Really, in the UK?!!

They had the support of the NFL and gave away a huge amount of tickets, when they started charging people that crowd suddenley vanished.

No, in London.

And then folded pretty quick and then folded after a year of bumbling around the country.
At least we just bumble around the capital.
When we became Quins I thought that it was only a matter of time before we fully merged into the Union team. IMO pretty good for a marketing and infrastructure standpoint if not anything else.. That looks very unlikely now and the future of league in the capital could go either way.

Am I right in thinking that they played their home games at Wembley, whilst the Scottish team played at Hampden Park? If so what happened to both?

For the first few years, yes. Then Tottenham and Chelsea footy grounds and then they went on a tour of the country playing smaller and smaller grounds, both teams were cancelled when the NFL pulled the plug.

It prooved you could get people to watch if you chucked freebies at them and spent millions on advertising, as soon as they had to break even and charge people the crowds vanished.

Ah right, cheers. Guess that would probably suggest then that despite the NFL clearly having huge popularity over here, a London NFL franchise is probably still a long way away (if ever really).

I would say the majority of Quins supporters are feeling pretty low at the moment. Our team isn't performing, we aren't getting the crowds and no-one seems to like us

They all seem to enjoy the match day experience. (And not just for the fact that it is a guaranteed win)

Got to move again imo if they want to survive. Somewhere nice and posh, not too far from london

Why? and where?

Monarchs died long before the NFL pulled the plug. Claymores carried on until NFL pulled the plug on NFLE which was a decision by NFL team owners not the NFL. The nfle league was a feeder to NFL and funded by the team owners the had enough and down the tubes it went. An NFL franchise would fair better ad it would be NFL and nit nfle. However the monarchs struggled to get fans to away games in Germany Spain holland and Scotland they'll have hardly anyone for the away games in the states .

Back to topic quins rl is just that quins allienating all other ru teams supporters. In Bridgend when the crusaders announced the move to newport initially the locals went ape. Because Newport gwent dragons were the enemy and they refused to buy anything so there money didn't help a rival club.

Same I feel in London. If you supported. Salford ( long shot I know) anmd were a man city fan and they became man utd rl would you still pay up?

Quins do not need to move as in the Stoop they have a good and settled home albeit shared but with a club who seem happy to have them there. They do however need urgently to change their name. Only people that follow rugby league will upon hearing or seeing the name Harlequins or Quins wonder whether it is the RL club. The RU club have been in existence I think since before the great schism of 1895 and are a famous and nationally known club and brand. To anyone that does not follow RL Quins is an RU club and nothing else. As a result any attempt to market the club to new fans will fail as they will think it is the RU club and will either not bother to go as they don't like RU or will find out when the RU club play next and watch them. Sharing the Stoop and having the link up is no reason to share the same name, look at Leeds Rhinos and Leeds Tykes. Different names means that when one markets itself it is not confused with the other.
The Quins RL club should consult with their fans to get a name that the locals can identify with during this year and start to use it ASAP. Get rid of the unavoidable confusion with a much more established club and marketing efforts will stand a much better chance of reaching and attracting the untapped audience that the club so badly needs. If as many people as we are told are playing RL in London then at least some of them will want to watch it too. They just need a distinct brand to tell them where they can see it.

Windsor and Eton fits the criteria of 'nice and posh' and 'not too far from London'. And it strikes me as obviously fertile RL ground to dump a team in.

We need some toffs to bring some class to the game

I can see the headlines now.

Eton Mess at Red Hall

then they could get rid of that ridiculous shirt and logo!

London RL is at its last Super Dooper League home in TW2. If it fails there (which I believe it is doing) it will fizzle out and it will be 10 years before a "proper" London Club will have a chance of being re-admitted to the top table.
Whilst being dropped into SL 15 years ago with no business plan or infastructure can be blamed for the first 5 years of crap....the last 10 years is purely down to bad management and no marketing activity to speak of. The 1,000's of kids playing the game down in the south (which I used to refer to to diffuse the weekly attendance bombs on this forum) are no good to anyone without a strong, financually viable and well supported professional team to aspire to. In Quins RL.....we have a rudderless ship that is being skuttled by it's owners unwillingness to spend any money on marketing.

I have nothing but admiration for David Hughes......but I do question his business planning for Quins RL. He is a wealthy man, so why the hell has he not seen this coming? Yes, we have had 3 of the lesser supported/lesser draw teams to visit and Hudds are up next, but a 2,800 average is a in9 disgrace and with the team heading for the wooden spoon, who's going to bother rolling up for the so called bigger draws......

I have said it elsewhere, but I will repeat it again...the RFL need to take over the club NOW and insert their own back office management team..........otherwise it's all going to end in tears.

How will that work? Can you imagine the shouts of "favouritism"!!! and "fix" !!! whenever anything positive happens therefater. The RFL's little pet project? That would be unpallatable to other clubs who do it on their own.

Oh, I agree with you 100%, but the alternative is even worse. 15+ years of development work to get kids playing the game down the drain and Union picking up these kids just as they are about to come good?
I would suggest the RFL buy Ian Lenagans shares with a view to keeping them for sale at any time. If they believe (and mr lewis does) that it can work, then they can help build the fan base and therefore the financial stability therefore making the club an attractive proposition. I am not saying they invest money for no return, but instead that they put their money where their mouths are.......and maybe even make a profit.

As it is, DH will in all probability walk away at the end of this season (if not before) and Londons Pro RL team will fold.....and the people I really feel for are the 500 or so HARD CORE league fans who have followed the club from craven cottage all over the city.........

Hughsey wont go-He has said he will stay with the club whilst his heart is beating.(the way we are playing that will stop soon)

Erm...



* Competitive in '96
* SL Runners-Up in '97
* CC S/F in '98
* CC Final in '99
* Higher crowds (on average) then now

What went so wrong?



In any case, I still say you wrongly got Cougars place.

If the RFL did get involved it would be interesting to see if they could entice Sky into investing in the London team, in whatever guise. I believe the Melbourne Storm are currently underwritten by New Ltd and the arrangement could follow a similar model over here.

Much of the criticism from the supporters is the lack of promotion of the club around the local area. In jumping into bed with Sky they can utilise their extensive experience in this subject. They need no lessons in the field of marketing, despite knowing nothing about cycling, I know Sky now have a team and that it recently won a race, just from watching Sky Sports News.

I also agree with the poor choice of name, but I also understand this was the only option for the London team when they changed from the Broncos. Harlequins is purely Rugby union, it always will be, and League will forever be the forgotten man in this arrangement. I suggested some along the lines of West London Rangers a while back but got pillared for it.

A simple name change alone will not make a huge difference so it needs to be in conjunction with another major off-field development such as the one I mentioned.

They tried to buy into Manchester Utd so they are not averse to investing into sports clubs, although I accept that the reasons for investing in the London RL side would be quite different from their Utd proposal.

The constant moving around, Charlton and The Stoop first time around. We'd just build up a head of steam and then we'd move, sometimes right across the city. It rendered any work done useless.



But for one drop goal that would have been history...

when did Richard Branson / Virgin get involved - and then get un-involved?

I dont really know the exact circumstances of why the Virgin Group got out of RL - but letting a high-profile billionaire with a passion for wasting money on pet projects leave the sport was a complete disaster for the game in London.