: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:21 pm  

Windy one wrote:

Be great if on shirt for the pies game( Hope it isn't Gala bingo)

The Big Bad Bingo Battle.

: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:36 pm  

crusaderquin wrote:

i love our club

But that's what it is really all about, this great game of ours, don't you think? And people are not going to love a club and what it does (play rugby, help the community, whatever) in sensational numbers.

I actually think Harlequins are in a unique position. Catalans and Celtic both have RL history to dip into. Take the Saints -v- Celtic game next weekend. So what? Well, Saints used to recruit quite regularly from south wales, with success if my RL mad Dad is to be believed. As a club we have real historical links with that part of the country. As such, there is a chance that Saints may be welcomed there a little differently from other clubs if there are people still around who remember or know of the connections. There are no doubt similar stories in the Catalans area because RL has been played there for a long time. There is a history there too. But Quins doesn't have those connections. It is a truly expansionist club and it's landed in an RU heartland in the middle of our biggest city where a plethora of sports are played and soccer is the usual obsession.

That a couple of thousand fans 'love the club' I think is very important and key to the future. A loyal fan base is what every club needs and if 100 more fans per year have been added since 2001 then I think that is a good, reliable situation. It's not glamorous but it's solid.

And you have a growing number of local lads in your team, don't you? That can only help. The more local blokes play for Quins and do so successfully the better things will be because the locals will be able to identify with the club. I know the new plans at Saints to introduce more of our local lads into the first team has brought a real buzz to the fans. It's exciting to see new faces knowing that some of them are St Helens guys, some from elsewhere in the country but have been through our club system. It's so much better than cheering for a Samoan who has gone missing because what does he care about Saints? Sod all is what he cares. But local guys, they are likely to care and fans will respond to that IMO.

: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:37 pm  

catalans and celtic are prime examples of what can be achieved in a short space of time with the right people on board.

Out of curiosity what have Celtic achieved? Please dont quote a 5000 crowd on the first game in SL.

You say you are sick of excuses. What excuses are they. Does it matter to you if there are 2000 or 5000 or 15000 at a game. You are only going to sit in one seat. Wire and the Pies have bigger crowds than us look where they sit in the league.

: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:50 pm  

wire-quin wrote:

Out of curiosity what have Celtic achieved? Please dont quote a 5000 crowd on the first game in SL.

You say you are sick of excuses. What excuses are they. Does it matter to you if there are 2000 or 5000 or 15000 at a game. You are only going to sit in one seat. Wire and the Pies have bigger crowds than us look where they sit in the league.

I was going to post exactly the same. Hopefully you will get a sensible reply.

: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:56 pm  

jaybs wrote:

SaintsFan

I don't know how far your history goes back with Saints, do you remember the trial of underground heating? this was going to be financed by Pilkington's but where a small time thinking Board frightened of losing power (and most of them had a Union background from Cowley and Moss Lane)

I suppose you could say I come from a rugby league family. My Dad played at one time and has been an avid fan of Saints since he was 10 (he is now 73). He took me to the occasional match when I was young, took my brothers (one of whom played and subsequently became an avid fan of Saints!) and I have grown up with talk of Saints and RL and the old second half of matches on the BBC (plus the Regal Trophy, Challenge Cup when it was really exciting, etc) and watching the town empty on the rare occasions we got to Wembley. So I have absorbed a lot, including the story of the underground heating. Much was talked about it at the time but it came to nothing and I cannot remember why.

Are you fully aware how many times Pilkington in the days of Sir Harry may have wanted more involvement? - I was also born in the town and just live outside now, but I have supported the London Club since my teens because of small time thinking.

All I am aware of is that Pilkingtons at no time became sponsors. I don't know whether they asked to be considered and the board turned them down or whether they simply went establishment because they became so successful. I do think though that the Saints board may have been justifiably wary at the time in that Pilks were very influential in the town. They ran so many things and employed so many people. Would they have taken over? Required influence on the board? I don't know. I do know that pre-McMannus the board was generally pretty hopeless. It did, after all, get us into about six million debt and on the verge of administration by 2002. I believe McMannus made some stinging comments about bits of paper with figures on lying around the office when he first turned up!

Long histories are never clear but I don't think the Saints of today is a small time thinking club. But St Helens is a small northern town which still retains something of its own culture and character (in spite of the scouse invasion!) and Saints is a part of that, albeit not to the extent it once was. The club itself though is now very much a business and very outward looking. According to my Dad, it is completely unrecognisable when compared to previous decades.

Re: shirt sponsor : Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:19 pm  

Darthchris wrote:

Havent got them to hand but when did SL start and what sort of crowds did we pull in then? and what sort of crowds did we get the first time we were at the stoop?

1996 Valley 5,418 average and finished 4th
1997 Stoop 5,076 2nd
1998 Stoop 3,625 7th
1999 Stoop 2,935 8th
2000 Valley 3,419 11th
2001 Valley 3,177 6th

figures from Rugby League Yearbooks

: Fri Feb 27, 2009 8:10 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

<snip>

Very good post.

: Fri Feb 27, 2009 8:25 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

Long histories are never clear but I don't think the Saints of today is a small time thinking club. But St Helens is a small northern town which still retains something of its own culture and character (in spite of the scouse invasion!) and Saints is a part of that, albeit not to the extent it once was. The club itself though is now very much a business and very outward looking. According to my Dad, it is completely unrecognisable when compared to previous decades.

My memories are from the mid 80's and early 90's when I used to go with my family (and one of my Dad's mates played for the Alliance team), from the time I was old enough to understand things there was always an argument that the Saints board were too small time and reluctant to lose control. You only have to look at what was happening at Wigoon and Leeds around the same time to see (yes, both are bigger towns than St Helens). It's only in the SL era that genuine professionalism started to be injected into the club.

However, I do agree with you about Pilks, the lack of sponsorship was always been a bugbear with some people, and as far as I'm aware they didn't get any control at the RFU just because they did the Pilkington Cup.

Re: shirt sponsor : Fri Feb 27, 2009 9:10 am  

Southern Reiver wrote:

1997 Stoop 5,076 2nd
1998 Stoop 3,625 7th

WTF went wrong that year 1997, sitting in second place in the league, following year, the crowds down by nearly 30%....
Surely the marketing/pr machine should have gone into overdrive......oh hang on, this is London Rugby League. What was I thinking

: Fri Feb 27, 2009 9:37 am  

What if they didnt have the money to spend?

Its not an endless pot of cash you know!