London-based BBC journalist George Reilly reported on Radio Leeds that the delay to the kick off was due not to crowd congestion but to a monumental balls up in sending a "16 seater" to collect the champion Manly team from their hotel.

Jesus wept

Yep...it's true

And they had Jamie Lion and Steve Matooo playing for them!!!!

I thought at one point he said "Jamie Lyon" as in the city in France.

Ju-das is the correct pronounciation

The bloke on the PA was an embarrassment. He pronounced it that way more than once, as well as crediting the second try to the tiny scrum half when it was scored by much bigger left winger who had already scored the previous try.

Also, there was no announcement regarding the team line ups at any point. I'm unfamiliar with most of the Manly players; they were listed alphabetically in the programme without numbers beside their names but I had no idea who most of them were, and they didn't have their names on thier shirts. The PA bloke spent ages wittering on uselessly about one thing or another but didn't give out the most important information. What a shambles.

Giving out our next home game as Warrington .....

and they moan at us for wanting to keep Chris Warren on the Mike. No way would he have blundered like that.

Is CW gone for good?

He also said it was 8 days away, so some of the aussies we pulled in today might end up turning up to the stoop next monday expecting to see wire, having missed our annihilation of the worlds most famous club on saturday

Who [iis[/i this imbecile?

Rabbit Burrow, Chris Warren's less talented brother.

He scored some excellent own goals yesterday, up there with Stevo for shooting the sport in the foot with both barrels while attempting us his mouth.

We want WARREN, we want WARREN!

Give us a "W"...

Don't know who he is, but the club are doing what they can on a limited budget.
I suspect that accounts will have to be submitted as part of the next round of franchise bids and Mr Warren ain't cheap....he's a media star now



I am more concerned about the continued marketing to those who came to the game as against the tw@ on the tannoy.
Why were there not posters all over the place advertising the Wigan game? Why weren't we actively selling (if not ST's) tickets to the Wigan game in the bar before during and after the game? Why do Harlequins as a whole continue to get an unsuccessful company to try to get the ads in the toilets sold?
All of these things will be addressed WHEN we get a CEO/Marketing bod in place, but without the RFL and Alisons hard work, we would have seen 3,000 yesterday and the club need to buck up their ideas. It says something about the state of the club when a volunteer group and an ex-player manage to add 100% to the crowd on a shoestring budget.
GUTTERFAX PREPARES TO GET SHOT DOWN IN FLAMES
Mr Hughes is a saint, but we need to direct funds into marketing, or we will miss this (again) opportunity to build on yesterdays crowds. Yes, the community team are bringing through the fruits of their hard work (O'Callaghan being another one to look out for), but money needs to be put into marketing on a game by game basis NOW. I get the impression that Mr H isn't that bothered by the crowds and is the type of person who doesn't take critisism to well, but if you start at £10,000 a game and assess the success for each game against the 3 year average for each team, then you start to understand what works and what doesn't.
For example (and in theory as it is too late for this game)
Wigan: 5 games over the 3 years with an average crowd of 5,350. If we spend 10k on marketing and attract 7,000 to the game, then 1,650 fans at £15 each, then we get a £24,720 return + Residuals (beer etc) (£6 a ticket)
Catalans: 4 games averaging 3,080.....spend 10k get 5,000 and you get 1,920 fans at £5 each, with loads more on the bars etc.....and generate an extra £28,800 in revenue.

Yesterday proved what can be done when you allocate budget and get creative with how to spend it. Please god the lesson has been learnt

Your talents are so desperately wasted. Have or did you apply for the CEO role? You deserve to be the CEO! I tried, I aksed them for details of where to send a CV etc. Obviously I did it under my own name etc. I got no reply.

I reckon I could do a dam good job as well. The devil is always in the detail as they say.

Would that have been Harlequins fault?

Shot down in flames I am afraid. Applied but didn't even get considered

. I wouldn't have minded so much, but given I get paid a lot more that was on offer, by companies that live in the real world, I found it particilarly annoying that I was dismissed without an interview. It may well have been that I didn't hold a marketing or business degree, or that I come from a sales background, or that I am ginger....ah well, at least I can continue to snipe from these boards


Every cloud and all that

I was sure there would be posters/leaflets advertising the Wigan game maybe something along the lines of 'Now you know where we are, why not come back!" or maybe something a little catchy! Was surprised when I saw nothing.

I thought the crowd and day was a great success and congratulations to all involved. However we had 6000k people yesterday of whom at least 4000 may have been newcomers, of whom we know nothing about and no way of contacting. Seems a lost opportunity.

Yes a degree opens lots of doors. Just look at the great brains running the banks and government, never mind Quins RL. Several years at Uni makes for a superior being. Of course hard work, learning the ropes from the bottom up etc. these days is looked down upon. The younger generation just expect to go straight in at the top because they have been brain washed to believe it is their right.

I am sure that if the Quins RL staff and to some degree players read these boards regularly they might wonder why they bother. To often they get little credit, but it has hard to make fine lace when you can only afford sack cloth. Still I enjoyed the day yesterday and my mate who came along really enjoyed how the "game flowed, unlike the Six Nations", he seemed won over to come again.

Yes. Their posession of a degree is the reason why they've failed so miserably.

That chip on your shoulder must really cause problems for your peripheral vision.

Suppose we'll see next Saturday - from what I read it sounded like the Aussie fans enjoyed themselves, and the bars! Perhaps if they could have been allowed buy a ticket for next week's game along with their drinks more of them would come back for the Wigan game. I'm not advocating taking avantage of the inebriated (no I probably am really!) but they might have been easier to persuade to part with their dosh while bevvied, and then with the ticket bought and paid for and stuffed in the back of the wallet, more likely to come back! If you've already paid then you'd surely be more likely to use it surely! The pie eaters usually bring a large support with them so it would have been a good opportunity to put the crowd figure up to the same level as for yesterday's friendly. If the game is good (with a good crowd, competive game , us winning!) those guys might keep on coming back. Hope its not a missed opportunity,even if only a few hundred came back it could be something to build on.

No, just had to deal with to many no it all's straight of the gravey train. It used to bother me, now i am older I just can't be ar$ed to get worked up by it. I have I suppose you might say I have eaten my chip!

mmhmm. God forbid we create a new generation of ambitious graduates. The world as we know it will completely go up the spout!

Well we (volunteers) were getting people to fill in a contact form to enter a draw to win a box for the last game of the season. There were a hell of a lot of forms and there were none left to fill in so hopefully we have a mweans of contacting some of them.

Nothing to do with ambition, good on them for that I say. It is when they start telling somebody after two minutes how to do a job when they clearly don't understand the job in the first place, bad mouth to a manager the person trying to show them the job (to score brown nose points) and then when it all comes out they end up with egg on the face because they were totally in the wrong.


Give a grad. enough rope and they eventually hang themselves with it. We have all been there - grad or non-grad. Part of lifes great colour scheme.

Just getting the brain and body back into order after a long weekend.

Had a great day out, and I am pretty sure two of the guys of the four guys will be back next weekend. Great to see the bar packed post game and the covers band playing some tunes, interesting selection of the 'kylie' girl.

Few things, there were a heap more Aussies/Kiwis at the game then the few I attended last season (my first here in London). Whether we like it or not, TW is a long way out of town for the typical antipodean who lives in central london. This will always go against the club while trying to attract this market, unfortunately there is nothing that can be done. Even though from Clapham Junction, the train ride is quicker and more plesant then crossing town on the tube there is the mentality that if you have to catch an overland train it is 'too far away'. I used to think the same thing when I first arrived here.

I was most dissapointed though though with the lack of information, advertisements and call to action in promoting future Harlequins games. This was compounded at full time with the ground announcer giving out the wrong date and club for next weeks game.

This was a massive opportunity by the club to convert the casual fan to return in the future. I was very suprised there wasnt an information booth/tent at least giving out information on membership/season tickets, fixture lists, how to purchase tickets (call to action). Even the program I am struggling to find out information regarding ticketing/season tickets. There is a half page write up about future games, but still no call to action. Knowing the travelling and social habbits of this market the club could have put together a multi game ticket (voucher) at a discounted rate to purchase on the day or in the days following the game. This getting a commitment to return to a few games without the big commitment of a season ticket. Very concerning the lack of action.

Another thing I found disturbing was the lack of young kids at the games I have atttended. I know yesterdays game was marketed at the antipodeans, but I seriously think there should be a big push at attracting the young ones to the stoop. Is there season ticket that is given out to junior players in london? Why arent the grommets playing on the field at half time? Every kid that comes through the gate drags along dad and or mum, and possibly siblings and friends. We need to get the kids while they are young and convert them for life. If anyone thinks we are crazy for targeting kids you only need to look at the success the gold coast titans have had in attracting young families to their games. This is a club that once struggled to get 5000 through their gates and now average over 20,000. I have also been involved in a sport who saw a significant increase on their gates and merchandise sales through similar promotions.

The ground announcer said that the delay was due to "Transport difficulties" and I saw some of the Manly team arrive in a small coach. They were pretty late, getting into the ground at about 2.15 p.m.