Heard a rumour this morning that Harlequins RL have gone bust? Dont know how much truth there is in it?

Not sure but their chairman has put £7 million of his own money in to club over the years as was mentioned on Boots n all last night.

I think it is now commonly accepted that they are under major financial pressure and that the much discussed withdrawl of the chairman's cash would probably push them over the edge. Question is would SL turn a blind eye to such instability or even intervene to keep their big (capital) city dream alive. Or would they see the silver lining of avoiding the controversy of excluding a heartland club 12 months hence and being able to elevate Widnes before they fall even further down NL.

There has to be a solution to this and I feel sorry for the Quins fans. We really could do with a big London presence in Super League and I do not want them to goto the walls.

www.skysports.com/tv_show/story/ ... 87,00.html And Fully I don't want them to go to the wall either,but if it was between us and them you know what the answer is.

www.skysports.com/tv_show/story/ ... 87,00.html And Fully I don't want them to go to the wall either,but if it was between us and them you know what the answer is.

Indeed, and there's always going to be that. I wonder if a stint in the Championship would make any difference. It would enable them to cut back in outgoings and DH could invest in the areas to market the club with the potential to re-enter come 2015.

The fans wouldn't lose their club, the young London based talent could come through and they could potentially have derbies (albeit in the NR Cup) with Skolars to market to.

If they drop to the Championship this shows that the expansionism approach by the RFL is undermined without sturdy foundations at the club first.
Quins have lacked in support which has affected them financially, Paris just lacked, Catalans are more solid and if any of the rumours are correct about the Nomad Welsh Aussies they are struggling for cash also.
The RFL will lose too much if Quins are to slip down and so Imo they will be 'supported' by the RFL.

Quins going into administration would have to be a major fillip for us - I don't see how the RFL could conceivably remove any other club in such a scenario.

Of course a strong London side would be great for the sport and I'd prefer us both to be awarded franchises but I'm also not going to pretend that, selfishly, this would (if true) be great new for Cas!

Well if they are going ust who would we pick up? I like the young half back they've got, Gale I think his name is. Also, any mileage of looking at Luke Dorn again? I guess there's Clubb and the blond haired Aussie centre, maybe worth a phone call. I'm sure we wouldn't be the only club doing that over the next few days.

firstly i dont want quins or london rl not to have a team in super league long term,however its pretty clear that they can not be sustained in their current format of losing money hand over fist.

now for me the senseble option would be to take a gap year or two in the championship and rebuild the from scratch "again".if they are confident that they are producing good quality kids then they should be able to field a near full southern english side,they then need to find a venue that is accessable to the london public without been too far out,ive travelled from inner london on a few occasions to the stoop and its a logistical nightmare especially when trains and undergrounnd are shut for works over a weekend and then with this hassle you understand why they get little support.

Good Riddence i say

Who exactly does Harlequins RL represent? Castleford Tigers represent the town of Castleford and it's people and we also draw peolpe in from surrounding towns and villages. We even have a small number of fans who travel long distances to the game and who were not even ever born in Cas or have family from Cas. The vast majority of Cas fans though are from Cas, or at least pretty close, and feel that Castleford Tigers is what and who we are.

So how does this compare with Harlequins RL? Do they represent the area around Twickers, Richmond, the whole of London, greater London or even "The South"? Obviously now there are also the Skolars down there, so to say they represent the whole of London would be wrong i guess. Are the fans of Quins in the main scattered all around London or more locally? Is there a particular area of London that really loves their rugby league, such as the streets surrounding the Stoop?

One of the big things about being a Cas fan is my pride in my home town club, the reason we all never want to merge with anyone and the reason we want our new ground in Cas. Because we feel strongly about our club, where we play and what we/it represents. How does this feeling compare with Quins fans? Is a Quins fan a "Quin for life" or Quin until i die"? I'm not trying to knock any Quins fan or anything to do with the club, but just asking the question of how the fans of Quins and people of Twickers and London feel about "their" club.

I know Quins have changed name and location a few times, and maybe this is to try and build their own identity and make them feel more like a Cas, Widnes or any other club with a long history. Is the fact that the club still cannot draw in big enough crowds to help support a SL team an indication that the people of London on the whole do not see Harlequins as "their" club at all? There are something like 7 million people in London but unfortunatley most just don't want RL.

I'd be interested in comments on this from Quins fans who don't want to go off on one about us northerners being flat cap wearing, neanderthal dickcheeses who want to keep our game to ourselves.

And they'd probably prefer Cas fans not to post comments like 'Good Riddance' on rumours of their financial plight (ps: to answer the OP, no they haven't gone bust - whoever you were talking to half listened to Boots n All and took it from there)

Would be a terrible day for the game. Anybody whose been secretly praying for their demise will get a shock when they realise Sky will reduce the TV Contract without a London club, it could also conceivably push a couple of heartland clubs over the edge when their owners wake up in 2012 to find they are receiving a few hundred thousand less from Sky, or force the RFL to reduce Superleague to 10 or 12 teams to ensure clubs receive the same amount of money.

I reckon Marshy's hit the nail on the head with an excellent post!

I remember when the London experiment started with Fulham, they had a fair degree of success and decent crowds because people identified with Fulham, I remember going down there to watch us at Craven Cottage and there was a decent crowd there, had Ernie Clay not pulled the plug then I believe Fulham would have done OK, but then the nomadic trail started and I've lost count of the numerous grounds I've been to follow us down there, it just doesn't work the way they are doing it and the sooner someone realises it the better.

They have to have a community that will identify with them, just as Marshy says, then and only then will there be some kind of stability there, it's no good trying to do it on the back of Harlequins RU, they are rugby union people and in the main don't like rugby league, especially as they are also a fairly successful club in their own right.

If they are to continue they have to find another home - a town in greater London that's maybe not too mad about football or rugby union.

Well what do the so called expansion clubs bring in the way of travelling support to the clubs none or very little, why should clubs with thousands of supporters be relegated to the lower leagues for these non proven ventures, When has Sky ever said that it would remove support from Rugby League if these teams are not in.

They have had years of free rides in the way of exemptions on players, years of exemptions of relegation and latterly a direct free route into SL without even going through the ranks. Do i like it do i hell and it is the insistance of certain people that we have to expand blah blah blah, well i agree, but do it by the correct way. If Sl needs to expand then so be it, but only by a level playing field. I still stand by what ive said before Good Riddence is my opinion, if you dont like it tough, i dont like it that you want them in, but its tough on me as well isnt it.

I believe that Quins RL is the way forward, in either the Championship (where I believe we are heading) or in SL. Moving every 5 years is not the answer and neither is trying to attract fans from anywhere other than the local area. LONDON Broncos supposedly represented LONDON.....that didn't work and the club need to concentrate on people nearer to the ground. Forget Aussies......they have no interest in club sport unless it's on their doorstep.
250,000 people live in the local borough........and they are where you need to build your fan base from....Quins RL don't need to move, they need to stay where they are and stay there for at least 10 years before they give up.

I would have no issue if Quins RL were the team to go next year....it's not like they haven't been warned a number of times......and if they do go down, it is purely down to bad management at the club. Some fans will blame the RFL for letting IL buy Wigan, but the fact remains that the club are losing in excess of thirty thousand pounds a week.....how in gods name is that good business management. Sorry, they only have themselves to blame.


Oh, by the way....you said it

It's been strongly insinuated by Red Hall that it would be detrimental to negotiations for a decent TV contract if a London team aren't in. Let's put it this way, a significant portion of the people who watch Superleague games on Sky Sports come from the South of the country and the Midlands, Sky want to sell dishes, if they think were impeding their ability to do that we will suffer.

Surely they can't be quins fans or they would go the games. They are going to be fans of Heartlands clubs who can't get to matches cos they now live down South.

I can't see the demise of a club who have 2-3k attendances affecting the sale of sky subscriptions

To Guttfax, would you follow a London side directed say 50-100 miles away from where they are located now elsewhere with a totally different name? Just curious. Seems a shame if Quins were to fold or what not, seem to be giving youth a chance down there.

Please point me in the direction of where travelling supporters count in the licence criteria? The same can be said of your impact on the attendance at Warrington this year, where the gate was recorded as their worst of the season. Quins, the french and the cottage burners don't bring many, so forward thinking clubs like FC and Wigan MARKET the games....to account for this and as a result, get bumper gates.

They shouldn't......I think the current figure for quins is three THOUSAND three hundred and ninety four....

....they aren't non-proven, they are development areas. So, people like you expect 300 London RL Internationals straight away? Fans are an issue.....development is not, neither is the growth the game has experienced in the last 5 years alone down in the south.

...they haven't. But the speed at which the SL chairmen readmitted the broncos in 2005 would point to either them all being closet cockneys or them all knowing what side their breads buttered on.

....see you really anti expansionist aren't you. How would you expect a London team to find 30 local lads who play league when there wasn't really any network in place? As it is, Quins are now the most British SL club.....I suggest you go and have a look at HKR if you want to discuss exemptions.

the french maybe, not us. Unless you can prove it, don't type it...all you do is make yourself look even more marginalised than you are.

All 3 of the expansion teams got a free ticket.....could be something to do with the expansion of the game from a 1 road past time into a truly national sport....maybe not fair on the likes of Keighly, Widnes and Leigh...but you try making an omlette without breaking a few eggs.


...get off the fence and tell us what you really think



The people that count........those who govern the game and have turned it into a profitable organisation as well as those nice chaps at BSkyB (allegedly).


no you don't. You are so anti-expansionist it's unbelieveable.......

, and your better blue print would be what? 100+ years of the game along the M62 and all people like you can do is point out you have 5,000 more fans than London or Crusaders...you fail to see the irony of your argument...rome wasn't built in a day ( but it did burn down pretty quickly)

...what, as long as Castleford are in SL that's a level playing field



and you're entitled to it......even if it shows you up as being a flat earth knuckle dragging whippet keeping pigeon fancying anti expansionist



...OK.......Whatever you say tough guy



Not really...you are entitled to your opinion (see above) and others to theirs....no need to get all y about i though is there



If Quins go down, you'll get none of this spitefull b0ll0x from us...we know we are lucky to be in SL and we pray every night that David Hughes stays healthy....but I doubt many would be suprised if we did go down a step to CH1.

Nothing to do with dishes, everything to do with Advertisers.....not many people want to spend loads of money advertising their product to a small audience....having the French, cockney and welsh element makes the game look more appealing to advertisers.



Will follow the club where ever they play and whatever they are called. As for the youth, that would then become the RFL's problem. Quins employ a load of community staff....would the RFL be prepared to keep it going? Would it be worth keeping going with no SL team?

I hope so.

Quote ="gutterfax"Please point me in the direction of where travelling supporters count in the licence criteria? The same can be said of your impact on the attendance at Warrington this year, where the gate was recorded as their worst of the season. '" Have to correct you on that front mate. It was a typo that was replicated by every website. The attendance was actually over 10,000, which is more than a few Wire home games. www.warringtonwolves.org/clarkey ... pack--3548

Quote ="gutterfax"Please point me in the direction of where travelling supporters count in the licence criteria? The same can be said of your impact on the attendance at Warrington this year, where the gate was recorded as their worst of the season. '" Have to correct you on that front mate. It was a typo that was replicated by every website. The attendance was actually over 10,000, which is more than a few Wire home games. www.warringtonwolves.org/clarkey ... pack--3548

Quote ="Fully"Have to correct you on that front mate. It was a typo that was replicated by every website. The attendance was actually over 10,000, which is more than a few Wire home games. www.warringtonwolves.org/clarkey ... pack--3548'" 2 things here. Firstly, Published figures on SL site, RFL site and pretty much everywhere else say the lower amount, but even if I accept the "over 10,500 fans" comment on one site..........it's still less that Quins attendance Next up......my point was that the away attendances count for nothing, but those clubs who are forward thinking MARKET these games. Wigan, for example attracted their 3rd largest gate of the year this season after their 2 local derbies with Saints and Wire. In 2009, quins game again was their third largest gate after saints and Leeds. Hull FC ran a campaignin 2009 that resulted in their second biggest gate of the year and that was when their season was long over........away fans are not part of the licence application process. Home attendances are and clubs like the 2 above are at the top of that tree because they see the visit of a team with little or no away following as an opportunity........Leeds on the other hand don't bother and I believe miss an opportunity boost their revenue. Put simply, the steward are already being paid, the lightd are already on and the bars are already open........either leave the seats empty or try to get more people in and sell more beer, pies etc...and they might even come back! I am well versed in the attendances of Harlequins RL, probably more than the club themselves and I accept that we have terrible crowds......and something should have been done a lot earlier rather than the club face the possibility of being ejected from SL altogether. If they had marketed themselves properly and had an average of 6,000 they wouldn't need DH to bail them out....they would be breaking even. On the topic of away fans. If they were a licence application criteria.....how would it be monitored. HKR take millions, but in reality and based on 11 years of SL since the 2000 season and using attendances in London as a barometer.....they actually sit 6th on the attendance charts. Castleford 7th....with Wigan, Saints and Leeds the three highest....but guess what....away fans don't count for anything as far as the RFL are concerned

Quote ="Fully"Have to correct you on that front mate. It was a typo that was replicated by every website. The attendance was actually over 10,000, which is more than a few Wire home games. www.warringtonwolves.org/clarkey ... pack--3548'" 2 things here. Firstly, Published figures on SL site, RFL site and pretty much everywhere else say the lower amount, but even if I accept the "over 10,500 fans" comment on one site..........it's still less that Quins attendance Next up......my point was that the away attendances count for nothing, but those clubs who are forward thinking MARKET these games. Wigan, for example attracted their 3rd largest gate of the year this season after their 2 local derbies with Saints and Wire. In 2009, quins game again was their third largest gate after saints and Leeds. Hull FC ran a campaignin 2009 that resulted in their second biggest gate of the year and that was when their season was long over........away fans are not part of the licence application process. Home attendances are and clubs like the 2 above are at the top of that tree because they see the visit of a team with little or no away following as an opportunity........Leeds on the other hand don't bother and I believe miss an opportunity boost their revenue. Put simply, the steward are already being paid, the lightd are already on and the bars are already open........either leave the seats empty or try to get more people in and sell more beer, pies etc...and they might even come back! I am well versed in the attendances of Harlequins RL, probably more than the club themselves and I accept that we have terrible crowds......and something should have been done a lot earlier rather than the club face the possibility of being ejected from SL altogether. If they had marketed themselves properly and had an average of 6,000 they wouldn't need DH to bail them out....they would be breaking even. On the topic of away fans. If they were a licence application criteria.....how would it be monitored. HKR take millions, but in reality and based on 11 years of SL since the 2000 season and using attendances in London as a barometer.....they actually sit 6th on the attendance charts. Castleford 7th....with Wigan, Saints and Leeds the three highest....but guess what....away fans don't count for anything as far as the RFL are concerned