Super League officials target one-off London fixture.[urlhttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/dec/23/super-league-one-off-london-fixture[/url

As the thread title suggests, we are way too late with this one, having allowed London to wither and get to within an inch of their life.
Although hindsight is a wonderful thing, it may have been better to have a couple of the "Magic Weekends" down there to try and help stoke
interest but, it's too little too late, unless of course London look like making it back into the top flight.

1) Do they not expect London Broncos to get back into Super League?
2) We already have a big game in London, its called the Challenge Cup Final
3) Who are they expecting to attend the game in order to get a 40k + crowd?

I was at an event a couple of years ago, and the RFL guy was talking about the long term plan to move the Grand Final to the Emirates Stadium.

We're not even taking even one of the "flagship" World Club Challenge games to a larger stadium along the M62! We are where we are in London now and its up to the Broncos to resolve this - whatever the timescale. Test matches or a World Nines in London - great. A one-off club match will not promote the game to a new audience without 5 to 10 years effort and massive media buy-in beforehand, and we've no track record in wither forward planning or media engagement!

We cannot sell 40,000 tickets for Magic Weekend, we cannot sell-out Wembley - why try this beggers belief.

Nice to see some ambition and confidence in the game from RFL. Of course, we have within RL legions of naysayers, knockers and prophets of doom, and we have plenty of enemies and agents provocateurs too to rubbish and deride the game, though we generally do a good enough job of that ourselves. But you can't have it both ways; you can't whinge and whine at how parochial and narrow the game and its fan base is, yet whinge and moan when some effort is made to expand this. Although as this thread amply demonstrates, that is exactly the standard knee jerk of yer average flatcapper.

Look,if the RFL has such an ambition, then I say good luck to them, and they should get every support. It is their problem to find a way to do it and make it succeed, but they have shown it can be done, with events like the roving Magic weekends, a moveable GF, the astonishing crowds all over the place during the World Cup so don't carp and moan "it can't be done" - get behind the vision and hopefully be a part of its success.

This is completely different from the fact that until now, London has been in SL. They had plenty of RL and SL backing for many years but those running the club couldn't find a way to get people interested. That was their failure. they had support but the RFL couldn't do it for them. I can't believe the whinge that we "can't sell out Wembley" when in fact we regularly get crowds of 70,000 or 80,000 to see a RL game in London ie the CC Final, this should be a source of pride, not moronic knee jerk criticism. Compare with the 40,000 that paid to see the England national football team against Norway, just for instance. Or even 82000 for a World Cup qualifier against Slovenia last month. Only 4% more than were attracted to travel 200 miles for a local derby Leeds v Cas!

I despair of RL fans sometimes. The idea is a challenge, but a good one, and should be applauded and supported.

Wouldn't it be better to have a well promoted NZ Warriors v Wigan Warriors or similar or a top Aussie club? In other words, something other than 2 Northern towns / small cities? Something that could be promoted and attract wider interest?

I'm afraid the naysayer argument just doesn't cut it - I may be many things but a naysayer? The game's history is littered with one off "good ideas that we should get behind" and they have produced little or nothing. Super League itself was launched as a shadow of the vision because of internal bickering - if I recall the "Greater Manchester" clubs couldn't even agree a meeting place to discuss the proposals!
If we want to develop the profile and geography lets see a 10 year costed plan with clear milestones and targets.
If this event thing happens I will be there (as I will be at all three World Club games next year) but it will be just another one off like the On the Road game we successfully hosted in Northampton in 1998! From that point that Sheffield Eagles no longer exist and Halifax has reconstituted at least once. And when we toy with out of heartlands semi-pro clubs we partner with the Northampton Town soccer club; ploughing on with no engagement from the game locally; who then walk away before they even enter the League!

if only we were setting ourselves a big challenge. If only we were going about getting an SL game selling out the Emirates or Wembley, but we are going to go with Loftus Road or Craven Cottage, Apparently its a big deal and two years of planning to get 18k to go watch Wigan v Saints or Leeds v Hull.

There is also the obvious question is why now? after years of seeing RL in London struggle and doing nothing about it, why are now talking about trying to make a splash.

I would love to see an RFL trying to make a splash, I would love to see an RFL full of ambition actively trying to grow the game. Im just not sure a wigan saints derby in front of 18k does so.

I suspect the reason is to try to show there is a market for the game in London and thereby attract an investor to take on the Broncos / set up another venture.

I'd rather the RFL be put some effort into getting Eng v NZ down to Wembley.

Premier Rugby????

I don't have an issue with the idea and I applaud the ambition, particularly if the Olympic Stadium, Wembley or the Emarites are chosen but as ever the issue lay with the people implementing the idea. If they're thinking of staging it in 2016 they need to start pushing it now with a concerted effort going into getting the competing teams visiting the schools, youth centres and sports clubs around London.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Magic Weekend at the Olympic Stadium would be a winner. The novelty value of it being in that stadium would draw large crowds from the north and curious Londoners, the Park itself is well served with facilities that would make it a great family day out, and there's plenty of (affordable) hotels in east London (not to mention great connections to the north via Kings Cross.

Of course, I fully expect the RU / NFL to do this first...

Stupid idea! We already have enough 'events' on the calendar with the expanded World Club Challenge, Magic Weekend, CC Final and Grand Final. The fans won't shell out for another long trip, and even for the bigger clubs losing a major home game would be a big blow to the finances.

I agree with the above that moving the Magic Weekend to the Olympic Stadium (once the retractable seats are in) would be a better option, it has great transport connections, a massive park to hold a fan-festival and aside from West Ham that side of London has few sporting attractions.

NZ v Aus wasn't a sell out at the Stoop. Why do we think Wigan v Leeds, Sts, Hull would be bigger?

As a Wigan fan and season ticket holder I would be massively p!55ed off if our home match vs Saints was played in London, unless the RFL laid on free transport, and that is assuming the idiots don't stage it on a weekday evening forcing me to take time off work if I wished to attend.

Another 'expansion' game? Christ, RFL strategy reads like Groundhog Day at times. We've seen these 'one-off' 'on-the road' profile-raising games many times and they simply do not attract significant local interest, and neither do fans travel in great numbers. We turn up, play in front of a meagre crowd and go home.

What are the strategic goals for such a game? How will it be marketed? Who is the target audience? How will the goals be measured and what will the follow-up be?

Blake Solly could do with looking at the history books. They don't read particularly well for 'on-the-road' games. I'd much prefer we worked to strengthen the heartlands than wasting money on a one-off venture.

Never mind 'the horse has bolted'; the horse has died and Solly is flogging the poor beast into mincemeat.

this makes more sense, even if at the emirates or stamford bridge instead of wembley

A nines weekend would work in London if done very well but agree it needs to be part of a much bigger strategic approach, some hope!

The only way any strategic development will occur here is if it is funded and organised by the NRL. They did recently announce they were in a strong position to plan for the future both in terms of development in Australia and internationally. Maybe they are driving another crack at London?

TBH if we were going to pick anywhere to spend some investment $'s I would think Wales would pay bigger dividends. I think the notion of having to have a team in London to attract sponsors, media profile etc is nonsense. Wales would produce much better jnr programs, more chance of a sustainable SL club and influence the International game more than London development. London is a very tough nut to crack and would need some very very deep pockets to have any hope. It would make the investment made in Melbourne annually ($4.6million) look like spare change.

This

I felt I had to make a contribution as I agree with FA and KK although I do understand where the more negative sentiments are coming from.

The objective has to be to make further progress in getting the game the recognition it deserves. If we think back to the launch of Super League, all the new style razzmatazz that entailed did serve the purpose (and has indeed been copied by the other code and other sports).

We have to think out of the box and avoid being afraid of working on something new. The traditionalists didn't like the Super League changes. And they might not like this. My vision is built on the view that Rugby League and its supporters have more in kind with soccer than the other code.

With regard to this new Super League proposal for a high profile on the road club match in London I really would like to see it at the Olympic Stadium once it is re-configured and become the home of West Ham United. Union is a bit of a West of London thing and we might get a groundswell of support more in the East.

I think the date of the match needs to be announced say 6 months ahead. A match at the Olympic Stadium would be an event in itself. But we need to get into the community early and publicise the event building up to a huge effort in the week before the match.

I would seek to work with West Ham and (say) Arsenal or maybe Spurs. My suggestion would be that it would be announced early that, on match day, let's say Wigan will play in West Ham colours and St Helens will play in Arsenal colours. Even better if we could get Arsene Wenger to lead out Saints along with Eamonn McManus and Sam Allardyce lead out Wigan with Ian Lenaghan. Season ticket holders of West Ham and Arsenal would be offered tickets for a fiver and all kids would be free. It only took 80 minutes of action in 1980 for Fulham soccer supporters at the inaugural Fulham match v Wigan to be won over to adopting their new rugby league heroes. Something similar could happen if West Ham supporters are lined up behind Wigan and Arsenal supporters behind Saints. It would really help a new audience get into the game a lot quicker. Plus this approach would allow targeted marketing rather than the expense of blanket advertising across Greater London.

I'm not saying that it would lead to a soccer club suddenly investing in setting up a rugby league club. But if London based neutrals could be enticed to such a top class match and enjoy getting into the game and supporting 'their' team for the day, there would be more chance of at least a proportion of them attending future RL in London. Whether that be Test matches at Wembley, a Nines or Challenge Cup Semi Final at the Emirates or more regular matches at the Olympic Stadium.

A crazy concept which will achieve absolutely nothing, but what do I know? If I had a flat cap I'd be wearing it.

I just don't think a league game will attract enough interest, both in terms of fans of the clubs involved making the trip and in getting Londoners interested.

Especially without London in SL it would make more sense to me to concentrate on the Cup Final and Internationals in London if we're trying to increase interest/support there. You don't need to be affiliated with a club or know much about the game to go and support England v Australia/NZ. Especially as we don't have club sides that have much resonance outside the heartlands bar maybe Wigan, although that is fading.

I think we should hold at least 1 international in London plus the Cup Final, I'd be tempted by potentially moving the Grand Final from Manchester to London if it can be guaranteed every year. Then concentrate on Manchester & Wales as our potential expansion areas. Have the Magic Weekend every year at Man City alongside really trying to attract Man City fans. I don't know if they have been doing but we should be offering very cheap deals to Man City fans for the Magic Weekend plus say a couple of free tickets to go and watch Salford.

London will only respond to big events like internationals and finals in my opinion.