reached a required "grading" standard. The standards would need to be challenging but achievable, so need to recognise that just being in the Super League is going to make higher gradings easier, and that increasing grading from the Championship will be harder.

The IMG model looks like it's going to create a massive rift in the pro game. Whilst they have some flexibility to increase the size of the SL in future years, I suspect the closed shop mentality will mean too little too late. Looks like Featherstone and London are already the first two to fall away. More to come if the expected inertia continues.

Going back to London Broncos. When I see some of what has been achieved both on and off the pitch this season (both areas exceeding what I thought would happen) ans seems ridiculous that with the grading system, that is seems pretty impossible for the London Broncos to ever reach the SL again.

I didn't get the sense of it being a final dawn for the club at the weekend, it seemed more of a party than a funeral, but maybe it was partying the club rather than pitying it. As I've said elsewhere, a reasonable priced season ticket in the Championship being offered via email and I may well just get one next year, that is if there even is a next year.'"

I’m also not sure what impact it is going to have on the Championship and Broncos in particular. If you don’t get promoted you won’t invest in players (although Bradford (who not so long ago didn’t have a pot) and Oldham do appear to be doing so.) So you rely on home grown players and players dropping down a level so they can develop post playing careers (something that Broncos won’t benefit from but teams like York and Fev seem to in recent years). I really do wonder what our squad will look like (absent of the fact we appear to have made no effort to recruit/retain.) and whether we can expect another dog fight at the bottom of the league.

I am just watching Leeds Rhinos destroying Hull FC tonight. I think that it just shows how good we were last week, but boy how poor are Hull FC.