I'd like to see A Cumbrian club in SL

Short memories some folks.

A club in London is a requirement of SKY and there loss almost certainly would result in the Sky deal being de-valued. Now whilst I agree 100% about heartland clubs and the need for continuing progression, the larger picture has to be looked at.

1) The French expansion is logical and I think most fans agree with there inclusion in the SL. Of all the "expansion" clubs this is the one that has the best chance of success indeed it has to.

2) London has to be looked at long term and we have seen a second club sprout up in the capital, we need to support and help if required for a while longer yet.

3) The Welsh experiment, too early to state if its going to be a success or not yet. I do feel it has a good prospect and having visited the ground and with a bit of help and support this may be the best opportunity we have ever had in establishing the game in Wales

The constant deriding of Quins crowds is now getting boring, other SL (heartland) clubs have had similar in the past and will do in the future. Clubs have got into SL and have risked everything on a place, to leave themselves in a financial mess for years is it worth it.

One day a club will fail completly chasing a dream that becomes the poison chalice.

One day?

Workington, Oldham, Paris St Germain, Halifax, Widnes - off the top of my head clubs that have tried to live beyond their means in an attempt to retain SL status and paid the price for it.

I mean go out of existence ..................

But it re inforces that finances need to be right and clubs have to stick within a budget

Ian Lenagan still owns them.

He owns a large share.
There's another big backer too, Hughes is it?

Yeah he still has a big holding but Lenagan is still majority shareholder.

By fail I assume the OP means if Quins fold. That I think would be a big setback for development of RL in the south east. The issue of who would replace them in SL is a side issue I think but it could only be the best club in the championship (in terms of required criteria) and could not be Toulouse who aren't ready or another London club as if one failed then another, particularly a quickly constructed place filler, is very likely to do so. The survival of a club in or near the capital of a better standard than London Skolars is the important issue IMO. If the Quins can survive at Championship level but not at SL level then for them to continue the decision has to be made to drop them down to regroup.

Whether or not the SL has to have (by SKY or RFL edict) a London club is open to debate. To enable the development in the south east to continue there does need to be a club that gives a better standard of competition than Skolars to allow any players of LMS/Clubb standard to stay in our sport without relocating to the north (as many would simply switch to RU to stay close to home or stop playing altogether). If the RFL consider it possible that the Quins club may go out of existence then they need to be putting contingency plans in place. This would involve sounding out potential investors within some of the towns where it has been suggested that Quins relocate to. The objective would be to set up two or three clubs in the mould of South Wales Scorpions that would provide the fallback position where at least one club would exist should Quins not do so. By setting up clubs in for example Luton and Oxford you would have two clubs that could then develop to Championship level within a few seasons along with a reasonably local rival for fans to identify with more than the likes of Oldham, Rochdale et al.

In time this approach would mean that should the Quins fold then there will be other clubs in the area to continue to offer a pathway for south east players, meaning the development work from the Quins academy would not be totally wasted and the geographic spread would still be maintained. Should the Quins continue to exist and be in SL then it would provide an existing potential replacement club to fly the flag for their geographic region should one be required by the TV contract for SL. This would mean that the Quins club would not have to be maintained in the SL simply as there was no other option and would mean that should a club be needed to step into the breach then at least the foundations would be in place.

fev

the crowds would be the same

im not sure sky

funding would fall either without a london sl club

the viewers will watch now regardless and its not as if quins are raising the profile of rl to such an extent that they are growing the numbers of viewers meaningfully

And all editors agree that whether London is there or not, the RL coverage would still be at the same level. Harlequins staying/going out of SL won't make a difference to the press coverage.

I doubt it. With Fev in SL, they'd get a local derby against both Wakefield and Cas that would attract at least 5,000.

I always said let them set down roots somewhere but I do think it's time to move again.
Why does the club have to be IN London, why not look for somewhere outside the M25 with a lower sporting profile? Wiganer mike's idea was a good one, only difference between them and the Scorpians though is 30 or so willing union converts and some good dual registered players available localish.

one of your lot mentioned to me some place called milton keynes

new stadium there as well?

The Stadium:MK.

I reckon somewhere in East Anglia would be perfect. Massive loads of people - untapped area and they have a few sides down there fast improving.

Milton Keynes is possibly a bit tooo far north, I'd be looking at the other direction of London for future expansion. Although Cov/MK/Brum would be ideal expansion areas in the future, a Quins type saviour club wouldnt be though.

Why do we need a club in London?
The press ignore the one we've got!

I thought we'd two?



One ignored even more than the other, ignored one

I should have said why do we need a SL club in London?
But having said that why do we need any club in London?

Of course MK is too far north, a current England international was born there!

Tooting Titans or Balham Bulldogs would suit me perfectly...

East Anglia has 3 million people, but only 4 places of any size - Norwich, Ipswich, Peterborough & Cambridge, with Thetford, Yarmouth, Kings Lynn, Bury St. Edmunds and plenty of smaller towns. No rugby union to speak of, no county cricket, no pro teams in any of the minor sports except speedway. The soccer teams attract people from a big area, though - I know around 5-6 people from my village who make the 1hr journey to watch Ipswich and a couple more who make a longer trip to watch Norwich. If you stand on Cambridge railway station on a saturday afternoon you will see hundreds of people going down to London to watch Arsenal, Spurs, West Ham... The few active union fans I've met in 15 years here tend to watch Bedford, Northampton or Saracens - again around an hour away.

An England/France game in Norwich/Peterborough would be the first international sport they'd had in decades and could get a big one-off crowd if you got the local press behind it. Just can't see a pro team working though - akthough who would've predicted Wrexham seemingly going OK?

We left it too late to go after MK. 10+ years ago I think a pro RL team could have done really well.

a) Looks most likely to me. Toulouse wont get in after the fuss kicked up after the express said they didn't need the grand final appearance, and having just watched them, they wont be anywhere near the playoffs this season without an incredible turnaround, they're awful.

Another heartland club I can't see happening, Fax aren't ready for it, crowd isn't good enough. And though Leigh have the stadium (and look like possible finalists this year) I think they have the same problem with crowds as Fax, they just don't look up to SL level