I wouldnt target Quins RU fans most are not interested.

I would giving out tons of free tickets to familes who go to the football. Show them what a cheaper, friendly and great game.

Quins RL has to offer.

Why not also run comps in newspapers and local radio giving away tickets. With this you get plenty of publicity and free advertising.

Free tickets doesnt mean you will lose money as most people will purchase a programme or a drink from under the stand. I dont know how much quins rl get from this but I would hope they get a good slice.

So let me get this straight... are you trying to say lack of marketing is to blame?

No, he seems to be after more 'Arketing - M'.

The idea of a franchise at Loftus Rd has some appeal

Queens Park Rovers



ANZAC heartland

cracking ground (if you've got short legs)

Good stripey kit

and that naughty F1 chap needs something to do - at least he knows about marketing

Shep-Bush Walkabout holds about 1,000 people. There are a few other bars around that a few Aussies go to, but to place a club into Loftus road based on the drinking habits of an audience who are more into AFL (THE PUB SPONSORS THE LOCAL TEAM)...would seen a little strange.
Quins can thrive in TW2......they just have to tell the local residents they exist. Did I mention Marketing BTW

To be honest I really don't think it matters what crowds they get - the RFL just will NOT ever kick them out of SL, to do so would be admitting failure which IMO they couldn't handle doing.

In other words, they're a guaranteed shoe-in everytime.

The lack of relegation may mean we're not in the state of panic we would be if it existed, but the real problem is we've failed to replace Ian Lenagan as an investor, and the commercial operation is still underdeveloped.



We do (I wear my Quins RL winter jacket almost every day at the moment) although replica kit availability has become a running joke.



Unfortunately the cost base contradicts this.



It's investment that's at the root of it. If you look at a successful Australian expansion team like Melbourne they've had significant, systematic investment via Fox Sports and the NRL, if we got that we'd have the parochial element posting death threats. So we make the most of what we have. Marketing costs money, the club doesn't have money, simple really.



Without investment there's a limit to what will ever be achieved, and past experience has told us that patience is the least bad option.



The club is at the centre of a huge development effort, one that simply didn't exist as little as 10 years ago, now we've now got at least 7 players who've come through the development programmes contending for first team places, some like LMS, Clubb and Sharp are first choices, others like O'Callaghan, Bryan, Bolger are making the 17 regularly. Of course there are questions over how much some RL fans are really interested in the expansion of the player pool and what that brings. Besides there's never been a begging bowl, it might be an enduring myth, but that's all it is. David Hughes has spent millions keeping us alive, not the RFL or other clubs, the only "favour" the other SL clubs did us was allowing the club to continue after the previous holding company was liquidated, and even that was a self-interested decision rather than one from the kindness of their hearts.

It also sponsors the local RL team Hammersmith Hill Hoists.

Spot on, and worryingly so, despite Gufaxs protestations, I don't think marketing is the answer anymore......the love of the sport is not in the mind of the average southerner. A professional team cannot survive on the whims of a few hardy suvverners, a fair sprinkling of exiled northerners and the casual viewer.

Not sure Quins as is can survive outside of SL but not too sure they are surviving in it either. There has always been this mentality that the game will sell itself to any new viewers, but that is not true, it needs to imbed itself into the psyche so that hardcore supporters come in bigger numbers than our 2k constant regardless of performance.

I got into rugby league watching internationals and the NRL. Intially when I started watching Quins in 2006 I really enjoyed myself and the rugby that was being played. As the seasons have gone by, I fear the standard has dropped and I'm becoming quite disheartened. My optimism is slowly disappearing.

London Rugby Union Clubs have had a similarly nomadic existence since thier sport went pro, despite London (or more generally the South East) being considered a RU area. Wasps had a spell at Loftus Road. Now they play out of the home counties in High Wycombe, like Saracens (Watford) and London Irish (Reading). I wonder how much they are London teams and how much they have been embraced by the the smaller local communities where they play?

Although I don't think constantly moving and rebranding is helpful, it isn't limited to RL in London - we just fret and moan about it more.

Or the Not Nots as they're familiarly known (not London, not Irish)

just watch some more nrl mate, its getting better every season.

I’ve been at both the Warrington and Leeds away lashings - talk about demoralised!

There does not seem to be one consensus of what is the right approach to growing the game in London which seems to add to the uncertainty. What is the answer? - here comes the flat cappers

Come 2012 I'll probably be an NZ Warriors member...

you sure like your expansion clubs!

come to sydney, youll freak out at how much RL dominates

Oh I know. I was there in 2008 and watched Mason's first match against the Bulldogs. 33,000. Loved it.

even though they are the Auckland Warriors in everything but name, I have a jersey already and I am really excited about the game this wekend. SKY are even showing the U20 game beforehand.....oh for that type of commitment from UK broadcasters.
Paul Blanchards interview is nothing new. Quins have been going through a period of transition for 30 years and at no stage has anyone at the club grasped the fact that without fans...you will continue to have a club that needs to be rescued or change hands every 5 or so years. The Double Header will paper over the cracks, but how the RFL can allow a double header to count as our gate, especially as there is a 2 hour gap between games, is beyond me.
Quins are important to the RFL purely on an expansion/development ticket and as such, they may well get another licence, but if they are still getting sub 5k gates in 2013 then that's that...and as much as their fans will moan, they really can't say they didn't see it coming.
It will be a very sad day for the clubs true fans and by that, I mean the 30yr veterans who, in some cases, have given more than could ever be expected.
Quins game v Salford is vital.......if they lose this and then Salford pull a stadium out of the hat this year than they may even go sooner..

was at that game, that was a good one

The likelihood is we will lose to the Reds this weekend. We have an extremely weak team due to half the salary cap spend being injured. That last sentence is just typical of your short sighted approach.

Vent your boredom elsewhere. We've all heard your anti Quins marketing rhetoric once to many times.

Would the SLS going national help this?

wrong again......as there is no marketing, how could I be anti it? As for rhetoric........wrong again. They are POV....and if you are bored with them, avoid my posts.

Any news on the Skolars/Quins Double Header being tweaked to account for the RL and Wendyball Internationals that day or are they going to blindly soldier on, safe in the knowledge that wire-quin will be there at the very least

I'm not convinced the drop in crowd average is totally down to Quins themselves or the move to Twickenham Stoop.

I think it's more away supporters deciding to spend weekends away at Catalans or at the Magic Weekend and even Wembley for the cup final rather than the game at Harlequins. Your money can only go so far and if the fixture list isn't kind enough to spread the cost of that, London is probably last choice every time, because it's so expensive!

I mean, One potential crowd boost from Wigan fans at Harlequins in late June this year has been completely wasted by the fixture list scheduling us to visit Catalans just a week later!!! It'll be a big ask to expect Wigan fans to travel to both games within 8 days! The die hards will do it, but it won't be cheap and if it's a choice between the two, most will opt for the sun in France!

In fairness Sky used to show Under 18s Academy games here (not live but in a weekly 1 hour show) in the 90s, taped before the Friday Night Match they were showing that week. That only stopped because most clubs stopped playing those games as curtain raisers. I'm sure if all the clubs agree to have curtain raisers they'd bring it back. but never going to happen sadly.

Been to Mount Smart twice to see the mighty Warriors. My sister in law lives 20 minutes walk from there. I've got my heritage jersey on order...