Quote from fatty Woods



OMG!!!!

What he meant was the future of Wigan Rugby League in London.

Nature abhors a vacuum.

The opportunity has been there for the last 10 or so years for RL. It's a pity the RFL have ignored it. A regular international would attract people and help to build the game generally. Perhaps even the magic weekend would even draw more.

Spot on citizen!

It just goes to show how blind the RL management have been for so long. I suspect it's a result of having parochial personal in charge such as the ex Halifax chairman(AKA Fatty Woods).

Foxy Bingo it is for a few more years. I noted on the new kits thread the Wakey strip was blazoned with a local chippy as the main sponsor( I believe just for the launch) Just about sums the sport up.

Not sure it is spot on - each time there is a major tournament, London gets a game, last time we beat NZ it was Loftus Road, this time the Olympic stadium, in the World Cup the semi final double header, and previous NZ vs AUS etc. We may not have enough internationals per se but we get games.
Magic may well work here, but the bulk of the paying public is from the north, so it would probably be inappropriate for the Super League to hold it in London.

Wow, Nigel Woods has suddenly become a convert to Rugby League in London, he must have liked the food a the Olympic Stadium!

Kids rugby is improving still, numbers pretty much the same but standards have massively improved over the years. Open age amateurs not as good but still going. London origin saw saw over 100 kids out over a 3 week series. Schools rugby ain't doing that bad either.
So the prospects and base to build on are there, wether the prospects have ever been better I would argue several opportunities have Been missed.
Potential is vast, so what he said there is right, how they exploit it is the question.
In the long term where Broncos play, where skolars play or how well Hemel do, will it effect playing numbers and future potential remains to be seen.
Bringing other big profile games to London has to be good for the game if it increases the profile of the sport and gets more people playing and or watching local teams then again a good result.
I would rather he takes this view than the other option of drawing the game back to m62 even more.b

Mickey you've made a number of statements there, are they factual or just your observations

Didn't the RFL pull back on community coaches some time back. That surely is where the growth will come from with representatives going to schools etc

I'm not sure Broncos/Skolars really impacts on playing numbers

It is easy enough to look at London junior league numbers, and places I go to compaired to 5 years ago has pretty much remained the same they have played around with age groups so total numbers of kids playing may have varied slightly.
The number of adult age games purely in London has been up and down, but you can look at leagues for how many teams are playing
Schools rugby compaired to 5 years ago, look at finals day on 9 Dec to see how that has grown
So no I don't have actual numbers but it is on how many games I do over the season.

Pure development officer involvement, reduced yes but the guy covering the area is very pro active and I actually work with him quite closely..
Schools development again look at finals day at allianze park on 9th
General participation levels in London and the south did not suffer last year after Broncos drop from SL

Mickey, maybe I'm missing something: what is it you are saying?

The problem for me is the promotion of the game. You have to sales and market the product and I'm not even sure we have one.
Last season I tried to book a box at Wembley for the c c c. It was an up hill struggle and my company ended up going to twickers .
Even at club level R Union's got a professional set up while R L tread water and don't offer the packages that companies are looking for at a cost that reflects value for money.
I would be interested to hear from anyone who may have tried to book a corporate event at the Stratford international.

W Q the thread highlighted the comment from the big fella at the rfl with relation to prospects for the game in London, all I was highlighting was the fact that playing figures in the capitol actually are not that bad, in fact in some areas probably healthier.
So the Base to build on is already there, bringing the occasional big game is not gonna do it any harm.

The missing piece in the jigsaw is a well run pro club.

But that piece us probably lost forever.

Oooh - isn't he incisive!