Likes Bowes says, London has something like the third highest participation rates out of any region in the country and is the fastest growing area by far, London Skolars have an almost entirely home grown squad and Harlequins have a mostly home grown squad too these days, Krasniqi was the 12th Londoner to feature in the first team this year. Also London gets pretty good viewing figures for the games on TV, the game is going great there. People don't turn up to watch Harlequins but that's understandable, London is so big that it can take as long to cross as it does to get from Hull to Warrington in the RL heartlands, clubs rely on local support and Harlequins happen to be in just about the worst area of London possible, the RU heartland of Twickenham.Thats good to hear
I'd love to see Londoners playing (and watching) League. I reckon it would be a massive boost to the game if the code could break into a major City in England.
It's not so easy for people in London to get to either. London isn't a single entity as such, it's made up of 32 boroughs which are all as big as cities like Nottingham and Hull, that's why having a club called 'London Broncos' and trying to market to the whole of London was so stupid and failed so badly, it was like a drop in the ocean. Now Quins are trying to do what they should have done all along which is target the local area, but that area is Twickenham which is about as big an RU heartland as you can get and has had Quins RU playing there for years so they've got pretty much no chance of ever really increasing their support, most of the fans who currently go are quirky old London Broncos fans who have followed them in their various guises for years. Honestly Twickenham is probably the last area in the country you'd want a Super League club, their failure is nothing to do with the potential of RL in London and the South, it's completely to do with decades of bad luck and shocking management.I was going to ask Bowes how easy it was for people outside of London to get to the Quins ground. But seems not so easy.
Then again are people in the other South areas more inclined to RL? possibly not.
Would they do better as Guildford Grasshoppers? or the Aldershot Aces? Probably sounds better to the RFL to have a team called London in the comp when doing the TV deals.
clubs rely on local support and Harlequins happen to be in just about the worst area of London possible, the RU heartland of Twickenham.