New York City & Dublin to join the league?

[jim_57]

37 minutes ago, ojx said:

Forget Ireland, they are already tainted by the preconceived notions that Union has sold.

If New York & Toronto are on board, you have two of the top three North American cities with teams, a great basis for growth. With Montreal in 2019. Things are looking up. The New World is the where the game can grow.

Thing is if any of these teams eventuate they will be a product of where somebody wants to invest the money, not where the RFL choose. If someone in Dublin can get the backing then very best of luck to them, copy and paste that sentiment for any potential consortium in any potential city within striking distance.

[JoneslessBishop]

DoubleD, just occurred to me that since Michael O,Leary such a racing fan, maybe Dr Koukash is the map to contact him and bring us RyanAir RL?

[Southerner80]

15 hours ago, Spidey said:

2k a match is more than plenty of Championship & League One clubs. I'd say that a Dublin club would be beneficial to the game as it could increase the player pool if there was a player pathway 

You have a point. I'm just thinking 2,000 would be a gate for a winning team. What if they struggle? 

It would be good to see RL grow in Ireland but I'm not hopeful. Maybe I'm negative. I just feel it's very hard to start a grassroots sports culture.

Dublin does have money and tourists love it, so there is maybe potential for a team. How long this would hold interest for I'm not sure though. As novelty can wear off after a few years at most.... 

It's sad that the likes of Serbia where there is clear grass roots interest, don't have money or much potential to make money so hard for them to move forwards... 

[JoneslessBishop]

There does seem to be a bit of money washing around Belgrade, and the fact that they have linked into the Red Star sporting organization must give them some traction and profile. However, not sure Serbia would be a high priority, but the current model is bidders coming to the RFL, so if a bid came in, would be interesting to see how it might progress 

[Bob8]

The Serbian economy is terrible.  The potential is not there.

Any place with money and population has the potential.  There are many, many such places.  What it would need is financial backing and an excellent management team.  That is very rare.

Until such a management team and backing emerge, as they have in Toronto, this is all pointless.  

At the moment, the best chance of such a team emerging is Montreal.  New York and Dublin are rather distant. 

[Roryfellinghamwebb]

On 7/31/2017 at 1:06 PM, Plan of Attack said:

I think the LAST thing league 1 needs in anymore American/Canadian teams, what all these posters  calling for them don't seem to realise is the players in league 1 and most of the championship are PART time and have to use holidays to play in these matches , Barrow Raiders for example have to go to Toronto for a SECOND time in one season and I can imagine them struggling to raise a team , after all  if you weres would you want to waste all your holidays to do this and I can imagine if more american/.canadian clubs join the league 1 teams just turning round and saying ' we are not going as we cannot get a team up as our players have no holidays left'

If I had to take 2 days off for a trip to Toronto to play rugby with my mates, then I wouldn't call it wasting holidays. If I went twice and had to take 4 days of my 25 days entitlement throughout the year, would I take them? For 2 all inclusive transatlantic trips to Toronto? errrrrrr without question. Or I could say I refuse to go as my wife wants us to go to Mablethorpe that weekend. *no offence to Mablethorpe intended     *well, maybe a little

The holiday excuse is imo hot air and 99% of rugby players would jump at the chance to go on tour with the boys. Once or Twice. 

The New York franchise is apparently in very advanced talks. Having discussed the idea, apparently part of the attraction of New York is (other than the multi-billion dollar industries) that there are over 20 000 aussies living in Central New York and 75 000 in the surrounding area and another massive chunk of Kiwi's. So, the base fans crying out for Rugby League is already there and attracting crowds of 10 000 would, I am told, not be as difficult as Toronto. It's also only an hour and a half flight from Toronto. Ooooh this could be the start of the M62 corridor of North America....

It would be interesting to know, as previously mentioned by someone, whether the application has in fact been accepted by the RFL as 2019 was been mooted as the joining year. 

 

[yipyee]

On 28/07/2017 at 0:49 PM, londonrlfan said:

If they were targeting Ireland, Bray would be a better shout than Dublin as there would be less competition. Although I believe GAA goes on over the summer, so where would they target fan and players? From what I've seen, Irish union fans aren't very complimentary towards league, so they might not be the best target. This is why I think Belfast would be better. 

Is someone targeting ireland or are ireland targeting league1!!

This is something that confuses a lot of RL fans!! 

Initially the RFL did target areas for growth but now it's more AD hoc when there is local interest.

Also the RFL do appear to be making sure ducks are in a row before allowing a club in.

Coventry had to wait and prove their worth

Manchester are having to wait and box tick...

Toulouse and Toronto had to give guarantees around travel etc...

The RFL are trying their best to implement good practice and all the above appear to be thriving! 

Any failures will now be down to bad decision making rather than any RFL fit for purpose testing!

[yipyee]

45 minutes ago, Roryfellinghamwebb said:

If I had to take 2 days off for a trip to Toronto to play rugby with my mates, then I wouldn't call it wasting holidays. If I went twice and had to take 4 days of my 25 days entitlement throughout the year, would I take them? For 2 all inclusive transatlantic trips to Toronto? errrrrrr without question. Or I could say I refuse to go as my wife wants us to go to Mablethorpe that weekend. *no offence to Mablethorpe intended     *well, maybe a little

The holiday excuse is imo hot air and 99% of rugby players would jump at the chance to go on tour with the boys. Once or Twice. 

The New York franchise is apparently in very advanced talks. Having discussed the idea, apparently part of the attraction of New York is (other than the multi-billion dollar industries) that there are over 20 000 aussies living in Central New York and 75 000 in the surrounding area and another massive chunk of Kiwi's. So, the base fans crying out for Rugby League is already there and attracting crowds of 10 000 would, I am told, not be as difficult as Toronto. It's also only an hour and a half flight from Toronto. Ooooh this could be the start of the M62 corridor of North America....

It would be interesting to know, as previously mentioned by someone, whether the application has in fact been accepted by the RFL as 2019 was been mooted as the joining year. 

 

How many amateur teams go on tour for a pre season/ end of season jollies??

Has anyone asked the players ??

[Tre Cool]

How many of 100k Aussies and Kiwis would automatically support an RL team? For a start half of aus and most of nz are in places that don't have much rl.  And not everyone from the places that do have it actually follow it enough to go watch it every week.  Sure NY might work but not by relying on the oz and kiwi community that's for sure. There's a load more than 100k in London and hardly any went to watch Broncos in their SL days.

[ojx]

4 hours ago, Tre Cool said:

How many of 100k Aussies and Kiwis would automatically support an RL team? For a start half of aus and most of nz are in places that don't have much rl.  And not everyone from the places that do have it actually follow it enough to go watch it every week.  Sure NY might work but not by relying on the oz and kiwi community that's for sure. There's a load more than 100k in London and hardly any went to watch Broncos in their SL days.

I don't think you can rely on Aussie expats. They need to follow the Toronto model and build the team based on the support of young professionals, expats and interested RU fans.

Also, they must have a downtown stadium. The Wolfpack wouldn't work if they were based in the burbs.

[Plan of Attack]

5 hours ago, Roryfellinghamwebb said:

If I had to take 2 days off for a trip to Toronto to play rugby with my mates, then I wouldn't call it wasting holidays. If I went twice and had to take 4 days of my 25 days entitlement throughout the year, would I take them? For 2 all inclusive transatlantic trips to Toronto? errrrrrr without question. Or I could say I refuse to go as my wife wants us to go to Mablethorpe that weekend. *no offence to Mablethorpe intended     *well, maybe a little

The holiday excuse is imo hot air and 99% of rugby players would jump at the chance to go on tour with the boys. Once or Twice. 

The New York franchise is apparently in very advanced talks. Having discussed the idea, apparently part of the attraction of New York is (other than the multi-billion dollar industries) that there are over 20 000 aussies living in Central New York and 75 000 in the surrounding area and another massive chunk of Kiwi's. So, the base fans crying out for Rugby League is already there and attracting crowds of 10 000 would, I am told, not be as difficult as Toronto. It's also only an hour and a half flight from Toronto. Ooooh this could be the start of the M62 corridor of North America....

It would be interesting to know, as previously mentioned by someone, whether the application has in fact been accepted by the RFL as 2019 was been mooted as the joining year. 

 

For your information the barrow players had to use FOUR days last time and probably the same this time and if you are in a job where you only get 10 floating days then it IS an issue. you try telling your partner you cannot go on a family holiday because some d***head in the RFL makes you play the same team TWICE away... In farness why dont Toronto come to Barrow for this match? and NO we don't want a second overseas team as the fans just cant afford this sort of shenanigans each year

 

[ojx]

On 8/1/2017 at 5:48 PM, Plan of Attack said:

For your information the barrow players had to use FOUR days last time and probably the same this time and if you are in a job where you only get 10 floating days then it IS an issue. you try telling your partner you cannot go on a family holiday because some d***head in the RFL makes you play the same team TWICE away... In farness why dont Toronto come to Barrow for this match? and NO we don't want a second overseas team as the fans just cant afford this sort of shenanigans each year

 

Barrow winge-ers are back at it. Why not join the NCL and be done with it?

[londonrlfan]

5 hours ago, yipyee said:

Is someone targeting ireland or are ireland targeting league1!!

This is something that confuses a lot of RL fans!! 

Initially the RFL did target areas for growth but now it's more AD hoc when there is local interest.

Also the RFL do appear to be making sure ducks are in a row before allowing a club in.

Coventry had to wait and prove their worth

Manchester are having to wait and box tick...

Toulouse and Toronto had to give guarantees around travel etc...

The RFL are trying their best to implement good practice and all the above appear to be thriving! 

Any failures will now be down to bad decision making rather than any RFL fit for purpose testing!

Personally I think Ireland is a waste of time. They're not interested and there's too much RL hatred ingrained in them to make it work. Plus it's a 4 million population and GAA, soccer and union to compete with. Just because union is popular in a country, it doesn't mean we have to have teams there. Canada, USA and France should be development targets. 

[londonrlfan]

On 31/07/2017 at 1:06 PM, Plan of Attack said:

I think the LAST thing league 1 needs in anymore American/Canadian teams, what all these posters  calling for them don't seem to realise is the players in league 1 and most of the championship are PART time and have to use holidays to play in these matches , Barrow Raiders for example have to go to Toronto for a SECOND time in one season and I can imagine them struggling to raise a team , after all  if you weres would you want to waste all your holidays to do this and I can imagine if more american/.canadian clubs join the league 1 teams just turning round and saying ' we are not going as we cannot get a team up as our players have no holidays left'

I get your point, but you'd be complaining that it's unfair on 'traditional' clubs if they went straight into the Championship/SL. It may be lost on you, but Toronto have put a lot of money into clubs' coffers at that level so far with significantly bigger crowds for their visit. 

[londonrlfan]

On 31/07/2017 at 2:42 PM, TheReaper said:

The answer to that is hell yes, to me anyway.

Free trip to Toronto or bargain basement holiday in Magaluf? Tough choice, not. 

[Tre Cool]

It is unreasonable to expect non pros to take 4+ days holiday a year to play abroad.  If you get 20 days a year and you have kids it's too much.  It was wrong in lots of ways to put them in a "semi pro" league but the rfl had no choice and couldn't win either way. 

[Wellsy4HullFC]

27 minutes ago, Plan of Attack said:

For your information the barrow players had to use FOUR days last time and probably the same this time and if you are in a job where you only get 10 floating days then it IS an issue. you try telling your partner you cannot go on a family holiday because some d***head in the RFL makes you play the same team TWICE away... In farness why dont Toronto come to Barrow for this match? and NO we don't want a second overseas team as the fans just cant afford this sort of shenanigans each year

What can't the fans afford? No one is expecting them to travel to Canada.

[Wellsy4HullFC]

1 minute ago, Tre Cool said:

It is unreasonable to expect non pros to take 4+ days holiday a year to play abroad.  If you get 20 days a year and you have kids it's too much.  It was wrong in lots of ways to put them in a "semi pro" league but the rfl had no choice and couldn't win either way. 

Weren't the players surveyed about this before and the vast majority liked the idea? I'm sure I read that somewhere.

[londonrlfan]

Just now, Wellsy4HullFC said:

What can't the fans afford? No one is expecting them to travel to Canada.

Because apparently Toronto won't be able to attract any crowds themselves and are entirely reliant on away fans or something. Each to their own, but I'm far more excited about going to Toronto away than Featherstone away (no disrespect). I'd definitely be up for it next season if Toronto go up. 

[The Daddy]

6 minutes ago, Tre Cool said:

It is unreasonable to expect non pros to take 4+ days holiday a year to play abroad.  If you get 20 days a year and you have kids it's too much.  It was wrong in lots of ways to put them in a "semi pro" league but the rfl had no choice and couldn't win either way. 

No it's not, if they don't like it they have the option if playing in the national conference league. 

[Tre Cool]

4 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

No it's not, if they don't like it they have the option if playing in the national conference league. 

Look im massively pro Toronto but as a father of young kids the idea of working a full time job, training evenings, playing weekends AND using a quarter of my annual holiday for travelling to away games is too much.  Equally you don't want to discourage ambitious semi pro players from being in the pro leagues.

[Bazzer]

I hope enough teams in north America and Canada join our british league and all the top teams at the moment have to be relegated to championship league. All you so called supporters of expansion will soon cry enough is enough. As long as your team is not threatened you are OK with whatever is put forward as good for the game.

[Niels]

1 hour ago, Plan of Attack said:

For your information the barrow players had to use FOUR days last time and probably the same this time and if you are in a job where you only get 10 floating days then it IS an issue. you try telling your partner you cannot go on a family holiday because some d***head in the RFL makes you play the same team TWICE away... In farness why dont Toronto come to Barrow for this match? and NO we don't want a second overseas team as the fans just cant afford this sort of shenanigans each year

 

I think you have made some sensible points. It is easy to be enthusiastic on a keyboard about taking holiday days twice a year to travel to Toronto. However the practicality is very different- the novelty soon wears off, especially after a bad experience etc. The very people enthusing about this would soon start complaining when they had less days to take for family time or sickness of a child or if they had to go at an inconvenient time.

It is also unfair of people to take the easy option and criticise Barrow without takIng into consideration all the difficulties. People who work know how precious holiday days are, esoecially parents, and I think we should appreciate the sacrifices involved. 

I do think Dublin might be a success. In Gaelic football they are the best supported team and they do bring a lot of supporters to away games. 

[GUBRATS]

7 hours ago, Bazzer said:

I hope enough teams in north America and Canada join our british league and all the top teams at the moment have to be relegated to championship league. All you so called supporters of expansion will soon cry enough is enough. As long as your team is not threatened you are OK with whatever is put forward as good for the game.

A point made on the other expansion threads , but often ignored 

Everybody wants expansion , as long as they ( club usually ) are part of it 

[GUBRATS]

7 hours ago, Bazzer said:

I hope enough teams in north America and Canada join our british league and all the top teams at the moment have to be relegated to championship league. All you so called supporters of expansion will soon cry enough is enough. As long as your team is not threatened you are OK with whatever is put forward as good for the game.

A point made on the other expansion threads , but often ignored 

Everybody wants expansion , as long as they ( club usually ) are part of it