Not a chance!!!! I am soooo over London!!


So come on mate... why wouldnt the concept of a social club/leagues club thing work for your club?

Surely if ever there was a club who would benefit from one it would be Quins?

I know what you mean, London is a bit rubbish. I'm sick of it too.

It wouldn't work for us because a) we don't own our own ground/land, b) our supporers come from far and wide and it wouldn't be sustainable. I'd love to see it happen obviously and it sounds great, but it wouldn't work for us, yet.

UK culture is immensely different to Australian culture too (for the worse) - people would rather stay in and be miserable than go to their local league club for a nice time.

I think Wigan and perhaps Leeds could make something like this work.

Barry, this is the first of your posts i have ever taken seriously and i think it is a great idea. As well as creating a focal point for fans to socialise outside game day, you could hold fans forums, meet the players etc and generate extra income for the club.

You know it makes sense my friend.

'Leagues clubs' in Australia are great.. if you are ever over there I can thoroughly recommend them. You just sign in as a guest if you are not a member... they have good food, cheaper beer than pubs, raffles, meet the players type events, etc etc

Good places for fans of clubs (and RL in general) to meet and have a few cold ones over a decent steak

I lived in Queanbeyan (near Canberra) for a while and Queanbeyan Leagues was excellent

The end product might have to be a bit different here but the fundamentals would be the same

Its a winner.

League Clubs are one of the only things that interest me in Australia, places that are totally brilliant and unique and cannot be found anywhere else in the world. If I was to travel there, I'd probably fit my trip around trying to visit most/all of them.

Dave, the reasons you state for NOT having a leagues club are exactly the reasons you SHOULD have one.

Your supporters come from far and wide, allegedly. OK, maybe, but you still dont have enough of them. A leagues club would be a good way to get local people in.

Depending on how the rah rah boys feel, how good would it be if there was a COMBINED leagues/unions club? That way you stand a chance of converting some of the union fans, if there is a consistent league buzz about the place.

Leagues clubs are there for bringing in new people too - why assume we have to simply preach to those already converted?

My point is it is not sustainable right now. Its hardly an option that you can take speculatively. We can't afford to open 3 stands, yet alone establish a "league club".

I was thinking more along the lines of a 'Harlequins Club'. League and Union. Get the rah-rahs in, and shove league in their faces. Some of them will convert.

90% of Union fans don't want anything to do with us, and lets face it, they don't really need any sort of club.

But hasn't your club got some rich bloke thowing money at it like confetti?

If Harlequins opened a 'leagues club' type thing I would like to see it looking something like the Walkabout at Temple.

Dont know if you have ever been there, if not its worth a visit. Puts the Shepherds Bush one to shame!

Decent location, decent building (with roof top beer garden) decent size, Tube station next door etc etc. Good place to meet up with your mates after work for a cold beer, some dinner... and good at the weekend with live bands etc etc

Gets packed out every weekend with a healthy (ish) amount of punters in the week.

Those same customers would still come if it was called 'Walkabout' or 'Quins' or whatever else.

A similar type of set up to that but themed around Rugby league (concentrating on Harlequins RL) with Quins merchandise on sale plus footy memorabilia around the walls would still get the punters in I'm sure.

Might even attract some itinerant members of the community along to the Stoop to watch a bit of footy too if it was run right

Deary me, you just don't read/comprehend anything do you? No, we do not have a bottomless pit of money, so therefore it is a non starter.

Strange that because on other threads I've read your fellow supporters are saying this bloke (god knows what his name is) is minted and likes to throw his cash around?

So how are Quins surviving?

Certainly not from ticket sales or sponsorship deals.

Who pays the wages?

If you had read more carefully, you will have found out that he is attempting to cut back his spending on the club and is intending to retire.

Then I'm guessing thats Harlequins RL well and truly rooted.

Probably best to forget the idea of a Harlequins RL social club in that case

Yeah exactly.

Leeds has a social club within the grounds of Headingley, Widnes have a social club too. In fact I think they're quite common.

Warrington use to have one. Touchdown club under the old main stand.

Do Skolars still own that pub by their ground?

Think most fans will just use their local amateur team's clubhouse seeing as though most of them are working men's clubs anyway.

Barry there is one small but incredibly important bit of your plan that you are ignoring

The pokey machines

It is those that have paid for the formation , building and growth of the leagues clubs in Australia , without that revenue they would be little more than the local labour club over here

They filled a gap in the market in OZ that is/was already filled over here a hundred years ago

For any club to start from scratch and try to attempt to make a success of something like that now in the current economic climate would be a huge gamble

It probably wouldn't happen in OZ let alone a place like London which is filled to the brim with places for people to already do all the things you suggest and much more

Sorry but you need something more original than what you propose

spot on. we have had working mens clubs for over a century, even the average small town still has 2 or 3 of these, indeed its around some of these that the amatuer game still revolves to some extent. a lot of these clubs struggle nowadays and i can't just see a league club working over here as it would only be busy on matchdays. as a previous poster says folk over here like to stay in with the wii and dvd nowadays. i'm not one of these

Poker machines are what makes leagues clubs money. They often have hundreds of them, and quite happily milk mug punters of all their cash. Gambling is a far worse social problem in Australia than the UK. Without poker machines leagues clubs would quickly become small pubs and have no money to speak of. With poker machines they are enormously rich.

Good call this Baz.

yeh fill it full of pokies and let the dolies and pensioners fritter away their social cheques. Great idea! How many RL "social clubs" are there that are not a front for pokie machines?

Over 2000 pubs closed last year, another 2000 expected to close this year - lots of landlords really struggling. Why anyone would thing opening a bar right now is likely to bring money into the club is beyond me.

AFAIK, Skolars sports bar closed recently - it was all locked up last time I was there - maybe someone knows better though.

Leagues clubs also work because alcohol licences are so thin on the ground in Oz. Barrie, my missus is from Engadine in the Shire. Its a suburb of 40,000. It's licenced premesis are... the Pub, the RSL, and the Bowling club. All three are like leagues clubs, i.e. a community venue, with dining rooms, gambling rooms, straight-up bars, and other entertainments. An English suburb of that size would have 50 boozers, and other competing venues for all the other activities (many of which would also be licenced). There's no real comparison, which is why leagues clubs don't work here.