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Rugby League Needs to Move Quickly in the Americas


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RL needs to gets its act together period. We are getting our a#s* handed to us by union worldwide both domestic and international and before people say but what about the NRL and their $1 billion contract and RL being the #1 sport in PNG I'm talking overall.

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The RFL isn't doing anything in the Americas. If Toronto hadn't approached the RFL with a cashed up plan they wouldn't have given a stuff.

Or, you could see it as they didn't have a workable toehold for North America and as soon as they did, they acted. The question is now can Rugby League capitalise on it.

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Or, you could see it as they didn't have a workable toehold for North America and as soon as they did, they acted. The question is now can Rugby League capitalise on it.

 

No surprise to see the onion lot try and thwart any RL international development. When we go toe to toe, they lose so they'll be trying their best to spike our guns so that they don't have to.

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No surprise to see the onion lot try and thwart any RL international development. When we go toe to toe, they lose so they'll be trying their best to spike our guns so that they don't have to.

 

Did USAR or Rugby Canada do something? I don't think I've heard of them thwarting anything.

 

TBH I don't think this is anything than the Pro12 eyeing up American cash the same as anyone else. Aviva Prem hosted a match in NY, Ireland is playing NZ there... I'd be very surprised if the Wolfpack was a factor at all in this.

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I agree with Lionel Hurst's original post. We need to get a move on if we are to be successful, bercause rugby union is hot on our heels. We have to have a successful Canadian product in the shop window as soon as possible to win over Canadian sports fans.

 

With Toulouse certain to be in the Championship next season, and Toronto soon to be running rampant through League One, we should be thinking about follow up sooner rather than later. The Toulouse - Toronto model of promotion will, I hope, see Toulouse in Super League in 2018 and Toronto knocking on the SL door at the end of that same year. So if we want to build on Toronto's likely success we need to have our next step in the planning stage thought out now. Toronto's organisational entrepreneur Eric Perez has spoken with confidence of a Montreal venture to follow Toronto. The RFL needs to make clear that it would welcome a bid from that wonderful city. That would give a huge boost to the game in eastern Canada. And the RFL should be thinking about luring a future bid from Vancouver to follow Montreal.

 

For any of this to be viable there needs to be recruitment of Canadian and American players, because the supply of English and Australian/New Zealand players will not suffice to fill new expansion teams. Thus we must look to the current recruitment program of Toronto to see if there can be enough north American players to build further. But the RFL must do its part by openly welcoming the concept of new expansion teams. The Canadian entrepreneurs and their sponsors will then surely appear.

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With Toulouse certain to be in the Championship next season, and Toronto soon to be running rampant through League One, we should be thinking about follow up sooner rather than later. The Toulouse - Toronto model of promotion will, I hope, see Toulouse in Super League in 2018 and Toronto knocking on the SL door at the end of that same year.

 

For any of this to be viable there needs to be recruitment of Canadian and American players, because the supply of English and Australian/New Zealand players will not suffice to fill new expansion teams. Thus we must look to the current recruitment program of Toronto to see if there can be enough north American players to build further. But the RFL must do its part by openly welcoming the concept of new expansion teams. The Canadian entrepreneurs and their sponsors will then surely appear.

 

Just highlighted a couple of points in this post.

 

Firstly, there is absolutely no guarantee Toulouse are going to achieve promotion to SL at the first attempt. There would be a far bigger chance IF promotion was automatic but they'll have to go through the Middle 8s process playing against SL sides in order to be promoted. That is a huge task with no guarantee of success. The same applies to Toronto if they follow the same path.

 

The second point is about the recruitment of Canadian and American players to be a success. I'd be interested to hear Canabull's comments here but from my experience, the Toronto Bluejays have been a big success recently in baseball and only about 4/5 are actually Canadians; the rest of Americans. This is a good example that you don't need to be littered with locals to be a success in other parts of the world. Toronto isn't the M62 corridor; it is a major multinational city and we shouldn't hold them to our own mentality.

 

The real issue here for me is if our processes for developing the sport are fit for purpose?! 

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Just highlighted a couple of points in this post.

 

Firstly, there is absolutely no guarantee Toulouse are going to achieve promotion to SL at the first attempt. There would be a far bigger chance IF promotion was automatic but they'll have to go through the Middle 8s process playing against SL sides in order to be promoted. That is a huge task with no guarantee of success. The same applies to Toronto if they follow the same path.

 

The second point is about the recruitment of Canadian and American players to be a success. I'd be interested to hear Canabull's comments here but from my experience, the Toronto Bluejays have been a big success recently in baseball and only about 4/5 are actually Canadians; the rest of Americans. This is a good example that you don't need to be littered with locals to be a success in other parts of the world. Toronto isn't the M62 corridor; it is a major multinational city and we shouldn't hold them to our own mentality.

 

The real issue here for me is if our processes for developing the sport are fit for purpose?! 

 

The difference between the Blue Jays and the Wolfpack is thoough that while yes there are only a handful of players from canada on the team, at any given time there are a number of canadiens playing throughout the league, meaning baseball is a major part of Canadian sporting culture, thus the Blue Jays dont need a predominately canadian team to win over the country.

 

The Wolfpack on the other hand, if they don't develop canadian talent and rely solely on players from traditional RL countries, run the risk of being viewed simply as a foreign sport by the general population.

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RU have every right to expand where they want and have far bigger foundations in Canada to grow from. They also have the advantage of the Pro12 and the US league being closed shops, and thus free to welcome a new team into their league without having to start at the bottom of the pyramid.

We desperately need new interest in our sport, and Eric Perez seems to have the understanding, vision and backers to make it work. But everyone in RL here needs to back him, as there could be a pro Union team in Toronto before the Wolfpack make it to SL.

In terms of the RFL having been reactive as opposed to pro-active, I would argue that should be the case, as their responsibility is to the UK game. They have entered them in the UK structure at no ones expense and seem to have done their due diligence.

If teams are to be added from outside the UK then they need to follow a similar route. Interestingly RL Ireland have suggested recently they are 'knocking on that door'.

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A lot of the Jays players are Cuban or Dominican as well, in addition to Americans. Leagues tend to be full of whatever nationalities are good at a given sport. the NHL is 40-50% Canadian, NBA largely American. The CFL has player quotas on how many Canadians need to be on the game day roster and starting (21 out of 44 on the roster, and 7 of 24 starters) and the rest are American (with the odd Aussie or something here and there)

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In terms of North American recruitment, http://lasttacklemedia.com/ is a show detailing the search across major North American cities to find just that; they tour Toronto, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Kingston Jamaica, Philadelphia, Chicago, Tampa/Daytona & Vancouver.  As long as there are some Canadians in the squad and are seen in the media, the city will back them.

 

I don’t think anyone doubts the surplus of talented athletes in the USA, Canada and Jamaica, it remains to be seen if they can absorb the exponential learning curve.  I personally don’t see much trouble with transitioning some front rowers or perhaps the wings in one to two years, but it will take much longer to produce second rowers and loose forwards and longer still for stand-offs, scrum halves and hookers.  I won’t mention full backs because those weirdos are born to it. ;)

 

My own main concern is for grass roots development over here, and has been since Perez started the Wolverines in 2010.  Perez has always advocated the top down approach, which certainly does have its merits and it suited his style but the domestic game, particularly in Ontario stuttered this year because of the lack of depth, new blood just hasn’t been drawn through in enough numbers.  I haven’t seen anything in terms of development outside the TV show but that being said, grass roots is the remit of Canada Rugby League Association not Toronto Wolfpack; I would hazard that Perez’ view is that the Wolfpack will be big enough to draw existing players to it and not require them to be going out looking for people long term.

 

I will definitely be supporting the Wolfpack and the increase in exposure for rugby league, but real Canadian development will be through the efforts of the volunteers of CRLA, it remains to be seen if the Wolfpack will want to be included in those efforts.

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While it seems they did struggle for players, I keep hearing more and more talk about guys playing or being interested in playing. I think four guys from my club played for Broncos this year, with two playing Wolverines and two playing for Ontario or u19. I think the junior and rep teams will help pull in guys. One guy said to me "I don't even like league as much, but I made Team Ontario so what the hell, let's go for it".

 

Back to the original topic, I really doubt Pro12 puts a team in Toronto. There is a lot of competition in TO,  and I don't know that there are enough rugby fans to support both. Having almost totally opposite schedules helps, but Pro 12 playing through the winter just won't really work here. Even if they could afford it the dome is off limits now with the dirt infield.

 

There's a far more likely chance of ProRugby being in Toronto next spring, although the longer they wait to announce teams for next year the bigger jump Wolfpack has on them. Pro will have two advantages, the first being that union is what 95% of rugby fans in the city will know, and the second is that they'll be in a North American league playing known American cities. I'm assuming they'll be playing at one of the universities since I doubt Wolfpack would allow the option for other rugby in their deal at Lamport. That might be a difference maker as Lamport is near a bunch of bars, and being not far from BMO Field people are used to travelling to the area.  

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One thing RL in Canada could have going for it compared to Union is there is far less competition to host interntional tournaments. Whilst Canada could play the odd interntional against a big team, it wouldn't be a major tournament. There has been plenty of discussion on here about the feasibility of hosting a Inter-Continental Cup group in Canada in 2019. That would give the sport and the Wolfpack a big boost. Whilst it would take someone very dynamic like Eric Perez to pull it off, if Union are setting up pro clubs, I'm sure e could be engaged to set up a Confed Cup to give the Woldpack a competitive advantage

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I think it boils down to one thing: the neutral fan.

 

Regardless of code, it’s the crowds which are needed.  The article mentions Union ‘dwarfing’ the League internationals in recent games, which undoubtedly they have, however that has only been for the last three or four years.  Prior to that, when I used to watch Canada in the Churchill Cup, they were lucky to draw 3,000.  Now Rugby Canada pours money into promotion at an expensive location, BMO Field, and charge accordingly.

 

Will Pro Club Rugby Union draw as much?  Possibly.  Union over here is like Union used to be in the UK, crowds in the tens and occasionally hundreds at club games, but thousands at internationals.  However, Pro12 doesn’t have a Perez over here though, a Canadian passionate about Canada.

 

This is where I feel that the success of the Rugby 7’s at the Olympics is of benefit more to Rugby League in emerging markets.  The neutral has been introduced to a fast, simple to understand, free flowing type of rugby and when it comes down to it, Rugby League is more in line with that expectation.

 

In regard to youth rugby league, this year there has been a marked increase in games, and I agree that participation is on the up.  The touch rugby competitions in Toronto are also starting to find players.  Rugby League is fortunate to have a couple of clubs like Brantford and Burlington which don’t penalize players for playing rugby league when they step up to full age play.

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http://theprovince.com/sports/rugby/american-pro-rugby-mogul-hopes-to-add-vancouver-team

 

There's a bit more about the Pro Rugby here.  Sounds like a reasonable plan for them, not trying to do too much too soon, though it does seem Toronto isn't the main priority yet, Vancouver is, which gives the Wolfpack a bit of a head start.

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Wouldn't like to say either way really, the general impression from my own dealings is that Union is quietly hoping League will die off with the current crop of players; I don't think anyone from the Union will want a League v Union thing going on primarily because it will give legitimacy to League and Canada being Canada they tend to champion the underdog.

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Wouldn't like to say either way really, the general impression from my own dealings is that Union is quietly hoping League will die off with the current crop of players; I don't think anyone from the Union will want a League v Union thing going on primarily because it will give legitimacy to League and Canada being Canada they tend to champion the underdog.

 

That sounds like a pretty fair take on what they're thinking. "Pretend there isn't a problem" is a pretty standard way of operating for Rugby Canada, lol.

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It's going to be interesting to see the response on the success of the Wolfpack; with the names on board so far it's going to be a high standard compared to what Canada is used to.

 

Whilst there have been small pockets of interference against rugby league at club level, and provincially in one instance I know of, they aren't things which are law court provable.  I do know that the success of the Wolverines has been brought up more than once at Rugby Ontario, so whether that will become a more organised 'resistance' in future we'll have to wait and see.  Up to now it's been a case of what is expected for rugby league in a new market and is met more with wry smiles than outrage.

 

Personally I've had enough of the Union/League fight and I'd rather it wasn't part of the Canadian Rugby League narrative in the future, we're better than that.  Unless, of course, there is an event here which leaves no choice.

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