THE WHOLE POINT OF GOING ON A FOOTBALL BASED SHOW IS TO ATTRACT FOOTBALL FANS.


First of all, you may not have realised but football is by far and away the most popular sport in this country and as such the Radio station (being a commercial one) is bound to pander to the greater audience.

Secondly, your porochial view is precisely the kind that is limiting the crowds at Quins games.

Thirdly, if you really have listened to it for many years you will know that from 6am 'til 7pm, each of the presenters on weekdays has said that they prefer Club Rugby League to Club Rugby Union (apart from Mike Parry who probably doesn't know the difference).

Lastly, if this Club dies on it's rear end because its waiting for all the Aussies, Kiwis and Rugby Union coverts to turn up and watch and it hasn't made the effort to get prime time 'advertising' on a Sports show just because they talk about football then there is no one to blame but yourselves.

I give up to be honest. Me and my family (5 in total) have been STHs for the last 5 years but this year we haven't bothered mainly because QuinsRL appear to be adopting a kind of attitude that I always associated with Rugby Union, namely a condescending tone towards another sport. I happen to love watching Rugby League and football but your isolationist views and sporting snobbery have just pushed me back to football

Evoevo - calm down and ignore this idiot Pete Zatwhatever. If you look at other threads you will see he is not a QRL fan but some Northern Troll. Come back to the Stoop we need each and every one of us.

I was actually agreeing with you ....namely Talk 'sports' presenters not including any knowledge of League

Enjoy your football...thanks for coming

I agree with what your saying. But it doesnt half annoy me when people claim to know the secret to improving crowds but have no loyalty to the club whatsoever and dump their commitment to a season ticket at the first sign of something they dont like. If all the people in the south east that read this, or claim to be RL fans actually got off their backsides and supported the game every week wekd be fine.

Yeah well they have had their chance for a number of years now haven't they ?? Now is the time to go for a new audience who, in the case of football fans, generally do get off their backsides. What is it with this Club that they won't even try to capture some of that huge market. There must be a London based Ryan Giggs, Nicky Barmby or Wayne Rooney who have declared their love of Rugby League that can be used somehow !! Not all the footballers in London are African or French are they ?

Oh and by the way Tre, you're right. If the real League supporters actually got off their backsides they would watch the live games (and that would presumably include watching the likes of Hemel Stags under 18s who have been playing in a Natrional League throughout the Winter !!).

Nah dont agree there, they arent funny even though they try to be. Whereas
Porky Parry and Fatty Brazil were hilarious without even trying

Commercial stations arent charities. They put on what they think will attract ratings - Football and England internationals. Not clubs that get 3.5k through their gates on opening day.

We need to give them a reason to cover us ( and even more reasons for continuing to do so)

If we just go around saying "hey the product is so great and it will do the talking" we wont get anywhere.
Most people who watch sport havent a clue whats going on (and that includes football) and they only ones who really know whats going on are already part of the hardcore fanbase.

We need something that pushes us over the edge and generates enough publicity of its own in order to attract wider attention.

We mock union for being followed by a bunch of toffs with their backs to the game ( and joke about how its fans backs see more of the action then the team's backs do.) but they still pay to attend week after week.

Having one radio show saying he guess what RL is played in London wont do a thing.

It's a no-brainer you condescending fool, there is no downside to it.

I am consistently told that football fans are not the market that the club should be attacking and that playing on a Saturday is the right thing to do.

I have long argued and lost the debate that we should not compete with football but try to work around it and attract fans to both sports.

Saturday RL forces a choice in where people go, I for one have that choice and choose football.

Its all very well people banging on about 'if you were a RL fans then you would go to the games', well that may be the case but if I was a true football fan I would go to the games too. Sadly its currently not possible to do both for all but 6 weeks of the RL season. That is a fact but not one that will win any allies on this board

Saturday RL is not working, surely that is there for all to see, crowds were better on a Sunday at Brentford, away support over the last season or so has dwindled (another reason for Saturdays)

There is no easy answer but in fairness the club has chosen a path of Saturdays and it has to make it work, it hasn't yet but the clock is ticking and something has to change

On pitch results would help though !

I agree soccer fans are more likely to get the RL bug than RU fans. Our original base was the Fulham FC season ticket holders who came to the first game for free and some of them are still with us. Ditto 1996 when ads were placed in football programmes and they came in numbers.

Is that true or are you believing it to be true. Im planning on going on Sunday this week, Fri agianst Bradford, Sun Cas & Crusaders, Mon for HKR, Sun for Melbourne, Sun for the Reds

You stick with your belief. Your sun in the east stand moan has more substance

Yeah I remember seeing them in Hammers programmes now you mention it, made me curious enought to go along to the Valley and see what London Broncos was about, having previously only watched RL (mainly international matches) on telly

Its wasn't a moan. That is what I thought the club said after polling the fans for their opinion. Didn't realise it had changed and as it was never publicised it had changed the thought of a season ticket had not crossed my mind.

Maybe the fixture list is worth a look then to see how many I may be able to make.

That comment was a genuine understanding of the game day policy

You are right that the sun is a good moan though

Oh, how very cordial..............but aren't you missing the point ?

HOW CAN BEING ON TALK SPORT BE A PROBLEM ?? YOU EITHER GET NO MORE SUPPORTERS OR LOTS MORE SUPPORTERS !!

how many tune in to our BBC show. can't imagine a comercial broadcaster being too thrilled with that.

Fields of Dreams (again).
The club have tried so many times that it must hurt, but the media will not cover RL in London. The only way to make commercial media play ball is to be topical (as in a national story) or become a customer and as the club have already spent a fair % of this years marketing budget on Oyster Card Holders I would suspect that Talk Sport may be out of their league.

For crying out loud, don't you people understand ?? We're not talking about an advertising slot on Talk Sport. We are talking about inviting Alan Brazil or Ronny Irani (?) down for a game in the Summer against Wigan or Leeds, giving them a few bottles of champagne and letting them have a good time. They will do the rest because they enjoy the sport.

Failing that, just arrange a two minute slot to talk to them on air about Quins and Rugby League in the South.

Honestly, 1 minute of either of those two talking about Rugby League down here will be far more beneficial than free tickets, poster campaigns and any other hair brained ideas you may have.

Theory is great but reality is better and the reality is that a large percentage of Football fans will enjoy Rugby League. They just need someone that they trust (eg Alan Brazil) to tell them.

,,,,,,do you think that every sports journalist from every media outlet in the SE hasn't been invited to the stoop? You can invite all you like, but if they won't come after the 5th invite....you start to sound desperate. The RFL invited the world and his wife for the WWC warm up game last year....but if they don't/can't come you can't hold a gun to their heads.

A perfect example would be the guy who wrote a great editorial on League in the Sunday Telegraph in October 2008 ending with the statement..."I am converted". Many invites later and he still hasn't been to the stoop......what do you do?

In an ideal world the press would be made to cover ALL sports...but if the state funded broadcaster can pick and choose what they cover then how can you dictate to commercial media.

Yes I agree with you

However, has anyone actually tried getting a presenter down to the Stoop ? If they have and there has been no response then why isn't the Club listening to Talk Sport every day and when Rugby League is mentioned (which it is about 5 times a day) why isn't someone phoning in to discuss it. Why aren't supporters ringing in when Quins are mentioned because however boring and repetitive that Station may appear to most of you, one minute of air time [ucould[/u start a bit of a chain reaction and be the catalyst that is needed.

I think in business terms it's called being 'pro-active' so instead of coming on here and moaning about how no one down here loves Rugby League, why don't people do something apart from whining.

Anyway, Hemel Stags u18s are playing Crusaders u18s at Penine Way in Hemel on Sunday at 1.30. Good luck to them.

.....someone calling in to discuss RL or Quins whilst the main focus is on Wendyball is like someone calling in to discuss a firework they once let off .....................during a radio debate on Nuclear Warheads. It just wouldn't register.

As for being pro-active.....I have a wardrobe full of T-shirts for that little gem

Absolutely correct mate. I love listening to Brazil (my username probably gives that away...) and he comes across as a fair minded guy who would give us an even crack. He also clearly loves 'hospitality' - get him down at the ground asap! (also - i have no idea if this is still the case, but he used to hate union - i remember him tearing into some welsh caller a few years ago, who was wittering on about some magners league game).

About five years ago in one of the pubs on the corner of Griffin park I spoke to a Bronco's fan. He was an ex Millwall football fan and had stopped going for the reason highlighted above. His mates took him to Union first then League and he told me like league much better & had followed them ever since, so you have a point about some football fans being ideal new League fans. However, back to the original topic & I honestly think the game needs someone who can front a sports show, or find a sports presenter who's pro-league. Even if they only filled a ten minute slot, it would be a start. We would all have to respond though and ring in and give them something to discuss on the show!!

You Sir, are quite clearly a nothing more than a miopic, whinging fool. The last two posts appear to be much more in touch with reality and the way that sports fans behave. I watched the Leeds Rhinos game last Sunday and seem to have heard a lot of chanting of 'Leeds' as per the football chants for the Leeds United team. Now you may not like football and you obviously don't like football fans but I am almost certain that without football fans being tempted to watch Harlequins RL, the Club will not survive........end of !



Thank you, at least I have one supporter.

Right then my old mucker...welcome to reality.
Over the last 15 years the club have built up relationships with various media outlets......some have survived, most haven't. What has been done to death is the softly softly, feed the media Monkey approach...and guess what it has got us.....
You post that Talk Sport is the answer......if so, great, but before we all open the champers, smeone had better tell the people that own the station what the question was.
Call me names all you like.......I have a very thick skin to go with my brain, but I know this.....Quins RL, London Broncos, London Crusaders and Fulham have all suffered from the same ailment........and if you think Talk Sport is the answer, then you're off your fu(king nut!
As for Football...I was a ST holder at Celtic for nearly 7 years and travelled from Dublin (through Belfast) for most home games and every Old Firm Game.......I have no issue with SOCCER fans......just the stench that follows them around. As for the game of association football.....no issue either. I applaud the likes of Chelsea for getting brain dead numpties to fork out £90 for a 0-0 draw.....
What I do have an issue with is being called Myopic.....by someone who makes ONE suggestion then gets @rsey when they are told it's already been tried........on a number of occassions. Me Myopic? Do you really think that in 30yrs of having shi7 crowds nobody else has come up with and tried to get this idea of the boards


You cur (sic) are a fool if you think that GETTING THE MEDIA INVOLVED IS A NEW THING.............

Well, at least you're showing a bit of passion !

I take on board all of the above and agree with most of it. However, (and read this bit slowly to yourself and maybe reread it a couple of times) what I am attempting to say is that in the end, in my opinion, it only needs one presenter to speak for 2 minutes about Harlequins RL and the great time he had there and that will do more in crowd terms than almost any other form of marketing. That presenter would ideally be Alan Brazil or maybe now Darren Gough (?).

Simples !!