London Broncos

History

Origins

Professional rugby league was briefly represented in London during the 1930s by London Highfield (1933), Acton and Willesden (1935–36) and Streatham and Mitcham (1935–36). All these were speculative clubs set up by local businessmen specifically as money making exercises, and were ultimately driven out of business through poor finances. Thereafter, the sport of rugby league in England remained exclusively a northern based game for over forty years until the formation in 1980 of a new club in London, Fulham.

1980–1991: Fulham R.L.F.C.

In June 1980, Fulham Football Club chairman Ernie Clay set up a professional rugby league team at Craven Cottage, with the primary intention of creating another income stream for the football club. Warrington director Harold Genders, who had helped to persuade Clay of the potential benefits of establishing a rugby league club in the capital, resigned from the Warrington board to become managing director of Fulham R.L.F.C. The Rugby Football League (RFL), keen to encourage the expansion of the sport beyond its traditional northern heartland, accepted the new club at once. One of the game's leading players, Reg Bowden, was recruited by Genders to act as player-coach and the club's first signing was Roy Lester, on a free transfer from Warrington. Within nine weeks, Genders and Bowden had assembled a team of very experienced players, most of whom were approaching retirement, together with a few promising youngsters.

The club's first match, on 14 September 1980, was a major success; nearly 10,000 Londoners attended the game at Craven Cottage to see the newly formed side convincingly beat highly regarded Wigan 24–5. On 15 February 1981, more than 15,000 were present to see Fulham take on Wakefield Trinity in the Challenge Cup, a club attendance record that still stands. The new Fulham RL team quickly proved to be very competitive and went on to win promotion at the end of their inaugural season. After that initial success, however, immediate relegation from the first division in 1981–82 was something of a reality check.

Fulham played two "home" games against Swinton and Huddersfield at Widnes in 1983 as the pitch at the Cottage had disintegrated in the wet winter following the collapse of the main drain to the River Thames under the Miller Stand.

The club also played several one-off games in 1983 at various football grounds around London; matches were played at Wealdstone's Lower Mead stadium, Hendon's Claremont Road ground, Brentford's Griffin Park and Chelsea's Stamford Bridge.

Despite winning the Division Two Championship comfortably in 1982–83, a second immediate relegation in 1983–84, coupled with continuing financial losses, saw Clay, under pressure from the Fulham football club board, pull the plug at the end of their fourth season. However, with the backing of supporters Roy and Barbara Close and the appointment of a new coach, former player Roy Lester, Fulham RL still had a future. Most of the existing players moved on as free agents, and a new squad began life based at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre for the 1984–85 season.

1991–1994: London Crusaders

Prior to the start of the 1991–92 season the club's name was officially changed from Fulham RLFC to London Crusaders RLFC. A slightly more successful period on the pitch begun at this point. Ross Strudwick was replaced as coach by Darryl van der Velde in 1992 but continued as club manager until 1993.

In June 1993 the club moved once again, from Crystal Palace National Sports Centre to Barnet Copthall arena. In November 1993, London Crusaders imposed a 20% pay cut on all staff to ease financial problems. With the club in financial straights, the RFL briefly took ownership of the Crusaders in 1993–94 to protect their southern outpost, but the club were then acquired by new owners Britannic Shipping; Strudwick stepped down as manager to give the club's new owners a clean slate.

Despite the club's financial problems, the team proved very competitive on the pitch under coach Tony Gordon and narrowly missed out on automatic promotion back to the First Division by a single point. The climax of the Crusaders' era was a May 1994 appearance in the Divisional Premiership Final at Old Trafford; although they lost 22–30 to Workington Town, the club had gone into the game with the knowledge that an exciting take-over bid had just been announced.

1994–2005: London Broncos

In the spring of 1994, just prior to the Divisional Premiership Final, it was announced that the successful Australian NRL club Brisbane Broncos was buying the London Crusaders club, which would be renamed London Broncos from the start of the forthcoming 1994–95 season. Gordon was replaced by a Brisbane coach, Gary Grienke. The first home game under the new Broncos name was against Keighley at Hendon F.C.'s ground at Claremont Road, though most home games were still played at Barnet Copthall.

For the 1995–96 season the club found another new home base, returning to south-west London at The Stoop Memorial Ground, home of Harlequins Rugby Union Club. Despite finishing fourth in the Second Division the previous season, London Broncos were selected by the RFL to be part of the radical new Super League competition scheduled to begin in the summer of 1996, on the basis that the RFL felt it was commercially essential for the sport's national profile to have a team based in the nation's capital. The regular 1995–96 season, deliberately made brief to accommodate for Super League, ran from August 1995 to January 1996 and saw London included together with the top ten teams from the 1994–95 First Division in a 'Centenary League Championship', effectively a "dry run" for Super League. Faced with much stronger opposition, London struggled and finished second from last.

The club moved once more prior to the start of the 1996 inaugural summer season of Super League, this time to south-east London to play at The Valley, home of Charlton Athletic, when eventual owner David Hughes initially became involved with the club. Former Brisbane Broncos coach Tony Currie was appointed to the role of head coach. The team performed far beyond initial expectations and eventually finished a highly creditable fourth, with Greg Barwick the top points scorer for the club. That season also brought the best London home attendances since the first season at Craven Cottage. Tony Rea retired from playing to take up the Chief Executive role at the club.

The club played at the Stoop Memorial Ground during the 1997 season. The second season of Super League saw an improvement in the team's performance, finishing second to the Bradford Bulls. This represents London's best final league position to date. Richard Branson's Virgin Group became the majority shareholders and primary sponsors of the club. Highlights that year included victories at the Stoop over Canberra in the World Club Challenge and comprehensive league victories against Bradford and Wigan.

2006–2011: Harlequins Rugby League

Ian Lenagan became the majority shareholder in the London Broncos in July 2005 and within a week of his arrival, the team was formally renamed "Harlequins Rugby League". Press releases of the time suggested that this would make the combined club "a powerhouse in both codes" according to Mark Evans of the Union club and provide a "very, very strong future for rugby league in the capital" according to Lenagan. The arrangement between the clubs was described as a "long-term partnership".

At the time of the announcement there were many heralded benefits of the two clubs sharing and pooling resources; both clubs were to play at the same ground and have access to the training facilities at the Richardson Evans Playing Fields, Roehampton Vale. In practice, however, there was little or no integration between the rugby codes, no joint player development, and the administrative and commercial resource sharing amounted to the RU club merely allowing the RL club some shared office space.

The sole integration programme appeared to be a combined fund raising lottery – which folded long before the Rugby League club permanently left the Twickenham Stoop – and two "double header" match days. These were in 2006, in which the Union side played first, followed by the League side, but the lengthy two hour gap between fixtures was a deterrent to the Union supporters and the majority had left the ground before the kick-off of the League fixture. Plymouth Albion and Leeds Carnegie were the Union opponents for the Union team whilst the Rugby League team played Huddersfield and St Helens.

On the field, the Harlequins RL club started with an encouraging 8,213 watching the home game against St Helens on 11 February 2006 but a heavy loss was followed by further consecutive home losses against Wakefield and Castleford, before a thumping 0–60 home defeat to Leeds. It was not until the fifth home game in the season that the team won at the Twickenham Stoop against Catalans Dragons in round 9.

Whilst the club started with a goal of 5,500 average home ground attendance by mid 2007. the actual attendance average was around the 3,500 level.

A 38–18 loss against bottom of the table Catalan, who were in their first year in Super League, was followed by a close home defeat to a Wigan team after each team scored. Harlequins were at this point 9th out of 12.

2012–2025: Return to London Broncos

The club announced on 1 November 2011 that it would be returning to the London Broncos name from the 2012 season. In addition, the team unveiled a new logo as well as new colours of black, light blue and silver. On 4 February, London Broncos played their first competitive match against St. Helens since reverting to that name. The game was won by St. Helens 34–24 in front of a 4,924 crowd, which was higher than all of their attendances in the year before. In the match, seven players made their debuts for the club.

In the 2012 season, the Broncos played two home games "on the road" away from the Twickenham Stoop, on 6 June vs Bradford at Leyton Orient FC's Brisbane Road, where they were narrowly beaten 22–29 in front of 2,844 fans, and on 20 June vs Hull F.C. at Gillingham FC's Priestfield Stadium, as recognition for the work Medway Dragons had done in growing rugby league in Kent. The game proved to be popular with 3,930 turning up to watch London narrowly beaten 12–14 by Hull.

Tony Rea was appointed as the club's head coach for a second time in August 2012 taking over from Rob Powell. In 2013, London Broncos used four venues for their home games with the majority being played at the Twickenham Stoop. On 8 June 2013, London once again played a home game at Priestfield Stadium, this time being heavily beaten 82–10 by Warrington in front of 3,041 fans. On 28 March, London had to play a home game at Esher RFC's ground at Molesey Road due to a waterlogged pitch at the Stoop. For the next home game on 6 April, Harlequins RU didn't allow London to use the Stoop due to a Heineken Cup game, forcing them to play Bradford at Adams Park in High Wycombe.

London Broncos had a successful Challenge Cup campaign in 2013, reaching the semi-finals for the first time since their Wembley appearance in 1999. In round 4, London beat part-timers Featherstone Rovers 24–12 and in round 5, defeated Bradford 25–16. In the quarter-finals, London Broncos beat part-timers Sheffield Eagles 29–10 to book a place in the semi-finals. On 27 July, London Broncos' dream of reaching the Wembley final for the second time came emphatically to an end with a televised 0–70 defeat by Wigan, a record score in a Challenge Cup semi-final.

On 29 June 2013, London Broncos announced the loan signing of Australian Jamie Soward until the end of the season. Soward quickly became a fans favourite with a man of the match performance on his debut v Salford (scoring a try and kicking five goals) and received a standing ovation from the crowd despite being defeated 30–44. Soward put in impressive performances in his short venture in England and in 9 games scored 67 points (5 tries, 23 goals, 1 drop goal).

2026: Rebranding and Super League bid

The club was purchased in April 2025 by former Leeds Rhinos CEO Gary Hetherington, who planned to develop a new ownership group for the 2026 season, and reinstate the London Player Academy. Australian sports advisory firm Freshwater Strategy compiled a 110-page strategy and a ten-point plan.

In September 2025, former Brisbane Broncos captain, Darren Lockyer and businessman Grant Wechsel purchased a 90% share of the London Broncos, with the aim of being one of the two new expansion teams for the 2026 Super League. The new consortium is backed by the Brisbane Broncos, rekindling a historic link between the two clubs dating back to the 1990s. Jason Demetriou was appointed head coach for the 2026–2027 seasons, with former head coach Mike Eccles becoming Director of Rugby. The Broncos signed Kangaroos prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Tongan international hooker Siliva Havili.

In October 2025, the club’s application to join the expanded 14-team Super League for the 2026 season was rejected by the IMG independent panel, which was led by Lord Caine and consisted of seven people, with the majority being RFL non-Executive Directors who were tied to, or paid by, the RFL. It could be suggested that this panel merely rubber stamped the top three teams who were not in Super League already as determined by the IMG ratings. Bradford gained a top ten IMG rating despite finishing no higher than third in the Championship, and were picked first, then York and Toulouse, leaving the Broncos to remain in the Betfred Championship League, despite the recent high-profile takeover and recruitment drive.

Following the decision, the club’s ownership group confirmed their commitment to the long-term vision, emphasising that they will compete in the Championship for the 2026 season with the goal of securing a Super League place in the future.

In November 2025, the club moved its training and administrative base to Hazelwood in Sunbury-on-Thames. The facility had been vacated by professional rugby union team London Irish who entered administration in 2023 and whose amateur teams are based at the facility.

The London club won their first match following the takeover 44–12 at home to Widnes on 18 January 2026. A week later, they set a new club record for largest victory in an 86–0 win against Wests Warriors in the Challenge Cup; this was the first time the club played a competitive fixture against another London team. On 8 June, London recorded the biggest win of any side in the top two divisions in the 131-year history of rugby league as they defeated North Wales 134-0.

Stadium

The Broncos have played home matches at numerous different grounds around London since the club's original formation. In 2021 they hoped to move their home ground to Plough Lane stadium in Wimbledon, as tenants of AFC Wimbledon, looking to agree a ten-year lease with break and extension clauses. Until an arrangement to use Plough Lane was reached, the club continued to play at Trailfinders Sports Ground. The Broncos finally began play at Plough Lane in 2022.

Colours and badge

Colours

The original Fulham team wore an all black kit, with a broad white chevron, bordered with red, across the chest. As London Crusaders, the kit used the same colours, but in a variety of designs over the seasons. London Broncos wore red, yellow and blue also in a variety of styles, with red being the predominant colour for the last 5 years of their existence. When the club became known as Harlequins RL they adopted the colours of host rugby union side Harlequins. When the club returned to being known as the London Broncos, the home kit was black with a light blue trim and the reverse for the away kit. In 2015, the London Broncos reverted to their original Fulham colours, much to the approval of long-term fans, with their home kit being predominantly black with a broad white chevron and a red strip bordering the chevron. The away kit is predominantly red with a broad black chevron with white border. For the 2022 season, the club will play in blue and yellow, referencing the traditional colours of their new hosts in Wimbledon. The club have indicated that they will revert to black from 2023.

Badge

As Fulham RLFC, the club utilised the badge of the host football club, which at the time was the emblem of the local administrative borough, Hammersmith and Fulham. The first badge as London Broncos was a red and white crest with a horse's head on the front with London inscripted on the top. This was worn, with some minor adjustments, until 2006 when the club became known as Harlequins RL.

As Harlequins RL, the club crest was the same as that of the host rugby union team. This was used up until 2011.

In 2012, the club reverted to the name London Broncos and created a new crest, based on the original Broncos badge but featuring a horse's head in a modern stylised fashion, depicted in silver and blue.

2026 transfers

2027 transfers

Club officials

Backroom staff

Owners: Darren Lockyer, Grant Weschel

CEO: Gary Hetherington

Football Administrator: Dom Fenton

Head of Community & Player Welfare: John Keyes

Marketing & Commercial: Lynsey Coleman

Coaching staff

Director of Rugby & Performance: Mike Eccles

Head Coach: Jason Demetriou

Assistant Coach: Danny Ward

Head of Youth: Chris Baxter

Academy & Reserves Head Coach: Kieran Robertson

List of head coaches

Up to and including 9 August 2026.

Seasons

Supporters' Player of the Year Awards

The London Broncos Supporters Association (LBSA) inaugurated the Fan's Player and Young Player of the Year awards in 2014, with Matt Cook and Joe Keyes the first winners. The award has been held every year, with the exception of the cancelled 2020 season. In 2022, a Women's Player of the Year was awarded for the first time.

Honours

League

Division 1 / Super League:

Runners up (1): 1997

Division 2 / Championship:

Winners (2): 1982–83, 2023

Runners up (3): 2016, 2017, 2018

League Leaders Shield (1): 2026

Million Pound Game:

Winners (1): 2018

Domestic Cups

Challenge Cup:

Runners up (1): 1999

•1895 Cup:

Winners (1): 2026

Player records

Up to and including 9 August 2026. Current players appear in bold.

Most goals

Of current players, Jimmy Meadows (№ 616) is highest on this list at 13th with 137 goals in 78 games.

Most points

Note: Tries scored before the 1983–84 season were worth 3pts

Of current players, Alex Walker (№ 567) is highest on this list at 11th with 396 points in 202 games.

Hall of Fame

In 2014, the LBSA launched the club's Hall of Fame, and announced seven inaugural inductees. As of 2019, the Hall of Fame has 11 members:

Team records

Up to and including 7 June 2026

Note: The attendance for the match against Trafford Borough on 7 January 1990 is unknown.

Lowest home attendances

Note: This list does not include matches during the COVID-19 affected 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Women's team

In 2021, the London Broncos formed a women's team to take part the inaugural season of the RFL Women's Super League South. In 2022, the Broncos finished the regular season at the top of the table, but lost to Cardiff Demons in the Grand Final. The following season they took the 2023 Women's Super League South title with a 22–10 win over Cardiff in the Grand Final. In 2024, the Super League South became the Southern Women's Championship. On 7 September 2024, London defeated Cardiff 28–8 in the Grand Final of the Southern Championship to qualify for the National Championship final.