Dual code Strettle would be an interesting prospect but with international rugby union played throughout much of the year its unlikely to be possible.

Personally think you have to look elsewhere than union for new supporters - It's not that often i meet someone who enjoys both. If Wakey RU had moved in with us and offered me cheap tickets - I wouldn't have gone, because even £5 to watch a game of RU is too much IMO and I know many union fans who love their game but think RL is a waste of time.

But I appreciate that is just my opinion and experience, but I just think it will be harder to win fans over from their first love than "virgin" supporters.

Well, as a fan Up North in the so-called 'heartlands' (ha!), I'm hoping Quins make a success of it in London. Your marketing campaign looks good from what Chris Irvine has shared of it but I hope your guys start winning at home again to pull any new punters back again.

I think it's a shame that the RFL has got on the back of the club about the attendances. It's one more pressure the fans don't need IMO.

True, but maybe some at the club needed a kick up the backside to get them out of the " we are London so we are safe" mentality?

Strettle is from Lymm which is the only RU stronghold in Warrington. He went to Lymm High which is the feeder club(albeit a school-colts) to Lymm RU which in turn historically has been tied in to Sale RU(which was just down the road). He got picked up through uni in Yorkshire somewhere.

My experience of Union fans is that they are middle class(nothing wrong with that) and go to the union games as status thing(outrageous statement I know) I have found them to be uneducated on the intricacies of there game but enjoy a day out with there friends having a few pints whilst watching rugger-an accepted middle class game through its links to Grammar schools.

[iRL is a commoners game[/i You only have to listen to the language of some of the away fans at the Stoop. Simplistic thoughts accepted. RU fans in general are not into that. I believe the bloodgate thing was more a panic about the reaction of there upstanding fans than that of cheating on the pitch.

We need to find a new audience

Well I will tell you now wire-quin,you won't find a new audience in london with all those RU and football clubs to compete with. And I support what an earlier poster said re the name. I think there are some people in london who no longer know that london has a RL team in SL because they don't see the "London Broncos" name around anymore. Sadly if you say harlequins people in the south will automatically think of the RU outfit. London-quins RL(or similar)might have been a better name.

From my own experiences I agree that a fair number of RU attendees are there for the social aspect of the game, rather then for a deep seated fanatical love of the sport, and I think its true to say its a mainly middle class game - in my area grammar school kids played RU as their main sport not football as in comprehensives. Without getting into the whole class issue RL fans aren't on the whole from the same social group as RU fans, and are more likely to follow a team with a real passion, going to games to see the game primarily and not just for a bit of a day out. There will of course always be exceptions but I have found this, broadly speaking, to be true.

I still think the best place to look for a new audience is among football fans - I think of myself as an RL fan first these days and football fan second, I've been fully won over. I reckon at many of the London clubs there is a vast market to try and tap into which could yield greater results than continuing to lure the seemingly indifferent QRU crowd. In many respects the average football fan in London (should such a thing exist) is from a similar social background to the average RL fans and goes to matches to watch the match rather than to schmooze. We ought to be selling our game to this crowd as a better value for money sporting attraction - you would be pretty hard pushed to find a football club (Premier League anyway) with a season ticket comparable in price to one of ours. Maybe somewhere like Fulham but you'd probably have to pay more for their cheapest ticket compared to our best seats in the house.

I was talking to a mate in the pub about Rugby League (he's not a fan) and he was baffled about the whole QRL/QRU situation and had no idea we existed. He thought that London Broncos had been relegated and presumed I went to watch a lower standard of RL

This was said by a man who follows sport.

When we got talking further about attendances etc he said an idea that I've not heard before but has a slight bit of sense to it. He likened Harlequins RL to Wimbledon FC. Wimbledon couldn't attract fans and were sinking pretty quickly and then Pete Winkleman stepped in and moved the club to Milton Keynes, a city with no professional sport there. My friend suggested that it may be better for us to do that. It seemed outlandish at the time but it may just work.

Using MK as an example, they only have their Football team there and a hell of a population to aim themselves at. Amateur teams are fairly local such as St Albans, Hemel Stags, Northampton and then the other Merit League sides.

The problem is that the marketing in the past has been poor to non-existent and now the marketing seems to have improved, the product is poor

Where shall we go to, Bridgend, Gateshead, Runcorn, Kent, and any other place the sport has been dumped in the past-Lets take it away from where it is played by more kids than any other part of the country-I understand your thinking-At first I was thinking its like soccer where its played by every kid in every school then realised maybe it isnt-hmmm

RL is a minority sport. Out of interest as a sport fan like your mate and based on the assertion all sports fans know everything about sport again like your mate you will know which leagues Guildford Flames & Guildford Heat play in.

Sod's law isn't it really, we get marketing going and the team goes down the khazi!

Without wanting to get into a big discussion on class, all I'll say for social grouping generally speaking (and based on nothing but my own experiences) RU white collar, football (traditionally ) blue collar background.

As for grammar schools, many of them are still around in Kent (Dartford, Gravesend etc...) - the one you referred to may have shut 40 years ago but it would appear that things have always been 'different' in Kent as regards education.

As for somewhere to look , I was looking at a specific group of people with an interest in sport who may be brought across to RL, like I was. Much as though I would love to target every group in London / South East I was looking for a group to target that might yield results. With a dozen or so football teams in London even if we added an average of 100-150 from each that wouldn't be a bad start. Could target heaviest at the likes of Fulham, QPR, Brentford,Chelsea as it may be less of a trek for their fans than say for West Ham fans out in Essex. Once they're in then its down to the team (ie good results / performances) and the matchday experience to keep them in.We might have a marketing budget but I doubt it would stretch to a flyer through the door of everyone with a London postcode. As far as I have seen,particularly in the Premier League, there seems to be a much greater ethnic mix these days. Maybe a few players recruited from immigrant communities (East Europeans, Asian, Africans) could help generate some interest and / or a role model for kids from such a background to emulate.

Guildford Heat are in the BBL (British Basketball League) and I believe they won this a couple of years ago and entered a European Champions League tournemant and Guildford Flames are there Ice Hockey equivalant

You've got your sports right like your friend did, but got the rest wrong-ish like you mate. Thats one of the problems with being a minority sport

Sorry, I don't understand why you used the word MAYBE

wrong thread

Just interested...

Was rugby league a "minority sport" when it attracted nearly 7 million fans to the game in one year?

Or is this a new development?

At what stage does "minority" kick in? 1 million spectators per year? 2 million? 3 million?

And by definition, that suggests every sport bar soccer is a minority sport in England.

If you are referring specifically to London, how does a "minority" sport actually hold attendance records in excess of say rugby union in that city?

Or is union also a "minority" sport in London?

It is all definitional and doesn't assist the debate in this thread.

Every sport except football is a minority sport in England.

I've refrained from contributing to this forum since last year, when I sought to argue that Brian McDermott was failing our club as our coach – poor signings, under-performance on the field, and personally behaving like 'a miserable git' in front of fans and the media.

I recall receiving very little support for this point of view then.

However, the climate on this forum seems to be changing somewhat, now the new season has started and our team is performing pathetically in comparison with the flashes of inherent potential they showed early last season.

If David Hughes chooses to stick with Brian McDermott as our coach, I predict it's ultimately inevitable the RFL will kiss goodbye to our franchise, given that we continue to attract vanishingly small crowds to our home games.

This is such a shame, given the huge potential for growing support for Rugby League in general and Quins RL in particuar across our capital city.

Exactly.

Which places rugby league in the same boat as everyone else bar one.

Quit groaning and get on with supporting the game...

Just a tip.

I don't see it happening.

(Even!) the RFL won't shoot themselves in the foot like that...

The history of the game in England shows how important London is. It really is as simple as that.

There will be a presence in London - whether or not it is Quins is a different issue altogether and I feel for the supporters of the club itself.

Sorry, but as reasoned as you would like your post to seem, Brian Mac is not the sole reason for Quins being up the creek with no paddle....yes, he needs to go, but the failure to market properly is the SOLE reason!
the vanishing crowds? same average 2009 as 2000.......just not growing, but not vanashing

Accepting football is the most popular sport-there are still high profile sports that are either played by large numbers and or watched by large numbers-ie Cricket and RU which have huge international profile. I wouldnt call RU a minority sport more a sport that isnt as big as football

RL sits behind both of these

The viability of the club here has long been a topic of debate. These last thirty years have seen the club in its various incarnations struggle almost continuously.
I was involved with the club for seventeen years and came to the conclusion that the club will always struggle, both on and off the pitch.

It is remarkable that David Hughes has been the stalwart and champion for as long as he has. The man has almost single-handedly saved the club from oblivion several times. One cannot doubt his dedication but I believed eventually that sustaining fully professional top-flight RL in the capital is not viable. The club has only ever lost money; it hasn't made a cent in thirty years. If it had been run as a business during that time, it's highly likely that it would have gone into receivership at some point and, indeed, the club has gone close to extinction several times.

The Sky issue is interesting: Sky were the unseen hand at the crisis meeting at the Galpharm in 2005 when London were in serious trouble. Apparently they said that, if London were not re-awarded their SL franchise, the deal on the table for the other clubs would be substantially less than before. The club cannot compete effectively to challenge for silverware due to being under-capitalised.

I loved the club for a long time; it was my life. It was a very hard decision to walk away. I wish QRL all the best for the season and the future. The club's followers are the most dedicated in RL, bar none. Total respect.

Putting all that to one side-Why dont you pay your £15 pound and just watch the game and go home?