Re: Expectations for 2019 : Wed Oct 31, 2018 9:00 pm  

northernbloke wrote:

It’s an opinion!

It is and you are entitled to it.

It is also deeply flawed in that we have done that and got a wardrobe full of T-shirts to prove it with NO TANGIBLE GAINS. I repeat, it is not the job of the London Broncos to get kids playing RL. It is on the other hand, the Job of the London Broncos to try and prepare for the day when DH isn't willing or able to prop us up.
The RL Volunteers involved in youth RL on this site and other RL boards will back me up here. The Broncos are of little interest to the Parents of the Kids who play RL........these Parents (in the majority) are happy to ferry their kids to games down the road, but across London is a non starter.
As a Club we have run countless London Youth Events prior to games and the vast majority of these kids are nowhere to be seen by the time the SL game KO'd.......your "opinion" would have us repeating this exercise and expecting a different outcome.

I'll say it again, just one more time for you. It is not the job of the London Broncos to get kids playing RL. If the RFL want London to assist, then they can pay us to do their job for them, but the priority for the club must be to search for self sufficiency and to do that, they need to stay very local to the Ealing Community and put down some real roots.

As I say, you're entitled to your opinion and no doubt you'll continue to argue for it, even though I've shown you, through use of previous events delivering nothing as well as Identifying that it's the RFL's job to get kids playing and not the clubs, that it is wrong.

Re: Expectations for 2019 : Wed Oct 31, 2018 9:06 pm  

Bostwick wrote:

I think Trailfinders may have a beer tie, which would be a problem as far as bringing in craft brewers.

It's worth exploring. If there is a contract in place, then it would be foolish of the supplier to turn down a request for 3 events, as it would certainly jeapordise any future agreements and as far as I can see the venue is a popular place.

Maybe the supplier could be persuaded to organise the beer festival themselves, taking a cut of the visitors takings?

What is assured is that if we don't offer something other than the game, we will struggle to catch the attention of the borough and therefore struggle to attract crowds.

Re: Expectations for 2019 : Wed Oct 31, 2018 10:14 pm  

Can’t agree! It is the job of clubs to get kids playing. It’s called youth development! Without it there is no future in the sport.
For clubs to succeed they need to nurture development from the bottom, that’s as much to do with the clubs as it is the governing body of the game.
One question, long term, will the club still be at Ealing? Thoughts

Re: Expectations for 2019 : Wed Oct 31, 2018 11:04 pm  

northernbloke wrote:

Can’t agree! It is the job of clubs to get kids playing. It’s called youth development! Without it there is no future in the sport.
For clubs to succeed they need to nurture development from the bottom, that’s as much to do with the clubs as it is the governing body of the game.

Nope. It is the job of the RFL. A job they jettisoned a few years back and as a result they now receive vastly reduced funding from Sport England. I terms of development of the next generation of players, the club runs under age teams, but the attraction of younger kids is down to the amateur clubs and the RFL.

northernbloke wrote:

One question, long term, will the club still be at Ealing? Thoughts

Nobody knows, but I can assure you that if we hadn't changed our name and if we hadn't then left the Stoop, both measures designed to cover the ineptitude of one administrator and the owner BTW, then we'd have stood a better chance of staying up in 2014 and we'd still have a 3k average as opposed to a 900 one.
If the temporary Stand goes up and we stay up, then I can see the powers that be looking into expanding the ground to a 5k all seater........if they can get permission past the NIMBY's. Personally if Hughes bankrolls a £3,000,000, 3,250 seat stand opposite the current main stand, I'd be happy for it be named after him given the investment he's laid out over the years. Such an investment should include the conduit that we remain at the stadium rent free and only responsible for our match day costs for 25 years.....
......if on the other hand the NIMBY's win the day, then if we have designs on remaining in SL, we will need to move again.....all of which would be totally unnecessary if he hadn't employed the Zimbabwe Fielding Expert

Re: Expectations for 2019 : Thu Nov 01, 2018 9:58 am  

If you have a limited budget and skeleton staff - which undoubtedly is true of the Broncos - then you have to prioritise your involvement. Getting kids playing RL is important, but that's a ten-year gain in terms of finding players, it won't do anything to help the club in the short term. For that we need more people coming through the gates, to raise income but also make us more attractive to sponsors (and maybe even investors). That has to be the priority for us.

Development work in Newham won't bring any extra people through the gates. Getting out and about in Ealing (as a start, then spreading to neighbouring boroughs as and when) does give us a chance of doing that.

Re: Expectations for 2019 : Thu Nov 01, 2018 11:48 am  

Call Me God wrote:

3 months to go until we start our season and I can honestly say that not since 2006 have I been as keen to get started.

Off the park I am expecting that we will attract more fans to games than we managed in 2014 (1,294) and would hope to see it nearer 3,000. 3k in that ground will be pretty intimidating given you can almost touch the players and home advantage is going to be key to survival.

The novelty of a new ground will help in terms of away fan numbers, but we really need to work hard on identifying the ex-pat Wigan/Saints/Leeds fans that live in the smoke but only come for their 1 game a year.....PLEASE COLLECT DATA ON EVERY TICKET SOLD

As soon as the fixtures are released (when is that BTW?), we need to plan for 11 EVENTS.......get local schools involved, contact CAMRA/local Brewers, local Businesses.......really get busy and start to build expectation. I'd get at least one under age side (15's?) going at the club and have trials involving all the schools local to the ground......

For the big 3, I'd make it all ticket with no walk ups permitted and I'd have the West London Chargers or Hammersmith Hoists playing as warm up games as often as possible.....Oh, one last thing. If we still have any data from previous seasons, for gods sake write to everyone......or call them, or email them.......I've had nowt from the club via email on years ('though that might be for a different reason ).......


On the park, it looks like we're building potentially the biggest pack in SL (how many props do we need???) and although I expect us to struggle, I'm going with 10th spot.......let's hope we pick up a centre and sammut signs..........I think we'll finish above Salford and Wakefield who for some reason have signed Brough????? That's like signing the plague IMHO....

Hilarious, we have finished just outside the top 4 for the last 2 seasons running, and now with some further quality additions in Craig Kopczak, Ben Reynolds, George King etc you now expect us to finish bottom? By the way Brough is probably still one of the best kickers of the ball in Super League, probably the missing element of our team for the past 3 or 4 seasons, okay there are question marks over his attitude but there was massive question marks over Sammut when he turned up at Wakey and told Agar he didn't want to play, he doesn't look to be doing too bad at your place? Seriously we have 4 options at Half back so I am sure we will be okay if Broughy does not turn up with the right attitude he will be told where to go by Chester - We aren`t relying on him is our first choice halfback.

Re: Expectations for 2019 : Thu Nov 01, 2018 12:14 pm  

northernbloke wrote:

Can’t agree! It is the job of clubs to get kids playing. It’s called youth development! Without it there is no future in the sport.
For clubs to succeed they need to nurture development from the bottom, that’s as much to do with the clubs as it is the governing body of the game.
One question, long term, will the club still be at Ealing? Thoughts

Finding players and increasing the fan base are very different things. The focus on the local community including schools should be about building the fan base of the club. Of course, the club should also build relationships with existing RL clubs across the entire region to develop player pathways.

Re: Expectations for 2019 : Thu Nov 01, 2018 12:31 pm  

So dog!your own words that it’s quite possible we may have to move again! That’s the problem with focusing local! 2 years time we move to another borough in london what happens to all those locals.
The drop in funding from sport England was the cause of reduced development staff not the reason.
Buzza, we agree on something

Homme! Brough can quite often have an attitude issue which does effect his game, don’t think anyone can deny that, a move to you could be good for him.

Re: Expectations for 2019 : Thu Nov 01, 2018 7:55 pm  

homme vaste wrote:

Hilarious, we have finished just outside the top 4 for the last 2 seasons running,

It's called 5th down south

northernbloke wrote:

So dog!your own words that it’s quite possible we may have to move again! That’s the problem with focusing local! 2 years time we move to another borough in london what happens to all those locals.

Outside of The Hive (biggest error of the lot under the cricketing fielding supremo, currently decimating crowds in Union), we have been based in a specific part of West London since 2002 now.

Brentford to Twickenham was a single bus journey(267) and that bus runs every 15 minutes.....
Griffin Park to Trailfinders is a single bus journey(E2) and those buses run every 12 minutes......
The Stoop to Trailfinders is a 35 minute bike ride.......

We are a west London side and to leave the area would be suicide.....and what I said was that if the ground can't be brought up to 5k seated if we survive then we would need to move, I didn't say probably. As for what happens to the fans from Ealing if we should have to move again? The same as has always happened. The club will bin their database and start again.....which is why it is key that the wheels are put in motion now to develop trailfinders into a 5k all seater boutique stadium......using the word boutique will pacify some of the Nimby's BTW

Re: Expectations for 2019 : Fri Nov 02, 2018 12:03 am  

.if on the other hand the NIMBY's win the day, then if we have designs on remaining in SL, we will need to move again...
Dog you have gone to great lengths to say the nimbys will never permit planning permission.
Vallis way is a multi purpose sports club, Trailfinders RFU are tenants. There is no chance of buying that ground, as you say the nimbys would be even more opposed to that.
The point is, it highlights its London broncos not Ealing broncos. So cast the net wide rather than local! The days when we had bigger crowds say at the stoop, didn’t all come from twickenham! They came from a much wider area!