Can someone please tell me apart from a good day out why are they in Super League? Attracting just over a thousand every home game and they keep getting hammered week in week out. Surely they will take the 1st relegation place this season.

There was a point in time in which London played in a CC final, there was a point on time London stuck 60 on us with Tony Smith in charge.

London have been let down badly, they were going great, they were making great strides under Leneghan and then he went to Wigan and was forced to severe ties by thr RFL.
The amateur scene in London is huge, the people behind the scenes work very hard and the only thing that let it down was the owner and the CEO. You're judging a whole Metropolitan County, the largest in terms of population in the whole of the UK based on 2 people who have let the club down very badly, they are at constant loggerheads with the amateur scene, they don't endear themselves to the fans and because of this the crowds dropped off, this as had a knock on effect and now we are where we are.

Cutting ties with London is silly, the game is on the verge of somethong good here, it's slowly caught on and because of 80 minutes of gash rugby you're writing off the whole London RL dream.

Living here over a decade I've seen it go from "What? There's two types of rugby?" ignorance to people turning themselves away from union and taking up league.

If all these things are true, that the amateur scene is flourishing, that people are getting switched onto the game and a genuine bedrock for the future of RL in London is being established, then all this will continue when (not if) they drop out of SL.

If it doesn't, then the interest was never there in the first place.

You need a presence of a local team as a hub for something to aspire too, preferably in the top division.

All the talent may stil be here but will be hoovered up by the M62 corridor and it will weaken the game without London in the top division.

People go on about the hotbed that us Cumbria. .. the population of a WHOLE COUNTY is only 100k bigger than Barnet. Barnet is one borough out of 33, just one borough is almost as big as Cumbria and we have another 32 to go.

I actually think the improvements in the amateur game would be fine without the Broncos.

Given how many more players there are now than there were a few years ago, why aren't the Broncos crowds going up.....those new league converts especially the teenagers, are not becoming Broncos fans they are just playing league because they like it. Maybe they have Sky and support other teams as armchair fans.

But I just don't buy the argument that if the Broncos get relegated, then a load of amateur RL players in London, who never go to watch the Broncos anyway, will stop playing rugby because there's no more Broncos....

I'm not saying they'll stop playing, but they could see their pathways as limited and not consider the step up or be enticed to a professional union set up. Don't underestimate the importance of a SL club in London, not to the fans, most won't give a crap, but to the game. You don't think it will hurt it, I do but we see when it happens who is right, I actually hope it's you Sal.

Regards attendances: just because they are playing the game, doesn't mean it's any easier to get to. If there were a rise in the number of players in Yorkshire, would you expect an increase in warringtons crowds? I'm based in Wimbledon (South west London) and it would take me 1.5~2 hours to get to barnet, and that's with easy access to the tube (it's opposite ends of the northern line.)

That however, doesn't make it any less of a target for those kids who are taking up the game. London don't necessarily need to be in super league imo, but they definitely need to remain a professional outfit, and I'm not sure they can outside of super league. Turning pro is the dream of a kid playing in any sport, and only helps encourage those in the capital playing, even if going is out of the question.

I'm all for keeping London in Yed.
Its a step backwards to let them dissolve away.

The RFL should have done more in funding.
Ensuring London has a full salary cap and massively subsidised turnstile prices until they became successful and self sufficient.

I wish Richard Branson could have hung around much longer.

....But now there's a reintroduction of relegation it would make a mockery to keep London and Catalan and dismiss the team above them!

Felt like standing up and clapping after reading Yed's posts. Well said that man!

I think the moving around over the years has affected the viability of the club. When they first played at the Stoop they were getting a lot of the Aussies and Kiwis coming out from Earls Court and the surrounding areas as Twickenham is easily accessible by rail. In those days crowds of 4K were routinely achieved, and it was a crackin' atmosphere. Then they moved to the Valley, and getting to Charlton on a Sunday afternoon was like going abroad. When they came back to the Stoop the momentum had disappeared, and attendances just seem to slowly decline. As Yed has said, the amateur game is flourishing in the London area, and I think a lot of that is down to the efforts of the development officers at the Broncos. I even found out last week that there is an amateur club in Southampton which really cheered me up; http://www.southampton-spitfires.co.uk It would be a great pity if the Broncos went down, but I do understand that there current situation isn't doing RL any favours.

I think the moving around over the years has affected the viability of the club. When they first played at the Stoop they were getting a lot of the Aussies and Kiwis coming out from Earls Court and the surrounding areas as Twickenham is easily accessible by rail. In those days crowds of 4K were routinely achieved, and it was a crackin' atmosphere. Then they moved to the Valley, and getting to Charlton on a Sunday afternoon was like going abroad. When they came back to the Stoop the momentum had disappeared, and attendances just seem to slowly decline. As Yed has said, the amateur game is flourishing in the London area, and I think a lot of that is down to the efforts of the development officers at the Broncos. I even found out last week that there is an amateur club in Southampton which really cheered me up; http://www.southampton-spitfires.co.uk It would be a great pity if the Broncos went down, but I do understand that there current situation isn't doing RL any favours.