“We’ve made massive strides around here,” says a beaming London Broncos coach, Andrew Henderson, as he looks over at the Trailfinders Sports Club in Ealing. At first glance it is hard to believe there is a chance this venue, with 1,000 seats, could be hosting Super League games next year.
It has been an arduous road to this point for London. Relegated from the top flight in 2014, the sport suddenly found itself shorn of an elite presence in the capital. But quietly, studiously, Henderson and the Broncos have been rebuilding. Eleven wins in 12 games have secured a place in the Qualifiers for the second successive season and London are targeting promotion as they prepare for Sunday’s game with Rochdale.
“We’re in good stead,” Henderson says. “Our form has been fantastic since Easter and we’re ticking along nicely for the Qualifiers.”
The only blot on London’s copybook is a loss to the runaway leaders, Hull KR. Last year, the Broncos missed out on the Million Pound Game on points difference and Henderson believes his side, a mixture of rejected top-tier players and ambitious London-born talent – a third of his squad originate from the capital – are handily placed.
“The reality of last season was that a lot of players in our squad were getting their first taste of experience of that top level,” he says. “That stands us in good shape. The players I recruited on top of that were for the Qualifiers competition. If we’re playing to our potential, we’ll surprise folk.”
While it is natural to judge any club by what happens at first-team level, it is perhaps more impressive what London are doing elsewhere. In the past, they have looked like a brand with little long-term direction – “in recent years, it’s lacked purpose and strategy,” Henderson says – but that is changing.
The club’s under-19s have beaten Wigan and Leeds, powerhouses of the sport’s junior system, in recent weeks and the Broncos were recently nominated for a community award in Ealing. Suddenly, there is a vision for the sport’s future in the capital.
“I’m very proud of this project,” Henderson says. “I’ve a wonderful owner in David Hughes and we’re at a facility and in a community where we can see a long-term future. London junior sides used to be lucky to get a win or two a year – now it’s becoming routine to trouble the best. Loads of my squad are London-produced. The potential down here is frightening now.”
The Broncos’ biggest problem in their 37-year existence has been finding some long-term roots. They have played at nine different venues: ranging from The Valley in the south, Barnet in the north and even at The Stoop in Twickenham. Ealing, although modest, appears to be the Broncos’ ideal settling ground.
Crowds are small – between one and two thousand – but it is a start for a club who have effectively reinvented themselves in a new area of the city. “Here, our youth teams and first-team can train together as one and they feel connected,” says Henderson. “There’s a unity about the place in Ealing. Promotion would be huge: and it could just be the start.”
Irrespective of the final outcome this year, with Henderson at the helm it feels as if London Broncos have a future at the top table sooner rather than later.
