Mad Monday had a whole new meaning for London Broncos: the owner quit, the stadium flooded and star players went looking for work.
It comes to something when your home ground flooding is not your biggest concern of the day. But that was the case at relegation-bound London Broncos as owner David Hughes confirmed he is no longer going to fund the club. It’s not just the out-of-contract players who could be without a job come the end of October: the whole club is at risk. Broncos fans face a nervous autumn to see if they will even have a Championship club to watch next season.
When the Broncos’ extraordinary Super League adventure ended in a whimper at Warrington last Friday, a slightly awkward party was over. Stand-off Jack Campagnolo, a breakout star, is one of a dozen players five weeks away from potential unemployment.
“It was a weird one, emotionally,” admits Italy international Campagnolo. “I’ve never been in that position. In Australia you always know what division a team’s playing in the next year. I tried to soak in the moments with the boys on the bus, and we had a few drinks together after. I would’ve loved to have stayed but I’ve served notice on my house in London, my stuff is ready to pack up and move on.”
There was no drowning their sorrows on Mad Monday. By then, several Broncos had already left the capital. Campagnolo was flying to Naples and for a few days on the Amalfi coast during which he hopes firm offers materialise from the interest shown by English, French and Australian clubs. His Azzurri teammate Ethan Natoli is heading to Perpignan, where his European journey will continue with Pia Donkeys in Super 13. He may be joined there by Hakim Miloudi and Ugo Tison.
Pony-tailed centre (and electrician) Jarred Bassett is heading back to Australia after concluding an extraordinary rise that saw him play at levels 4, 3, 2 and 1 for successive seasons in London. Bassett and Dean Parata made their top-flight debuts for the Broncos aged 32, 14 years after leaving school on the Gold Coast, Bassett to join the army, Parata to do his own world tour of league clubs. Parata will retire gracefully, knowing he will one day reminisce in his rocking chair about a season like no other.
On Monday, Bienek was working at the cyber security company in Bexley where he designs firewalls for law firms and banks, when the news came through that Hughes was jacking it in. “It’s the end of an era – and sad to hear,” said the Ireland prop. “It’s amazing what David’s done, keeping rugby league going in down south. It’s a turbulent time, not knowing if I’ll be playing next year.”
With most of the team who sat eighth in the Championship in August last year, and not a single player with 50 Super League appearances on their CV, London started a unique campaign woefully understrength and out of their depth, but finished it fully acclimatised and competitive. Now the club has an even bigger challenge.
Broncos fans are used to relegation – this was their third successive Super League season to end that way – but they have always known their club could bounce back, like Wakefield, Leigh, Hull KR and countless other clubs before them. This one is different. Relegation usually casts a shadow over the summer but thanks to the IMG gradings, but the Broncos spent the season working under pitch-black thunderous cloudsthat Mike Eccles’ team did all they could to brighten.
Injuries damaged the Broncos’ prospects almost as much as IMG. Eccles never got to field his first-choice spine, the planned half-back partnership of Campagnolo and James Meadows reunited at half-time on Friday for the first time since March.
“Personally it’s been one of the toughest years of my life, being away from home with a long-term injury,” said Campagnolo, who missed four months with a back problem. “I only managed to get 10 games in to showcase what I can do, but I learned heaps and enjoyed the challenge playing against international players.”
Their absences – that of hooker Bill Leyland all season and full-back Josh Rourke for the first five months – gave an extensive opportunity to Oli Leyland. Playing every week, Leyland improved so much Warrington want him. Fellow title contenders Hull KR are expected to confirm the signing of winger Lee Kershaw, likewise Wakefield with Rourke, who did enough in only the last 12 games to secure a move. Their adventurous approach brought plenty of admirers. Now they need someone to want the club.
London RL have been in even more precarious situations in their 44-year lifespan. It comes with the territory. Oil magnate Hughes stepping down is a opportunity for someone very rich to do something very different and ambitious with the capital club – or watch it fall apart at the seams.
With no parachute payment and central funding plummeting by a million to around £100,000, London will not stay full-time. They may not stay at all. Presuming he is not going to ask for his £27m back, Hughes is unlikely to let his baby perish. After all, that would also put a serious dent in the career prospects of his own son, the Broncos prop Jack Hughes. But Bienek is one of seven local players with a contract for 2025 but no idea if it will be honoured.
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“Having another job, I’ve got the luxury of being able to wait to see what happens,” admits Bienek. “I don’t need to panic. We know there are people looking to own clubs and it’s the biggest catchment area in the sport. But it’s a bitter pill: getting promoted looks like it might have been to the detriment of the club, not a positive. It could force me into retirement.”
That would be ridiculous for a 26-year-old in the prime of his career, with Bienek having gone north as a promising teenager “a bit too soon”, leading to three unsuccessful years at Hull FC and Castleford that quashed his exuberance. Part-time rugby suits Bienek, and many others for whom earning say £20,000, to train three times a week is more attractive than double that for giving your life to a full-time commitment. “I can be pragmatic,” declares Sidcup-born Bienek, who joined the club at 16 from Charlton Gunners, the team his dad set up to give Lewis and his mates somewhere to play. “I’d consider playing for someone else but only if I could keep working. I’d just love to keep playing for London Broncos.”
The club’s sole director for a while now, 27 years on the board have cost Hughes a million a year according to London RL Limited’s 2022 accounts (2023’s are overdue). With assets of just half a million, any suitors will need to view the club as an emotionally-enriching expensive adventure rather than a sensible fiscal investment.
This season’s playing budget was believed to be as low as £750,000 and yet still every employee fears for their future. The axe looms over anything that doesn’t harbour IMG points – and even those that do. No Championship set up could afford to retain both Eccles and assistant Ryan Sheridan full-time, and the Broncos’ miniscule front-office team is already so stretched that chief executive Jason Loubser can be seen taking down post protectors seconds after the final hooter at Plough Lane. Like Hughes, football manager Dom Fenton has been at the club for 27 years, longer than most of the first team have been alive.
While Super League brought a boost in commercial interest, it was no surprise the 5,000 who descended on Cherry Red Records Stadium for the opening night shrunk to little more than the Broncos’ three-figure hardcore, matched or even outnumbered by away fans. Next year there will no invasion of discombobulated Loiners or Leythers looking left at Topps Tiles and exclaiming: “ I can’t believe there’s a stadium hidden there”; fewer fans taking photos of Orinoco’s Womble Bench; the queues for Crazy Gang ale mercifully shorter though hospitality guests will be able to fit on a minibus not a double-decker; and there will be no post-match press conferences because the media seats will be all but deserted.
With no television deal for the Championship, not only will this Broncos team never be seen again, nor will their replacements. Having hardly been seen on Premier Sports’ Championship coverage, the Broncos emerged blinking into the bright lights of weekly Sky TV coverage. Every coach, agent and scout in the world knows how good Leyland, Rourke and Co are. Demise brings opportunity.
A couple of days after failing to stop Warrington’s pack full of internationals, Bienek was planning how to remotely manage a client’s 150 devices dotted around the world. Campagnolo headed to a beach. After this season, who can blame the Italian?
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