Fact of the matter is that you can tell how much a team means to its fans by the distance they will go to support it.
Most Man U fans travel from Surrey to Manchester every week to watch their beloved play.

We cant get more than a handful to follow us at away games.

UK union sides take 10,000s on their tours RL teams take a lot less.

Steelers away games are often as full of Pittsburgh fans as the home team.

Many of our games there are more away fans than there are home.

A lot of our away games are on a Friday which it impossible for a lot of people. Those who don't have a car have to rely on trains on a Sunday, often an expensive nightmare.
The only way we can develop an away following is to set up with the club an away travel club but I guess it is not high on the clubs agenda. We also need a team that is capable of winning away........maybe next year.

That whole Friday night thing is just an excuse

Apart from the final all european soccer is played on week nights.

Simply put people would rather do other things than watch us play. How many diehards have we got? How many people have the club badge tatooed? How many put following the club first above all else? How many people have named their kids after the club - i used to work with a guy whose middle name was West Ham?
Most of our supporters like Rugby League and pop down a few times a year to get their fix and until we give the fans something to get behind something to get in the blood. The shared sense of collective belonging then it wot happen. We had our steele reetchless semi moment but nothing came of it. We had no identity and a handful of fans and this is why the club is looking at new avenues rather than the old cuz the rag tag of followers it has now will get them nowhere.

Tell you what though there are plenty more that will feel a lot more fire in their bellies now that we are Broncos again rather than being a side show for that frigging union lot

Fridays nights aren't an excuse mate, they're a major pain in the ar5e ! Especially when some of the best games are on Fridays - Leeds, Wigan and Saints ! Drive up and down the M1 after being up from 6am and having done a day's work or train and back again? Suppose my mate from Bournemouth is a lightweight for not doing then 100 miles or so just to get into London and then do the journey North on top? Come on, if you can do it then good for you, but not everyone can, so don't slag us off!

Personally I can't wait for the new season to start - I'm certainly feeling a lot more 'fire in the belly' about my RL team! I never bought into the whole Harlequins thing, it just wasn't for me - although ironically I have been able to get to more games in the last 3 or 4 seasons than ever before, including when we played at the Valley which is only up the road from where I live. However I'm currently shelling out for 4 season tickets and most of the travel costs as in my lot there's 1 part time worker, 1 student and 1 member of the Govt's only growth industry - the unemployed!

As for putting other things in front of watching us play away,aside from the finance its also due to other comittments! For financial reasons MM makes sense to me as its half price for ST holders and even if you only do 1 day you'll see at least 3 games, possibly a decent local derby among the 3 like Saints -Wigan or the Hull derby, so good value for money. I'm not going to make apologies for not having a 'Fulham til I die' tattoo nor for not going away - nor for having other things going on in my life! If having an ST and making most home games, dragging along the odd potential convert, spending at the bar and in the club shop (this season anyway!) etc... isn't good enough too bad! If I had more time and more money I'd love to do 3 or 4 away trips especially Catatlans - but I haven't.

Do you want a copy of the away crew email list from 2008?

Just picking up on a few points here Darthchris

Rob from Erith has been busy typing while I was doing the same, so some of these points have already been covered, but I'll post what I typed anyway...




No, we are one of the worst supported teams, the supporters we have come from far and wide, not from just around the corner like you in Richmond on Thames. My return journey for home games is 98 miles, others that I’m aware of travel even further from the likes of Kent, Cambridge, Peterborough, Northampton, all of these have longer journeys both mile-wise and time-wise.

I will once again attend every home game, bring others with me, buy programmes, shirts, food, booze, have meals, as will those that come with me, and will also attend a couple of away games of my choice through the season, but these will be tied in with family visits, disposable income only goes so far. That doesn’t make me a bad supporter

As Rob from Erith stated, we have family and other commitments, which in my case actually enables me to enjoy rugby league. So I do “choose” to miss some games, but they are for very good reasons, I have my priorities, you have yours, what’s right for you isn’t right for me, and I daresay for others too
Simply put, people HAVE do other things than watch us play ALL THE TIME. Again, that doesn’t make them bad supporters

You say, “UK union sides take 10,000s on their tours RL teams take a lot less.” I agree that some RL sides take less away fans than RU sides, but 10,000’s is way off the mark. The latest figures I can find for attendances for RU league games were Round 8, where the attendances in The Aviva were 7,013, 12,200, 9,607, 20,479, 8,222, and 6,012... so hardly tens of thousands of away fans making the trip


My personal opinion is that anybody that names their kid after a football/rugby club is a pillock, but each to their own I suppose
A couple of questions for you...If Broncos home ground was in Basingstoke, or Kent, or Cambridge, or Peterborough, or Northampton, would you make the longer trip from Richmond on Thames?
Where’s your Harlequins tattoo, and when are you having your Bronco’s one done?



We have some of the best supporters in the league, so don’t knock them. We just need more of them

Excuses

Good thing we're not a soccer side and have 30 home games a season. The 13 we do have is more than enough for all but a handful

We are now starting to digress a little from the thread title! but I fully agree with you, the round trip journey for is is just over 500 miles for home games, while it is just 20 minutes to either St Helens, Warrington or Wigan. Being in the North I am fortunate to get to many of such as the Academy games as they are played usually Saturday afternoons. Yes our Fans are loyal but we do not enough of them, that is why when we get them to come along and share the Experience the product has to be right and we have to make them welcome.

3 £99 season ticket excluding central half way line blocks

2 No on the road games

1 A winning team

As has been mentioned, people have commitments away from Rugby League.

Worst support by numbers, but then again I would say the club has a wider fanbase than the rest of the Super League clubs. People travel in from Kent, Essex, Hampshire etc every other week to watch what has been a poor side. Often this goes unnoticed but these people deserve a round of applause at the very least.

That brings me nicely onto the away travel. Firstly any coach organised would likely be from the Stoop. You firstly have to remember what I have just said, people have to travel into London and back out again from places like Essex, Kent, Hampshire etc. They then have to sit on a coach for 4/5 hours to watch 80 minutes rugby then make the 4/5 trip back to London before completing their journey back home. This can become a very long and tiring day for many and understandably so.

Yes, it would be nice to see a relatively full away end on tele when the Broncos are on Sky at Leeds but you also have to take into consideration that Saints, Leeds, Wigan and whoever else play on Friday nights and I imagine that most people who go to Broncos are in full time employment till about 5pm on a Friday. It is then a case of taking a day's holiday to go and watch Rugby League, it's not something people can do really because they have other commitments.

But a bit of positivity, the fixtures are out on Friday, lets have a look at the fixtures and then that is the time for planning. I'd like other clubs to say Broncos have a decent set of away fans so here is a wild idea; have a party. Whenever the last away game of the season is, throw a party.

* Get a coach hired and have it advertised well before the event.
* Get it full.
* Have a theme if you must, fancy dress, inflatables, whatever.
* Take flags, scarfs etc
* Have a sing song.
* Cheer the players off the pitch after, for their effort in 2012.

If people were passionate enough about following the team they would.
How many soccer teams play on weekdays - loads - how many soccer sides, even the small lower tier sides - take more away from home than we do - most.

I don't mind that people have things they would rather do than watch us play, well actually I do, just pointing out that for almost all our fans, they generally have things they would rather be doing than watch us play.

IF RL was such a great game and all it took for people to come down and watch us play was the product on the field, then surely it would apply to fans and away games.

I would recommend go to an away game, even though I've never seen them win away...

GET OFF THE BUS JONAH!

Fulham FC took 433 fans to Newcastle at the start of the season and about the same number v sunderland. That's on an average home attendance of about 25,000 (although a hell of a lot of those are away fans and tourists). Which is probably about the same percentage of Broncos fans that travel.

So not many people passionate enough to follow the team then?

I only posted it because you said football clubs - even with a low following - take more away than we do. Which perhaps isn't always true.

One season in a premier game there were 68 Wigan football fans at White hart Lane to see Wigan play Spurs.

Wigan FC have no fans shocker

Or not one trick ponies, or a varied and interesting life

Either Darthchris has been fishing on this thread and caught quite a haul, or the amount of beer he has consumed during 2011 to get over watching Harlequins RL home and away has destroyed several of his brain cells

Another 3 wishes from me : Robbo and Rodney actually turn up, Hickey loses about 3 stone and Craig Gower stays off the beer.

Wasn't that the season after they lost 9-1 to Spurs?

Think it was that game. I believe the club compensated the fans travel costs.

Ha,

Nah, just people on here saying they are too busy and have better things to do than watch us play hardly inspires confidence in us attracting new fans going forward

I wouldn't say most of the things I do on Sundays are better than watching London RL, but I would say most of the things I do are better than travelling 7-8 hours to do so.