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#Post#: 154068--------------------------------------------------
Re: Trailfinders in talks to join United Rugby Championship
DIR By: Brown Bottle
Date: May 12, 2026, 8:55 am
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--- Quote from: deadlyfrom5yardsout link ---
>
> No I knew you were referring to the RFU one but my point still
stands, oh gaseous one.
>
--- End Quote ---
Ok, so you see no relevance in the order of events.
#Post#: 154073--------------------------------------------------
Re: Trailfinders in talks to join United Rugby Championship
DIR By: A222Quin
Date: May 12, 2026, 10:12 am
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I’ve got nothing against Ealing per se, but what makes them
think if they went up they’d succeed to grow their fanbase to a
sustainable level in an area that has seen London Irish (and
Wasps nomads) fail.
Rugby isn’t a big enough sport to have 3 prem clubs in North and
West London honestly and I don’t see it magically becoming so if
Ealing are promoted. Irish had the whole ‘exiles’ bolt on story
and they still struggled to grow to a substantial extent whether
at Reading or Brentford.
#Post#: 154075--------------------------------------------------
Re: Trailfinders in talks to join United Rugby Championship
DIR By: Rugbycat
Date: May 12, 2026, 10:51 am
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--- Quote from: A222Quin link ---
>
> I’ve got nothing against Ealing per se, but what makes them
think if they went up they’d succeed to grow their fanbase to a
sustainable level in an area that has seen London Irish (and
Wasps nomads) fail.
>
> Rugby isn’t a big enough sport to have 3 prem clubs in North
and West London honestly and I don’t see it magically becoming
so if Ealing are promoted. Irish had the whole ‘exiles’ bolt on
story and they still struggled to grow to a substantial extent
whether at Reading or Brentford.
>
--- End Quote ---
I don’t disagree, but their PWR gate is growing, and will
probably outstrip the men’s team, there are mitigating factors
to that, Women’s rugby is growing and those who attend may have
no previous affiliation to any other club, they have a picked up
a number of Wasps women’s fans, who used to play in Acton, which
is down the road, and have a lot of Wasps DNA in their PWR team,
they are also linked to Brunel university that brings in fans.
Not sure that Saracens are a factor in this part of London, so
is more about Harlequins, saying that my next door neighbours
who moved in last year are Saracens fans.
They have never really marketed themselves on the men’s side,
the women’s team with a number of England players now, has
marketed itself.
The atmosphere at the Men’s has never seemed that friendly or
welcoming for some reason whereas the women’s is very good.
#Post#: 154077--------------------------------------------------
Re: Trailfinders in talks to join United Rugby Championship
DIR By: Camquin
Date: May 12, 2026, 11:06 am
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As I understand it, as long as the Trailfinders money lasts,
Ealing are not looking to grow the fan base, the taking on the
gate is not going to stem the losses anyway.
I am not quite sure what Mike Gooley really wants. Ealing could
win the Champ on half the money he spends every year. This year
they won every match, and only dropped three try bonus points.
#Post#: 154079--------------------------------------------------
Re: Trailfinders in talks to join United Rugby Championship
DIR By: Rugbycat
Date: May 12, 2026, 11:17 am
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--- Quote from: Camquin link ---
>
> As I understand it, as long as the Trailfinders money lasts,
Ealing are not looking to grow the fan base, the taking on the
gate is not going to stem the losses anyway.
>
> I am not quite sure what Mike Gooley really wants. Ealing
could win the Champ on half the money he spends every year. This
year they won every match, and only dropped three try bonus
points.
>
--- End Quote ---
They actually show on their accounts that they are not losing
money, or servicing any debt, but that is due to a huge shirt
sponsorship deal, which is higher than any prem teams and the
ground naming, all very Man City.
They also receive money from a charity owned by Mike Gooley for
community projects and of course the sponsorship is from
Gooley’s companies.
They say they want to be in the prem, but don’t want to move or
ground share, the club is a foundation.
#Post#: 154089--------------------------------------------------
Re: Trailfinders in talks to join United Rugby Championship
DIR By: Yareet
Date: May 12, 2026, 2:22 pm
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--- Quote from: Rugbycat link ---
>
> They actually show on their accounts that they are not losing
money, or servicing any debt, but that is due to a huge shirt
sponsorship deal, which is higher than any prem teams and the
ground naming, all very Man City.
> They also receive money from a charity owned by Mike Gooley
for community projects and of course the sponsorship is from
Gooley’s companies.
> They say they want to be in the prem, but don’t want to move
or ground share, the club is a foundation.
>
--- End Quote ---
I appreciate it was an old article but the link seemed to
suggest that they had a ground lined up to share. Has that
changed?
#Post#: 154092--------------------------------------------------
Re: Trailfinders in talks to join United Rugby Championship
DIR By: Rugbycat
Date: May 12, 2026, 2:56 pm
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--- Quote from: Yareet link ---
>
> I appreciate it was an old article but the link seemed to
suggest that they had a ground lined up to share. Has that
changed?
>
--- End Quote ---
They at one time considered sharing Copthall aka the Stone Age
with Saracens, but that came to nothing.
Brentford has been mentioned but not officially, and the cost of
a 20000 seat stadium with 2000 fans is probably prohibitive.
Because I have bought tickets online, they constantly send me
emails, and they seem very locked in to staying at Vallis Way.
They also seem to think that if they got into the Prem, that
their attendance figures would increase threefold.
Since that article they have built a new stand, and have a
capacity of 5,388 (2,779 seats).
#Post#: 154096--------------------------------------------------
Re: Trailfinders in talks to join United Rugby Championship
DIR By: Camquin
Date: May 12, 2026, 4:48 pm
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When a side goes up from Nat 1 to the Champ, their gate tends to
roughly double. Some of that is the extra away supporters -
maybe not when you play Hartpury - but also from the curious who
now have heard of your opponents.
I would not be surprised if Ealing's crowd doubled if they
joined the Prem.
Simply because they will get more away fans, I would not be
surprised if Quins fans outnumbers Ealing ones for that match.
They would also be on the telly, and get some radio newspaper
coverage - which would bring a few people in.
It would take a while before they got Quins' attendence, as that
has taken a lot of hard work by the club. And maybe they will
not be laying on big games for a while. But I could see them
filling the stadium they have.
Of course, if they keep losing, those who are merely curious
will drift away. To keep the crowd they would need to win at
least the odd game.
#Post#: 154108--------------------------------------------------
Re: Trailfinders in talks to join United Rugby Championship
DIR By: Rugbycat
Date: May 13, 2026, 3:21 am
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I get that crowds may double, they were convinced that they
would triple, even when playing prem teams on their prem cup
run, they were not filling the ground.
And in the prem away fans would be dependent on the geographical
location of the opponents, so ourselves and Sarcens, would be
bigger than NRB.
And the crucial part is as Camquin said maintaining those crowds
and actually growing them.
#Post#: 154145--------------------------------------------------
Re: Trailfinders in talks to join United Rugby Championship
DIR By: Rugbycat
Date: May 14, 2026, 1:43 am
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HTML https://www.rugbypass.com/plus/too-good-for-champ-locked-out-of-prem-ealing-are-stuck-between-rock-and-a-hard-place/
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