I agree. All I want from an "away day" experience is to watch a game of rugby league. At the Stoop I can do that, and get a good view of the pitch and enjoy a drink in a decent bar. The only snag with the Stoop is that it's a long drive, but I can hardly blame the Quins for that!

GSF

GSE

a mixed message

So let me get this straight.

Harlequins had a band... AFTER the game??

Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear.


What on earth is the point of that??



Out of interest were they a Police tribute band?


They could have played 'Walking on the moon' if they were as a tribute to the lack of atmosphere and people down the Stoop


Boom boom

the originator of this thread is pathetic, having freely admitting that he has never been to watch quins play, he proceeds to lambast the club and their ground. i have been to the stoop on a couple of occasions when i have been in london, and have thoroughly enjoyed my visits. the great amount of youngsters playing the game in the south east now is a living testament to the good work quins have done in the community.

You are Brian McDermott and I claim my 8.22954 AUD

Yeah, according to my pocket calculator Crusaders will have -294 fans by their 4th home game.... They are still in a bubble but the air would appear to be leaking out pretty fast given that it was only 6700 agin Hull who travel enmasse.

QRL are in trouble, no doubt, but their 1st home game against Sts had over 8000 iirc.

All that said however, i would strongly agree with your previous statement. Problem is - and it has been said before - that was London Broncos, but that is unfortunately history. If as the consensus would appear QRL is heading for the end of the pier itself, then where and how is that identity achieved?

Problem is, people look at as, say London and it's 'millions'.

Twickenham itself has a population just shy of 40,000. You can see the RU stadium from ours...it's a tough market to crack.

People have suggested following some of the London Union teams and moving out[/out of London to a smaller, closer knit community with good facilities and less competition, such as Oxford or Swindon. I could see it working more than 'trying' to be London.

Didn't seem to be a problem for the London Monarchs to engage a fanbase from all over back in the 90's?

If your saying Quins RL catchment is only 40,000 then they def don't belong in SL!

A different sport with a larger demographic.

Really, in the UK?!!

They had the support of the NFL and gave away a huge amount of tickets, when they started charging people that crowd suddenley vanished.

No, in London.

And then folded pretty quick and then folded after a year of bumbling around the country.
At least we just bumble around the capital.
When we became Quins I thought that it was only a matter of time before we fully merged into the Union team. IMO pretty good for a marketing and infrastructure standpoint if not anything else.. That looks very unlikely now and the future of league in the capital could go either way.

Am I right in thinking that they played their home games at Wembley, whilst the Scottish team played at Hampden Park? If so what happened to both?

For the first few years, yes. Then Tottenham and Chelsea footy grounds and then they went on a tour of the country playing smaller and smaller grounds, both teams were cancelled when the NFL pulled the plug.

It prooved you could get people to watch if you chucked freebies at them and spent millions on advertising, as soon as they had to break even and charge people the crowds vanished.

Ah right, cheers. Guess that would probably suggest then that despite the NFL clearly having huge popularity over here, a London NFL franchise is probably still a long way away (if ever really).

I would say the majority of Quins supporters are feeling pretty low at the moment. Our team isn't performing, we aren't getting the crowds and no-one seems to like us

They all seem to enjoy the match day experience. (And not just for the fact that it is a guaranteed win)

Got to move again imo if they want to survive. Somewhere nice and posh, not too far from london

Why? and where?

Monarchs died long before the NFL pulled the plug. Claymores carried on until NFL pulled the plug on NFLE which was a decision by NFL team owners not the NFL. The nfle league was a feeder to NFL and funded by the team owners the had enough and down the tubes it went. An NFL franchise would fair better ad it would be NFL and nit nfle. However the monarchs struggled to get fans to away games in Germany Spain holland and Scotland they'll have hardly anyone for the away games in the states .

Back to topic quins rl is just that quins allienating all other ru teams supporters. In Bridgend when the crusaders announced the move to newport initially the locals went ape. Because Newport gwent dragons were the enemy and they refused to buy anything so there money didn't help a rival club.

Same I feel in London. If you supported. Salford ( long shot I know) anmd were a man city fan and they became man utd rl would you still pay up?

Quins do not need to move as in the Stoop they have a good and settled home albeit shared but with a club who seem happy to have them there. They do however need urgently to change their name. Only people that follow rugby league will upon hearing or seeing the name Harlequins or Quins wonder whether it is the RL club. The RU club have been in existence I think since before the great schism of 1895 and are a famous and nationally known club and brand. To anyone that does not follow RL Quins is an RU club and nothing else. As a result any attempt to market the club to new fans will fail as they will think it is the RU club and will either not bother to go as they don't like RU or will find out when the RU club play next and watch them. Sharing the Stoop and having the link up is no reason to share the same name, look at Leeds Rhinos and Leeds Tykes. Different names means that when one markets itself it is not confused with the other.
The Quins RL club should consult with their fans to get a name that the locals can identify with during this year and start to use it ASAP. Get rid of the unavoidable confusion with a much more established club and marketing efforts will stand a much better chance of reaching and attracting the untapped audience that the club so badly needs. If as many people as we are told are playing RL in London then at least some of them will want to watch it too. They just need a distinct brand to tell them where they can see it.

Windsor and Eton fits the criteria of 'nice and posh' and 'not too far from London'. And it strikes me as obviously fertile RL ground to dump a team in.

We need some toffs to bring some class to the game