It is a completely ludicrous idea and no, not because of the loss of a home game.

From the BBC:

Wigan owner Ian Lenagan was the majority shareholder in London-based Harlequins RL between 2005 and 2008.
"My personal passion for Wigan and rugby league in London makes this initiative an obvious one," he said.

Well sorry but I would suggest even Wigan fans who would like to see RL expand that plenty of them would strongly disagree that just because the chairman has a passion for RL in two places he should be trying to serve that passion by taking Wigan games to London.

As to the business case for it, why on earth does he think people or businesses in London will be interested in shoving money at club that plays all bar one of its games in Wigan? They are hardly going to be able or want to drive up the M1 & M6 to take advantage of any deal on a Friday night. What do they get out of it? Attending a game with a few thousand on it it that?

What not put greater effort into courting sponsons from the north? There are large multi-national firms located up here who could take advantage.

What about the "away" fans and clubs? Has anyone asked the other clubs or their fans if they are willing to put up with the costs of going down to London to play Wigan?

Tapping into new talent down there? There is absolutely no case for that. We have probably the best production line as it is and while the next Ellery Hanley may be hiding somewhere in London he is just as likely to be in Edinburgh.

For me it is self indulgent total waste of time.

The only game I could see working from a crowd point-of-view would be Wigan/Catalans. One because you'd tap into the many fans of other clubs down here who'd go to that to shout for Catalans and against Wigan while they wouldn't bother with say Wigan/Cas or Wigan/Hull (this *might* not be what Lenegan is intending, but even so...). Also there are 300k+ French in London and presumably some of those are Treizistes. The Catalans support would be a lot higher than the at the equivalent game in Wigan.

All that would effectively make it a Catalans home game though, so I can see why a partisan Wigan fan would be uneasy with the idea.

The game itself is not the issue for me. It's the idea. The full press release on the club web site is embarrassing. Here is part of it.

[iThe Wigan club and its Owner, Ian Lenagan, have long viewed the capital as a key expansion area both for Wigan and for Rugby League generally. Wigan Warriors has a national fan base and historical links with London ranging from their record number of Wembley appearances, through Lenagan's prior ownership of London Broncos and current London-born players Dan Sarginson and Tony Clubb to Wigan's many other connections in London via ex-Wigan players in Rugby Union including Andrew Farrell, Shaun Edwards, Martin Offiah, Chris Ashton, Owen Farrell and Joel Tomkins. Joel Tomkins returned to the Wigan Club last year following his time at Saracens Rugby Union.
[/i

It's absolute nonsense.

Lenagan's prior ownership of London does not does not give Wigan a historical link with London.

Neither does the fact Sarginson who is in fact Australian and Clubb who is from Kent. Even if they were born within the sound of Bow Bells the fact they now play for us links us no more to London than signing Bateman does to Bradford.

And neither does the fact Chris Ashton or any other ex-players or coaches live or work down there and the fact Tomkins left Sarries or even went there in the first place doesn't either.

Owen Farrell? WTF?

Who makes this BS up?

Why not put me on the press release? I lived there for 12 years. May as well given the tenuous and factually incorrect nonsense in that press release.

The links they have mentioned are tenuous at best buy it's worth a go. If it works then good, otherwise we try something/somewhere different. Not a big deal. At the very least we will make a decent profit from the real estate we've bought (assuming we're not renting).

What happened to our big link up with the Welsh RL?

Aside from a couple of initial signings I've not heard or seen much else. This seems different and more aimed at the business side of the club then the playing front but we do seen to have these ideas only for them to fall away without much word.

There's been other promised developments over the years such as a Wigan supporters bar/club, scouting and bringing in players from Union/American football, a club museum etc that for whatever reason don't really go anywhere (Alky Andy Powell aside).

There is no way you'll have bought your office space.

You most of the time.

He's trying something different and if it works it will give us another competitive financial edge.

Can't see why you are so angry against it?

Serious question - in almost 8 years of owning the club have you agreed with anything IL has done? It's almost comical that when IL makes a decision there will be a post on RL Fans by DaveO finding fault with it.

Many of your prophesied 'it will never work' posts have actually done the opposite and come true but even then it's not through anything IL has done.

I'd love to know what you seem so at odds withe everything that he does. Do you just not like him?

I see no harm in this at all. The main plank of it is clearly sponsorship: IL talked about this in his last Chairman's Address, so it's hardly new.

Seems RL clubs are damned if they do and damned if they don't. This is someone thinking outside the M62 corridor; how is that a bad thing? In fact I mentioned to my son, who lives in London, that Wigan *might* be playing a game in London (and there are stadium issues to overcome before that can happen anyway), and he was certainly up for it, and would probably bring some of his friends who'd never seen live RL before.

For all the pessimism around here, it bears repeating: we have a great product, certainly the most exciting of the two rugby codes. But most people aren't even aware of it. Getting the game out there to relatively untapped markets is *always* worth doing.

Why not put greater effort into winning challenge cup matches and Wigan can play in London every year

Not keen on the idea. The RFL have been trying to promote the game down there for who knows how many years....

Think it's a good idea, if it brings in a lucrative sponsor and some new fans then it's well worth it. My group will certainly be heading down

To make it attractive for fans got to be a Saturday afternoon game anything other will severely restrict the numbers travelling down form the North West

Really dont see the problem with this, what harm can it do?

A would like it to be Catalans, apart from a couple of clubs the rest can't be bothered coming to the DW, oh and as usual it's given the RV board something to talk about!

This reduces the promoted advantage of getting a season ticket. We were told this season that there would be three 'play-off' home games, plus possibly another one. That plus possibility is now being removed, it seems. I know that none of our group (five adult season ticket holders) would go to a 'home' game in London. We just don't see the point, given the massive time and cost required. And if we were to lose the 'London' game? What if that made the difference between reaching the semi-final or not?

the complete opposite of what IL is attempting to achieve. An near empty stadium for this could be the final nail in the coffin for RL in the south. i for one hope it works but i cant see it.

What we need is a one round of Super league played on the SAT/SUN in the same city in the same stadium.... wait a minute....

How many did you usually take down to London when you played the Broncos/Quins when they were in SL?

It can't be too big an opponent like Saints, Leeds or Warrington, because firstly you wouldn't want to lose home field advantage for those games and secondly Sky would want to show those matches so that would effect how many would go travel to see it if it was on TV instead.

That's not true though is it. The season tickets were priced for a 14 home game season, and as was explained at the time Wigan may take the 15th game "on the road" if they make the top four. IL stated on Wigan t.v last month that it will not be Saints, Wire or Leeds but as yet we don't know what the fixtures will be.
Personally I would love it to be Catalan at Fulham.

The London experiment has been tried by the RFL for almost 30 years and the result is a nomad side with crowds of around 400. I hope IL is only putting his own money into this venture, and not the clubs', as its a barking mad idea. If he wants to expand, then start at Chester across to Stoke, Stockport and Sheffield before reaching Lincoln. Maybe after that try Birmingham.

"Massive time and cost"? Is it massive time and cost to go to, say, Hull, too? Wigan is just off the motorway, and well served by the rail network: London is hardly inaccessible. For one game a year...

RoguesGallery,
It definitely IS true that they dangled the prospect of an extra home game before we paid for the season tickets. The key word was 'may' (take a 15th game on the road). Not 'WILL', which now seems the case. And there was no mention of London, the most expensive city in the UK.
Would anyone like to forecast the attendance at any such London fixture? Given that we drew a lot less than 9,000 for a HOME play-off match last season. And that our away game v London last year attracted barely over 2,000... Even if they gave free tickets and free transport for all, I don't believe we could get anywhere near a reasonable turnout for a London play-off, with the prospect of empty spaces on tv unlikely to impress these apparently eager new sponsors/supporters.

Hull is two regular season away games.
London for what could and should be a home game is not the same at all. It's further, costs more and takes longer. About twice as much in each case. I call that quite massive.

And, to repeat myself, what if we lose, when we could have played at home? That's potentially a gamble with our whole season that I don't think the club should take.

It's about the same price and time by train. There was plenty said beforehand about this so it's not like they pulled the wool over our eyes when selling season tickets.

Of course. You will have read such posts as well I am sure. Why the selective memory?



Such as? Give me an example.



I am not and no I do not just "not like him". Have you have made this up so you can agree with yourself?

The one which glaring stands out is your objection to the IL policy of allowing players to try their hand at RU/NRL. To date 3/3 have returned to Wigan and we've ended up with a surplus in the bank as well.