Are things really this rosy for RL in London

[rus]

I hope I am wrong but is the following just a puff piece?

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby/rugby_league/article2192315.ece
...Since I’ve been here I’ve been to three rugby league festivals, each of which had at least 10 clubs, all with teams at all age groups, and each one affiliated to Harlequins.

Soon there’s going to be a huge stream of players who have grown up with the game in this area, and when that happens Harlequins will really become one of the game’s major forces. Louie has not had that background, but the likes of him, Tony Clubb \[from Gravesend\] and Michael Worrincy are showing what can be achieved.”...

[kier]

No - it's true - there is a growing RL presence in London and there are at least 10 clubs in the "London" area as described in the article. That said......10 clubs in a region of approx 15-20 million is still tiny.

[kier]

www.quins.co.uk/AssocClubsRLAssoc.ink?Storytype=RL

This link shows the various junior clubs affiliated to QuinsRL.

The entry for South London is probably most interesting as it shows the penetration that RL is making into the school system in London.

[georgehotel]

The participation rates amongst the kids od school age in London are very, very, impressive. As an area I think the numbers are 3rd highest only behind the Wigan and Wakefield areas - can someone confirm? The numbers dwarf some traditional areas.

A lot of the credit goes to clubs like South London Storm. The RFL, Harlequins and Skolars have funded development officers. All London needs is a few more spectators at Harlequins and you could say London was a force in the RL world.

[kier]

I used to watch the Broncos at the Stoop in the late 1990s - at the time they were the best supported rugby club in London (of any code, including the Quins RU!) averaging around 5000. I don't know why they can't get back to those figures - maybe it's their nomadic history catching up with them? The juniors are certainly there - hopefully Quins RL can cement a place at the Stoop and in 20 years there'll be a ready supply of players and spectators (and maybe a firm rivalry with Skolars?).

[rus]

Is Skolars also a Dutch beer company?

[kier]

Skol was (is?) a brand of lager brewed that for a while was a popular and well known in the UK (more for the humerous advertising as opposed to it's quality).

Anyway - the Skolars name was a deliberate attempt to gain a potential sponsorship deal with the brewery (it failed but the name stuck).
It was also chosen because it reflects the student RL origins of the Skolars. The club arose through the efforts of the SRL Alumni organisations that began cropping up in the early/mid 1990s. Students from non-traditional areas experiencing RL through the university sporting system and taking it back to their home towns.

[kier]

Leeds Akademiks is another good example.

[rus]

Here is one of the replies to the 'Fatman at the Keyboard' thread. It gives an interesting perspective of a Londoner taking up RL.

Chris
www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=36841665&postID=1244606978110675014
You are right to highlight the very real, fundamental and enduring split between the rugby codes. I'm a City working, public schoolboy Union player(and every inch the stereotype that you would suspect) who has recently gone over and got my hands dirty in a spot of "Real Man's Rugby" (League). I was surprised by the dominance of anti-Union sentiment in the sport and a bit miffed as well, if I'm honest. My attitude was that as long as I made my hits count on the field and always stood my round at the bar, the fact that I was an unapologetic Union exponent on the side should be considered a matter of very little interest to my new League chums. I was wrong and I'm likely to get wronger. I was wrong because the class issues you raise in this excellent post are, unfortunately, very real. But why will they get wronger? Surely the sports are becoming more and more alike in the age of professionalism? Because, for example, of the surge in numbers of young, predominantly black and definately disenfranchised, working-class Londoners, currently being reached out to by the handful of League clubs in London. All these keen, talented youngsters, living in the heartland of Union, have never been paid any attention by the RFU - quite simply because of class. It seems, therefore, that this divide has another generation yet to run. I'm guessing Union administrators (c***s, I hate them) will not notice or care very much about this. I still think loving the big hits and the big drinks is all that counts really but that's obviously only because I'm a dumb meathead forward who doesn't understand anything.

12:22 PM

I just hope some of the young blacks can turn out as good a Martin Offiah.

[rus]

On the subject:

At Sixes and Sevens with Bart
Written by: Bart Penson
August 25th, 2007 10:10 AM



I keep forgetting what a huge sprawling city London is (between 8.5 and 14 million depending how you measure), and let’s be honest - rugby league isn’t even a blip on the radar in this town.

That’s not to criticise the efforts of Harlequins RL, the London Broncos or any of the previous attempts to start rugby league in England’s biggest city. They have their loyal bunch of supporters, and as long as the club stays solvent then that’s OK. It is just so incredibly hard for those teams and the sport to make big inroads here, where people and the media are obsessed with Premier League football and on occasion any other sport where England or Britain stands some chance of a much needed international victory (cricket, rugby union, tennis, golf).

For an Australian or New Zealander, it’s like imagining there is this city four times bigger than the biggest one where rugby league is played (Sydney or Auckland), and that city just doesn’t care and is captive to another code – even during the off-season! The Premier League season has just started and on Wednesday England played Germany in soccer at Wembley, and that’s all that’s been in the newspapers and TV here ever since. (That and the usual stuff about Peaches Geldof and other non-celebrities…)

Some of my friends in London (Sydney people that grew up with rugby league), didn’t even know this game was on! But as Starkers will attest in his article, the Challenge Cup is the most famous rugby league competition that exists and has a stunning and lengthy history. The Cup Final has sold out the new 90,000 seat Wembley Stadium (except the members’ seats – booo!) which is the second largest stadium in Europe. Not bad in a city where the average crowd for a club rugby league match is 3,000!

Even though it seems like London doesn’t care, the Challenge Cup is the one game here where rugby league can cross over into mainstream consciousness, if only for a day. It is broadcast nationally on free-to-air BBC TV, coverage that no club game during the season or even the Grand Final enjoys. Only three of the 14 national newspapers here specifically employ a rugby league writer, but if there’s one weekend where any of the rest will give some column inches over to our code, it is Challenge Cup weekend (which is also a public holiday long weekend in England and Wales).

Also, being a knock out competition that features club teams from as far afield as Russia and France, the Challenge Cup Final has the potential to create wider interest for the code in Europe. And since this year Catalans Dragons from have won their way through to the final, the sport is getting some good headlines and coverage in France. (See the thread in the forums containing French media clippings here - forums.leagueunlimited.com/showthread.php?t=180779.)

As for the Catalans’ chances, they were very impressive as underdogs putting Wigan to the sword in the semi-final, racking up an early lead that was enough to withstand a second-half comeback from the cheery and reds. But they face the current Cup holders, League champions and top of the table St Helens, who appear to be at full strength barring Paul Sculthorpe’s continued absence (and he hasn’t made a regular contribution to the St Helens squad for around 18 months anyway). St Helens by rights go into the game as favourites, as they were last year when they were a class above Huddersfield Giants on Cup Final day.

But anything can happen in a final, and coach Mick Potter will have the Catalans Dragons prepared to make their fans from southern France proud. Casey Maguire has been ruled out with injury, leaving Adam Mogg and Stacey Jones in the halves for the Dragons, with Sebastien Raguin rumoured to continue as a makeshift centre. Young winger Younes Khattabi is still subject to a fitness test, with Vincent Duport returning from injury on standby. Forward Mathieu Griffi is also in doubt and unfortunately Catalans will be without talented fullback/utility Thomas Bosc.

A few thousand Catalans supporters are making the trip to London to see the game, and they will most likely be backed by the majority of neutrals in the crowd – supporters of other clubs and rugby league in general who make a weekend trip of it and enjoy the atmosphere and spectacle of the cup final. Supporters of other Superleague teams will probably not want to see St Helens win any more silverware than they have to, and support for the French underdogs will ring around the stadium for as long as the game remains a tight contest.

This will be my second cup-final live, and it’s hard to describe an atmosphere that can be just as good if not better than NRL Grand Finals and State of Origin. When Peter Sterling says that one of his career highlights is playing in a Cup Final in England - even when he was on the losing team – you’d better sit up and take notice! Nervous tension among the fans of the competing teams aside, the bulk of neutral supporters descend from the games heartlands in party mode – you can expect groups of fans dressed up in strange costumes, people spilling out onto the pavement from any available surrounding pub on the way to the game, and every single club jersey you’d ever imagined being worn proudly in some section of the stadium.

Inside, you can expect constant noise in the half hour leading up to kick off, the sound of small plastic hooters and excitable chatter echoing from all directions. And stirring renditions of traditional hymns like Abide With Me backed by brass band and sung in unison by those in attendance, then the massive roar of the kick-off followed the singing and cheering throughout what will hopefully be a tense 80 minutes of club rugby league at its best.

Look out for Starkers’ article which will have the final team listings, but on display will be some of the best players in Europe – experienced internationals like Sean Long, Keiron Cunningham, Paul Wellens; the next generation of English internationals in Leon Pryce, Lee Gilmour, James Roby, James Graham; the core of the French national forward pack in Jerome Guisset, David Ferriol, Gregory Mounis, Cyril Gossard – as well as some classy imports from the southern hemisphere, none better than Stacey Jones, as well as Jason Cayless, Matt Gidley, Willie Talau, and the two old heads of the Catalans pack in Alex Chan and Jason Croker.

Should be a great atmosphere, a fantastic spectacle, and a great game! It will be worth staying up for to see if a French club can win the Challenge Cup for the first time in its 112 year history – look for coverage of the Challenge Cup Final in Australia on Saturday night beginning with highlights from the semi-finals at 9:30pm AEST on Fox Sports 3, with a live kick-off at around midnight and a replay at 7:30pm Sunday. In New Zealand, the game screens live on Sky Sport 1 Sunday from 1:30am (kick-off around 2:00am), with replays Tuesday 8:00am on Sky Sport 3 and Thursday 1:00pm on Sky Sport 2.

[rus]

Skolars and Quins Launch League in the City
Written by: Gavin Willacy
January 24th, 2008 08:44 AM
www.leagueunlimited.com:80/article.php?newsid=15064


London Skolars and Harlequins ensured that rugby league made a hugely successful first ever appearance in the City of London today with an outstanding event at the HAC Club’s Artillery Gardens.

In front of a capacity sell-out crowd of 600, including 300 corporate guests including many major City powerhouses on a day when the stock market was in turmoil, Quins and Skolars put on an entertaining fixture won, predictably by the Super League side, 56-0.

Quins played some outstanding rugby league football in the opening period of both halves, racking up an 18-0 lead after just 13 minutes with tries by Scott Hill, Jon Grayshon and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, all three converted by Henry Paul. Skolars held out for the next 10 minutes before Julien Rinaldi went over, Paul scoring the goal, but fantastic defence by Skolars kept the top flight stars at bay for another 15 minutes before youngster Will Sharp stepped through several tacklers to score just before half-time, fellow debutant Dylan Skee adding the goal.

Quins blasted Skolars away at the start of the second-half, Tony Clubb scoring an interception try on the left, then Ricki Sheriffe bagging two on the right, Skee kicking two more goals to make it 46-0 after just 49 minutes.

However, Skolars were not going to lie down. Ten more minutes elapsed before GB international Danny Orr went over – Chad Randall missing the kick - and in the final quarter, Skolars kept a clean sheet for all but the last minute when debutant Dwayne Barker scored from close range, Skee making it 56-0.

Although Quins were without several first team stars, they still fielded five full internationals and a host of experienced Super League players, while Skolars suffered in the absence of a handful of major players including four potential hookers, through work commitments.

There was a fine debut from emergency hooker Leigh-Tyler Nissen while Austen Aggrey looked dangerous in attack and Tane Taitoko and Corey Simms showed some fine scrambling defence.

New Skolars coach Tony Benson was pleased with his team’s first outing, despite the scoreline: “I learned a lot about the players, how courageous they are in difficult situations. They showed a lot of heart against a top class team who exposed us, as expected. To last out 19 minutes at the end without conceding a point says a lot about our team.”

Speaking about the club’s role in an historic day for rugby league in the City, Benson commented:

“It was awesome to be a part of history and an honour to be here. As soon as you walk in the place it was amazing. It was fantastic to play a Super League strength team, too. That will be a highlight of some our player’s careers and a good experience. They realise where they are now and how much hard work there is to be done.”

Skolars’ next game is the Northern Rail Cup opener at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium on Friday 1 February

[rus]

Interesting bit about the RL TV audience in London:

..."Compared to other sports you can't predict the results that will happen each week and it's virtually impossible to guess the six teams who will make the end of season play-offs.

"New clubs are breaking into the top six and the gap between all 12 clubs is closing which is delivering great contests.

"As we move into a new era of Super League the excitement will move away from relegation and instead be focused on which sides can make the play-offs.

"Last year the top six wasn't decided until the final day and this season all 12 coaches have stated their play-off intentions."

And the increasingly competitive nature of engage Super League is leading to the competition growing in popularity.

The average weekly attendance has increased every year since 2001, and last year grew to over 10,000 for the first time.

In 2007 the aggregate attendance for a full round was broken twice and, not only were Leeds Rhinos crowned engage Super League champions but they also claimed the title as the best supported side in either code of rugby.

For the second consecutive season, the Grand Final at Old Trafford attracted a 70,000-plus crowd and the innovative Millenium Magic event in Cardiff, which will be repeated this May, also attracted nearly 60,000 supporters.

Viewing figures for live matches on Sky Sports also remain strong with more than one third of the broadcaster's regular TV audience coming from outside the traditional heartland of the sport. One in five viewers now live in London.

Wood said: "Across the board this is an extremely positive time to be involved in Rugby League and engage Super League.

"We strongly believe these positive trends will only be encouraged and boosted by the new licensing system.

"Just like the move to summer rugby in 1996 has made this sport more popular than ever, we believe licensing will take Rugby League to the next level and will improve playing talent, stadia, financial performance and levels of competition among others."
www.thisischeshire.co.uk/display.var.2014678.0..php
7:25am Sunday 3rd February 2008

[rus]

More:

news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/7356058.stm

[rus]

]Harlequins Rugby League announce 58% increase in attendances

Harlequins Rugby League are delighted to announce that home game attendances for engage Super League fixtures are up 58% to date on like fixtures played in 2007.


Harlequins Rugby League attributes this increase in attendances to a number of factors, the primary one being the extensive community programmes the club runs. In 2008 Harlequins RL launched a ground breaking initiative that sees amateur rugby league players in London and The South given the opportunity to become Harlequins RL season ticket holders as part of their registration package, over 1,200 players have taken up the offer.
This season there have also been record numbers of students and schools that the Harlequins RL Community Coaches work with requesting tickets for games at The Stoop. Over 2,300 requested tickets for Harlequins RL season home opener against the Wigan Warriors and a further 1,600 for the Quins last home fixture against Hull FC.
Harlequins Rugby League's Community Marketing Manager, Ebony Blake has said:
'I am really pleased to see that the countless hours of dedicated work our Development Manager Dan Steel and his Community Coaches put in are making such a positive impact on Rugby League in The South.'
'The relationship these coaches have established with schools in the area means that thousands of kids not only have the opportunity to play Rugby League but also get along to watch their hero's playing at The Stoop'.
'Harlequins have had excellent community programmes running for the past three years now and the team we have in place are doing a great job of continuing this.'
On top of this, Blake has established a number of partnerships with London based social sports networks that have lead to an increased awareness of both the club and the sport of Rugby League in and around London.
As well as these community programmes boosting numbers, there has also been the added attraction of Reserves games being played as curtain raisers at the majority of home games this season.
Harlequins Rugby League have also made note of the excellent away support their opposition club supporters have shown by travelling South to take part in the London Rugby League experience.
Harlequins Rugby League Commercial Manager Greg Whitaker has said:
'Away support has been fantastic this season and it seems that opposition fans are really enjoying making the trip to the Capital.'
'The exciting brand of Rugby Harlequins RL are playing this year has also been a great contributor to our increased crowds. This style of play has really added to the atmosphere within the stadium and has meant that many first-time spectators are coming back time and again.'
'We still have a number of 'big team' home games like Leeds, St Helens and Bradford yet to come which is exciting for the commercial growth of the club.'

Harlequins Rugby League will play their next home game at The Twickenham Stoop on Sunday 8 June against the Warrington Wolves, kick-off 3pm.
To purchase your tickets click here now or call the Harlequins Ticket Office on 0208 410 6000.