Quote="BigTime"In fairness to IMG it is a bit tricky.
Ideally we like to claim the whole of London and indeed some of the outlying counties. We could probably make a decent fist of providing ST holder evidence that fans come from all over. I suspect LB Merton doesn’t figure in the top 5 of hives of Broncos support but I’m not sure where does. I suspect they feel that the whole of London is too big a weighting anomaly for such a modestly supported team so they have picked the areas we are based in and are targeting with player/staff interaction. I think we could make a case for Merton and Richmond on the basis we train at the latter and perhaps if we stepped up our community engagement there with a nod from them we could capture that catchment area but let’s be honest we are likely to be doing much, much less so, basically we’re stuffed.'"
I doubt think they really think about how the criteria affects one place of another. The criteria has to be written so it applies anywhere in the country. Not sure what could be used other than local authority district.
Quote="BigTime"In fairness to IMG it is a bit tricky.
Ideally we like to claim the whole of London and indeed some of the outlying counties. We could probably make a decent fist of providing ST holder evidence that fans come from all over. I suspect LB Merton doesn’t figure in the top 5 of hives of Broncos support but I’m not sure where does. I suspect they feel that the whole of London is too big a weighting anomaly for such a modestly supported team so they have picked the areas we are based in and are targeting with player/staff interaction. I think we could make a case for Merton and Richmond on the basis we train at the latter and perhaps if we stepped up our community engagement there with a nod from them we could capture that catchment area but let’s be honest we are likely to be doing much, much less so, basically we’re stuffed.'"
I doubt think they really think about how the criteria affects one place of another. The criteria has to be written so it applies anywhere in the country. Not sure what could be used other than local authority district.
Quote="jbuzza"I doubt think they really think about how the criteria affects one place of another. The criteria has to be written so it applies anywhere in the country. Not sure what could be used other than local authority district.
And for most M62 based teams they will most likely derive their fanbase ( or at least the majority of it ) from inside the local authority area - but this is clearly NOT the case for London Broncos. So maybe IMG SHOULD have thought about how the criteria affects one place or another?
I wonder do Catalans derive most of their support from the area immediately around the part of Perpignan where their stadium is?
Quote="jbuzza"I doubt think they really think about how the criteria affects one place of another. The criteria has to be written so it applies anywhere in the country. Not sure what could be used other than local authority district.
And for most M62 based teams they will most likely derive their fanbase ( or at least the majority of it ) from inside the local authority area - but this is clearly NOT the case for London Broncos. So maybe IMG SHOULD have thought about how the criteria affects one place or another?
I wonder do Catalans derive most of their support from the area immediately around the part of Perpignan where their stadium is?
The London Borough of Wansworth has a population in excess of 300,000. A Professional Rugby League player is capable (I think) of kicking a conversion at the North End of Plough Lane (when Kicking from slightly the right side of the posts) into the Borough of Wandsworth. The Corner Pin Pub and Tescos Local are in Wandsworth. Two of the three roads around the stadium are in Wandsworth.
Local Authority is an illogical concept for catchment area. It should be based on population within a certain distance. Two clubs near each other should have a midway divide for containing the catchment area in that direction.
Whilst you could argue the Broncos catchment area should include South England, I'd agree that wouldn't make sense. But not counting people living a minute from the ground is stupid.
Which ever way it is looked at, there is an inbuilt disadvantage to some clubs based on this metric.
Leeds for example could have 5 tier 1 & 2 clubs in the Borough & still get full points. Warrington & Saints are in smaller LA areas then us & the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan with 330k bodies includes both Wigan & Leigh. No idea whether they were marked down or some loophole found. I'm sure there would be more of a row if there were closer to 12th.
All views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the RLFANS.COM or its subsites.
Whilst every effort is made to ensure that news stories, articles and images are correct, we cannot be held responsible for errors. However, if you feel any material on this website is copyrighted or incorrect in any way please contact us using the link at the top of the page so we can remove it or negotiate copyright permission.
RLFANS.COM, the owners of this website, is not responsible for the content of its sub-sites or posts, please email the author of this sub-site or post if you feel you find an article offensive or of a choice nature that you disagree with.
