I was merely replying to the fact that you seem stressed out that we won't get a licence next time because of poor crowds it is 1 tick in a box

Obviously we need better crowds, more money and less reliance on DH.

What ticks do we have, apart from a nice ground (or maybe that doesn't count since it isn't ours) and a development program that is still a few years off proving to be successful?

No other Superleague club within an X miles radius is one point we gain over just about everyone else except Catalans and possibly Crusaders, which counterbalances the point just about everyone else gains over us regarding the crowds. Regardless of whether or not our place in Superleague is fireproof due to the "London" factor it would be nice to think we can start making a real impact instead of just being makeweights. Average league position was another of the criteria, and one on which we stand at a disadvantage against many of our rivals.

Facilities
1 Point here, as long as the initial 3 year agreement has been extended and isn't just a rolling "arrangement" every year until RU get tired of us. 1 Point

Attendances
2 Points lost here. No way near the 10k average and no way near the 40% capacity mark either.........and neither look to be achievable in the near future. 0 Point

Finances
2 Points available here. Solvency is a toughy....are we solvent or are we just extremely lucky to have DH? As for a £4,000,000 turnover....not a cats chance in hell. 1 Point

Player strength
Another 2 points here. 1 for being competitive and another for development. Competitive? 9th, 9th and 10th are our last 3 finishes and let's face it, do we look like we will be anywhere near the 6th we need to get this to the average 8th....so no point there. Development.....yep, 1 Point.
Salary cap
1 Point for not breaching the cap. This is pretty much a given as we couldn't afford to break the cap if we wanted to. 1 Point
Geographical expansion
1 Point again.....thanks to the RFL rules and nothing the club have done. 1 Point

So there we have it. 5 Points if we are considered solvent.
We keep our 1 point for development, 1 for not breaching the cap, 1 for our Hosts Ground, 1 point for David Hughes' money and our 1 point for being an expansion club....but we have not become more competiive, added to (actually we lost fans in 2009) our gate and the 40% criteria has gone up due to the South Redevelopment.

I thought the idea of the licences was to enable clubs to become stronger by removing the threat of relegation? From what I can see, the club have cemeted the development point and er.......hum....er......that's it!

To those who still say we are bolted on for a licence.....I am a fan of Quins RL, but if I can put the above summary together, then believe me, so can the RFL and we have as many enemies there as we have fans.

Great post GF. Hopefully people will start to see the light at some point.

What light is that? There is nothing we as fans can do other than keep turning up.

It wouldn't make any difference if they stopped going all together. The Club would continue to blindly spend money on the 1 point for development and ignore the 4 points available for crowds and solvency.......



That's right....2 points for 40% average gate and 10k averages = a better chance of being Solvent and turning over £4,000,000.
14,816 x 13 @ £10 each = 1.9 million....a few beers a few jerseys and Bingo...£4,000,000 and 4 points + the line of Kids wanting to play the game would grow as well.......

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One of the most effective ways of increasing attendances (without throwing tickets about like confetti) are the "bring a mate" offers - for instance I brought a mate of mine to Wakey back in 2001 - 9 years, 9 season tickets, 9 shirts and about 100'00 beers later he's still coming, replete now with his wife and kids (kids are now mad keen Trinity fans.)

Obviously I realise that this probably a perfect example, but for the sake of making your mates tickets a fiver or something for one game, at the very worst the club is £5 richer and in this instance £1000's.

The same here. They guy that brought me to my first game has to remain nameless for fear of retribution from some on here

that would already attend but pay at the gate , the most important thing that any club needs to do if they are trying to increase their support base with offers is to educate and inform the existing fans what and why they are doing

A few years back at Hilton Park I witnessed stewards watching while so called loyal fans were getting in on the cheap with student cards and then passing these student cards back out through metal gates for their ' mates ' to use again and again

That is the problem with bring a mate type incentives , not saying you shouldn't do them , but they like all idea's have their drawbacks

Look at British Ice Hockey. the leagues are almost entirely full of Canadians.
If our league/team is full of second rate aussies (which most imports are) it gives the impression that the game is weak, this is particularly the case with London/Quins Cats or Celts and why would people want to pay good money to watch second class sport.
Developling your own players also gives the club an identity (which is why it was a shame to lose Sykes/Moran/Steele (I know two are "second class aussies" but you can have a few sprinkled in the side without diminishing the idea that its an imported game (look at the failings of American Football/Baseball/Ice Hockey/Basketball over here.
Players who can identify with the club and whom the fans can identify with are the most important thing rather than nationality and this is more easily achieved through academy players - look at how we've taken to LMS Clubb Sharpe Jamie O in their first seasons rather than the young brits we've signed. You can look at other sports too for this. The popularity of Gerrard, Terry at Liverpool Chelsea, or long term players like Cesc and Rooney at Arsenal and Man U.

Crowds
Crowds legitimise us in the wider publics eye rather than the curio we are now. If we have a big enough crowd to survive and do well then overall numbers are not essential but point to the game of RL being in a healthy state.
They make for better atmosphere which make games more enjoyable, which brings with it bigger crowds.

Would I mind if we won something infront of three people with a team full of aussies. Not at first but I would also know that the future of the game down here was not on sure ground.