At YPT we’ve done a whole heap of guides on how to watch football in weirder locations, such as Cambodia, Japan and North Korea, as well as Rugby League in Papua New Guinea!
But, you may ask why a guide about watching Rugby League in London? Well, in part it is because Rugby League in London is a bit niche and secondly because we had one of our nerds go to a match.
Click to read about watching Rugby League in Papua New Guinea.
Table of Contents
What is Rugby League in London?
For those not in the know, Rugby League is one of the two main forms of rugby, with the other being Rugby Union. The game is played with 13 players a side, rather than 15, and each team gets six tackles before possession changes. This generally makes it a faster and more open game than Rugby Union. Rugby League is particularly popular in northern England, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, where it is the national sport. One might even go further and say it is the “working mans sport”, so very YPT.
When it comes to London, though, Rugby League has never really taken off in the same way. The city’s main professional club is the London Broncos, who were founded in 1980 as Fulham RLFC and have spent much of their history moving between grounds and divisions. Despite this they remain the only professional Rugby League club in London and the south of England, making them the obvious choice if you fancy watching the sport while in the south.
Step 1 – Get a Ticket for the London Broncos
So, as stated, the London Broncos are the only game in town when it comes to pro Rugby League in the south, save for the lower league London Scholars and a team in the Midlands. The Midlands does not count as the south. The Broncos play at different stadiums, but one of their main ones currently is Ebbsfleet. This is in Gravesend, Kent, which kind of negates a guide about watching in London, but hey, it’s close enough.
Tickets, unlike for Beijing Guoan, can be bought on the gate or online and for the match against Hunslet cost around the $15 mark. Not expensive nor cheap. Matches against better opposition, for example they are playing Doncaster next, cost a little bit more. After watching the last whitewash I can actually see why this is the case.
How to Get to Ebbsfleet
The London Broncos currently play at the Kuflink Stadium, Stonebridge Road, Northfleet, Gravesend, Kent, DA11 9GN.
If you’re driving, the ground is easily reached from the A2 and M25, with parking available around the stadium. By train, the easiest option is to travel to Ebbsfleet International, which has high-speed services from London St Pancras. From there it is around a 20-25 minute walk to the ground, while Northfleet station is also within walking distance.
Step 2 – Buying a London Broncos Shirt
Buying a London Broncos shirt is obviously optional, but if you go watch any sporting event, for me at least, this is part of the fun. There’s no club shop here per se, but they do have a dude selling hats and shirts. They are, though, not particularly cheap. Here a hat, shirt combo set me back over $110. Still I have baller Rugby League and football shirt collection.
Step 3 – Food and Beer
While certain locations like China, Cambodia and North Korea are a little scant when it comes to food, beer and sport, others like Japan and, well, Rugby League in London are all about it. There’s an epic food truck here that deals in burgers, hot dogs and chips. We universally went for the “Dirty Dogs”, which were $12+ a piece. Not great value, but decent food.
And then there is the beer element. Again, at places like China, Cambodia, or even PNG, beer is banned at the match. Not with Rugby League in London though, where you can not only buy beer, but also drink it while watching the match. We cannot even do that with soccer in the UK as football hooligans basically ruined it for everyone in the 80’s. Bastards!!!
Step 4 – Watch the Broncos!
OK, so the stadium is a very simple non-league affair with you basically being eye to eye with the players. This only works if you have any knowledge about the sport of Rugby League. Now to the match! I’ll ignore the adolescent cheerleaders at the start and go to the game itself. London Broncos have been taken over by people with serious money and now have all the best players.
This means that they are now 16-0 in their league and won this match 78-12, I think. Honestly, at these numbers it is hardly worth keeping score. Unlike football, this is more like watching bullying than a team that are just good. Their hope is that they are allowed to join the premier competition that is the Super League. I sincerely hope that this happens or people will get bored quickly.
So, Is It Worth Watching Rugby League in London?
If you already have a penchant for Rugby League then this is a great day out, save for the fact that the game was a foregone conclusion. In fact it is so cheap and welcoming that it is even worth the trip if you fancy a wee bit of a change. I mean, take away the shirt I didn’t need to buy and even with transport it didn’t touch $40.
Doing so would also be a great intro if you fancy watching Rugby League in your travels, with YPT having previously arranged to watch games in PNG. This is something we certainly plan to do again when the country gets its own franchise in the NRL.
.Click to see our Papua New Guinea Tours.
