Toronto v Halifax venue

[Krzzystuff]

not sure how recent this update is as i haven't checked the official page for a while but states that May 5th is the first game at Lamport. Also shows us playing Toulouse at magic weekend

[Krzzystuff]

3 minutes ago, Evil Homer said:

This is your own fault, it was clearly stated on multiple occasions not to arrange travel for this specific fixture until the venue was confirmed.

this is most likely a troll post. TWP and the potentially affected teams all notified fans not to book as you mentioned and this is the first post for AS

[Blind side johnny]

3 hours ago, Evil Homer said:

Yep, seems like Perez has left the club and since then there's been nothing but misinformation, confusion and things going wrong. Even the Twitter account seems to have lost the plot, they spent all of November asking for charity donations which is about the worst way to engage with an audience and I think actually lost followers.

Is that correct - has Perez left and, if so, why?

[Evil Homer]

10 minutes ago, Blind side johnny said:

Is that correct - has Perez left and, if so, why?

The implication in his latest interviews (two months ago now) was that he was no longer directly involved with the Wolfpack and was putting all his efforts into establishing a new team or teams. It's around the time of the SLGF when he said expanding RL was his 'life force', AFAIK we haven't heard anything at all from him since then and things seem to have slipped including the huge confusion over home fixtures and scheduling, no RLWC TV coverage in Canada, weakened TWP social media presence, last year's captain and player of the year inexplicably leaving the club etc. All not major issues by themselves but put them together and it's a little concerning considering how tight and smooth everything was running prior to this.

[Antony Stansfield]

This was a genuine post. I take the RFL site to be the "bible" on fixtures, no where on there site have a seen that the game in April was in any doubt. In fact there still advertising it now on there website as taking place on April 28th in Toronto @1630local time and 2030 UK time. Thought the idea of the RFL or indeed any organisation publishing a fixture list, is so people can plan work, family commitments, budgets etc round dates published, but obviousley I must be wrong. Yes it was my first pos on this site,t after my first E mail to the RFL about the same matter.

[Krzzystuff]

28 minutes ago, Evil Homer said:

The implication in his latest interviews (two months ago now) was that he was no longer directly involved with the Wolfpack and was putting all his efforts into establishing a new team or teams. It's around the time of the SLGF when he said expanding RL was his 'life force', AFAIK we haven't heard anything at all from him since then and things seem to have slipped including the huge confusion over home fixtures and scheduling, no RLWC TV coverage in Canada, weakened TWP social media presence, last year's captain and player of the year inexplicably leaving the club etc. All not major issues by themselves but put them together and it's a little concerning considering how tight and smooth everything was running prior to this.

OR

1. No one picked up the rights for the RLWC in Canada because the game times were horrible and it's a sport that is just starting here, Perez doesn't actually own a TV network so not his fault unfortunately. 
2. Being away from family was too much for Craig Hall and he requested to leave, he has young kids
3. Its the offseason and there is less stuff to talk about on social media. Still mentioned all the WC games for both men and women and ran contests for fan interactions...again in offseaon

Perez was the driving force for getting the team started yes. But he set people in place to run the team as that's not his forte, all those people are still running the team and were getting new players, new sponsors and are opening magic weekend while playing in the championship...hardly going backwards.

Lastly Perez mentioned in all those interviews that TWP is his team and always will be so while he is trying to spread RL in NA (like he said he would from the get go) he will always be a part of the TWP and won't be resigning as CEO.

But hey who like facts and all that eh?

[CanadianRugger]

6 hours ago, westside said:

Change your avatar to that terrible Ontario Arrows logo then. Threat level from them = 0.

Lol, credible post bud.  You clearly are so well informed on the Canadian Rugby scene 

Huge fan of the Wolfpack here but don't think there isn't a threat from an upstart Union side in the GTA.  

[Krzzystuff]

14 hours ago, Antony Stansfield said:

This was a genuine post. I take the RFL site to be the "bible" on fixtures, no where on there site have a seen that the game in April was in any doubt. In fact there still advertising it now on there website as taking place on April 28th in Toronto @1630local time and 2030 UK time. Thought the idea of the RFL or indeed any organisation publishing a fixture list, is so people can plan work, family commitments, budgets etc round dates published, but obviousley I must be wrong. Yes it was my first pos on this site,t after my first E mail to the RFL about the same matter.

Sooo you ignore all news from your team telling you not to book something because its not confirmed and might change and put your money on the line?

[Evil Homer]

15 minutes ago, Krzzystuff said:

OR

1. No one picked up the right for the RLWC in Canada because the game time are horrible and it's  sport that is just starting here, Perez doesn't actually own a TV network so not his fault unfortunately. 
2. Being away from family was too much for Craig hall and he requested to leave, he has young kids
3. Its the offs season and there is less stuff to talk about on social media. Still mentioned all the WC games for both men and women and ran contests for fan interactions...again in offseaon

Perez was the driving force for getting the team started yes. But he set people in place to run the team as that's not his forte, all those people are still running the team and were getting new players, new sponsors and are opening magic weekend while playing in the championship...hardly going backwards.

Lastly Perez mentioned in all those interviews that TWP is his team and always will be so while he is trying to spread RL in NA (like he said he would from the get go) he will always be a part of the TWP and won't be resigning as CEO.

But hey who like fact and all that eh?

Never remotely said things were going backwards, there are just a few minor issues that when you add them all together are enough for me to be a little concerned about, any type of instability or confusion in term of organization is really bad for expansion teams. I've been following RL in Canada longer than you, the last RLWC had TV coverage there and last off-season seemed to have a much more positive vibe with much clearer and better communication, which may be partly down to the fact that it was a new thing. But the off-field success this year was mainly based on the watertight running and presentation of the club, and I would hate to see those standards slip. I thought Perez stated that he no longer had any direct involvement and Martin Vickers was now the CEO but might be wrong.

[manu266]

Ok, if Eric Perez is still there, his silence is deafening! Where is he? Watching the Ashes in Perth?

I hope he really is still there, there is still a TV deal to get and without him we will end-up on that crazy FloRugby website like the RLWC Canadian coverage.

Eric! Eric! Eric!...

[Kayakman]

13 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

I dont think they are insurmountable either, but there is a point where the risk+effort/reward ratio goes too far to the negative.

I get that its not ideal but there a lot of ideas here that are A) risky, B ) difficult, and C) will have little tangible reward.  I agree that in principle if they can go to the Rogers Centre or BMO Field fairly easily and could make the numbers work, even to the point of a small loss it would be a good solution.

But as i have said, they have to be available at what is relatively short notice, they have to be financially appropriate and not only that they have a lot of organising to do to get it done in a relatively short space of time. Its ok thinking they had 6 or 7 months until the game is played, but in reality, they are probably needing to be confirming things now with Halifax and the RFL.

Then we get in to the idea of taking games to places like Montreal, which sounds great in theory, and if they could pull it off, brilliant, but its no small ask. Its not a little thing. Its not something that can be done ad-hoc. Its equivalent to Leeds taking a game to Antwerp or Versailles, people suggesting Halifax Nova Scotia like its not a massive logistical challenge. Its 1600km from Toronto to Halifax NS. That would be like Leeds taking a game to Zagreb or Reykjavik.

It seems to me to by the typical RL habit of wildly oscillating between garbage and perfection, feast and famine, heaven and hell. Not everything is brilliant or terrible, Not everything is a sign of the game imminent domination or its impending apocalypse.

Exactly.

[westside]

39 minutes ago, CanadianRugger said:

Lol, credible post bud.  You clearly are so well informed on the Canadian Rugby scene 

Huge fan of the Wolfpack here but don't think there isn't a threat from an upstart Union side in the GTA.  

Cmon man... this Arrows outfit is supposed to play games all over the province and they are going to gain traction? Don't think so. TWP beat them to the punch and they are playing catchup at this point.

[Lounge Room Lizard]

I dont expect Toronto or any club not to make mistakes along the way. However Toronto have had months to find a venue in Toronto (or another part of Canada/USA). They knew atleast a couple of months ago there could be issues with the first Home Game or even more. Information from the Toronto Wolfpack recently, has been slow. The way the Club is doing things seems to be poor and clearly some Canadian fans are annoyed on a few issues.

Then to take away 2 Massive games against two of your biggest rivals for a Top 4 Spot and play them in the UK, is further black mark for the Club. These are all small things that are building up that could hurt the Wolfpack and their reputation in Toronto and North America. Some people are rightly annoyed or even angry about how the Wolfpack are doing things.

Maybe it would be good for Toronto to make a statement on why they have decided to take both the Halifax and Toulouse games away from Canada and what exactly the plans are for other games. The more people hear nothing, the more chance of wild speculation and damage to the Toronto Wolfpack product.

[westside]

1 hour ago, Evil Homer said:

The implication in his latest interviews (two months ago now) was that he was no longer directly involved with the Wolfpack and was putting all his efforts into establishing a new team or teams. It's around the time of the SLGF when he said expanding RL was his 'life force', AFAIK we haven't heard anything at all from him since then and things seem to have slipped including the huge confusion over home fixtures and scheduling, no RLWC TV coverage in Canada, weakened TWP social media presence, last year's captain and player of the year inexplicably leaving the club etc. All not major issues by themselves but put them together and it's a little concerning considering how tight and smooth everything was running prior to this.

So basically you drew your own conclusions and ran with it. Not cool to spread disinformation.

[CanadianRugger]

2 minutes ago, westside said:

Cmon man... this Arrows outfit is supposed to play games all over the province and they are going to gain traction? Don't think so. TWP beat them to the punch and they are playing catchup at this point.

They are playing an exhibition series this year.  My guess is in 2019, we see them playing out a fixed venue in either Toronto or Hamilton.  They are also not controlled by the Provincial Union or Rugby Canada which is a big deal.

I think the Wolfpack are great, I'm now a League fan but I've been a Rugby Union man all my life (not by choice but it was the only thing available).  The Wolfpack need to be careful is all I'm saying.

[TheReaper]

11 minutes ago, CanadianRugger said:

They are playing an exhibition series this year.  My guess is in 2019, we see them playing out a fixed venue in either Toronto or Hamilton.  They are also not controlled by the Provincial Union or Rugby Canada which is a big deal.

I think the Wolfpack are great, I'm now a League fan but I've been a Rugby Union man all my life (not by choice but it was the only thing available).  The Wolfpack need to be careful is all I'm saying.

This is think is the biggest thing going for them in terms of potential success. If RO or RC was in charge I'd bet on them playing a year or two at Fletcher's then folding, if they ever got that far.

Wolfpack do have a huge advantage from being first in. If the two Canadian teams had joined PRO Rugby, giving it the stability to have a 2017 season, things would have gone very differently in Toronto this year. TWP have made excellent use of their first year in getting totally non-rugby sports fans aware of it. With the Arrows on their heels they'll need to work on staying ahead, as much as the Arrows will have to work to catch up. To that end I think a team in Hamilton would be the most effective in locking up Southern Ontario as a RL market (at the pro level). Especially if they were in the same league (not likely unless the RFL does a complete 180 and starts putting well-enough-funded teams straight into SL).

Edit: Also I'm quite sure Arrows will be in the GTA come 2019- no one would be dumb enough to stick the CN Tower on a logo and try to play in Hamilton.

[Whippet13]

https://www.torontowolfpack.com/2017/12/11/last-chance-enter-leader-pack-co

Admittedly not high profile glamour, though I think it's a great idea and obviously plan to enter the whippet, but to me this shows they seem to be continuing their positive and innovative approach. From a quick look at the website and Twitter, TW don't seem any more or less active to me than they were 12 months ago, although I don't know how off season N.A. sports culture works so no idea if that's good or bad. I am however also disappointed they are playing some home games in the UK, especially the Toulose match, though perhaps the RFL could have planned that better. Overall, to me TW were a huge breath of fresh air and the positive story for RL in 2017 and I hope that continues, good luck to them in 2018.

[manu266]

Just received a newsletter from TWP. Not a bloody word about the Halifax game. Either Halifax has overreacted and the game is still tbc in Canada or TWP is really taking us for idiots. I want to leave them the benefit of the doubt for now, but they better be careful on this, in Quebec we never forget...

Ce silence est assourdissant! Je m'en souviendrai!

Eric where are you???

[Captain Survival]

As is typical for me, I am hitting the forum late in the day, and after wading through this thread and all the melodrama I am glad I missed all the in-between!

I honestly feel like I just dived into a pool of teenage angst.

@Krzzystuff hit the nail on the head.  The stadium is owned by the city.  And TWP is almost certainly waiting on the city to update them.  Have any of you ever had dealings with a city bureaucracy? Particularly a large one?  And you all expect TWP to focus on this thread (only 15 hrs old now as of my time of writing) and turn said bureaucracy over in order to provide you an answer on this life or death matter?  Really?

The thing about being Canadian besides the fact we say "sorry" a lot is that governments, particularly municipal governments can never be seen to be doing anything special or any favours for anyone, especially a team that is owned by a very wealthy individual, or all the left wing politicians on city council will start screaming about the homeless, and the LQBT community discrimination, and all the other causes for the poor, misunderstood or maligned who are being given the shortshift in favour of a gazallionaire,  yada yada yada.  So Wolfpack, and the powers that be in the city that might be inclined or responsible for the work at the field all have to tread very carefully - think walking on eggshells in attempting any "progressive" (or even "definitive") work schedule for the field.

When TWP guaranteed 10 home games out of a schedule of 12 the fact they would have 2 games in May moved overseas was not on anyone's radar to my best knowledge.  So should they have said no?  Likely their thought was exactly the same as mine - give all the season's ticket holders free entry into the first playoff game, or some other in-kind compensation.  I doubt many of the seasons ticket holders care quite frankly.  The tickets are beyond cheap as it is.

I suggest kicking your feet up and having a drink, and giving the team a day or three to await feedback from the city, who almost certainly has not even signed a contract with anyone yet to actually undertake the work, if my past experience with the city on work projects is any barometer of how this is progressing.   The current mayor is actually very good, but this is a multibillion dollar bureaucracy, and it is not responsive on the drop of a dime.

Angst vomited, now feeling better.....

[manu266]

1 hour ago, Captain Survival said:

As is typical for me, I am hitting the forum late in the day, and after wading through this thread and all the melodrama I am glad I missed all the in-between!

I honestly feel like I just dived into a pool of teenage angst.

@Krzzystuff hit the nail on the head.  The stadium is owned by the city.  And TWP is almost certainly waiting on the city to update them.  Have any of you ever had dealings with a city bureaucracy? Particularly a large one?  And you all expect TWP to focus on this thread (only 15 hrs old now as of my time of writing) and turn said bureaucracy over in order to provide you an answer on this life or death matter?  Really?

The thing about being Canadian besides the fact we say "sorry" a lot is that governments, particularly municipal governments can never be seen to be doing anything special or any favours for anyone, especially a team that is owned by a very wealthy individual, or all the left wing politicians on city council will start screaming about the homeless, and the LQBT community discrimination, and all the other causes for the poor, misunderstood or maligned who are being given the shortshift in favour of a gazallionaire,  yada yada yada.  So Wolfpack, and the powers that be in the city that might be inclined or responsible for the work at the field all have to tread very carefully - think walking on eggshells in attempting any "progressive" (or even "definitive") work schedule for the field.

When TWP guaranteed 10 home games out of a schedule of 12 the fact they would have 2 games in May moved overseas was not on anyone's radar to my best knowledge.  So should they have said no?  Likely their thought was exactly the same as mine - give all the season's ticket holders free entry into the first playoff game, or some other in-kind compensation.  I doubt many of the seasons ticket holders care quite frankly.  The tickets are beyond cheap as it is.

I suggest kicking your feet up and having a drink, and giving the team a day or three to await feedback from the city, who almost certainly has not even signed a contract with anyone yet to actually undertake the work, if my past experience with the city on work projects is any barometer of how this is progressing.   The current mayor is actually very good, but this is a multibillion dollar bureaucracy, and it is not responsive on the drop of a dime.

Angst vomited, now feeling better.....

Captain, I don't follow you. It's probably my fault, it's Friday night, I had 5 pints of flat English ale and a couple of Beaujolais Nouveau, so my English is very limited right now.

We all were made aware of the city plan and timeline not thanks to our dearest Wolfpack organization but by a Metro article that I had the kindness to share with you. I'm pretty sure our dearest Wolfpack gang knew about the whole plan way before us and could anticipate the problems. As soon as we knew, we made a lot of valid suggestions of taking the games somewhere else in the GTA, Hamilton, Ottawa, Montreal... anywhere in Eastern Canada, and our dearest Wolfpack crew confirmed that the games would take place in Canada. 

I'm not mad because the City of Toronto is not able to make Lamport Stadium available for a pro RL team in April, I'm mad because we have no explanation from our dearest team as to why our valid suggestions were rejected or not considered! And because they broke their promise. What I want to hear from our dearest pack is "well Hamilton stadium was not available because they have a dome to let kids play winter soccer, Varsity was available be we had safety concerns with a 5000+ crowd, Montreal is too far from Toronto and Air Transat is already solid in this market so not interested..." anything explaining why we lost the home opener, guaranteed to be played in Canada 40 days ago.

Now the old Metro article mentionned that the work could take 5 to 6 weeks, but according to this

the May 5 game will take place at Lamport. So did the city and the team reached an agreement to speed up the works? So the city doesn't seem to be the problem (gosh I'm defending Toronto Politicians here, really had too much English ale tonight) despite what you are saying about bureaucracy and leftist priorities...

Ale vomited, feeling much better now.

[Bullish Giant Rhino]

Does anyone know when the pitch renovations at Lamport are due to be finished? I had read an article on it but can't seem to find it now.

[Kayakman]

7 hours ago, manu266 said:

Captain, I don't follow you. It's probably my fault, it's Friday night, I had 5 pints of flat English ale and a couple of Beaujolais Nouveau, so my English is very limited right now.

We all were made aware of the city plan and timeline not thanks to our dearest Wolfpack organization but by a Metro article that I had the kindness to share with you. I'm pretty sure our dearest Wolfpack gang knew about the whole plan way before us and could anticipate the problems. As soon as we knew, we made a lot of valid suggestions of taking the games somewhere else in the GTA, Hamilton, Ottawa, Montreal... anywhere in Eastern Canada, and our dearest Wolfpack crew confirmed that the games would take place in Canada. 

I'm not mad because the City of Toronto is not able to make Lamport Stadium available for a pro RL team in April, I'm mad because we have no explanation from our dearest team as to why our valid suggestions were rejected or not considered! And because they broke their promise. What I want to hear from our dearest pack is "well Hamilton stadium was not available because they have a dome to let kids play winter soccer, Varsity was available be we had safety concerns with a 5000+ crowd, Montreal is too far from Toronto and Air Transat is already solid in this market so not interested..." anything explaining why we lost the home opener, guaranteed to be played in Canada 40 days ago.

Now the old Metro article mentionned that the work could take 5 to 6 weeks, but according to this

the May 5 game will take place at Lamport. So did the city and the team reached an agreement to speed up the works? So the city doesn't seem to be the problem (gosh I'm defending Toronto Politicians here, really had too much English ale tonight) despite what you are saying about bureaucracy and leftist priorities...

Ale vomited, feeling much better now.

Listen I've been through this before with the Screech...relax man...relax...close your eyes now...it will all seem better in the morning with a good night sleep...patience is a virtue.!

[manu266]

London Skolars' New River Stadium cited by League Express as a possible venue, no other information as to why we cannot not play that one in Canada. The move still not confirmed by the RFL or the Wolfpack...

In the same article Paul Rowley dismisses Magic Weekend move criticism and claims of preferential treatment. 

Eric, where are you???

 

[ojx]

53 minutes ago, manu266 said:

London Skolars' New River Stadium cited by League Express as a possible venue, no other information as to why we cannot not play that one in Canada. The move still not confirmed by the RFL or the Wolfpack...

In the same article Paul Rowley dismisses Magic Weekend move criticism and claims of preferential treatment. 

Eric, where are you???

 

Why play in a small stadium in London? It makes no sense, just use Varsity stadium in Toronto, or even push the boat out at give it a go at BMO.

[Wolford6]

Odsal is the obvious alternative. I presume the Wolfpack still train at Brighouse?