Stand still and the game will follow Comet and HMV who have refused to move with the times.

As a fan of the Broncos there is no bigger critic than me of what is going on. As Tony Rea says the potential is massive- if London RL becomes big SL will be better for it. Fev, Fax will never get crowds of any note that will exceed the poxy numbers we get at the Stoop currently (at best 2-4k for the bigger games-don’t quote the Pie CC one off)- The M62 area is saturated you really don’t get it do you.

Probably not.

But there is an obvious difference in what we would be trying to achieve in London, and what we are doing in Fax/Fev. There is also the question of the maturity of the market not to mention its potential etc etc.

Were they well supported? Realistically? Were they comparable to Wigan etc?If anything that’s a huge argument against Halifax moving up, with some success, good work at marketing/board level, a little luck and a fair wind, Fax’ could, possibly, with a bit of time, get to 80% of where they need to be.

Smokey, I remember going to Craven Cottage back in the day for a C.C tie & the place was rocking, maybe due to the novelty value.

But, thirty odd years have now passed by and the London experiment has faltered & stagnated to a hard core of fans, with a very wealthy bloke propping them up.

You can quite rightly bang on about “potential” but who’s going to pick up the bill when the Sugar Daddy finally bails?

Surely watching the game is all about aspirations & the supporters of the Featherstone’s of this world deserve to watch their team play top flight rugby.

They see their club meet the criteria on the field, they see the ground development & potential new sponsorship coming in yet, they tune in to Sky and see London getting spanked by Leeds in a ground devoid of any passion.

I would much rather see Post Office Road full to brim to see the all conquering Leeds side than the humiliation of empty stands at the Stoop, one may be a grimy northern town but the alternative is far more offensive on the eye.

Bring Back P&R!

That wont happen thats why we have to get out of the M62

2 years ago you could have easily argued that ‘the wakefield experiment’ had failed. London isn’t an experiment. It is an RL club in the same way Wakefield are an RL club. As for who picks up the tab when the Sugar daddy leaves? Well yes, someone has to. But you could ask that about Wakefield, and most other clubs. And especially about a club like Fev.

It doesn’t make sense to argue on one hand it is a bad thing that London are reliant on a sugar daddy because they aren’t reaching their potential, then argue they should be replaced by a club like Fev who would be miles away from getting the 10k needed to break even and where there is very very little potential that they will ever reach that level.


Post office road currently holds about 7k. Even if they sold out every single week, they would be 30% below the minimum sustainable level. Even if they got a new stadium and every single person in the town attended, they would still be getting 3/4/5k less than the big clubs.

There is also the matter that, in the interests of the wider game, every player brought through by an SL Fev, every new fan attracted by Fev could be attracted by Cas or Wakefield. The game doesn’t benefit from needlessly dividing its support base and player base between 3 clubs instead of 2 or 1.

There are a few SL clubs who don't meet your min sustainable level, so that argument/criteria is null and void.

The argument would only lack validity if you were some kind of moron.

Im well aware that some clubs don’t meet that level now, the answer is to get them up to that level not continually replace them with other clubs who also aren’t at that level and don’t even have the potential to get there.

Thought the well informed would know that Fev have purchased two 1300 seater stands from Scarborough FC,
soon to be erected.
They will substantially increase capacity.

by 2600, which still isnt enough, even if they were filling them.

.

When a club is propelled into the premier league like London were, that's an experiment in my eyes.

Regarding sustaining clubs, if London were to go bust you would be advocating a rescue plan, if it was a Wakefield or Featherstone you would happily wave goodbye.



I would suggest Featherstone would be far more likely to get nearer 10k gates than London ever will & I know you'll go on about the shear size of the Capital, however, they're just not interested, it's like trying to introduce a croquet league in Cas.




Once their new stand is up I've no idea how many it will hold, however, they do own the ground & save a shed load of cash not having to pay rent for P.O.R. As for their crowds, I'm sure they could manage 7k quite quickly, it's not like there's much else to do round there.



Fair point, however, due to the parochial nature of the area, supporters don't tent to swap allegiances, it's not Leeds you know

.

.
I Cant see the logic in that.

I think we should have a club in London. Whether that needs to be the Bronco’s or not I’m not sure. I don’t think that they are doing a perfect job, certainly on the playing and attendance side of things, but they are doing a pretty outstanding job at the youth development, community etc, side of things.



Do you really believe that? When have Fev ever got close to 10k averages in their history?
And of course the people in the capital aren’t interested, the game as a whole ranges between doing nothing at all and poor efforts to get them interested. There are many amateur and youth players in London, this shows that there are people interested in the game, the fact they aren’t interested in the club is down to the club and their efforts.



It is a very parochial area and some fans would refuse to support any other club. But Fev only have a relatively small hardcore of fans. I Where are these extra 5.5k fans who would attend an SL Fev and why arent they attending Wakefield or Cas now considering they are new fans Fev would need to bring in rather than existing fans?

Fev just isn’t a place that could sustain a pro RL club. The harsh fact is Fev in SL would be competing with clubs hugely better suited to it and they couldn’t compete. ,

I'm all for Feath having a crack at SL and admire how they go about their business but I'd be utterly stunned if they could get consistently anywhere near 7K, that would be about a third of the town which would be a massive ask.

Well then you clearly don't know your local area. Fev are de facto Pontefract's team and always have been.

Featherstone had a similar average than Wakefield when both were in the old first division - so I wouldn't look down your nose at them if I were you.

However one thing is for sure they will always out average London and will always produce good players.

You cannot sell a game to a population that doesn't want it - what part of that don't you understand.

Be strong where you are strong and that is the M62 corridor like it or not.

You defeat your own argument with HMV as and example - that was a big, heavily branded, well publicised national chain - everything you want! However no customers, can you see a pattern here?

HMV comet refused to expand into the Internet - now they have gone. Others stole the market

You cant tell me with the millions of people in London and SE there aren't 10K who want to watch RL- The potential is there if marketing is used. That is the current failure
Fev would get 2-4 k per game and you know it-That is the Max they could get. The target area is so small.

This is among your dumbest posts yet, and there is some stiff competition. In the hope of helping you and putting a stop to your nonsense ill tell you why

firstly, the population of London arent one homogeneous entity that took a vote and decided it didnt want the game.

Secondly, RL barely registers, that is the issue, not that people have looked at it and not liked it, but that they dont pay any attention to it in the first place

Thirdly, there is nothing unique in the people of the m62 corridor that means they like RL but people from other areas wont. To suggest there is something inherent in people from certain places only liking certain things suggests a misunderstanding of so many basic tenents of humanity I am honestly astounded that it could be suggested by anyone who wasnt wearing pants on their head and a necklace made of their own teeth.

fourthly, you can sell things to people who think they dont want it. In fact thats what a salesperson does. Someone only gives things to people who already want it arent salespeople, they are order takers.

fifthly, HMV is an ideal example, a company which didnt move with the times, instead of changing its model when the world changed and leading in expanding their on-line sales and instead stuck to 'being strong where they are strong' then watched as the world passed them buy. The fact that the likes of play.com, lovefilm, netflix exist is testament to HMV's failing by being strong where they are strong. In years to come pupils of Business Studies will use HMV as a case study in a strong, successful business, with a recognised quality brand, dying because they focused on 'being strong where they are strong' and not adapting to an ever changing world.

At last- sadly the flatcappers wont accept what you are saying

They live in a insular village mentality. Because they sell 10 cup cakes at the village fair they think they know sales like Phillip Green

someone didn't do their research

[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-20953357[/url not looking too strong to me



HMV did move with the times, they sell online and they diversified their stock to sell clothing, electronics, books etc, but a company thats over reached expanding(there is a phrase some fans would find relevant

) by buying up every plot of land they could ala GAME, just can't compete with a company that has no bricks and mortar stores to pay rent on and no tax to pay.

unless of course by 'moving with the times' you meant sell all the shops and move to jersey

let's face it, that's hardly the barometer for success in SL.

10,000 average attendances needed to Break even at about 20 notes a punter including ticket is about 2.6 million, +SKY money of 1.3....call it 4 million Turn over......London generate about 900k from revenues,1.3 from SKY and DH pumps about another 1.6 million a year with no hope of ever seeing a penny of it back...does the new "benefactor" at Fev have 8 million to invest over 5 years with the distinct possibility of never seeing a penny back?




London Broncos can be considered a failure only when an attempt has been made to market them poperly. Rather than using an insane standpoint over HMV and their refusal to see that the future was 100% on-line, why not try something a little "closer to home"

Melbourne Storm...bankrolled by the 50% owner of the NRL and Broadcast Partner, worse support than 11 AFL sides, a union franchise and 2 Wendyball teams in their own city....losing cash hand over fist and found guilty of cheating in an attempt to grow popularity..... are they a success or a failure in your eyes?

Well yes, HMV can't compete with those type of companies, even if they paid tax, they dont pay rent and that allows them to sell cheaper, and also employ fewer staff. The high street model for a retailer like HMV was bust and has been for 10+years.

That doesnt even address that the market is now moving from physical records to downloads and streaming, somewhere HMV doesnt have a meaningful presence. HMV stuck to doing what they were strong at, until they found that Amazon, Netflix and Itunes had created a different market, and what they were strong at was no longer relevant.

The argument isnt London or Featherstone, it should be both, part of Londons failure to progress is down to the RFL, they should have recieved financial help to market themselves, similarily the RFLs clueless approach to dealings with the Championships is another failure

I'm not saying it is only their fault, it isnt, the clubs are all guilty of not understanding the need to change in how they operate

As regards Fevs ' investor ' , well its good to see a Championship Club attracting money, as long as they actually get it

Some very uninformed and way off the mark posts on here about fev. Suggest you either find out facts or stop posting inane drivel.

Don't make me whoop you again - life is to short.

Nothing dumb in my post me old mucka - I'm right on this and always have been, you are wrong on almost everything regarding RL a sport and culture you clearly don't understand and never will.