London Welsh - still in hunt for Promotion?

First topic message reminder :

http://www.london-welsh.co.uk/rugby_newsroom_article.asp?id=1176

Interesting ? Looks like LW are in talks with 4 clubs for a ground share. They still need to win the Championship first but it may be reason to fret if your a Falcon!

HammerofThunor wrote:Sorry I obviously not making myself clear. The criteria is to STOP rich fella's buy success for clubs. If they have one that permanently invests in the infrastructure, then that's good. If they just buy in players for promotion that's bad. If a club wants promotion they need to develop their off-field infrastructure so that it is viable at the top. Just like Exeter have done.

I thought I had been clear before but obvious not. Sorry about that

It was clear to me but I understood it beforehand! It all makes common sense & is all about sustainability - good in everyone's interest actually.
Building from the bottom up for the long term. Something we all want to see.

While I get that the Kassam stadium in Oxford represents a 'solution' for London Welsh, I would be extremely concerned about them moving away from their natural fan-base in London. Perhaps some fold would be prepared to travel that far, but I still think it's one helluva risky call

The ONLY thing bad about the criteria that I can see is that the current Jeff clubs haven't got a defined timescale to adhere to them by (and as Sam said earlier, it's only Newcastle and Sale that would have failed)..

Sorry Hammer - IF the falcons go down, and IF they win the playoffs the following season, there's nothing to stop us coming back up.

We have sole tenure of Kingston Park and it's not that bad a place.

(apart from the slop they sell as beer)

(apart from the weather)

(apart from its distance from Twickers)

(did I mention the weather?)

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:While I get that the Kassam stadium in Oxford represents a 'solution' for London Welsh, I would be extremely concerned about them moving away from their natural fan-base in London. Perhaps some fold would be prepared to travel that far, but I still think it's one helluva risky call

I'm not sure the fan base is that big. All this is potentially excellent news for London Scottish - I wonder if they could move to ODP?

If they play in Oxford, then can they still be referred to as 'London' Welsh?
That does seem to push the bounds of goegraphy a bit.

TrailApe wrote:

The ONLY thing bad about the criteria that I can see is that the current Jeff clubs haven't got a defined timescale to adhere to them by (and as Sam said earlier, it's only Newcastle and Sale that would have failed)..

Sorry Hammer - IF the falcons go down, and IF they win the playoffs the following season, there's nothing to stop us coming back up.

We have sole tenure of Kingston Park and it's not that bad a place.

(apart from the slop they sell as beer)

(apart from the weather)

(apart from its distance from Twickers)

(did I mention the weather?)

If you mean you meet the criteria then that's great. Is it Wasps and Sale then? Will Sale's move meet the criteria?

A premiership side has to develop players for England so the whole London 'Welsh' thing would be lost anyway. This was raised when some were suggesting the regions sending players to London Welsh to try and get them in the premiership and use them to help develop players.

London Irish can play in Reading so I suppose London Welsh could play in Oxford.
Would it be a case of what they lose in spectators from Richmond they gain from Oxford - in particular the very large student population - if they played on a Friday night and branded it as the start of the student weekend they might be on to something.
Even if people in Oxford were not hugely bothered about London Welsh as such I'm sure that a few would be interested when teams like Tigers or Quins are visiting...how many do they get at the ODP on a "normal" Championship day ?

DaveM wrote:

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:While I get that the Kassam stadium in Oxford represents a 'solution' for London Welsh, I would be extremely concerned about them moving away from their natural fan-base in London. Perhaps some fold would be prepared to travel that far, but I still think it's one helluva risky call

I'm not sure the fan base is that big. All this is potentially excellent news for London Scottish - I wonder if they could move to ODP?

tbh, dave, I think that Scottish are pretty happy at RAG

Irish Londoner wrote:London Irish can play in Reading so I suppose London Welsh could play in Oxford.
Would it be a case of what they lose in spectators from Richmond they gain from Oxford - in particular the very large student population - if they played on a Friday night and branded it as the start of the student weekend they might be on to something.
Even if people in Oxford were not hugely bothered about London Welsh as such I'm sure that a few would be interested when teams like Tigers or Quins are visiting...how many do they get at the ODP on a "normal" Championship day ?

IL, think they get 1,500 or so on average, but willing to be corrected by anyone in the know

What is Richmonds ground like these days ? They used to be a premiership club so does their ground meet the criteria ? London Welsh is practically in Richmond so couldn't they ground share with them ?

Richmond was a prem club back before they had the current criteria.
I think the stand can hold about 1000 people! Then there are those standing round the pitch - maybe 2500 people max.

There is no way that it will meet the 10k minimum required without developing further - which the local council are so against.
London Irish had the same problem with Spelthorn council and Lon Welsh presumably are in a similar bind. If they want promotion they have to move from Kew!

and as Sam said earlier, it's only Newcastle and Sale that would have failed)..

Sale and Wasps is what I said as neither has full entitlement to the stadium as they both share with football clubs that somehow hold the first use option despite being in the dark depths of the football league. Sale's move to the brand new Salford Stadium will fullfill the criteria and for 6 months of the season they'll be the only team using it. Wasps have larger issues but the new consortium might sort that out.

propdavid_london wrote:Richmond was a prem club back before they had the current criteria.
I think the stand can hold about 1000 people! Then there are those standing round the pitch - maybe 2500 people max.

There is no way that it will meet the 10k minimum required without developing further - which the local council are so against.
London Irish had the same problem with Spelthorn council and Lon Welsh presumably are in a similar bind. If they want promotion they have to move from Kew!

Spot on, the RAG doesn't come close to meeting the criteria either

Why do Sale and Wasps fail but Saracens and Irish don't - they all share a soccer ground. Also do Bath meet the criteria even though they have a temporary stand ?

formerly known as Sam wrote:

and as Sam said earlier, it's only Newcastle and Sale that would have failed)..

Sale and Wasps is what I said as neither has full entitlement to the stadium as they both share with football clubs that somehow hold the first use option despite being in the dark depths of the football league. Sale's move to the brand new Salford Stadium will fullfill the criteria and for 6 months of the season they'll be the only team using it. Wasps have larger issues but the new consortium might sort that out.

Yeah, sorry about that. I was too lazy to go back and check.

Geoff, all depends on what type of agreement they have. bath's temporary stand took them from 10600 up didn't it? So even if the tempory part was discounted it would be big enough. Sarries are moving next season anyway but assume they had a decent deal with Watford.

Thanks Hammer - appreciated