For what it's worth I think it'll do them good to rebuild in the Championship. Their presence in Super League isn't doing anyone any good at the moment. That's not to say it can't do any good and regrouping a league below would hopefully see fans backing a winning team who would get in to the middle eight and get a few glamour ties.

Agree that they've got to stick in one place and Barnet seems to be a good match. I also think they should bring back the red and yellow kits, they can bring back the old badge while they're at it as well, I really liked it.

It's on the verge of something good ? It's been on that same verge for over 30 years.....Dead horse, flogging springs to mind...Hardly anybody in London is interested in watching RL....Figures can't lie....Bin 'em.

It's not just a London issue but one that is at the root of RL expansion.

Try to think of who was last "new" professional/semi pro RL team in the UK that achieved a credible amount of success on/off field whilst attracting regular crowds of 5k, and then ask why the game hasn't expanded (at pro level)beyond its traditional borders ?

Or bid the powers that be to relocate London to Cumbria asap before possible relegation.

Trying to merge the Cumbrian clubs would be like trying to merge Wire/Widnes or Saints/Wigan. As for London,as i've said before, i think their best chance would be in a division made up of last years new admissions of Bristol ,Gloucester ,Hemel & any other southern clubs at a similar playing level. Unfortunately ,many southerners still believe nothing exists north of Watford .

Don't forget all the hard work that London Skolars do they have a huge tie up with lots of schools and teams.

The problem with the Broncos is too many owners and too many ground moves. Although the major error is the hiring of Gus who managed to balls up two county cricket teams before arriving at Broncos.

cumbria, lol

You're right figures don't lie
just slightly over 50% of the Sky viewing figures for Rugby League come from within the M25.

You're another one we can add to the 'ignorant' list

The only way a Cumbrian franchise might work would be to create a totally new club, that uses Barrow/Whitehaven/Workington as its 'nurseries' - It would also require a massive marketing job, that involved convincing the fans of these 3 clubs that they could incorporate their support for their present side with support for the newly formed club (Special offer season tickets for both clubs??).

You also have the problem that there is a fair distance between Barrow and the other two clubs, which I guess would have to be solved with the new club being nomadic between the three clubs, which would then mean all three grounds needing some sort of upgrade if they were to be taken seriously.

Personally, if, in the unlikely scenario, they found some wealthy backers willing to carry out that sort of plan, then I believe Cumbria has much more chance of having a well supported Super League club than London will ever have.... However, realistically, unless they found a Koukash, then I fear neither will ever be a long term success.

As a Londoner who'd go to the odd Broncos game in the 90's before moving away and later really falling in love with RL when I saw how Warrington play it

there are some very interesting posts here, particularly from Yed and Sal. On SL Backchat one of the guests got it right for me a couple of weeks ago, the problem seems to be that great things are happening in London at the lower levels but there seems to be a lack of connection between that and what the Broncos do. During that abysmal viewing experience last night the highlight for me was Eddie rattling off places near where I'm from in North London which now have junior RL teams which weren't there 20 years ago. And I think that's fantastic. To me Sal's question is the key one - would the Broncos dropping out of SL damage all that?

To have a side callled Cumbria a whole county team, would it get the support? Would it not pee of Barrow, Workington and Whitehaven fans and be seen as an obstacle in their way? If they do become feeder clubs or if the games are moved between the 3 what happens if one of those 3 comes up into SL?

It's fanciful, it would have to be at a fixed location and it would be detrimental to the 3 current Cumbrian sides.

You'd have to play it in Carlisle or Penrith for accessibility of Cumbrians and travelling supporters and then straight away with Barrow in the far south and the others on the west coast you've put an hours travel on them for a 'home' game.

Pie in the Sky if you ask me and it would attract at its absolute peak marketed to death 7k, would we really put that much effort in for so little return?

in total agreement with you bbh.in fact i am stood up applauding you...well said

Be in agreement but you're wrong...not in opinion but in factual evidence.

The thing is, if Londons booming amateur success of now was coupled with the booming professional success of the Branson years London would be a very dangerous prospect, they'd be pulling in crowds of 10k+ easy. With the correct vision, the right people in and a bit of support from the RFL London has huge potential, I live here, I see it.
A lot of people love this game down here it just needs the right people connecting with them.

Dunna Mrs Marwan doesn't save London. The Doc would have control over both media hubs then.

Your more than likely correct in everything you've said, but I don't see the point to your posts. Are you trying to say (without actually saying it) that the Broncos shouldn't be relegated if they finish in the bottom 2 ?

Money isn't londons problem, competency in the senior management is ...

no disagree with you..if you finish bottom then relegation..simple

No and yes, the rules are in place and P&R is here and it's only fair under the structure that they go down. But P&R for me is a mistake at the moment, i don't think the game is ready for it yet.

My mine gripe is people bagging London RL in general with misinformed posts or just blatantly ignorant posts.
Some people just post with ANY knowledge of the London RL scene at all. Like most people don't realise that 50% of Skys audience are within the m25 yet this is a northern sport played within the m62. You'd think we'd have at least an 80% share up north.

Rugby League in London is like Women's football nationally..... If you believe those trying to promote both, the grassroots are doing fine, but when you look at the terraces then nobody is interested.

Its all well and good having a thriving amateur scene, but if the professional side of things is a shambles then you have a major problem.

Where does that figure about viewing figures in London come from? I've heard it many times on here but I've never seen the source.

I'm not saying is made up Just checking it wasn't one of those "facts" that gets bounded up so much people take it as gospel.

If those figures are correct then clearly those people don't care about whether London has a team or not as they never go to watch them.

TPM.

Its purely logical. There's something like 8m people live within that area during the evenings, and something closer to double that through a working and socialising period.

If you combined the whole of the SL and Championships populations together, you still wouldn't get 2m and Leeds and Bradford together it would make up around a 3rd of that.
I'm not to a couple of a hundred thousand here or there.

I just want to open your eyes a little to the actual population size Yed referred too.
That is why 50% of sky RL watching public are within that area. I would probably say that figure is conservative too.
Around the heartlands, many of us who follows RL actually go to the games instead of tv viewing. Okay that's a small figure in comparison, but it still needs to be knocked off.

Your main argument for them though seems to be, lets keep them because it's handy for me.
They currently offer nothing to the sport.
If they had been better managed over the years, then maybe it would be different, but as it stands it isn't.
Lets not forget they aren't a new club, they have been going for about 30 years.

Keep them because it's handy for me? Errr no it isn't and it was only this season when they finally moved on my doorstep that it has ever been 'handy'.

He's something you might not have know, before they moved to the Hive, when I went to watch them it would take me 1.5 hours on a good day to get to the ground. Tell me how many stadiums are within 1.5 hours on a good day of the HJ? Would you say that's a convenient amount of travelling time?
On a bad day (Friday night, it could take just shy of 3 hours) in context it takes 3.5 hours on a good day from my house in Barnet to Warrington. You're so far off with your assumption it's untrue.

I want LB in SL yes that is true, in a p&r situation do I think they should stay up regardless? No I don't.
I think p&r currently is a mistake and with the political will the London problem was an easy fix but unfortunately there never was the will to make London succeed from any quarter. If the effort that was put into Melbourne in the NRL was applied here LB would have been a success story.

My frustration lies with the people who know nothing of the London scene, watch one or two London matches on TV and then out comes the flat cap and we hear the usual tripe again.

The Rfl contrary to popular belief do very little for London, they are afforded an extra pittance on salary due to London weighting and that is it.
London never finished bottom of SL a fact also lost on some people.
They currently offer nothing you say, hard to argue. But even when they did offer something people called for their heads and thought promoting Halifax or Featherstone was preferable?

I'm with you on London Yed.
Better them in and Cumbria than Catalan and having a town and city with 2 teams in if the game wants to better utilise the SL spots nationally.