BBC's Sydney correspondent asks if all 3 winter codes of football can survive in Aus in his latest blog: www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/nickbryant/ I think the most telling comment might be: Quote :3i6y5ie6"Confessedly, I am a rugby union man, a product of where I was born (Bristol) rather than where I went to school....Often this season, I have found myself watching rugby league matches and enjoying them far more than rugby union, which I know from friends and fellow fans is a fairly common experience."'"

BBC's Sydney correspondent asks if all 3 winter codes of football can survive in Aus in his latest blog: www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/nickbryant/ I think the most telling comment might be: Quote :3i6y5ie6"Confessedly, I am a rugby union man, a product of where I was born (Bristol) rather than where I went to school....Often this season, I have found myself watching rugby league matches and enjoying them far more than rugby union, which I know from friends and fellow fans is a fairly common experience."'"

I still believe that if Quins found a way to make the massive Australian contingent of London aware of RL in London (and somehow made it quicker/easier to get to Twickers from C.London) they'd see their attendances rise massively.

yeah - the Tube is well inconvenient.

??
Its 25 minutes from Waterloo - Houses of parliament/londoneye/ the city

Terrible - can't you get a one stop link - that would at least drop it to 20 minutes.

If any code is under threat it's RU.

I generally can't stand to watch RU - christ on a bike, playing the sport is dull as fishwater - but I sometimes found the Super 12s (now 14s) and Tri-Nations a decent enough spectacle, as you would expect at the very top of the sport. I also enjoyed most of the Lions tour this year.

However, as Nick Bryant mentions, the Super 14s and Tri-Nations have recently been awful. Kick it here, kick it there, ruck a bit, kick it away...repeat for 80 minutes. The only variety is whether someone gets a drop goal or performs a haka beforehand.

Great post

Where's the tube stop at Twickenham?

Richmond on the District Line. However it is still about a mile and a half from twickenham. You can pick up an overground train at the station in Richmond and travel two stops to twickenham station, however.

Melbourne havent been given a super 14 team yet.

Their bid has turned into a disaster with in fighting and political rubbish. On top of that they are going to be bidding against the inclusion of another South African team.

Considering most of the money from the S14 competition comes from there, they are the world champions, Australia has not got enough depth for two teams, let alone five and the game here is dying.....I personally dont think its much of a contest.

Sorry, I shouldn't have said Central London, as Central London is a massive area. Perhaps I should have said residential areas of London - where people would actually have to travel from.

Personally it'd take me an hour and a half from my house to the ground - that's on the same tube line as Waterloo (6 stops away). If I lived in the east end - say Old Street (Shoreditch/ Hoxton / Hackney area) - it'd take 1 hour 20 each way. Old Street too is on the same tube line as Waterloo.

If I lived in Regents Park, it would also take over an hour. Regents Park is on the same side of London as Twickenham.

So it may be quick from Waterloo - but people have to get to Waterloo from their houses - making it a time consuming journey.



So your initial blase comment was wrong then...

I'm sorry, but there are millions and millions of people with very easy access to Twickenham.

They have never really promoted the London team.

They should start small and market to the local area. Worry about greater London later.

I think that's a big point that people miss when slagging-off Harlequins. They just see the London = potential market of 6m people. Not realising how big the place is and how difficult it can be to get across it (unless you're in the central areas).

It seems that people are happy to slag-off Quins for not pulling in people who live 1h+ away yet they don't start calling clubs like Wakefield for failing to pull in supporters from Leicester or Derby.

Maybe when they get their new ground they'll start ramping up the marketing in Derby

Quote ="nathanwood7":3k6ut4mkBBC's Sydney correspondent asks if all 3 winter codes of football can survive in Aus in his latest blog: www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/nickbryant/ I think the most telling comment might be: This sort of opinion confirms to me that increasing the exposure of rugby league will continue to increase its popularity as the product speaks for itself, which makes ventures such as Melbourne and London/Harlequins worthwhile. The more people that can experience the game, the better chance of thriving under the increasing competition from other sports around the world.'" Agree totally. I live in Newport and with Crusaders move here there are a lot who think Crusaders profile and crowds will surpass that of the resident fully professional union team Newport Gwent Dragons. I think it can too but we need to recruit and start now.

Quote ="nathanwood7":3k6ut4mkBBC's Sydney correspondent asks if all 3 winter codes of football can survive in Aus in his latest blog: www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/nickbryant/ I think the most telling comment might be: This sort of opinion confirms to me that increasing the exposure of rugby league will continue to increase its popularity as the product speaks for itself, which makes ventures such as Melbourne and London/Harlequins worthwhile. The more people that can experience the game, the better chance of thriving under the increasing competition from other sports around the world.'" Agree totally. I live in Newport and with Crusaders move here there are a lot who think Crusaders profile and crowds will surpass that of the resident fully professional union team Newport Gwent Dragons. I think it can too but we need to recruit and start now.

True but what would they have put in their SL bid as catchment area ?

They cant have it both ways , not a criticism just an observation as criticism is not allowed

Maybe if they stayed put for more than a few years it would help as well

With regard to the thread title, you'd have been better of replacing 'league' with 'union'.

Melbourne will get the next team but it will be yet another nail in the ARU coffin. The Force where given a $12mill start up grant by teh ARU funded from WC proceeds. Melbourne won;t have that luxury and with the Storm really starting to carve out a market and teh Victory doing so well I can;t see a RU team doing anything other than struggling in Melbourne.

Of the three codes RU is by far the one most under threat. It's only their Int game that is saving them at the moment.

The thread title is a direct copy of the headline on the BBC rugby league homepage today which is linking to the article. I'm not aware if the rugby union homepage has a similar link but from actually reading the article, "Can Rugby Union Survive in Australia" might be a more appropriate headline to summarise the content of the blog.

Quote ="nathanwood7"The thread title is a direct copy of the headline on the BBC rugby league homepage today which is linking to the article. I'm not aware it the rugby union homepage has a similar link'" news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/default.stm I can see it, down there in the "Comment and analysis" section: [iNick Bryant's blog Will rugby union or another of Australia's winter sports die out?[/i

Quote ="nathanwood7"The thread title is a direct copy of the headline on the BBC rugby league homepage today which is linking to the article. I'm not aware it the rugby union homepage has a similar link'" news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/default.stm I can see it, down there in the "Comment and analysis" section: [iNick Bryant's blog Will rugby union or another of Australia's winter sports die out?[/i

My mate has recently got back into rugby but with another code - Union. After his first game he told me if Union stays as boring as it is he’ll consider getting back into rugby league.

My cousin who plays Union in Scarborough would rather be playing league but Union is his only choice up they.

To say that Union is dieing is laughable. But its certainly going through some dire straits at the moment if you put all the voices of not liking union together.

This year even the union cheer leading types in Australia AND New Zealand have had two main topics.

The Rugby Union has been boring and major changes are needed.

The Rugby League has been sensational.



I think what you'll see is the Southern Hemisphere nations might start to look at playing a hybrid version of their game at "Super" 14 level to try and get spectators back. Of course this will be just ANOTHER step forward for union as it slowly makes all the changes League made decades ago.


The problem right now is for the ARU, NSW, WA, QLD and the ACT are bleeding money. Their playing stocks are terrible, they are bring players into their test team that Rugby League scouts have turned down multiple times.

On top of this, the NRL and AFL are starting to completely dominate the Australian sporting scene to the point where even Cricket is feeling squeezed out.

Its an interesting time. I do know the ARU will be praying the NRL doesn't expand into Perth any time soon (Which it will!) because that Western Force team of theirs is hanging on by its nails.

Changing your brand from one instantly recognizable to NRL loving Aussies (i.e. London Broncos) to one which is renowned as the quintessential middle/upper class, rah rah, city brand probably wasn't the best move in that regard, though it was clearly done to save the club.

Have a look at some of the Broncos attendances in the past, in particular when they played in the WCC. They've had sporadic 8k, 9k, 10k attendances (against Wigan too) but nothing consistent.

Quins have only managed 8k+ twice, once in their first game as Quins v Saints (intrigue) and once against Wigan (first game of 2008, half the crowd got in for free)

Seriously, how many Aussies in London can really take the Harlequins brand seriously.....foot.....shot.....

On a general level - some great marketing & PR minds have failed to make it work in London, Branson included.

I'd say a 4,263 attendance at the Galpharm for a play off fixture in the town where the sport began, in a county with 100+ times the number of participants is more embarassing than any of the Quins attendances personally....

North London [Barnet to Twickenham 18.9 miles
by
public transport.


5 minute walk to catch
184 to Barnet tube station with a potential to wait 12 minutes for the bus
2 minutes walk to station.
potential to wait 6 minutes for train.
Barnet to Waterloo 41 minutes
Waterloo to Twickenham 30 minutes
10 minute walk to stadium

1h 46mins round trip 3h 32mins

[size=150average speed is 10.6981 mph[/size

yeah real conveniant