Quote Slugger McBatt="Slugger McBatt"Why is it the fault of the RFL? Curious, that's all.'"
Basically, IF London were a SKY TV requirement back in 1996 then SKY TV or the RFL or a combination of both should have bankrolled the club. Moving forward, at every stage when London has changed ownership, name, grounds and underwear, the RFL had a responsibility to ensure that London either received the support they needed or to simply let us fold.
In 2005, Lewis stood up and told the assembled clubs that if they booted us out, commercially the game as a whole would suffer. We stayed in and the future was looking better than it had since 1996....
In 2007 IL bought Wigan and was told that he had to get rid of his interest in London...the RFL cut our throats that day and since then, DH has argued (correctly IMHO) that the RFL should contribute to the promotion and expansion of THEIR sport in the South East.
I don't lay 100% of the blame for the farce that has unfolded over 18 seasons squarely at the feet of the RFL.....but I do blame them in association with others.
A quick glance at the funding and promotional model of Melbourne Storm as an expansion team in the NRL would seem to back up my point of view, but if you need further proof, Knock down Nigel has bought the leases on a couple of Iconic grounds and found a backer for Salford, but has done little if anything to assist us with our latest issues. He pulled the plug for the duration of the RLWC when in reality he could have (and should have) been busting his considerable gut doing everything in his power to sort out the mess.
As it stands, we could well fold before the 2014 season starts....and believe me, you'll see media coverage of RL when that happens.