Rugby league in London has been an interesting journey. It's been a disruptive nomadic life, played in a city that for the most part doesn't know it exists, yet developing young talent as well. It's no longer in the elite Super League as seen below but still has a small but dedicated following. The club was called Harlequins RL between 2006 and 2011.
The coach back in 2000 was John Monie, who did a one year stint after finishing at Wigan. He was replaced by another Australian, Tony Rea who had concluded his playing career in London and been a temporary dual coach for a brief time in 1999. This first period as full coach lasted six seasons and 153 matches. It was a reasonably successful time with the Broncos getting to as high as 4th in the League.
Brian McDermott arrived for his first top flight coaching job. He finished the last few games in 2006 and continued until 2010 when he departed after a slide in fortunes wasn't arrested. His replacement, Rob Powell came out of relative obscurity to take on the job.
Despite spending heavily in 2012, results didn't match expectations and Tony Rea stepped in at the end of the season and for the next two seasons. The slide continued as the club was relegated from the top flight in 2014, ending 19 consecutive years at the top. One season back in 2019 under Danny Ward ended with a return to the Championship. He did remarkably well with the squad that he had at his disposal.
The issue the club faced was where to play in the future as they were informed that the ground they were using would stop them from gaining re-entry into Super League if given the opportunity. That is still being worked out. Some things never change.
London shocked just about everyone when winning promotion to SL. It was the worst result for IMG who had this year as a transition into more than on field performance being the sole reason for being in SL. London simple doesn't qualify so were going down even if not finishing last. Coach Mike Eccles had his work cut out motivating his squad.
They retained a Championship (division two) squad too and after some expected hidings, put out some competitive performances and all but avoided coming last. The owner has now come out and said he wants to sell and buyers look thin on the ground. It may finally signal the end of top flight RL in the capital. Thanks for the ride London Broncos.
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