I think you are looking at your case in isolation-How many other posters do you believe have come onto the Quins site and said-this isn’t working, London rugby shouldn’t be, small crowds, it’s a northern game etc- Go into the VT and look at any thread that discusses crowds and I’m willing to bet that it eventually turns into an anti Quins thread. See for yourself.

Without being funny or coming across as aggressive do you not think that we are as worried about the state of the crowds as everyone else. We have professional marketers, business people etc who come on here who have all offered their solution to increase crowds. There is no immediate obvious answer- Your solution which includes moving is possibly one of the options we can’t try as it has failed on several occasions in the past-we need a permanent home.

At least you're being civil mate! I think Quins need a backer, a big rich backer who sets fire to £50 notes and puts them in his ears. Everything I hear about yawnion is saying every club is broke with the exception of Leicester and Sale (and they're homeless but have a sugar daddy) If you could get a backer, RL in London WOULD kick off. It got close a few years ago until Branson pulled out.

JtL my suggestion is speak to Gutterfax he probably has his own thread on it.

Jonny-We have an oil magnet running the club who props the club up to the tune of 1.9 million a year.

What we dont have is fans

I didn't know that, that's good news, how rich is he? Is he Abramovich rich? Dave Whelan rich or Dev from Corrie rich?

whats the salary cap these days? does it go off the amount of money the club brings in??

How much wire/pies and saints can get away with

edited for accuracy

Well I guess the logic is that if matches are not at 3pm on a Saturday then there must be a reason for that. I assume this is because

1. The stadium is not available
2. They think running at a time other than 3pm on Saturday is a better bet

The deduction is that doe SOME reason Saturday 3pm is not being used, if its either of these reasons then surely it stands to reason that it is inappropriate. If it was appropriate then all but the SKY games would be played then wouldn't they ?

Whether its Saturday or Sunday it has to be consistent. Wuins are the only club who have more than two home game times. Most have two, normal and SKY, Quins have 4 or 5, stands to reason that while that is the case people will not be able to plan to be there

BTW Is there any factual evidence that bar takings on a Saturday are greater ??




Sadly I have moved on and I am one of the lost supporters in terms of attending games. Slate me if you wish but there are I am afraid too many like me over the past few years and that is a major issue that the club have. Do I have the answer ? Probably no but the answer is certainly not the path that is being followed at the moment unless you believe all in the garden is rosy. The answer is a solution which retains the current support base, wins back some of those lost and then goes on to win new ones. There are however hard facts to say that todays solution is NOT working

As you wish to slate me I assume you have your own solution ??

...
you carry on CB.........hopefully people will have a go at you for pointing out what's obvious rather than me



I have been publicly hammered on these boards for saying exactly what you have...the management at the club are failing in most areas and most importantly there seems to be no urgency or desire to increase attendances. At the start of the year, we were treated to attempts to market the game, with on-line activity and oyster card holders, together with the viral campaign. We were told that these were part of a massive marketing campaign......but when they failed, the marketing dried up.......again. Furthermore, the culture change in the back office that was touted by PB sounded like a good idea, but yet again, the club seems to have reverted to type.
Sorry...I know DH will prop the club up and I know this is nothing that the fans can influence, but if there are more people like you CB, who have drifted away (and we are 20% down on last year and 30% down on 2006), then I say that the fans are influencing the state of the club....by leaving


Still, you carry on CB......at least I won't be the only one getting it in the ear

Do we believe that moving times affects the attendance- Are our lives that structured that we aren’t flexible enough to adjust (that’s a question not a statement). I have friends who travel to watch Man Utd from the south and they have commented that Utd play most of there games outside of the traditional Sat afternoon at 3pm. This doesn’t appear to affect them and there attendance record- Isolated example I accept.

I don’t know what the general feeling is from the supporters but I’m not convinced the date/time the game is played is a huge factor, although I’m happy to accept it is a factor- you could also cite

Poor team- undoubtedly success brings in fans-just look at Chelsea’s popularity, Wigan’s increased crowds
Recession- there is no question the working class budgets are tighter
Away fans have more than one attractive away day-Catalans etc- I hear the don’t rely on away fans call
Transient club- Moving between grounds regularly doesn’t held build roots

I’m sure those who have stopped going have there own and I suspect very different reasons for not attending.

For me I get to see top class rugby league(!!!) in a superb facility, relatively cheap. Having watched the game at Wilderspool for years I know where I would prefer to watch rugby league and that includes more recently the modern HJ stadium. All you get there is what you pay for-if it’s a terraced ticket you get to stand and grab a beer from the concourse – nothing else. How is that better than what’s served up at the Stoop.

Life is about choices- CB you like your speedway (I used to watch Bell Vue and lived in the same road as Peter Collins ex WC) but my preference is league.

Agree entirely that they need to settle on a given day/time for all home matches (and accept that SKY will mess up any arrangement at some stage). Having a permanent home should have resolved this, but game day and ko time is as chaotic now as it was in years gone by.

I remember that some time ago the club said they were to experiment with match day arrangements and decide on what was best (taking into account the views expressed by the fans), but when did they or when will they arrive at a decision??? I agree that in the meantime this constant change is probably costing us fans.

I seem to recall that you were a strong supporter of a Sunday game and I think this influences your comments.......I prefer Saturday, so on this issue we will have to agree to disagree.

With regard to factual evidence.......well the crowd numbers are an indicator that the Sunday games are not a great success. I am not privvy to the till receipts in the bar, but as I attend all the home games (you should try it

) I can state that the bar is busier on Saturday evenings after the game than on a Sunday when many seem to drift away straight after the game.......does not take much working out.

The bar is much busier when we've won, which (sadly) isn't very often! (I make it 27 wins out of 61 games at The Stoop which I think is at the heart of the problem).

If I'm wrong, no doubt Gutters will correct me.

Quite right DSWG. It is difficult to build crowds if you can't win consistently at home. The last play-off side in 2006 seems a long way off now!

It does seem a long time ago now.

2006 we managed 8 home wins (creditable) and last year a meagre 4. 2009 was strange when you consider we were in the top 8 'til round 22 yet we only saw 4 wins. It was a crap year that has been followed by a worse one (so far).

I think our form as the Harlequins sums up the whole Harlequin RL project : promised much, delivered little (so far). I can remember Nic Cartwright saying how much easier it would be to attract money and sponsors when we become Harlequins. Not! and Nic was (is) a good guy who worked his ass of for the club in very difficult times.

To be fair though, Pop Pan, we have had an awful amount of bad luck since we became Quins (CEO's packing up because of ill-health, Chairman going because of job changes, Owners deserting us to buy another club, players signing for us and not even turning up, not forgetting what has seemed like an inexhaustible injury list since day 1.)

Add to the above the French debacle last year, supporters coaches breaking down on the way to and from games, the ridiculous multiple bans that only we seem to get (and of course, the refereeing down here which is usually against us, because we haven't got enough fans to get on the refs back!).

Oh, and it would help one day if we could win our first home game of the season.

Having said all that, I am still positive that things can turnaround and being Quins at The Stoop is still our best bet (and I'm speaking as someone who has a 1 and half hour journey to get to The Stoop).

Have you got an app to regurgitate the same every post or do you have to type it in

A couple of seasons ago there was a poll for fans to choose a day and kick-off time. Saturday 3pm won, I seem to recall.

Nothing seems to have gone right since we moved back to the Stoop. Hopefully soon our luck will change.

Sat 3pm was what the majority wanted.

Hopefully Quins fortunes will change as Lawd knows, David Hughes deserves it.

Sadly no longer. Since the closure of Oxford in 2007, I have been to one domestic speedway meeting. I can however talk with authority about just hoe awful it is to see a club you have followed and fought and raised for over 20 years disappear and not come back. Its hideous and that is why it must not be allowed to happen to Quins RL



Yes, Sunday would suit me and might get me back. My love for Oxford United consumes me for every Saturday of the football season, home and away and therefore for me those summer Saturdays have to be spent at home.

We will have to disagree on this specific but one thing we are all agreed on is that we want the best for the club. If the best for the club doesn't suit me then tough on me because there is a bigger picture. I am just not sure the current best solution is actually that at all

Healthy debate on here will undoubtebly cause friction and differences of opinions. The thing that we should all be concerned about is the fact that as somewhat of an outsider WE seem to care and want something to be done more than the club appear to and that simply has to be wrong.

I am in my 2nd season without 2 season tickets and not once have I received any communication from the club to see what would bring me back after having season tickets for 5 years. The RFL are constantly bombarding me with news of tickets and offers but Quins send me nothing.

When oh when are the club going to care more than the fans ???

I used to have 5 season tickets for the whole family then stopped, like you nobody chased me up to find out why I had "resigned". The truth is kick off time and I would miss many games but I have managed to attend when possible.

ctrl-c/ctrl-v


FWIW, the club do frequent these boards and therefore, I repeat what I have to say in the hope that one day they will get the message......
as for bad luck.......jesus wept, if we were to go the RFL with that as a theme for our next licence application the club may as well not bother applying. Bad luck? Funniest thing I have read on these boards in a long time.
The club have failed to grasp the nettle....they have refused to, or been unable to have a go at marketing the game and as a result.....well, we all now where they are with regard to the 1 ISSUE THAT THE RFL STATED WAS A PROBLEM WHEN THEY ISSUED US WITH THE FIRST LICENCE THEN REMINDED US A YEAR LATER......

I have no doubt a winning team would help, but let's face it, if the club went on a 10 game streak it might attract half the fans we have lost in 4 years back to the stoop....no new ones though....unless someone tells them we exist

please You Today gutters old chap will be Quins biggest crowd of the season and the eathiad stand will be full. Be interested if The club opens the south stand Today.