I'm not sure you can compare talent coming through junior clubs who have been around for decades to those who are only just starting to see the fruit blossoming - Clubb, McCarthy-Scarsbrook to name two England internationals.

... and here it is.

Then look at rest of the internationals not just England (as superleague is not just about English rugby) and i am sure you will see that there are a lot of players that have passed through the ranks in some form. Simple fact providing we stay in superleague we have a lot more to offer than QUINS AND CRUSADERS.

I think you've missed my point. I'm not saying the clubs in our area don't produce internationals in much higher numbers than the clubs around London, just that our clubs have had a lot longer to get the systems/coaches/talent pool to be able to do that.

But, let's be honest, I may as well not bother because some smart Alec will have a go at me for posting this. maybe I should post crap about kids being born or hilarious banter with Cas fans about having six fingers rather than try to discuss issues on this board.

There has been a professional RL club in London since the 1930's - every iteration has failed.

Isn't it simply that London is not and never will be a RL area?

Quins have been around in some form or other for a fair few years now, pre Sl I believe.

Acton & Willesden and Stretham & Mitcham lasted a season in 1935. London Highfield did the same in '33. Professional rugby, continually has only been played in the capital since 1981.

If you put an amateur club isomewhere with no links to the 'heartlands' say like Norwich, how long would you think it would take for them to develop the knowledge, skills and player pool to be able to produce a potential international rugby league player.



You obviously think not, so there's no discussion is there. Who knows what will happen in the future? 25 years ago you'd have thought it was dead in Huddersfield and we weren't too healthy then either. Things change.

It's only alive now thanks to regular transfusions from Uncle Kens pocket

It would seem the only way to make it fit anywhere other than a traditional rugby league area is to throw lots of money at it.
If someone (and that shouldn't be the RFL by the way) is happy to throw their own money at it instead of paying supporters I suppose that's their prerogative.
However a viable club should not be made to suffer, for what is in my opinion a total sham.

if you put an elephant in somewhere like the sea, how long until it will develop the skill to swim? It won't it will die, as without frequent cash injections would London and crusaders.

It's a Super League franchise we are going for, not Northern City of Culture!

But most people round here only see Quins as an attendance and a score, nothing else - so that is what you MUST be judged on by the RFL. No wonder they feel the need to point it on in the press with some of the fans up here (many different clubs, not just us).

And if you look at how many of these southern clubs have come about in the last ten years or so, you will see what a growth it has been for them. Many of the clubs round here have been around for longer than we have been in SL. I wonder how many of them will say they have had the support of WTW over that period, against how many of the London League teams have had support of Quins RL/Broncos etc..

Not as straight forward to compare apples with pears, or apples and pears and stairs....

But can't you see, they are actually achieving something locally down there in the community. Kids round here grow up on the game, they get to know about it from an early age. Kids rugby down there has been a recent thing in comparison. They are doing what they can to build a good structure in place. And that means that they are growing stronger year on year in the amateur levels. (As they are in the Midlands and the SW too - without a SL club)

(Don't get me wrong - SL should be P+R, but under the current structure it is not)

A lot of what is happening in the non-heartland areas is that the RFL are setting up development offices where community coaches are going into schools, setting up partnerships to deliver rugby league coaching and opportunities for kids and teachers to get involved with rugby league, and to point them towards amateur clubs in the region. Those clubs are run by volunteers, those players are playing at an amateur level and having to pay their own transport to games (often up to a couple of hours away for fixtures due to location issues). The players that do well at that level are then looked at by Quins academy and Quins coaching staff in the same that scouting occurs up here. But the cash that the RFL are putting into the area, as far as I know is into community coaching, assisting growth in the amateur game which then helps a pathway to lead to opportunities elsewhere.