Would Another London Club in SL increase the gates ? : Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:36 pm  

Now when you look at this at first you think "how would another club improve our gates potentially taking away some of our fans?"

Well speaking to my friend (a wigan fan) about the semi final and we got speaking about Quins game and why he didn't go.

"well it's just s--t, there's no atmosphere" was his reply.

Part of the live experience is the atmosphere and the banter which i'll be honest you don't get much of from the clubs that don't bring many.

Wigan, Wire, Saints, Leigh, Widnes. when they play each other generate some good crowds for 2 reasons. Same goes with the Yorkshire clubs

1. They are local, draw more people and generate a better all round feel to the game.
2. You usually know a few people that support these clubs it generates banter and you enjoy going more because it means more to you.

Would another club generate that 'feel' if there was another club on the east side of London or a club within 20 miles of Quins.

Maybe it's a feeling of intensity and isolation that stops the draw of a 'big' crowd.

Would another SL club within 20 miles improve the game in London or is it just too soon ?

: Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:29 pm  

I think it's a good idea, and given time, it would be great to get a Skolars team into SL ( it's the only other non-amateur London club so makes sense). If the money and the development was there, would be great to see them jump a division and start challenging for a SL liscence. But their obviously way off that at the mo.

In general, it would spread awareness of the game and bring that and 'atmosphere and banter' that you talk about. Soon as we get to the point (if we ever do) that Quins are averaging at least 6 or 7 thousand, I think it would be a good goal to aim for. But lets face it, it's not realistic right now.

: Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:50 pm  

In short....no.
Quins can't get 2,500 regular fans through the door and a match against another club (Like Skolars) would in all probability attract the same gates we get for Huddersfield or Wakey.
The solution is to consilidate what we have, build, nurture and then, when we have 8,000 averages.....and only then, look at running a second london club and getting them into SL on merit.
Let's face it. The RFL are never going to give a second licence in London while we are faffing around with a 3k average.

: Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:15 pm  

I'm with GF - there is no way that London can sustain two Super League clubs at present, and probably won't be able to for more than a decade. Skolars talk about Super League ambitions and have done for a while, but realistically it is not going to happen. We're scratching around with 3,000 through the gates, they're getting around 350, so it is not viable.

: Wed Jul 08, 2009 8:53 am  

I disagree.

I think it would help us greatly having a proper rival.
It would generate more media interest
The other team would pick up fans we dont - union supporters who hate quins - people who live on the other side of town etc
It would draw out our fan base who wouldnt want to see us be dwarfed by the new upstarts


New York has two football, baseball and hockey teams.

: Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:13 pm  

London has 13 full time Socer clubs. Does not help Barnet one iota

: Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:56 pm  

Windy one wrote:

London has 13 full time Socer clubs. Does not help Barnet one iota

shampoo?

: Wed Jul 08, 2009 6:25 pm  

Syrup and fig

: Wed Jul 08, 2009 8:14 pm  

Windy one wrote:

London has 13 full time Socer clubs. Does not help Barnet one iota

I bet it does, soccer in London has a huge profile and Barnet benefits from that. They have to target the local population to get a crowd. I imagine if Barnet were the only RL side in the capital, they would have more difficulty getting noticed. They are just down in the pecking order, but if they had success they would grow their crowds as the London public understand the product.