Mike Eccles: “Let’s celebrate what we’ve stood for as a club this season - together and fighting.”
Mike Eccles: “Let’s celebrate what we’ve stood for as a club this season - together and fighting.”
Following the final home game of the 2024 Super League season London Broncos Director of Rugby & Performance Mike Eccles has said “it’s been our pleasure to bring Super League back to London”.
With the club destined for a return to The Championship under the current IMG grading criteria, with the numbers introduced at the end of last season following our promotion, it has proven to be a very challenging season on and off the field.
However, despite those challenges the club have enjoyed some fantastic moments; including the clubs biggest home attendance in over a decade for the opening home game against Catalans Dragons, and with just a few games left the team’s performances continue to win admirers.
Speaking after the heartbreaking Golden Point defeat to Leeds Rhinos, Mike Eccles said,
“I was really proud of them. Another game against a very good team that we’ve probably just missed out on there but it’s done now and we have three more to get after it and to try and get off the bottom.
“We still went out on a high. That’s the last time you’ll see London for the foreseeable if things stay as they are (with IMG). It’s been our pleasure to bring Super League back to London.
“We didn’t get the results earlier in the season. At the start it was really hard but I think days like that are amazing. Fantastic crowd, fantastic day out. I think all the fans have enjoyed coming down this season and that was another one of those where they take the points and will be a bit happier - again.
“It wasn’t a low to go out on, it wasn’t a great game, there were a lot of errors but it was a highly entertaining game.”
Looking back on the year as a whole Mike believes the club has made great progress and can look back on some memorable moments,
“The highlights of the year here in Wimbledon were obviously the victories against Hull FC and Catalans. Outside of on-field performance, I also look back fondly at round 1 against Catalans. We were bested on the field that day, but off the field, to see over five thousand people in the ground on a freezing cold Friday evening in February was magic. Eighteen months earlier we were fighting relegation in the championship, yet there we were hosting Super League rugby with our biggest crowd in over a decade.
“Irrelevant of the result today, let’s celebrate what we’ve stood for as a club this season- together and fighting.
Going forward, with the impending relegation, it has been confirmed that a number of the current first-team players will be moving on. However, Mike Eccles says it a situation he has reluctantly come to terms with;
“I’m over that bit now. I’ve been at this club a long time, not just in this position but in different guises and this happens. It’s frustrating.
“Until you’re in Super League and you’re on 15 (IMG) points and you can guarantee it, then it’s always going to be hard. We were always going to be fighting them off (other clubs) from the very start but I’m over that side of it now.
“I just wanted to see it out with a good performance and it was a reasonable performance, nearly got the win but I just think it was a great event either way.”
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