London Broncos Head Coach Mike Eccles has spoken of his hope to see a ‘strong London’ in Super League which is built of players from the South.
The Londoners will ply their trade in Super League next season for the first time since 2019; however they have been dealt a hammer blow following a low IMG score yesterday.
Speaking exclusively to Serious About Rugby League, Eccles expressed his wish to see a strong London in Super League.
“I think it’s important to have a strong London in Super League,” Eccles told SARL. “We must put strong London Broncos on the field”.
He added: “I want that strong London Broncos to be largely made up of London or Southern-based players. When you look at Wigan and Saints, who consistently are the best two teams, they promote from within and they produce their own players.”
“From my side of it, my side is particularly one for performance, but alongside that I want a strong London heartbeat. I think if we can do that, I think hopefully that will help with the fandom as well.”
He further exclaimed: “The buy in of the city really, of getting behind a team that isn’t just all overseas or Northern they have a sprinkling of that, but the heartbeat is London.
“I think it makes sense to have a London team and Super League, but we’re there on merit right now, we’ve got to put the right things in place for a strong London in Super League and of course that’s going to benefit us. We need to attract that sponsorship as a game, we know that. On top of some fantastic sponsors like Betfred who sponsor it all, doesn’t it. We’d like to think we can attract even more quality sponsorships and I think London will support that process.”
If the club want to grow and develop this new London-based identity, they will need to utilise their academy well.
During the interview, Eccles highlighted the club already pump substantial funds into their youth programme: “Outside of Super League, no one’s investing into an academy more than us. Even in Super League, I’m not sure anyone’s investing in an academy more than us, but we don’t get points for that. There’s substantial amounts of money being invested into the club, into an academy.”
The Broncos academy has already started to bare fruit for the first team. 19-year-old hooker Billy Leyland, from Maidstone in Kent, won Championship Young Player of the Year this season, and he is part of a core of young talent from the capital and surrounding counties.
Lewis Bienek, Rian Horsman, Jack Howorth, Dan Hoyes, Iliess Macani and Jensen Monk all come from the within the ‘big smoke’, and players such as Rob Butler, Matt Davies and Billy’s brother Oli Leyland all come from surrounding counties such as Kent or Surrey.
This core of young, Southern players is exactly what Mike Eccles wants to grow and nurture at the Broncos, and if it carries on this way we could see a hub for Rugby League below the M62.
