Sorry to bring things down to earth after an excellent performance but the contrast between the top rugby crowds on Saturday shows how far we have to go to win an audience. I have been underwhelmed by the marketing this season, after we had supposed to have had a new re-launch we seem to be back where we have been for the last five years. On the field is important but if we don't win an audience for RL in London we will be gone in a couple of years at the most.

I have no answers but we have to find some soon, the union guys have.

No - On the field is 'CRITICAL'. You cannot market crap. Lets see this team move up the league to midtable playing decent winning RL and then you have something to market.

I agree getting it right First on the field first is Vital! until we have a team that is in a winning frame you are throwing money into the wind on marketing. The curry off this Thursday would be worth pushing a little and as someone else said try and hit the corporate market to take their workers out for a night out and make it worthwhile for them to come with price, then hoping they will return if the Product is right! but it is not going to be an easy game, then look who have beaten them so far!

Lets be Fair! how long has it taken Quins RU to get into the position they are in now with attendances and filling such as Wembley? was it done overnight? NO! they have been going a lot lot longer than we have and in such as a big game like Saracens it will attract the large union community and corporate will bite their hand off to take guests.

The Union guys have built slowly but on the back of a thriving International game which we do not have (unfortunately).

Re London Broncos specifically, winning home games is key to building support and this isn't going to be easy or come overnight. The other must is that we have got to be prepared to put down roots and stick with it for the long-term. As Reg Bowden said the other week, moving around like nomads will not build a support base for the Broncos.

As nice as it would be to boost our crowds at the Stoop, I am past caring what the crowd numbers are compared to union or for that matter the teams in the heartlands. Yes as a club we need to do more (or even start would be nice) but RL attendance in general says more about the state of the game. The RFL should be leading the way in promoting the game on all fronts and that includes putting their hand in their pocket to help promote the game in London. I thought that DH had a commitment from the RFL to assist with marketing but I am hard pushed to know exactly what they have provided.

If you look at the promotion and money spent on the Sari v Quins game at Wembley (or for that matter the annual Quins RU game at Christmas) it is no wonder you can 80k people to turn out for the odd game in a city the size of London (let`s not forget it is on the heels of the 6 nations comp)…………….but Quins RU normal gates average 13-15k and Sari and Wasps (allegedly London teams) are pretty miserable……..so where do all the casuals go in between time?

The RU pundits can big it up as much as they like but they have a long, long way to go before they can start to compare their crowds with football ..........we are not even in the race.

RL is hidden away in media terms on Pay TV to a few 100,000 who have to search for it. Union is shown extensively on Free Television and in your face as you flick through the channels and shown to millions.

The people up North have let the game stagnate for over a 100 years and it will take a long time and a lot of money to change things. It is seen as a Northern game played along the M62 and you should always remember the smaller RL Town clubs will always demand it stays that way to preserve their own clubs interests. In Union they all seem to move in the interests of their game. In League its the interests of the individual clubs and their survival in SL that matter. Thats why they want rid of us in case this expansion mullarky catches on.

Definitely something in that. No doubt that cricket suffered when they moved to paid for TV.


Don't think it's as simple as that. There are plenty who do want shot of us, but at least as many who don't. That's why we get the contradictory signals all the time.

Quins got 3 or 4 k to their games pre world cup win

Yes, they got 3 - 4000 not that long ago when you consider they have a 150 year history.

The fact they have been able to build as they have, probably led Mark Evans to believe that the same could be done with QRL. I remember him saying at the launch do before our first game at The Stoop that in his opinion, Union would never be as big as Soccer and League wouldn't be as big as Union, but he couldn't see why we couldn't have a flourishing RL club in London.

Sadly, he has been proved wrong thus far.

NFL was no way near the all-encompassing monster it is now.
Was miles behind baseball in terms of popularity. Its easier to change a culture than you'd think.
Heck when the premier league first started you had to ask pubs to stick it on, now you cant move for the bloody thing.

If league is not to die out then there has to be found a way to share the TV coverage with SKY for 1 Live Saturday afternoon match per week on free to air TV.

Sky won't want to do this, but they have killed the golden goose as much as the p!ss poor RFL and the game will continue to die. Build the interest or become semi pro in the North only.

This notion that it needs to be on free tv is .
It's been on the BBC for years and what good has that ever done.

Yup. RL features on a prime time Friday night slot on Sky Sports 1 most weeks of the year. Plenty of people have Sky these days and if you don't you probably have a mate who does.

Sarries average around 6000 at Watford - 80,000 at Wembley. Go figure.

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Why do people ignore the total and utter lack of any marketing since 1996?

2003 we made the play-offs...in 2004 the crowds dropped.......The club and the game were guilty of "expecting people to roll up"..........in fact, they have been guilty of that for 16 seasons if we're honest.

Saracens owner took a punt. 20,000 tickets at a fiver....the rest starting at 15 quid......minimum income from the game in ticket sales 1,045,000.

Harlequins RL ticket revenue since 2006......2,850,000 over 79 games........and if it costs 30k a game to rent the stoop, I reckon Sarries made more profit from 1 game than Quins did in 6 years from ticket sales.

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people on here in their cosy RL comfort zone don't seem to realise that for RL to succeed outside the M62, a new audience has to be won. A winning team will only attract the picky (fickle as Purdo called them)-RL types. When we got to Wembley in '99 did the 15,000 new 'London' fans turn up? We have to do what Union had to do and attract new people. A winning side is great but will it get more publicity in London - no chance.

Don't under estimate how important terrestrial coverage is. I have vague memories of Grandstand showing rugby league back in the 80s and early 90s but was never a fan. Football was all that mattered. Then one Sunday in 2008 I literally stumbled across a Challenge Cup semi on the BBC. Ended up watching the whole game and loved it. I'm not a fan of Union and had always seen "rugby" as one pretty tedious sport. But the game I saw on the Beeb was totally different to what I thought "rugby" was.

I did a quick search online to find if there was a southern team and ended up going to the Quins RL next game (last game of the season v Catalans). It helped that Quins won that game - don't underestimate the importance of a winning team too! - but just as important was that the whole experience was family friendly and loads of kid-friendly stuff going on. Don't under estimate the appeal of Buck and Dusty and facepainting!

I've ended up being a season ticket holder since 2010 and have even done a couple of away trips. None of this would have happened if the sport hadn't been shown on terrestrial.

Really

no, he is talking out of his behind.

Prove it. You show me any significant increase in publicity in London following a winning streak in London.

tbf when was the last time we had a winning steak

Was there increased publicity when they got to the CC Final or were the 15000 fans a myth?

Its a fact (not one of GF's non factual facts) that winning creates interest, that being fans, publicity, sponsorship etc

Darth-what about the beginning of last year

..........or the 2 home winning streak we are currently enjoying

those 15,000 turned up at Wembley, in fact the SL gates dropped after the CC run that season, those 15,000 never came anywhere near the Stoop!

Nobody is saying that a winning side does not increase the gates, it does little or nothing to increase the awareness of SL in the capital as the increase in gates is mainly from existing floating RL types. It does not solve the problem.

The Challenge Cup has been on and very poorly served by the BBC who make it seem like more of a minority Northern Sport.

The weekly cut and thrust of Superleague with a decent, modern presenting team would attract much more interest.

One of the reasons why F1 teams are so pro free to air coverage is that their sponsors realise that this form of coverage is much more valuable than subscription services, despite the fact that SKY does have a very large number of subscribers in the UK.