Whats this 'beer' thing you talk of? Is it the northern word for Pimms?

Same discussion in the close season again...

The first time I went to the Stoop was the 1999 season, I think it was the Gateshead match. There were big adverts in the Metro (when it was just a London free rag). I'd only been to one RL match before and that was the Challenge Cup Final earlier that month. (The misguided northerner earlier in the thread should be informed now that the Challenge Cup Final does not register with Londoner's the fat, baldies in their tight colourful replicas, with funny accent and beautiful daughters are just thought to be football fans.)

I went with my dad and brother, we showed up at Twickenham station and wandered towards the ground and somehow found our way (a very long way along the two main roads). We went to the shack in the car park to get tickets and were given 3 loyalty cards, which was stamped with a reward that increased in value (a pint/Virgin Cola, a pint and programme, a ticket, can't remember the rest) for every match attended. The incentive worked and we all went to every other home match that season and discovered the quick way to the ground!

I'm afraid to say that since 1999, I've been to the Valley once and to Griffin Park once (both freebies for winning the Bronco Fan Fantasy League). I watch all the Super League on offer on Sky but have had no desire to go back.

It's got nothing to do with how rubbish the team is, but the whole RL experience. In 1999 the Stoop was a dive, the "half-stand" and the two temporary ones with the crappy blue seats. But it was different. It was different to other sports on offer in London. The Nandos hut, the cheap Fosters, Buck, the sun, and the biff! It was a glorious first and last summer of live rugby league for me and the family.

To me London rugby league is about that experience. I didn't want to watch RL in a soulless echoing football stadium with only half a stand open. It put me off and by the time London RL returned to the Stoop, that lovely scrapheap had transformed into something resembling a football stadium. Cold, shady, can't wander or change ends, etc.

The "on the road" fixtures were tempting, but not for long. Why football stadiums? Some suggestions to try and recreate that unique experience: Blackheath RU, Crystal Palace athletics (temp. stands on the track), Underhill (the closest London has to a Castleford-esque real RL ground), Prince's Park Dartford (unique eco-stadium), Tooting & Mitcham (lovely new main stand). If any of these were to shock and provide bumper attendances then a long-term investment/purchase agreement could be achievable, affordable and essential upgrades made.

It's obvious that the future of the London Broncos lies away from the Stoop, the same discussion happens every year, while the number of attendees drops (I assume), by this I mean the number of different people who attend a Broncos match. The club seems more and more dependent on a loyal band of supporters and just cannot seem to attract new fans, even for a single match a year.

Sorry to go on, but until the board recognise that they have to provide Londoners with a unique sporting experience then nothing will ever change. Londoners already have their sporting loyalties and need something unique offered before it even registers on the radar. Who are the London Broncos?

It makes no difference where they play, if they are any good or total crap, what beer they sell at games, what the ground looks like, if the after match entertainment is top notch, if the replica kit is trendy or if the cheerleaders are fit....if you stop asking people to come, then they won't come....really....nothing else matters.

Indeed, and when we have floating supporters who claim to love watching their Rugby League on Sky but refuse to support the sport in a proper fashion, we will never get anywhere. How can our club grow when these people put the rugby league on offer second to their 'experience'? For people totally new to the sport, I get it, but I find Mr Afro's stance very disappointing.

I sympathise with a lot of your points but, as with other posters, I find your stance on The Stoop baffling. Have you ever seen a Quins RU match on the telly when the ground is full? They generate a pretty good atmosphere then. I don't find The Stoop soulless at all, a rarity for modern stadia. Can't wander?! You can sit anywhere you like in the East Stand and I'm sure no-one would bat an eyelid if you went and sat in the north stand. Bits of the west stand used to be unallocated too. This point is a complete red herring.

To say rugby league can't work at The Stoop is disingenuous. The club has ensured that rugby league doesn't work there by marketing poorly, twinning it with a poor quality product on the pitch. Of course there is appetite for RL in the capital, but until a competent management operation is put in place, the market will never be sufficiently tapped.

FWIW I still really enjoy the experience, in spite of the low attendances. The Stoop's a cracking venue and give me it over Underhill or Tooting & Mitcham (seriously?!) any day of the week.

I still enjoy the day out of RL and the stoop as well and so does everyone I bring but it could be a lot better, that loyalty offer sounds good with the stamped cards, most people have a loyalty card of some kind in their wallet, so if we could get a broncos card in their wallet they will have to keep thinking about is and coming to see us again.

I think if I'd have started supporting last season it would be unlikely I would want to buy a season ticket this year though and that's regardless of any otr games

I went to Tooting & Mitcham not long ago to watch Maidstone United, it's bloody awful.

Mr afro are you from cas? You don't come to the stoop because its too good now? You are weird man, I presume you watch sl on a black and white tv coz it was much better in the old days of the floodlight trophy and Eddie waring
Can see your point though look at all the Wigan fans who gave the game up when they moved from central park
The stoop is not a football ground its a dedicated rugby stadium, and honestly I long for the day when I can't change seats at half time, why, because that will mean the stadium is full.
As for this engaging the locals rubbish, the club demographic is not as a local club, our support base probably covers an area bigger than bloody Lancashire so promoting the product is actually not as easy as the Wigan chronically or cash enquirer, we need to cover a much wider patch, but until we start winning games its pointless

Mr Afro are you Gus in disguise?

If not, then he is using the same herbs.

After all these years i think i've come to the realisation that if the stadium was in Hyde park, between Kings Cross and Euston, Trafalgar Square or on The Mall, they still won't attract new supporters or investment with the current incumbents in charge, Ratner could do a better job.