Liam, DHFC Chairman, is a salaried employee of a well known company. There is no benefactor at Dulwich. I believe Liam offered to speak to the club about what Dulwich do to drive gates but got no reply.

Dulwich's Community Liaison Officer, a librarian by day, also watches Broncos occasionally and would be well worth the club talking to.

[NORTHERNBLOKE MODE the bloke that Hired Gus MacKay needs no advice! The Guy who appointed "The Towell" is infallible! The Guy who got us relegated is a genius......[/NBMODE

So let me get this straight, you want someone who is worth Hundreds of Millions of pounds earned by making key business decisions to start taking advice from the Chairman of an amateur football team that happens to have a large following of hipsters because they all like to stick together and be a bit different from other soccer fans? Apart from that what is it about Dulwich Hamlet you want Broncos to follow? How to lose your ground? How to fail to get promotion from a league you're by far the biggest spenders in for the previous few seasons?

Jesus, I thought people asking for Eddie Hearn to get involved was funny!!

And what exactly would a Librarian bring to the party?

I'm genuinely lost for words as to what goes through people's heads

What do I think it would be worth taking advice on? Easy community engagement and methods of growing the gate. In a handful or years Dulwich have grown their gate from an average of 170 to around 2000 on Saturdays before they were evicted. (Most of whom are not hipsters whatever the press like to say.) Is it a directly repeatable methodology, no actually
there are unique features at Dulwich that don't hold true for Broncos however much of the strategy is transferrable.

David Hughes was a very good oil trader. If I want advice on oil trading I'd approach him. If I want advice on crowd and community engagement and growing the gate I would speak to Liam and not David. Horses for courses and frankly, given the desperate gate on Saturday, what do the Broncos have to lose?

The fact Dulwich are homeless has nothing to do with this, that's due to a planning dispute totally unrelated to community relations. Dulwich are not the top spenders in the league and haven't been since promotion to that level. They have improved their league finishing position for something like eight consecutive seasons and this season finished 2nd. About right in terms of the budget. This is relevant to community relations/growing your fan base as by expanding the fan base they have expanded the budget permitting improved on field results. (Though being homeless realistically means big cuts next season.)

As to what can the Community Liaison Officer bring to the party, an immense amount actually. Gates have gone up from averaging 170 to 2,000 in a few seasons. Do you honestly think 1800 people happened to blunder through the turnstiles and decided they liked it. Of course not, Dulwich actively went out and recruited a new fan base. This was no fluke, a lot of hard work went into it. The lead person in that process was the Community Liaison Officer. He knows exactly which approaches worked and which failed. Why would you not want to tap into that knowledge?

Frankly the approach that a librarian can't possibly bring anything to the party sums up exactly why Broncos are in a mess. Learn from people who have been there and done it, especially when they were offering the knowledge for free. Feel free to list everyone in the UK who has a better track record at driving community relations and turning that into ground visits which in turn drove repeat visits and then people inviting their friends who invited their friends because the club had the offering on and off the pitch right and people enjoyed it in recent seasons. Then draw up a second list, removing all the paid professionals who are beyond our reach. The remaining list will be very short indeed. But hey, he's a librarian so what does he know.......

I can tell you now the first bit of advice would have been don't run random leaflet drops like Broncos did on Saturday. Target the approaches to the community as they way you can measure and contrast responses. Another bit of advice, further down the line NOT now as it has to be right on and off the pitch to hook people, if RFL rules permit run a pay what you want for admission day. One of the key days in DHFC's recent history was the first pay what you want day. Community relations anr awareness had grown thanks to our librarian. People were open to coming but not at a tenner to try it out. (A bigger issue for Broncos at 20.) The club had the offering right off the pitch, on the pitch you need a bit of luck. Many people attended their first Hamlet game, a fair chunk their first football game. Many enjoyed it and came back and, as mentioned, started inviting their friends. A personal invitation from someone you know and trust is worth a million free or cheap offer flyers. It's not rocket science, hard work, a little money and a bit of luck are required.

Edited to say I despair of any rugby league club who aren't tapping into York for advice at the moment. They are doing impressive things too. Again it's not 100% transferrable but much of it will be.

https://londonbroncosrl.com/news/more-t ... y-broncos/ https://londonbroncosrl.com/news/bronco ... l-schools/ https://londonbroncosrl.com/news/commun ... christmas/ Club do nothing in the community obviously! Only 3 things reported but there is stuff going on, lots of people seem to think the club don’t leave the gates at Trailfinders

https://londonbroncosrl.com/news/more-t ... y-broncos/ https://londonbroncosrl.com/news/bronco ... l-schools/ https://londonbroncosrl.com/news/commun ... christmas/ Club do nothing in the community obviously! Only 3 things reported but there is stuff going on, lots of people seem to think the club don’t leave the gates at Trailfinders

Yet the club still use a Pitchero website Liam? Surely a man of your capabilities would have addressed how rubbish that is when trying to attract sponsors?

This might hold you back in your crusade to get Broncos asking you for help!

You keep mentioning 170 to 2000 in a few seasons however what actually happened with the crowds was a jump from an average of nearly 700 in 2013 to 1300 in 2017/18 which is a nice increase but hardly the work of some kind of guru.

Which year was the 170 you mention and when did you start at Dulwich Liam because on your LinkedIN page you have it listed as starting in June 2013 as Commercial Manager so that means you started with nearly 700 as your average attendance. So in 5 years you have actually added only 600 to the average attendance.

As I said, there is nothing to be learnt from your exploits at Dulwich however much you try and bang your own drum on a forum under a pseudonym.

Quote ="northernbloke"https://londonbroncosrl.com/news/more-than-rugby-for-community-broncos/ https://londonbroncosrl.com/news/bronco ... l-schools/ https://londonbroncosrl.com/news/commun ... christmas/ Club do nothing in the community obviously! Only 3 things reported but there is stuff going on, lots of people seem to think the club don’t leave the gates at Trailfinders'" Apparently though the club should be hiring Liam and the Liberian because they will revolutionize what is happening at the club. The fact is there are tons of things being done to engage, they actually won an award at the Championships dinner two years ago for work done with local schools. Saturday was a bad day for RL in London, Football hit the attendance of not only Broncos but also the marketing and social media hero's the Toronto Wankpack who were apparently telling anyone who would listen they would get 2000+ at the Halifax game. London Broncos have a long way to go and a lot to learn still but the simple fact is this will take a few years of organic growth. No ticket promotion in the World is going to bring in 1000 people within a few weeks to watch RL in London.

Quote ="northernbloke"https://londonbroncosrl.com/news/more-than-rugby-for-community-broncos/ https://londonbroncosrl.com/news/bronco ... l-schools/ https://londonbroncosrl.com/news/commun ... christmas/ Club do nothing in the community obviously! Only 3 things reported but there is stuff going on, lots of people seem to think the club don’t leave the gates at Trailfinders'" Apparently though the club should be hiring Liam and the Liberian because they will revolutionize what is happening at the club. The fact is there are tons of things being done to engage, they actually won an award at the Championships dinner two years ago for work done with local schools. Saturday was a bad day for RL in London, Football hit the attendance of not only Broncos but also the marketing and social media hero's the Toronto Wankpack who were apparently telling anyone who would listen they would get 2000+ at the Halifax game. London Broncos have a long way to go and a lot to learn still but the simple fact is this will take a few years of organic growth. No ticket promotion in the World is going to bring in 1000 people within a few weeks to watch RL in London.

My name is Roger. Liam doesn't post on here. Wire Quinn and others can vouch for who I am.

A new club website, non Pitchero, is under development as the club recognised the issue. The social media team at the club is one person
A volunteer with a full time job. It won't appear over night. Sadly the person concerned also has health challenges which is delaying it. Frankly we don't care, his wellbeing is more important.

The 170 gate average was 2010 ftom memory. I'd doesn't happen overnight. It's basically a long hard road. On that point I agree with you.

The commercial manager is not the person charged with driving the gates at Dulwich. Liam has been at the club for about 30 years and has been present through the changes and has a good overview of what happened and why. The Community Liason Officer is more directly responsible for driving attendances so how long Liam has been commercial manager for is irrelevant.

I have not suggested hiring either Liam or Mishi ( the librarian.) They wouldn't be interested, events at Dulwich mean they are a bit busy. They were willing to share knowledge for free.

I am well aware Broncos do community work. I would question whether they are doing the right community work unless they don't view it as a way of either long term wider community engagement or driving gates in which case, fair enough.

What Wolfpack did is neither here or there. This thread has been detailed - partially by me so hands up - into a Broncos marketing thread. Failures by another club do not make things better for Broncos.

I totally agree about your point on the Dulwich method won't get 1k overnight. I have watched Dulwich since 1991 and am well aware of how long it took to build the gate. It wasn't a smooth upwards curve either. As stated the first pay what you want day was massive.

I won't post this thread again as it's beginning to bore me so I guess everyone else must be sick of it. I am willing to discuss this face to face at a game however.

I repeat my name is Roger and I am not Liam.

And the 2000plus didn’t appear for Toronto either, and apparently we were partly to blame! Not really sure why Toronto played the game in london to be honest but that’s a whole different discussion.
The marketing issue will never be resolved for some folk. Like I say in the eyes of some whatever they do will be wrong.
The club tried a mail shot, which areas actually does not matter, did it get results, well folk saw people getting in using the flyer so must have done something.
Have said it loads of times, for me rugby league in the south is too niche to expect the community close to the club to be the new supporters, the clubs community has to be a lot wider, even if that means two bus rides to get to the games.

Hang on. So this guru has been there 30 years and in that time has achieved a few positional places in an amateur football league and managed to add 1000 onto a crowd at a club in the heart of an area that’s has been built up massively during that time?

If I didn’t think you were being serious I would be looking for the punchline by now!!

Seriously, let the professional people run their club and let Liam and Librarian run their club. Call me God clearly has some great ideas and knowledge on the subject clouded by his hatred for David Hughes, I’m not sure your expert is best placed to be working with a club that has the sort of financial backing the Broncos have!

Leave me out of this.......and for the record, I don't hate anyone. What I do have is a disregard for Hughes because no matter how wealthy he is, he has still destroyed (not all on his own) a club with huge potential, through a total disregard for anything other than his ego! 2 Million a year will never wash clear his conscience for his dummy spit at the end of 2013.......a hammering at the hands of Wigan and he pi55ed away our SL status in a hissy fit......unforgivable! As I say, I don't hate anyone, but his ineptitude is almost as immense as his ego....


Not at all......but the letterbox drop (mailshot is the one with a stamp...bartercard don't do stamps) was misdirected and regardless of if it brought in 40 or 400, it was a pointless exercise with no data collection at the back of it.......

Ah ok. If it’s any consolation I’m sure if you wasn’t a such an absolute nobody David Hughes might have a disregard for you too.

As it stands he and many others can enjoy their lives whilst you carry on whinging about stuff you cannot afford to do anything about.

If it's any consolation, money doesn't equal class in the same way having an internet connection isn't a substitute for an education. I care little if Hughes knows or cares that there are a great many ex-London Broncos fans who hold him responsible for the clubs demise. It matters even less that I am a nobody......what does matter is that his ego and his remoteness from reality will ensure that we will finish another season as a professional side....thans Dave......you da man!!!!

As an aside. I can afford the luxury of sitting in a Mortgage Free home, with another mortgage free rental a stones throw from Trailfinders and owning 3 businesses that provide for me and mine. I would never invest in a sports club of any nature, but what I will do is comment on an area of business that has delivered me such minimal luxury........as Hughes himself admits, he is inept in the day to day runnings of a business but his "wealth" combined with his salesman's ego prevent him from hiring anything other than yes-men and therefore it's Leigh, Sheffield, Sheffield and Toulouse this month and not Wigan, Leeds, St Helens and Warrington.....with 900 fans at home and not 4,000, but still with the £2,000,000 a year "donation".........he may be wealthy but he really isn't the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer.....

But still much happier than you and not having to sit posting on an internet forum with the sort of bitterness and hatred usually only associated with a guy who is unhappily married to a pig and has so little in his social diary he feels the need to try and gain interaction on the internet? In your own words 'you da man'!

Enjoy the bank holiday weekend, maybe you could turn the laptop off and spend some time with the pig?

Buddy. I'm not sure if you're just in fro an all night rave or just a little tired, but my wife isn't a Pig and I'd ask you not to repeat that. I don't hate anyone BTW........and neither do I feel the need to insult anyone's wife?
What a strange post????

Thats a little harsh and maybe unnecessary.

You've clearly not read some of the stuff posted by this jerk in the past then?

It's the only possible explanation for a guy with so much material wealth (real classy of you to list it on an internet forum by the way) to be spending his time posting such bitterness towards the owner of the club, staff trying to do a job and other fans/posters who have an opinion different to yours.

Enjoy your house, keep an eye on your businesses and stop being such a toss pot.

He may be a toss pot and full of himself and an arrogant sh*t but there is no need to drag his wife into this as she is an innocent bystander. I think you should apologise to his wife but I agree about the rest.

I think it’s time to cut out all personal insults, that is not the purpose of the forum. Let’s keep it to LB or at least RL please

And what about the things he has said about Hughes and members of staff unable to defend themselves?

Referring to someone I don’t even know exists as potentially not being a human and being a pig instead is hardly the same as calling someone I’ve seen a pig.

I would also suggest it’s similar to commenting on the business plan of an owner and his business that you’ve never had access to or calling someone you’ve never met ‘egotistical’.

Or is David fair game for abuse because he happens to have a different opinion to the toss pot?

ML reading your posts suggest you are an unpleasant character.

To continue your tirade after unnecessary unpleasantries towards someones family speaks volumes. It would seem its only you that cant see that. Not even an hint of apology or acceptance of going over the mark, no, just further justification.

Enjoy your weekend.

ML sorry mate but out of order. Me and dog or even WQ rarely agree with each other, dog might even have thrown some personal insults at me, and yes he does voice his opinions on people at the club. (Not trying to cause a discussion on this dog)
But this is a step too far fella. The comments and language you use could get you thrown off the site.
WQ well said!

I have seen far more of the Business of London Broncos/Harlequins RL than I probably should have. I have seen the profit and loss sheets for the time 2009-2012 and it makes for horrific reading.
It includes an outgoing of £225,000 in rent to the then Landlord and a shortfall in income of between £1,875,000 and £2,123,000 in each of those 4 years. It also shows ticketing revenue needed to be £5.04 per person through the gate in 2009 to cover the cost of rent based on an actual attendance figure at the stoop of 44,670.....
When Hughes took full control of the club we had 51,000 people at games, by the time we were relegated he and his "business plan" had reduced this to fewer than 17,000, so guess what, his business plan is flawed.

As for his personality. He was REPEATEDLY advised by multiple parties that he needed to address the issue of attendances and he ignored it. Rightly or wrongly, he believed at the time that the RFL needed to contribute as he was bankrolling the THEIR expansion team in the capital. It was a game of Chicken that he lost and as a fan who paid to go to games, spent and still spends money in the shop I am a customer and therefore entitled to my opinion. Hughes is a salesman and as someone who also has plied that trade, I think it's fair to call him out for his refusal to accept that his appointing Powell and then employing MacKay as well as his decision to pull the plug after the massacre at Leigh and let's not forget the multiple warnings about attendances being ignored all combined to deliver us to where we are now....and that is his ego that has driven these decisions.....he was told Powell wasn't the right man, he didn't formally interview MacKay and then changed our name back to the broncos based on RL meaning rugby Lessons on the shirts and then moved us to a car park of a ground......this all points to him being an ego driven individual unable to accept that he has made an error.

I have no doubt that Hughes is lovely fella, but in terms of the London Broncos, he is a car-crash and that's how I have called him out....not on a personal level but on a professional one.

I am actually in awe of your ire towards me and my opinion. This is an internet forum and a place where different opinions are voiced. The fact that a decade ago we averaged 3,901 and played in a State of the Art Rugby ground in the highest competition in the country is simply mirrored now by the fact that we play at a Wedding Venue with 1 grand stand and fencing around the pitch, in the 2nd tier watched by 900 souls would point to my opinion carrying some weight.....because if you had to put your finger on the one thing that has brought us to where are now, it would have to be David Hughes.

Buddy. I really haven't insulted anyone on a personal level, unlike yourself. The need to name call my wife is a very strange tactic......were you trying to goad me into a response and attract the ire of the Moderators? If so, you failed, because as everyone knows, the need to name call and insult generally means that you've already lost the debate. Kia Oro bro......chill out!!

Dog, yr ranting. No need for the 5 paragraphs, last one would have done. Take yr own advice chill!