Have we taken bets yet on which member of The Hive staff meliferra is? I'm assuming it's not actually Tony Kleanthouse.

The conversation has moved on a bit but if it's still relevant I'll answer anyway;



1 - The lot. Primary, secondary, FE, HE, community club. All schools/FE delivery was to promote sign-up at local community clubs. Same sort of thing that goes on at every pro club community trust.
2 - Quite a few. Jamie O'Callaghan, Olsi Krasniqi, Mike McMeeken, Erjon Dollapi and a few others are all products of the West London development work. It's not 40k people who can or will ever play Super League though, so that's not a bad return. A 7-year-old in 2010 will still only be 11, so is unlikely to play this season. Likewise the girls, students, disability groups and standard amateur-club level kids won't ever get near a SL shirt. It's about getting people knowing about - and playing - the game. The performance pathway then got the right ones to SL level.
3. Again, quite a few. All the kids playing in West London & Surrey benefited from this work in some way. Even if they didn't directly have a schools session, love it and join the local club then the local club was assisted by, their coaches supported by, and in some cases clubs and teams administrated or coached by Broncos people.



It was burgeoning, now it's dwindling. Of the current W London clubs, Staines Titans, Richmond Warriors, Elmbridge Eagles, Guildford Giants were all heavily supported, and in some cases run, by the Broncos over the last few years. Most of their teams, if not entire clubs, would not have existed if it wasn't for Broncos development work.

I never have and never will be on the payroll of the Hive.

I do not want Barnet Fc playing at the Hive and I am heavily involved in the Back2Barnet campaign to get us out of there and back home asap.

While we are there I will make the best of it. My long term hope is that in 10 years time you and Wealdstone Fc are very happy together there.

Agreed.

In my experience, the DOs did practically everything in a junior club but largely not development, ie put in place a sustainable entity, run by others. It's not unique to SW London, once the DO funding dried up and the DO moved on, it wasn't a case of the junior club having a minor blip and then business as usual, it was more catastrophic.

It is interesting to read this TMF as iv'e always said how important the LB were to the development of the game down here not only for the interaction at local level but also as a pathway to a career but other posters (especially up North)don't buy it and say RL will continue to thrive even when the LB are no more. You seem to be confirming my worst fears.

Genuine question, why don't you just embrace the fact you have a very nice modern compact stadium with excellent facilities only a few miles away from the border of Barnet? It seems ridiculous that fans are unhappy, especially in a city like London where planning permission is v difficult and land prices are immense.

If you supported a provincial town club and they built an out of town stadium that would be ok so what's the difference? Ok it's a different borough but its your stadium, in your colours and only down the road. Id be grateful, especially looking at the stat of Underhill, which is probably the worst pro soccer stadium I've ever been to.

Underhill is our natural home. I'm not saying I want to return to Underhill as it is now but while we hold the freehold to the ground and the area south of the stadium is being considered for removal from greenbelt then I will support the campaign to have a new stadium included in any development that takes place.
Bizarrely it is harder for Barnet FC to have a future at the hive than it is Broncos. The lease prevents use of the stadium for league 2 football and above but places no restriction on other sports so at present it is a pretty trap and not a future for us.

If the lease restriction is lifted and we are forced to sell underhill without getting a new stadium then I will probably swallow it and reluctantly accept the Hive as our future home.

Surely that can be challenged though? How can you have a SL rugby team playing there but not allow a L2 soccer side to play? Doesn't make any sense.

That's about right. Southall Vikings, New Malden Magpies, Southall Saints and a few others were all the result of funding bids to get DOs in place, who then started clubs entirely reliant on them to continuation. With other areas of London it was a similar story.

There was a culture of dependency from community clubs on London region - including Broncos - employed staff, but the other edge of the sword was that without the staff the clubs would have either never started or folded straight away.

The ones that remain in West London are the result of a change of tactics by the Broncos Foundation in 2010, when DOs were told to stop running the clubs and instead were focus on making them sustainable when the inevitable Sport England funding cuts came in March 2013.

The ones that remain are strong enough for now, but they were always fed by a strong local schools competition and the presence and support of a local professional club. It remains to be seen how they will continue.

In forum terms, this is what is called 'thread drift'. Sorry!

when the lease was drawn up it was intended that Wealdstone FC and Edgware Town FC would play there and the condition was put in place to prevent Barnet FC moving in. Now it just looks wierd as Barnet are no longer a league club. I agree The Hive could take it to court if it prevented Barnet gaining promotion but it would be costly and not do us any favours in terms of local relations.
I don't think the people who drew up the lease ever considered that RL or professional womens football would be played in the stadium.

Same way that AK never expected a games governing body to pay him to take a team in so they could see our their contractual obligation to a tv company!

Oh yeah that's exactly the same, I can see why you made that useful comparison, it wasn't at all just a pointless remark to push your anti-Broncos management agenda.

Agenda or not, it is true. The deal was dead in the water until Blake Solly came back with Knock-down Nigel's Cheque Book. As for the comparison, it was stated that the Hive never expected to have a Pro RL club in residence....I simply pointed out how that came to be!

Fascinating. What's your prediction for the Top 6 in SL this year?

Depends on what you find interesting, but I personally think it is relevant in the context of who is currently plying their trade at the Hive. If Gus were to get lucky and somehow, we start winning games and crowds rise to 5k this year, then I suspect the neighbours may well object to 6,000 northerners ing on their front lawns after a Friday Evening Kick Off.




The top 6?
Wigan, Saints, Hudds, Leeds, Wire and Catalans.....

Wire and Catalans are the weakest of this top 6 IMO, but they will still probably have more than enough over 27 rounds to get them above the 2 Hulls, Salford, Widnes and Castleford, who I believe will be scrapping for the minor placing's whilst Wakey and Bradford will fight to see who comes 13th.

Not a bad return at all:

1. It's great that they managed to get the game played during curricular time! this is really how you get things moving. Weekends = Kids don't turn up, but play the xbox. Extra-curricular= schools can't afford to cover teachers! I've often wondered if rugby league could be squeezed in the pe curriculum during the summer term, when cricket and tennis are covered. During the Autumn term its competing with Football and union. During the Second term it is competing with schools who play 2 term union.

2. Also a good return. The population density of students around this area must be higher than some areas in the more traditional heartland therefor it has to be worth a shot at keeping the game alive down here, it seems to be spreading too, only this morning I received a flier from Hemel Hempstead Staggs. Hopefully it won't be long before we see London born players playing for England.

3. This interests me, I have played League and union to a reasonable level. The difference in my opinion is that in union you can play as an 'old timer', be the person who rucks and doesn't make as much contact, also due to the infrastructure there are vets teams and therefore the risk of injury is lower. League on the otherhand, due to constant crashing into each other lack of vets teams is harder to play the older you get. Unless you are Steve Menzies or stanley gene. This means that vets will often kick off early then watch a game on the telly or buy a batch of tickets and go together. It keeps the interest, and that is what I'd like to see happen with league, I know we have the masters, but it would be great if it was build upon.

Another thing I have noticed:

Union is often over coached, a lot of focus on technique rather than reading the game. League to use a Laurie Daley quote is a more "simple game" however league seems to have more some success in that I'm guessing more kids play union, however we could be looking at an ex league back line in the England union team.

There isn't a hidden agenda, It's a simple question that somebody on here managed to post a simple reply to. Will I ignore the fact that 40,000 kids were exposed to Rugby League - No, why would I? I have been involved with the game for a lot of years including coaching and scouting often off my own back and have first hand experience of what exposure can do for the game. I asked the question as I'm interested in if Rugby league has managed to make it into schools curriculum in London. In some northern schools it has, Cass Academy is one, Corpus in Leeds is another, and they have had great results in the schools cup. The reason I ask is that you can do much more in curriculum time but getting League into that time is no easy task. Especially in a Union stronghold! For league to be really successful it has to get into both the curriculum and extra curricular!



With Harlequins RL work starting in 2006, expecting a SL player to pop out at the far end inside 6 years is asking a bit much but player who started playing at 12, six years later could play for Broncos at 18, I've seen it happen at clubs. The point of this question was to find out if players were starting to come through yet and if they were who were they? I like to keep an eye on players, especially ones from outside the heartland. I like to see if they stay playing for London Clubs or if they relocate up north. I also like to see how they settle.



Good, it's good to see. The reason I asked this question is that I was looking at whether the kids who make it play only 'school rugby' or 'club too'. I know in the North kids usually play for a club first school second. It is though more tribal up there. To mention schools again you have Cas Academy who play and have good pro links, but a lot of their kids also play for Panthers/lock lane, Normonton and Smawthorn, usually depending on who their family are connected to. If players who make it come from clubs I wonder how you get these school kids into clubs too, and if there are enough clubs in a commutable area for them to join and if coaching standards are high enough to keep them progressing.



Thanks, I'm glad you find my replies witty.



I'd have to agree with him.

I think you possibly have me mixed up with somebody else, never once have I commented on "terrible crowds" or league down here isn't "working". The posts I have made have been to ask about how I could attend the games. This is adding to the Broncos support. Although I have to admit it if the majority of supporters are like yourself I won't be attending!



Sorry I don't understand, but am happy to answer if you rephrase it.



No need, I was there, they played Cuthberts, and the loose forward had a great game! I was also at the final against Cas Academy, hence why I used them as an example above. Out of interest I was also at outwoods win against Brentwood and the High Wycombe win against Cas. Cas have had some great results in the comp, I wonder what they are doing right?

I give you LMS and tony Clubb. Also raise you the England half backs from U18s a couple of years ago Bishay and Sarginson. Plus Krasniqi in 18s at prop, Woodburn-Hall u16s, mike mcmeeken 16s etc. the future was bright, but I fear for it now.

Haha, in that case I'll play my trump card - Mark Calderwood, although he did come through the Stanningley ranks a year after Jamie Jones and went to school at Intake.

I'll rephrase my comment.

I hope it isn't long until we see more London born players playing for England.

Interestingly were LMS and TC both products of Greenwich Admirals?

I suppose you could count Offiah too as London born, I think he was anyway, but unfortunately not a product of the junior league system, we have Doug Laughton to thank for him!

Martin Offiah was a union convert and although from London, went to School at Woolverstone Hall
( ILEA ) Ipswich on the banks of the river Orwell. He played for Ipswich Rugby Club, Rosslyn Park, played sevens rugby union and for the Barbarians before going to League.

No, it was stated that the people drawing up the lease never expected to have a Pro RL club. I think the councils view of local playing fields with a couple of non-league sides that have 100-200 supportors was very wide of the mark of what TK had in mind. I know he had been in talks with RU clubs, top level netball (odd I know!!) and trying to get professional boxing matches arranged for the hive and I'm fairly confident that he has been looking for a summer sport to dovetail with the football season ever since the stadium build started, hence the formation of the London Bees.

Nothing odd about Top level netball!

I knew I spent time in Ipswich, I'm guessing because his father was involved in politics during times of instability and it is a boarding school, however this is a guess, just wasn't sure if he was born in London. I wonder if St Helens were kicking themselves when he went to widnes. One thing Laughton was good at was spotting a good union convert.