The Chief Executive of the London Broncos has called for the club to be absorbed by their landlords, Charlton Athletic. The Broncos’ poor end to the season has seen them miss out on the Super League play-offs and Lionel Hurst says it is time for a rethink about their future. The Chief Executive of the London Broncos has called for the club to be absorbed by their landlords, Charlton Athletic. The Broncos’ poor end to the season has seen them miss out on the Super League play-offs and Lionel Hurst says it is time for a rethink about their future.
“Maybe the club should become Charlton Athletic Rugby League Club,” he said.

“At one time I would have been horror-stricken at losing the London from our name, but we have got to do what is best for the game at large. I have analysed the early days of the club, as Fulham, and asked why it was that in 1980 it could draw five-figure crowds. Was it because the Fulham people perceived it as part of their club?”If I could see the club fully embraced by Charlton Athletic, I would happily stand down tomorrow.”Hurst’s idea for a rebranding of a club that has struggled to draw decent crowds either to The Valley or its previous home at The Stoop is part of a root-and-branch reassessment of its future direction.Although Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group are valued backers, Hurst believes that the Broncos need their own, more hands-on administration. “It needs a major restructuring and to be based on British players.

The balance is wrong at the moment and the club needs to start producing local talent.”Several of the club’s large Australian colony have been told that they will not be offered new contracts for next season and Leigh are rumoured to want London’s Super League spot.The Broncos’ captain, Richie Barnett, has hinted that uncertainty about the future has affected the team’s recent performances, culminating in a home defeat by the bottom club, Huddersfield, on Sunday.”I can see it is something which might prey on the players’ minds,” said Hurst. “But there are things here that need putting right.”The former Broncos, Widnes and Wigan winger, Martin Offiah, is set to return to London to play for Wasps when his contract at Salford runs out at the end of the season, with his old team-mate, Shaun Edwards, now on Wasps’ coaching staff, acting as the middle man.Offiah told rugby : “I spoke to Shaun and told him that I was looking for a chance to move back to London. Shaun told me Wasps haven’t got much cover in the outside backs.”A 20,000-signature petition deploring rugby league’s treatment by the national press is to be presented to Parliament. “The Independent is one of the exceptions, but we object to the constant trashing of our chosen sport,” said the organiser, Ray Gent, from Billinge.Brett Mullins, whose first year of a two-year contract at Leeds has been plagued by injury, is to leave at the end of this season. Castleford have made changes to their coaching staff, with Dean Sampson, who has just agreed a new, one-year playing contract, put in charge of the Alliance team.