Re: Still clapping the players off the field? : Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:32 pm
Jim Pooley wrote:
...I repeat, moving to Twickenham and being Harlequins Rugby League didn't bring this club to its current low.
I always felt that was a massive missed opportunity, and a good example of how the people running the game only ever paid lip service to the "we need a club in London" argument.
It was obvious that our first home game would draw a lot of curious RU fans, and what we really needed was a good competitive game to really advertise the sport. And so they gave us... St Helens, who were beating anything put in front of them at the time. Lo and behold, one thrashing later and most of those RU fans never came back. Stuff the RFL or SL giving us money, a simple thing like letting us pick our opposition for that first game could have worked wonders.
I remember thinking at full time that all the possibilities had just been destroyed in 80 minutes. Later of course we got... well we all know what happened.