Pictures by Guy Pedliham Photography www.guypedliham.net
2015 and a sense of expectation, excitement even, about rugby league in the capital. In north west London, Broncos have built a much stronger squad with an impressive number of southern players, have more sponsors, a sense of stability, a great coach and perhaps most importantly a positive attitude (not something you could have said a year ago). Fans heading to the Hive this season should certainly enjoy much more competitive rugby and considerably more wins than the single one against Leeds last year.
Across the capital in sunny north east London, the mighty Skolars start their twentieth competitive season with a return to the £4 million revamped New River stadium, some good new signings and returning experienced players, a new marketing team with a smartly redesigned website in tow, an increased social media presence, around 400 people playing for the various Skolars teams and to top it all a rather dapper new strip (if 'new' is the right word as its based on the original 1995 kit). The thing with sport is that who ever you support before the start of a season we can all be positive - literally everything is to play for. If I am honest while I expect Broncos to reach the Super 8s, Skolars may face a harder campaign. Don't get me wrong I think they are up to it but the expanded fourteen team League One (L1), along with the new L1 Cup (including the top amateur clubs), is going to be a real test, particularly of fitness levels. On that note its good to hear that the squad are now training three days a week. From a fan's point of view the expanded fixture list and no prolonged gaps is of course welcome. L1 newbies Coventry Bears (already pencilled in for a visit, along with South Wales, Oxford and Hemel) are joined by RL stalwarts like Swinton, Rochdale and an impressive looking Barrow Raiders (not pencilled in as an away day - frankly a trip to Mars would take less time than a visit to the borders). Whats the aspiration for Skolars this new era season? I was interested to see this comment from Hector, Skolars CEO in his interview with @Londonfaithful - "I hope for playoffs. 2014 was a transition due to player turnover and tough playing at Enfield." On the strength of the two friendly matches in January that seems do-able but L1 is going to be a very competitive league.
In the sporting waste land that is London the first opportunity to watch our beloved game in 2015 was the traditional Capital Challenge match held at the Honoury Artillery Company's ground (well field actually) in the shadow of the Barbican on the edge of the city. The game is played on Friday afternoon which meant I couldn't get there, although around 800 people did. It sounds like I missed a spirited Skolars performance (there is a good report here - http://www.theguardian.com/sport/no-helmets-required/2015/jan/19/rugby-league-london-broncos-wigan-warriors-leeds-rhinos?CMP=share_btn_tw).
For those of us who don't work in the city, the London Clash between Skolars and Broncos on Sunday 25 January was really the first opportunity to see the cream of London rugby league (and Broncos) play the thirteen aside game. Brunch with my boy and his partner Daniel, a hop on the 444 bus and thirty mins later we arrived with anticipation at the revamped, redeveloped, regenerated 'new' New River stadium and ..... well its early days. The bar at the ground was, well let's say basic, more leaky church hall than swanky watering hole and it still is. As pointed out in @LondonFaithfull's interview the club house will be the best in L1, just not yet. Work starts next week and hopefully will be finished by the seasons start. The pitch though is completed, seemed to play well and means no more playing in conditions resembling the Somme. Floodlights are in place too.
It's hard to know how many people turned up for the first London Clash but the stand was pretty full. There were certainly a lot more there than an average Skolars home game. I'd guess 700-800, including a Bronco drummer. I wasn't too sure about all the songs but we were impressed by the the quality of the drumming, which was of substantially higher than you normally encounter at a sporting event.
To the game. Skolars lost 14-36 to a young and talented Broncos team. Despite the result there were lots of positives for Skolars. Its early days for the squad who have not been training for long and whose season proper does not start until March but already the squad looks much better organised and cohesive than last season. Hesitant tackling cost us a couple of tries and players need to make sure that they support team mates once tackled to make sure they aren't dragged over the line. That happened a little too often but is easily fixed. The last fifteen minutes were really encouraging for Skolars with some very mobile and fluid plays that saw two back to back tries. For Broncos Mancini was awesome running the length of the pitch for one try and threatening when ever he got possession. It would be good to see some of the young Bronco players appearing for Skolars next season if they don't get in the first squad . All the tries today by the way were scored by southern players. A bit worrying were the number of injuries incurred by Skolar players (seven including two for key players Williams and Anthony in first half which certainly affected Skolars performance). At one point the physio was the busiest player on the field, having to dart between three injured players.
Overall an entertaining game. The lack of a functional hooter, (its not often you get a chance to write a sentence like that), meant the game lasted a fair few minutes longer than the statutory 80. At the end of the game there was only one thing bothering me. It had been nagging at us throughout the match. Last season rugby league was all about beards. Not this season. Not in London. This season it seems to be all about hair top knots. New era, new hair.
A good game and a fair result and hopefully the start of an annual event. The real winner? London rugby league. We are here to stay and going to keep growing.
Richard Griffin @Richardpgriffi1
2015 and a sense of expectation, excitement even, about rugby league in the capital. In north west London, Broncos have built a much stronger squad with an impressive number of southern players, have more sponsors, a sense of stability, a great coach and perhaps most importantly a positive attitude (not something you could have said a year ago). Fans heading to the Hive this season should certainly enjoy much more competitive rugby and considerably more wins than the single one against Leeds last year.
Across the capital in sunny north east London, the mighty Skolars start their twentieth competitive season with a return to the £4 million revamped New River stadium, some good new signings and returning experienced players, a new marketing team with a smartly redesigned website in tow, an increased social media presence, around 400 people playing for the various Skolars teams and to top it all a rather dapper new strip (if 'new' is the right word as its based on the original 1995 kit). The thing with sport is that who ever you support before the start of a season we can all be positive - literally everything is to play for. If I am honest while I expect Broncos to reach the Super 8s, Skolars may face a harder campaign. Don't get me wrong I think they are up to it but the expanded fourteen team League One (L1), along with the new L1 Cup (including the top amateur clubs), is going to be a real test, particularly of fitness levels. On that note its good to hear that the squad are now training three days a week. From a fan's point of view the expanded fixture list and no prolonged gaps is of course welcome. L1 newbies Coventry Bears (already pencilled in for a visit, along with South Wales, Oxford and Hemel) are joined by RL stalwarts like Swinton, Rochdale and an impressive looking Barrow Raiders (not pencilled in as an away day - frankly a trip to Mars would take less time than a visit to the borders). Whats the aspiration for Skolars this new era season? I was interested to see this comment from Hector, Skolars CEO in his interview with @Londonfaithful - "I hope for playoffs. 2014 was a transition due to player turnover and tough playing at Enfield." On the strength of the two friendly matches in January that seems do-able but L1 is going to be a very competitive league.
In the sporting waste land that is London the first opportunity to watch our beloved game in 2015 was the traditional Capital Challenge match held at the Honoury Artillery Company's ground (well field actually) in the shadow of the Barbican on the edge of the city. The game is played on Friday afternoon which meant I couldn't get there, although around 800 people did. It sounds like I missed a spirited Skolars performance (there is a good report here - http://www.theguardian.com/sport/no-helmets-required/2015/jan/19/rugby-league-london-broncos-wigan-warriors-leeds-rhinos?CMP=share_btn_tw).
For those of us who don't work in the city, the London Clash between Skolars and Broncos on Sunday 25 January was really the first opportunity to see the cream of London rugby league (and Broncos) play the thirteen aside game. Brunch with my boy and his partner Daniel, a hop on the 444 bus and thirty mins later we arrived with anticipation at the revamped, redeveloped, regenerated 'new' New River stadium and ..... well its early days. The bar at the ground was, well let's say basic, more leaky church hall than swanky watering hole and it still is. As pointed out in @LondonFaithfull's interview the club house will be the best in L1, just not yet. Work starts next week and hopefully will be finished by the seasons start. The pitch though is completed, seemed to play well and means no more playing in conditions resembling the Somme. Floodlights are in place too.
It's hard to know how many people turned up for the first London Clash but the stand was pretty full. There were certainly a lot more there than an average Skolars home game. I'd guess 700-800, including a Bronco drummer. I wasn't too sure about all the songs but we were impressed by the the quality of the drumming, which was of substantially higher than you normally encounter at a sporting event.
To the game. Skolars lost 14-36 to a young and talented Broncos team. Despite the result there were lots of positives for Skolars. Its early days for the squad who have not been training for long and whose season proper does not start until March but already the squad looks much better organised and cohesive than last season. Hesitant tackling cost us a couple of tries and players need to make sure that they support team mates once tackled to make sure they aren't dragged over the line. That happened a little too often but is easily fixed. The last fifteen minutes were really encouraging for Skolars with some very mobile and fluid plays that saw two back to back tries. For Broncos Mancini was awesome running the length of the pitch for one try and threatening when ever he got possession. It would be good to see some of the young Bronco players appearing for Skolars next season if they don't get in the first squad . All the tries today by the way were scored by southern players. A bit worrying were the number of injuries incurred by Skolar players (seven including two for key players Williams and Anthony in first half which certainly affected Skolars performance). At one point the physio was the busiest player on the field, having to dart between three injured players.
Overall an entertaining game. The lack of a functional hooter, (its not often you get a chance to write a sentence like that), meant the game lasted a fair few minutes longer than the statutory 80. At the end of the game there was only one thing bothering me. It had been nagging at us throughout the match. Last season rugby league was all about beards. Not this season. Not in London. This season it seems to be all about hair top knots. New era, new hair.
A good game and a fair result and hopefully the start of an annual event. The real winner? London rugby league. We are here to stay and going to keep growing.
Richard Griffin @Richardpgriffi1