Re: Neil Hudgell : Mon Jul 23, 2018 10:24 am  

To grow the game you need action outside the heartlands as well as inside it. You need to speculate to accumulate. Same games, same place, same crowd does not help growth it becomes predictable and boring. A couple of years of planned loss in revenue could certainly reap its own rewards in the following years

Re: Neil Hudgell : Mon Jul 30, 2018 3:08 pm  

Bostwick wrote:

Anyone else seen that Neil Hudgell has hinted that Super League should collectively own London Broncos to give it and the game a higher profile in London
Should go down well in places like Cumbria!

Unortunately the fans of Barrow /Whitehaven / Workington are so Parochial and Narrow minded I doubt they'd watch the Challenge cup final if it was played 20 miles from there own house. I lived in Barrow when in my teens for five years. There a odd lot Probably from working at the Nuclear sub shipyard.

Re: Neil Hudgell : Mon Jul 30, 2018 5:40 pm  

It’s an interesting dilemma! Speculate to accumulate, loss of revenue heaping rewards! So double header WC at Wembley reaped rewards! Increased interest RL in the capital massively. Magic at Cardiff, RL in that part of world is thriving! Newcastle! Dragged loads into watch thunder!
Maybe Toronto will be the catalyst I really hope so, but maybe there needs to be a reality check, until the massive overhaul of the game comes RL is going to stay a regional sport in the UK, no matter how many international games you play in twickers, Wembley, Stratford.

Re: Neil Hudgell : Tue Jul 31, 2018 3:58 pm  

northernbloke wrote:

It’s an interesting dilemma! Speculate to accumulate, loss of revenue heaping rewards! So double header WC at Wembley reaped rewards! Increased interest RL in the capital massively. Magic at Cardiff, RL in that part of world is thriving! Newcastle! Dragged loads into watch thunder!
Maybe Toronto will be the catalyst I really hope so, but maybe there needs to be a reality check, until the massive overhaul of the game comes RL is going to stay a regional sport in the UK, no matter how many international games you play in twickers, Wembley, Stratford.

I still think the RFL should have kept plugging away with one Test in a series being held at Stratford. The couple of games there got respectable crowds, it has easy transport connections - it could have become England's home venue in the South.

Re: Neil Hudgell : Tue Jul 31, 2018 11:03 pm  

Mebbee so but think it will be finance driven, and any london game as well as costing more to host is going to cost more to market.
It’s a reality check as well, that game in Bristol, great game, good crowd, no follow up. Wasted effort!
London rubbish game, average crowd, but still no follow up. Previous london double header, decent game, drama, decent crowd! Any back up?
So by all means let’s try and encourage the RFL to bring a game down but if no follow up for what purpose?

Re: Neil Hudgell : Tue Jul 31, 2018 11:55 pm  

Should have been an England game at Stratford. If you want to expand then don't continually plug big games in the heartlands they don't fill stadiums up there and who knows what the results in expansion are afterwards as most f them are local league followers of their teams.

Re: Neil Hudgell : Wed Aug 01, 2018 2:49 pm  

You can measure the results of bringing international games to london though pretty easily. After the last Stratford game or the last Wembley game how many more people started playing or watching rugby league in the area?
It’s a simple equation to measure.
The reality is the pro game has gone backwards, and that’s not just us! Hemel are based in Yorkshire, broncos are 2nd tier and skolars are no further ahead. Oxford are gone. So numbers watching are down.
Open age local has stayed stable ish, london junior league probably slightly healthier. Only growth is schools Rugby. Numbers playing probably slightly up.
So despite games previously being brought to london there has been no perceivable rewards.
Aus NZ community in london bigger than up north so maybe there games should be used in london, can’t see Point in dragging England core support 200 miles down the road for no perceivable gain.

Re: Neil Hudgell : Wed Aug 01, 2018 4:12 pm  

Am I right in thinking that approx 60% of tickets for London internationals are sold to folk with London/ Southern postcodes? If so then there's clearly a market for the game surely?

Re: Neil Hudgell : Wed Aug 01, 2018 4:33 pm  

There's a market for big sports events in London.
A lot of tickets for RL internationals and Challenge Cup final are sold to people living in the south.

Whether there is a market for a run of the mill rugby league team in London is far from clear. The evidence of the past 30 odd years suggests there may not be though I suspect few would argue the leading London club has been anything other than a shambles off the pitch for much of that time.

Re: Neil Hudgell : Wed Aug 01, 2018 4:55 pm  

Halfdan of t'wide embrace wrote:

I suspect few would argue the leading London club has been anything other than a shambles off the pitch for much of that time.

I suspect you and they might be right