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Torontos impact on you


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This isn't a hate or love thread and hopefully doesn't turn into one.

My question is actually sincere and I hope people answer it truthfully as we are separated by an ocean and don't have conversations face to face to find these things out.

As I understand it fans weren't happy with the RFL, SL and the state of the game before TWP was announced so I'm wondering what impact has TWP had on you and your relation to RL?

Has anyone made it out to games for their team or a teams nearby just to see us? Has all the chatter about us gotten people more interested in their clubs again, got them to go to more games?

I'll start,

Hi I'm Krzzystuff and before the Wolfpack I didn't know that rugby league existed!

I just knew union from playing in high school and been to two games at BMO vs the 4th tier All Blacks. Since randomly stumbling across an article on BBC World news I got really intrigued in the concept of the team and started looking for more information on RL.  It actually took a few days to realize it wasn't Union, my coworker is actually from Siddle and was the one who told me the differences when I passed the article along to him. I started listening to many podcasts and watched many YouTube show's (still listen on a weekly basis) and got involved in this RL online community. I dove deep into RL and brought many friends/co workers and acquaintances to games and tried to grow the fan base. Since I was the "expert" in the group I had to explain to the best of my knowledge the differences to everyone as they were confused by what they were seeing at the home opener in the rain. Jake Emmitt provided some fireworks that faithful day with a fight vs. the Oxford boys. I watched the MPG between Salford and Hull KR on YouTube to get a feel for the game at a higher level and watched many of the games in the last world cup and loved it. My favorite part was seeing JT lead the Mate'ma in their Sipi Tau vs NZ and just feeling the electricity in the stadium. I'm extremely excited for the coming season in the promise land of SL and can't wait for all the drama and excitement that it brings. One coming drama is that my oldest will be cheering for the dragons when they play us because ya know, dragons are cooler. RL was the first and is still the only sporting event that I've taken my boys to and I look forward to making it a tradition for us to go to a few games each year. Maybe the old trout, as Sims likes to say, will get me season tickets to take the kids so she can have days to herself...one can hope lol.

I am very thankful that Mr. Perez pursued his crazy dream as it just came true.

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I was going to just lock this and have a bit of a strop at ignoring John Drake’s request but... it’s a valid subject.

Just behave when you’re posting here, and if you can’t respect the original post’s request and structure then simply don’t bother posting as you’ll be wasting your time when I delete it.

"When in deadly danger, when beset by doubt; run in little circles, wave your arms and shout"

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As they haven't entered Super League yet, the impact of me has been almost none.

Apart from a few extra TV games and being pleased to see them draw good crowds.

Give it a few years and they will feel like part of the furniture. Looking forward to seeing some games around Europe next year too if it comes off.

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Not lots actually,  I knew about rugby league as a concept when I was using Google to learn about rugby when I joined my high school union team. And then gave playing it a try 5 years later with the Brantford Broncos, that was early 2015 so well before any news about the Wolfpack. Still like to play and watch union better but I love watching anything with an oval ball, pointy or not.

Now of course it's blown up, lots of people who know I'm into rugby will mention them to me etc. And Lamport is a great day out when I can get there.

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I've not been to Toronto yet but certainly hope to next season.

I was initially very doubtful when rumours of a Toronto team surfaced and couldn't believe it. I was quickly won over when it became apparent that they were the real deal and had the finances and professionalism to make it work. I think most, if not all UK based clubs could learn something from Toronto in their approach and in particular their off field setup and their promotion and marketing.

I genuinely think they've been a real positive for RL and can't wait to see them in Super League because as a club and location it's what Super League should be all about. For me they have certainly been a bright spot over the last 3 years.

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I'm a fan.

I was fortunate enough to visit Lamport when the Bears visited. The whole experience was uplifting.

I went as a guest of the Wolfpack to the "home" game v Halifax at New River last season and had another blast.

Next season, if fixtures permit I will be following them as a supporter. So I will be putting a bum on a seat of a Superleague club that I would not otherwise have attended.

Ron Banks

Midlands Hurricanes and Barrow

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No impact on me at all, though I really wanted them to get promoted and hope they have a big positive impact on the game. However the number of Canadians posting on this forum alone says it all, they are growing the game if not player numbers yet, and that is great to see.

I’ve also bought by 5 year old their shirt yesterday, as did a couple of lads at my work who have no previous interest at all in RL but are interested in TWP now, £10 for kids sizes = bargain ? ?? 

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1 hour ago, ckn said:

I was going to just lock this and have a bit of a strop at ignoring John Drake’s request but... it’s a valid subject.

Just behave when you’re posting here, and if you can’t respect the original post’s request and structure then simply don’t bother posting as you’ll be wasting your time when I delete it.

You must be a real hoot. 

 

I watched London v Toronto in that first League One game in 2017. It wasn’t much of a contest and doesn’t really have an effect on me as I’ve grown up in the Super League era of Paris and Catalans but I think of my Dad growing up in the 60’s-70’s watching Rugby League at your Huyton’s, Bramley’s and the like and his Dad before him who spoke of his Dad following St Helens Recs. it’s beyond imagination for people of a certain generation that this could have ever happened all those years ago at Bramley, Huyton etc. 

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Toronto gave me something to cheer for over here.  I was born and raised over there and after moving to the UK I was excited to be able to go and cheer on my home team regularly.

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It's an odd question in a way, a personal impact?

I suppose like unlike PSG or the Dragons come to that TWP are the mould breakers and game changers.

It was a statement : It didn't just say it all though it shouted it. It said RL was not just a game for strange northerners and mistaken Aussies. It wasn't locked around the the M62 . That TGG was what it said on the tin and what we'd all believed these years. And it gained us more media and a bigger footprint. And people from far away and new to the sport can see what we see when we stand on the terraces.

 

 

2 warning points:kolobok_dirol:  Non-Political

 

 

 

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Frankly, it has re kindled my interest in the game somewhat. Of course, having lived in Canada makes me biased, but I was losing patience with the same old, same old SL fare.

Being able to watch L1 and Championship regularly helped me re-connect with the game at a lower level, which would never have happened otherwise. Clubs were on live TV, sometimes for the first time in decades.

Their rise has encouraged me to get up and support Newcastle Thunder, which I had never done in 12 years of living up here.

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I have enjoyed watching the televised games and I am big supporter of the project, as I have been with Catalan Dragons, but the biggest impact on me is that I can't sort out my holidays for next year until the fixtures come out. Catalan is usually easy to fit in if we want to go, however Toronto, especially the first fixture, will be turned into more of a holiday staying over for a week or more. We usually book our holidays very early and the boss is getting very anxious that we are not organising yet for next year.

 

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Just now, Man of Kent said:

Toronto’s choke last year enabled me to watch Super League in London on a regular basis this year.

I was able to see some of the stars I’ve watched on TV for the past few years in the flesh without having to travel up and down the effing M6.

Thank you, Toronto!

There was rugby in London before Toronto. I am sorry no-one explained that to you before.

"You clearly have never met Bob8 then, he's like a veritable Bryan Ferry of RL." - Johnoco 19 Jul 2014

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As per the Toronto Hate thread: good luck to TWP.

Since 1895 our game has tried to succeed in the heartlands. Success has been limited at best.

Murdoch saved RL in the heartlands in 1995 with an £87 million take it or leave it deal lasting 5 years.

24 years later our game has not succeeded as I hoped that it would in 1995. However a self-financing SL club with hopefully more to follow in new global markets seems the only way to at least maintain or hopefully grow the game which didn't happen in the northern hemisphere heartlands in the first 100 years.

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1 minute ago, Man of Kent said:

Toronto’s choke last year enabled me to watch Super League in London on a regular basis this year.

I was able to see some of the stars I’ve watched on TV for the past few years in the flesh without having to travel up and down the effing M6.

Thank you, Toronto!

I miss London and did as soon as they were relegated. But London could be five clubs all inside the M25 and it wouldn't change much because the bias is too embedded.

 

2 warning points:kolobok_dirol:  Non-Political

 

 

 

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1 minute ago, Oxford said:

I miss London and did as soon as they were relegated. But London could be five clubs all inside the M25 and it wouldn't change much because the bias is too embedded.

 

I’m not sad about it. I took the opportunity to watch Super League in London while I could.

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48 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

Toronto’s choke last year enabled me to watch Super League in London on a regular basis this year.

I was able to see some of the stars I’ve watched on TV for the past few years in the flesh without having to travel up and down the effing M6.

Thank you, Toronto!

I'll take that as a positive impact on your life and it got you to RL games! if were playing any "home" games in London would; you come out?

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For me personally. 

I am very aware of the history of our sport and because of that I defend it at every opportunity but I am also conscious that I have a distrust and a dislike of a certain other sport.

I am not ashamed of this but in some sense this feeling of wariness and defensiveness can hold the sport back.

What Toronto (and other new territories) offer is a clean slate. A chance for the sport to succeed or fail on it's own merits. To showcase our game and players without any baggage.

This is one of the reasons I am so ambitious and enthusiastic about the Toronto experiment. 

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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I've been excited and intrigued by the Toronto project, as I have been by all expansion efforts in my time watching, whether that was London, Gateshead, South Wales, France, NZ, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide etc. 

I'm a fan of anyone wanting to play, watch, support RL and I will always champion them and support their efforts.

I've enjoyed watching what they have been doing, cheered them on to promotion, and I will be keenly watching them next year in SL. 

But the impact ton my life has been no more than that. They are an interesting story in RL circles, they are not the saviour of the sport, as the sport doesn't need a saviour, nor will they kill the game. 

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