BY ROSS HEPPENSTALL
JUST OVER two years have passed since London Broncos were relegated from Super League following an agonising defeat at Wakefield Trinity.
Not much has gone right since.
Last season was a write-off after the pandemic caused the cancellation of the Championship and League 1.
Earlier this year, assistant coach Jamie Langley quit for a role at Sale Sharks and head coach Danny Ward was sacked a few weeks later with the team off the pace in the Championship.
Home attendances have been around the 200-300 mark, a pitiful figure for a full-time club who could yet earn promotion this season.
A team now coached by Tom Tsang are set for the Championship play-offs and an unlikely set of results could see them back in Super League. And yet, on Tuesday, the club announced that they would be operating on a part-time basis from next season.
It felt like they were throwing in the towel on this season already.
The statement they gave was hardly a ringing endorsement of the current team with the play-offs looming.
The statement said: “Following what has been a very disappointing season for the club and its supporters in 2021 which has seen the Broncos fall way behind the pace set by other teams in the Betfred Championship, including several part-time sides, it has been decided that in 2022 we will adjust our squad to that of a part-time team as part of an overhaul of the first-team squad.
“Financially, the club will be receiving a vastly reduced central distribution in 2022 and we have had to make changes to offset this reduction which has led to the decision that has been taken by the club.”
All clubs in rugby league’s professional structure are feeling the pinch right now, with the new Sky broadcasting deal worth just £24million a year for 2022 and 2023 — down from £40million a year.
That has meant a staggering reduction in central distribution for all clubs and London will not be alone in slashing their budget next year.
But the decision to go part-time felt hugely significant for the club’s future.
It felt like an admission of defeat in the battle to get back to Super League and finally become established there.
An acceptance of the club finally becoming just another part-time team with no real desire to truly compete.
In other words, another London Skolars. But it actually goes deeper.
The bigger picture at play here is the commitment of long-standing owner David Hughes.
Hughes is approaching his late seventies and has poured £26million of his personal wealth into the club during the past two decades.
And for what? A nomadic team who have never truly made themselves at home anywhere following endless ground moves, an ever-shrinking fanbase, and a team who lie sixth in the Championship.
Part-time Batley and Halifax are on course to finish above the Broncos this season.
For those who want to see the game thrive in the capital, London’s failure to beat the drop in 2019 was a huge blow.
Ward conjured 10 wins from a team assembled with the lowest salary cap spend in Super League – a record number of victories for a relegated side.
Going straight back down felt like all the good work had been undone and the club was back to square one again.
Now it appears they could be facing a fight for their very existence, with doubts over how long Hughes will continue to throw good money after bad.
rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads contacted Hughes to ask him about the club’s decision to go part-time and to pose questions about the longer-term picture.
Unusually for him, he did not respond.
Hughes, a Mancunian who made his fortune as an oil trader, caught the rugby league bug watching Swinton at the old Station Road ground as a child.
He joined the Broncos’ board in 1996 and became owner in 2001 – and has covered losses of up to £2million a year to keep the club afloat.
Now it appears that he has recognised that London Broncos is no longer viable as a full-time operation and so will no longer fund them as such.
Other clubs who have gone part-time after falling out of Super League include Widnes Viking and Bradford Bulls.
Widnes are currently a million miles off a top-flight return and Bradford have fallen as low as the third tier since their Super League relegation in 2014, albeit they are slowly rebuilding in the Championship now.
If Hughes decides to pull all of his money out of the Broncos completely – as he threatened to in 2013 before making a u-turn – then could the club cease to exist?
It has been said that Hughes’ son Jack could potentially take over, but going part-time suggests the veteran owner is moving towards withdrawing his financial support.
The Broncos’ existence has been nomadic since their formation and they have been unable to build a proper fanbase, particularly during their years in the Championship in the more recent past.
Moving from home to home since their formation as Fulham in 1980 has not helped as they have come and gone from places like the Valley, Griffin Park, the Stoop and the Hive in Barnet.
London have struggled badly for crowds at Ealing Trailfinders RUFC since their move in 2016.
They will leave Ealing at the end of this season and ground-share with AFC Wimbledon at Plough Lane from the start of next term.
The Broncos’ off-field operation is run on a shoestring, they have no assets and there is little marketing or promotion of the club, hence the ever-dwindling fanbase.
Worryingly, there are no players signed up yet for next season, so goodness knows what kind of squad London will be able to muster in 2022.
Three of their better players in Matty Fozard, Greg Richards and Abbas Miski have already secured moves elsewhere. Cory Aston is also departing.
Given that they are being watched by a couple of hundred fans, what size of crowds will they attract at Plough Lane?
The club’s academy system continues to produce some fine talent but, as is nearly always the case, they get snapped up by teams up north.
The Broncos have always received the same amount of central distribution as other clubs, despite the greater cost of living in London and the increased travel costs for away games.
That has not helped their cause from a financial perspective but, with Hughes appearing to lose interest, the biggest blow will be if he stops funding the club altogether.
As ever, rugby league observers will continue to watch developments at the Broncos with interest.
