www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/ju ... harlequins

www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/ju ... harlequins

Already touched on in another thread but well warrants one of its own. I don't see any interesting developments in that story whatsoever. Pure speculation.

An interesting quote from Gus Mackay :

"You also need senior players and marquee players to build around, and that's what we are actively looking for now."

Greg Inglis is on his way then

The sooner Harlequins are killed off the better.

I and countless others will return when the Broncos and proper signings along with them do.

Oh what a surpirse, rupe1 appears from under his bridge

Excuse me?

London Broncos, a fantastic story of failure and liquidation in a dump of a ground, I can hardly wait

If it means Rupe staying away lets start a campaign to keep Quins

Where are the missing thousands Rupe all bottled up waiting to return.

If the "missing thousands" had supported the club for the last five years we'd be in a far stronger position right now. No successful club ever got to the top of the tree by relying on fairweather fans who stay away in a huff until the wind changes.

I wish I believed that but I really don't see any evidence to back that statement. I'm sure a small number of fans will return, probably cancelled out by the loss of some of those from Quins RU who now watch us but won't want to watch a team by another name. Realistically many of those who have drifted away now do other things on summer weekends. It'll be difficult to get them back now, it's been too long in many cases. Any net gain won't be significant purely on the basis of a name change.

Personally I'll miss the Quins name, I've enjoyed being a Quin and have no great desire to return to the Broncos name, though I watched the Broncos for longer than the Quins have been around. However if David Hughes thinks this will help cut his losses I don't blame him for doing it at all.

Without wishing to get into a slanging match with anyone, I really hope there's something in this story. I've hated us being saddled with the Harlequins name and colours, and have viewed them as 'flags of convenience'. I know full well the circumstances of us becoming Harlequins, London Broncos had basically gone bust, but I never felt that becoming Harlequins RL was ever going to be a solution to our problems. I never believed that a significant number of RU fans would buy into it. It hasn't helped that the change has coincided with a season on season decline, and this season with as bad a losing streaK as I can remember. I'm not saying that all was rosy as Broncos but a return to an identity that is 'ours' as opposed to borrowing that of a Union club can't be a bad thing surely? Relatively speaking we had a fair old bit of success on the pitch as London Broncos. A chance to relaunch, re brand etc... could do us some good. Let's face it we're going nowhere at the moment. Maybe if the first season back at the Stoop had been a success, maybe if the 8,000 gate for the first home match against Saints had been built on, maybe if me Aunt Fanny had a........
But most of all maybe its time to admit that being Harlequins RL hasn't really worked on or off the pitch (with the notable exception of youth development) and to try something else!

Just compare our side against St Helens that day with the lot turning out tomorrow....

I'm pretty sure there will be something in this, David Hughes has already been quoted musing on exactly the same subject this season. To be honest, I don't believe we ever really established an identity for ourselves as Broncos. The name recognition surveys the club used to run generally came back with pretty depressing recognition rates whilst our players often seemed to tell tales of being asked about ice hockey or American football by people who thought that was what they played.

I'm not a great fan of the modern naming trends and have to say I us think Broncos was one of the worst as it has no real relevance to the area at all. (Blue Sox was far worse mind.) As for the comment that the move to Quins hasn't really worked out, well I don't think anyone can seriously disagree with that sadly, we wouldn't even be thinking of changing names again if it had.

A rebrand and relaunch certainly could help but generally that sort of thing takes money (and marketing) to capitalise on. I'd rather we spent the money on a better squad for next season as I firmly believe it is what we are doing on the pitch next season that holds the key to crowd levels / our future not whether we are called Quins or Broncos.

Welcome back
Average attendances at TW2 since 2006 are 23 people per game less than they were at Griffin Park.