Completely agree. I've never seen the harm in us becoming a semi touring side until we get our own stadium. With only 13 (?) home games a year it wouldn't be hard to promote them all as individual events and potentially get much better average crowds and better rental deals for one off matches.

How do you get threads deleted!!
Need this thread deleted asap!!

London rovers/wanderers

If its our gimmick it works. If we just fannyabout at different stadiums around the south of England it wont

Pretty much sums it up for me, albeit a little bluntly. Gillingham is not a place I want to visit for any reason - it's an awful town. (My brother lives there, in a relatively pleasant neighbourhood out towards the old military areas along the Thames Estuary near Chatham Dockyard.) Being positive, the ground is a sensible size, relatively modernised, and close to the train station and main road links.

It's too far from London though. Even if the ground sells out, locals won't be likely to travel to The Stoop from there for other games; they'll just think "well that wasn't bad seeing as there's no football until August" then forget about it. I get the feeling a lot of people on here are so consumed by their own enthusiasm and willingness to travel all over the south east in support of the club, they lose sight of the fact that most people aren't so fanatical and probably won't bother.

Three pages about a match on the road at a venue which has not been confirmed as far as I know!

If it was Gillingham would it be a bad decision. One of the five towns of Medway. Population of 250,000 and possible city status in 2012. Local amateur team that appears to be progressive and developing. Large student population and a military presence. In addition rail links to London are pretty good. Perhaps the focus is more on spreading the game not just. the club.

Yes. I live in MK it'd be horrific!!

Yes, it would be "a joke". The club has only just been renamed "London" and we haven't even "spread the game" within Greater London yet. Phrases such as "muddled thinking" and "trying to walk before you can run" spring to mind. I don't give a f*** about Gillingham, I was born in London, I've supported London-based teams in various sports all my life, I'm not interested in going to a dump of a town in Kent to watch live sport when it concerns what is supposed to be my own club playing a home fixture.

I have to say I'm f***ing ed off that I've got a drawer full of redundant shirts for a club that no longer exists, in colours that will never be worn again. Performances on the pitch have been rubbish for the last couple of years; I also enjoy other sports such as cricket and football, as well as rugby league. If I do want to keep watching rugby league I think I'll watch RL Conference games, or maybe just buy train tickets for a tenner each way and make a 2 hour train journey to go to a match at Wakefield or Warrington.

The thing that really disillusions me with this club is that it has no continuity; the name of the club changes, the home ground changes, the colours change. Frankly if it wasn't the only Superleague club within 200 miles I'd have long since given up. It's been a joke for years, and it just looks like it's all going around in circles. I think reverting to an identity that ended in failure and liquidation in 2005 is probably the final straw for me.

The player recruitment this winter looks promising, although I have to ask myself where all this extra funding has come from, and whether we're being propped up by the RFL in terms of subsidising our team budget. (They won't want another Crusaders on their hands in a hurry, which was beginning to look like a worrying possibility in the not too recent past.)

This whole rebranding exercise leaves me very sceptical. I'm not the only one who felt the "Harlequins RL" venture was the last throw of the dice, and frankly I still feel that way.

If they are going to go out that way, why not Roots Hall? There's a lot more to do in Southend than Gillingham.
Or capitalise on the the Hertfordshire following and play it at Stevenage.

There's also Wycombe's ground which must be 30-40 miles from The Stoop

We've got one 'on the road 'game confirmed so far and it will be in London (at Leyton Orient), and an unconfirmed rumour of a game outside London at Gillingham - am I missing someting here as to why some are getting their knickers in a knot over an unconfirmed rumour? Repeat unconfirmed !
Thank God the new season's only round the corner, maybe then we'll have something to really post about !

Absolutely brilliant! My thoughts exactly! Well said, sir! Etc!

Just about sums up my feelings too POD, but you put it so much better

Yes I agree, we should be concentrating on London and games on the road should be more central than out in Kent or Essex.

Regards colour changes and okay names, I have so many West Ham shirts in different designs that is just part of the game & marketing, it is not ideal to change names, I wish we were still Fulham and playing at Craven Cottage but that is not the case? You know clubs like my home town have gone through changes, they first dropped the towns emblem for a stupid stick saint figure, but it happened and life went on, then all references were more Saints than St Helens, again people whined but moved on.

Last season we all accept simply we did not have a good enough squad and on the field performances did not help, but the name Quins RL was not working, the identity was not right and yes I supported the change to it when first made feeling we would benefit greatly from the association assisting corporate support and sponsorship but it never happened. So do we take what seems to be your resolution and call it a day? I don't agree if we do I would not bother with RL I would stick with West Ham and leave it as that as I also like my cricket.

I just Hope that it does come together before our first game but then again the RFL have just announced this morning they are still searching for a sponsor to take over from Engage for Super League and they may even look at having sponsors for Super League like The Champions League, which really means cheaper packages that some major sponsors may take as a write off with taxes! so even though the debate was that everything was going right even for the RFL I am not sure or convinced!

Also see that Sky have announced they will run a Super League Highlights Show on Sunday nights "Super League Full Time" so I presume this could be goodbye to the BBC and national coverage?

on the name change

Dont think we changed it cuz it worked/didnt


changed it cuz the merger was dead - reason for name change in first place - so went back to who we are

Personally, I'm ok with the Gillingham idea as a one-off, as it's closer than the Stoop for us (and maybe the other venues suggested on here are just not available/affordable?)

If this does come off, I think it's more to do with supporting the work of the Medway Dragons club, who appear to be making great strides down there (think the VP is no other than Brian Mac, late of this parish). Maybe the RFL want us to play a game in that area and we're obligated because of the RFL's support package?

I keep up with the M Dragons website and it's quite heartening to see the growth happening there. They've recently announced that there are 9 of their youngsters that have signed up with the Broncos (think it may be 10 now).

I doubt very much that the powers that be would move the only London Super League club to Kent although I would be very happy to watch the team play in Sidcup!

I would watch paint dry than visit Sidcup

Windy, what we've been used to watching these last few years has been on a par with watching paint dry (only a bit more alcohol fuelled!)

Here's a thought.......why not (and I understand this will be 2013 before it could happen) take an on the road game to Craven Cottage?
If Saracens can boost their 6k average to 42k for a match at Wembley, then surely with a bit of effort the club could get 25,000 to a game?
Gimmick matches outside London are of no use to anyone...even if 15k roll up to watch a match in deepest darkest Kent, it doesn't mean they'd do it regularly and there is little chance of dragging any of them back to TW2.

Craven Cottage, home of Fulham RLFC, to host London Broncos v Wigan Warriors in late July/early August 2013...posters, flyers, schools, radio advertising, TNT to sponsor the match and put up a trophy (annual challenge?).....leave no stone unturned and get 25k to a game.....as I say, if sarries can do it, then surely we can.

15k at Gillingham?



I'll go for 4k, max. Hull FC fans will have no interest in going to Gillingham, and will bring no more than 500. There is no way on earth we will attract 14.5k supporters either.

25k at Craven Cottage is an absolutely laughable aim at this point. Can you not see the differences between our club and theirs, as well as our sport and theirs?

You take my thoughts and opinions and form an eloquent post that is impossible for anyone to disagree with. Nice one.

Pissed myself laughing at 25,000 at Fulham, must be something in the air in middle earth.

Really?
Saracens don't simply attract old/lapsed fans back to these "gimmick" games...they get a load of neutrals and do so through a load of advertising and promotion. I have no doubt that Union is far bigger than League as a game, but, as has been shown by the RFL in 2008, when they took over the marketing of the WCC warm up game v Manly and again for the 4 nations ANZAC Test at the Stoop, if you spend some money, you'll get results.

Wigan or Saints are the No1 draw card in London (past games since 1996 sees about 30 fans the difference)...get the away team involved as well (Wigan 2008, Castleford 2000) and as I say, leave no stone unturned. The RFL reckon that nearly 50% of the tickets to the double header were sold to London addresses, so there is an audience out there and it's just a matter of finding them and communicating with them.
If you charge a tenner a head, offer 25% commission to every amateur RL club in the region........Kids in for 3 quid with an adult...any number of concepts could be used...I said Late July 2013......18 months away....plenty of time to scope it out, discuss it with Fulham (invite all their ST holders along as well), see if the RFL will play ball with the match scheduling, see if Wigan/Saints are up for it......

I am not saying it would be easy....it wouldn't be, but it is possible...if the club and everyone else thought like you, then we may as well up sticks now.....

Sorry but you've lost the plot on this one. You can reel off as many little initiatives as you like, they still won't work and somehow magically cause people to come flocking to watch a one off game they have no interest in. We can't get a 5k average attendance at home yet and you are going on about getting 5 times that at a completely different venue that currently has no links whatsoever to Rugby League.

To put it into perspective, we could only manage to pull in 42k at the National Stadium to watch two matches of International Rugby League, including the biggest game for years in England vs Australia. You love that 50% figure, so therefore only 21k were from the South, way short of the 25k that will apparently turn up at Fulham. 2k season ticket holders perhaps, 2k from the North (max) and 21k casual supporters

But obviously London Broncos vs St Helens at Craven Cottage is a far bigger pull for the curious punter than England Australia at Wembley

G'Fax you also fail to realise that it's Wembley stadium itself that's the draw, Union fans have Twickers as their national stadium, if Union fans don't watch anything other than Union then in the past they had no reason to go there, it's a novelty to watch Union at Wembley, it will soon wear off.