quins should be handed a 15/20 yr guarantee.

that would put an end to the tedious tripe that is regulary trotted out by heartlanders.

wakey have had long enough, adios.

I guess you're the polar opposite to Davies then Senor Cheese. lol

If you'd care to elaborate a little Senor... what do you base your argument and the 'tedious tripe' label on? What makes Wakey less worthy of a license than Quins in your opinion?

quins have had over 100 yrs to get their zhit together, despite that length of time they have basically failed, havent they??

the tedious tripe is the usual irrelevant and ill-informed rubbish that folk peddle to bash the quins.

the future of rugby league isnt wakey, its quins, crooos, irish expansion etc etc. the heartlands are stagnant.

I dunno. Like I said, I'm an expansionist and would love to see a truly European Super League one day. I just found it interesting hearing a pundit expressing the views of a lot of fans (whether you agree with them or not) and thought I'd play devil's advocate.

I do understand your 'tripe' label, as a lot of people are just insular and anti-expansion for the sake of it - this thread is not in that vein, as I don't have those views. I do think Davies raises some valid questions that we shouldn't be scared to address - the main one being, does 'project Quins' directly influence and benefit 'project London'? Like I said, participation levels in London have rocketed in recent years, but is this a by-product of the Quins franchise? Do more people tune in to Sky on a fri/sat because of the presence of a London team? Do these factors influence the RFL's decisions on awarding Quins a place?

I may be wrong, but you give the impression you are as far anti-heartlands as some are anti-expansion. Is this fair?

I believe SL needs a well considered balance - accommodating the traditional clubs as well as the new. Being a fan of a traditional M62 corridor club - and wanting to preserve their place in top flight RL - doesn't necessarily deem someone a luddite surely?

i feel i have to be extreme in my views to counteract the tripe i mentioned earlier.

my vies would easily soften if a more balanced perspective was evidenced.

a balance of heartlands and expansion is of course ideal. say....50/50??


i believe that if quins went down, the interest in the game down there would eventually go down also, as its on the back of the quins that a lot of the work is done. the youngsters see skolars and quins and see a progression for themselves.
u gonna tell new kids entering the game..... "stick in son and one day u can play for HKR" can u see it?? kid running home to tell his london centric family, " dad, dad, im might play for HKR one day" " who the Fkk are HKR??"" the dads gonna ask.

gotta be a local precence at the top table. nothing less will do.

in fact, the skolars should be getting lined up for afast-tracking into super league too for me.

I agree with the 50/50 ratio - this would be my ideal in the future. But jumping into it now, before foundations are built could be an error? I dunno. Does plonking a franchise in a 'foreign' land constitute successful expansion?

I guess where a lot of people have a grumble is sacrificing the current 'heartlands' fans for the potential crowds in pastures new. It is a tough one to call - and I guess a certain amount of experimenting is the only way to find out?

On your 'returning home to dad' scenario, it seems he would be just as likely to ask "who the fkk are Quins RL?" as they appear to draw very little attention in the capital at present. I'd love them to thrive and become a strong franchise, but they seem to be floundering at the moment. What do you think could be the catalyst to bring them success? (assuming success is based on performance, primarily, and to a lesser extent, gates & revenue)

Davies was suggesting having Quins in the championship - which could be further strengthened with the addition of expansion clubs - for 3 years wouldn't be too detrimental to things 'darn sarf' and may be the answer. That's going on the general belief that playing in the Championship will bring more success on the pitch - which is, naturally, a big crowd puller. Will the London fans mind that it's a lower level if they're winning?

if quins go in the championship, can u see 5000 fans turning up to watch them beating york??

no , neither can i.

the big teams have to be a draw.

the dad might not have heard of quins RL but he can be told they are a london professional top level team. as soon as the kid says , "oh they are a team from up north, hull dad" thats the end of the discussion.

lol.


quins need investment and a bigname sponsor, which could be on the cards i hear, and a new ground. long term the rfl and quins are looking to build a dedicated rugby league ground in london.. thats very much needed.

This comment from Senor just about says it all I believe.............

Comment.....quins need investment and a bigname sponsor, which could be on the cards i hear, and a new ground. long term the rfl and quins are looking to build a dedicated rugby league ground in london.. thats very much needed...................................

Every time this discussion comes around I can't but help think of Melbourne Storm and the success they have turned out to be..........I know we shouldn't use them as a comparrison but I can see a hell of a lot of similitaries between a team in London and a team in Melbourne where AFL is like a religion as is football in England with the difference being the Melbourne people would get a crowd watching synchonised swimming if you had it every week-end where the multi-cultural London wouldn't get off there bar stool if it was on fire.

It matters not what the good people in the heartlands think or believe should happen because they are not going to go anywhere and will always be there to watch our great game, what matters is the what the t.v net-works think and believe and they are looking at London as a mass population and full of corporate money.

I was once dead against expansion but have since seen the ways that our great game needs to expand to survive the long haul, even after my team was kicked out of the NRL (since reinstated) I still believe Sydney the heartlands of OZ has 2 to many clubs should either re-locate or be dropped down to the NSW Cup......harsh yes but need to happen, yes I believe so.......cheers I enjoy articles of this type even if it has been done to death, we need to keep it alive until as Senor says, give the Quinns a long term deal and move on.

word is, and its pure rumour at this point is that red bull are gonna be a big name sponsor of quins. thats the calibre of sponsor thats required and if it took offering a longer term guarantee (even if thats behind closed doors) then im all for it. to get such a name on board would more or less seal the deal long term for rugby league in london. add that to a dedicated league ground and the future would be very bright indeed.

I would be absolutely against a rugby league ground in London, if we are talking about a natonal stadium, why for heavens sake, we have our national football ground there and our national rugby union ground there, as said, the majority of the sports fans are up north, to have the nationl ground down south would just be a joke too far

A team in london cant keep a big sponser, nothing in it for them . Virgin tryed and called it a day.

If the RFL want a stadium in London why not the new Olimpic one, share with West Ham. We could even have it as our national stadium.
The RFL have no interest in funding a stadium in the London, no money you see.
THE GAMES ON ITS BACK SIDE and with the present bunch of fools running it things aint going to get any better.

London gets everything gen and always will do. Dont agree that the majority of sport fans are up north.
RL fans up north yes.
RL will never get a national stadium , its of no interest to major sponsors.
THE GAMES SKINT.

Jiffy showed yesterday how much he is out of touch with Rugby League, when he said that Harlequins RL team was full of Aussie's. Perhaps someone should have told him that Quins RL have less overseas players than some heartland clubs.
As for John Kear its only this season that he has really pushed British talent, and wasn't Kear coach ofWakefield when they played that must win game against Castleford to stay in Super League and 12 out of the 13 starting for Wakefield overseas players.
Lets also not forget that Wakefield promised the RFL a new ground, or a complete revamp of Belle vue so that they could get into Super League, and in the mean time they would play all TV games at Oakwell.
For the record they played at Oakwell once and we are still waiting for the new ground, or a complete revamp of Belle vue.

The R/L is heading in the right direction, ever so slowly but the right direction just the same.
If it was left to the clubs, we the supporters would be sitting on timber bench seats with nails sticking up our rear.
I believe they have the future of the game at heart and the long haul will take time, this great game of ours has been around for over 100 years and we need to make sure it goes for another 100 years and expansion is the way to go I'm afraid otherwise we risk a slow death by sitting on our hands.

Without wanting to sound contradictive, the only problem I can see with expansion is the number of quality players.
More doesn't necessarily mean better and we must be careful in not dropping the standard of our game for the sole purpose of expansion.
The grass roots need to be carefully looked after as we move with the times.

I think Super League will stick with 14 teams for at least until the 2018 season.
The NRL go up to 20 teams and still have quality across the clubs in every position.

Not nessarcarily Big Fella, even now with 16 teams other then the top 4 or 5 teams the rest of them are carrying 1 or 2 players who should be serving there apprenticeship a bit longer in reserve grade.
When our game had just the 13 run on players with 2 reserves (no interchange) it was easy to see where the weakest link was in a team if they had one, now days with 17 players and interchange it is easier to carry 1 or 2 that don't quite come up to scratch.....it's all about opinions though.....

Do you like me think that Super League will stick with 14 teams for a few years yet?

I have mates living in London who come from oop north, I have friends in London, London born n bred and i have an Aussie cousin who lives in the capital n hangs around with other antipodeans.
My mates are league fans, My cousin n his mob are league fans, My cockney buddys are footy fans who also follow London Irish and have been to and enjoyed the two challenge cup finals Hudds have appeared in recently, They enjoy RL but have stated in the past they could not support a side named Quins.
The others would probably attend occasional games if they were easy to get to, Twickenham n Richmond are not,
The London side will never succeed while it is based in its current location, Nor will it ever appeal to the majority of floating supporters of any other sport or code while it carries the name Quins, Unless they are Quins fans and unfortunately most of them will turn their noses up at our preffered code.
The side has to be called London, Has to be given a neutral nickname/moniker and has to be an easy journey for the inhabitants to ever succeed as a franchise, It fails all of the above criteria at the moment.

Leyton Orient's Brisbane Rd ground has been mentioned as a possible new home ground for the Super League side in the recent past, but its capacity is less than 10,000 and i thought 10,000 was the minimum for a Super League ground. Location wise its easier to get to the ground than the present location for the rest of the Super leagues clubs fans but it means starting again from scratch, with junior development and a fan base
Will the gates get any better than they are now at the stoop?
What will happen to all the junior development that a present is going on in London if the club moves grounds again?

The Bryce, my daughter says the same thing as you just mentioned, she to has a lot of friends, be it N-Z, English or convicts and for what ever reason it is be it they have to put up with commuting to work 5 days a week they don't wish to get over to the other side of London on a Sat. night or Sunday. she and her friends are from the South side of London.

When my daughter first went to London some 8 years ago she was back-packing and doing bar work along with a lot of other Aussies & Kiwi's and the money was/is bloody lousy to say the least, so 20 pound might not sound a lot but to them maybe it is when you consider you can sit in a bar and watch the game and have a few pints and bag of chips.

union fans dont seem to have trouble travelling to the quins RU team.

goodpoint cheese so why the keep franchise at the stoop.....

Agree Souths entrance fees are too high.
There are numerous facilities around London that are easier to access than the Stoop.
Drop the Quins name, Drop the prices, and Drop the capacity criteria for the London team.
Get on the road, And have a tour of London ?
I would imagine quite a few non league football clubs would be more than happy to host a game of RL, Clubs who have good facilities but who dont have a capacity of 10k,

just do a simple survey of union fans when they attend quins union games. asking just how they travelled to the game.

then print them out on big sheets of paper, big letters too, and dish them out to heartland rugby league fans. that way they will stop talking tripe about how difficult it is for london RL fans to get to games.