It does bring up all the old arguements tho, RL is thriving in our part of the world with lots of schools playing thanks to folk like J Cad etc, the southern conference has lots of players all over the South and South West, why do they not want to watch as well as play? I dont know the answer to that
Even the season where they gave free tickets to all registered players in the London area they still never came, bit difficult though when the kids and hobby players play on Saturday
we have 6 more home games this season not counting Challenge cup (assuming we progress) all on a saturday so count out all the london and SW am players turning up

Answer: Because of lot of the games kick off in mid-afternoon from as far as Ipswich to Kent, Essex, St Albans and Hemel. There are also clashes with QRL academy fixtures. You also have to consider a lot of the kids are still attached to Onion teams and their parents don't want to watch league games and won't bring the kids to the Stoop.

Playing sport and watching sport rarely go hand in hand , very few junior players watch live RL even in the north , between them Leigh East and Leigh Miners have around 4/500 junior players , all play within a mile of the LSV , but it is unusual to see many at a Leigh game

Daft dad, that was my whole point!!!
Starbug, is it because they are all at Wigan!!!?

Some possibly

I take your point about the number of games - although our elite players will normally also have a few Challenge Cup games to contend with - however I do think the international game is critical. It's our window to the sporting public at large. They may not give a toss about the likes of Wigan, Warrington or even Harlequins, but a successful international team might just hook their interest. I wouldn't for one moment think that if England won the World Cup it would have the same effect as the union boys doing so, but for a nation that is starved of sporting success it holds significant promise.

Unfortunately, I do not believe that we have sufficient players of quality to sustain a 14 team competition of the right intensity.

How many of the London Monarchs fans that averaged 40,000 at wembley in the first season actually played Gridiron? The game was a cheap 'pick-up" for Channel 4...it got coverage and IT HAD THE 5HIT MARKETED OUT OF IT

The contrast between us and Crusaders is stark. Although Crus are less successful on the pitch and have a hard core support around our level, they've recently appointed an experienced marketing person, plus a club administrator who's got a degree in sports science from Australia and worked with cricket and Oz Rules clubs. They're also looking for a finance clerk and a commercial assistant. Compare this to what we're doing!

All the kids in the junior league were offered £10 season tickets this year and the community clubs can sell tickets and get money back on the ones they sell.

Playing a sport doesn't mean people will go and watch it though. Most of the kids who play probably do it because it's a laugh with their mates and they like playing. Watching and being a fan is a different thing! Plus what was said about the "London RL" being from Colchester to Chatham to Guildford to St Albans - that's quite a spread.

Absolutely spot on. SL is too big and there are too many players not up to standard. Talk of Toulouse getting an SL franchise & expanding the league further etc is laughable - if anything it should be smaller, back to 12 sides.

What was also rather laughable the other week was Richard Lewis waxing lyrical about how he dreams of two London teams being in Super League...

It would be brilliant , as long as they were successful enough to warrant being in SL , just like anywhere else , and also if the Championship was strong enough to force that success , but we don't have them and the Championship isn't strong enough , so yes , he was talking broken buscuits again

Give me £1,000,000 quid and I will give you an average gate of 10k per game for any NEW SL East London team playing out of Upton Park.....That's £100 a fan if they come to all 13 games and pay £15 a ticket......[ibasic math[/i £950,000 fan income year 1 after costs.
Year 2, Give me £750,000 and I will get you 12,500 at every game. 7,500 returning from from year 1 and 5,000 NEW fans basic math £1,687,500 income after costs.
Year 3, Give me £750,000 and I will get you 15k at every game. 11,250 returning from years 1&2 and3,750 New Fans. 15,000 average....£2,175,000 income after costs.

$2,500,000 on marketing over 3 years.....core supporter base the size of HKA, Wakey,Cas, Hudds etc........difference being the £2,500,000 would also include some friggin hard work...long hours, total dedication and be linked to success bonuses for the team charged with running the campaigns.

That said, without a successful team on the park...what would be the point?

I have defended Quins being based at the Stoop, but I am starting to think the team/club need to be moved somewhere new....Fulham anyone? Wherever they move it to, it needs to have a mix of potential local support together with good transport links......maybe DH needs have a chat with Mohammed Al Fayed....he sold one of his corner shops last year didn't he? Offer a 10 year deal...rebrand back to Fulham RLFC and MARKET LIKE THEIR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT.

But this is sport ,you cannot guarantee success on the pitch , even with a salary cap

True........but you can make it more probable IF you are transparent in doing so. The Marketing paid for by the RFL for 5 years.......no overseas quota for 7 years.......this would give the New team time to bed in new fans whilst being competative......

Looking at the Rob Purdham interview thread make me wonder if the sense of drift coming from the club is due to an imminent complete change of identity and reboot of the operation, meaning that there's little point in continuing to plug 'Quins'. [Chronicler, desperately clutching at straws]