The General 'Toronto Wolfpack' Discussion Thread

[CanadianRugger]

1 hour ago, Robin Evans said:

MoK may be a joyous soul.... he certainly appears to irritate the living crapola out of those who have thrown their soul into supporting this project.... which is no bad thing....

However, he's been fairly accurate(ish) on most aspects of this pantomime.

 

A broken clock is still right twice a day!

[RoyBoy295]

2 hours ago, Robin Evans said:

Kayakman advised "fearing the pack"!

I do feel for those who took to the game, vanity project or not. Its fans like me n thee that will feel it.

I sent a carrier pigeon over to his general location advising him to stay in the wilderness a little while longer. 

 

I told him he could eat the pigeon after.

[RobertAM]

There's a number of RL "fans" who think we should go away and form our own North American RL competition. if that were to take place and it was well funded and took off (as soccer did) with decent crowds and a US TV contract in place (and the money that brings) what's to say you wouldn't have the new league attracting top UK talent in a few years time? then you would have both the NRL and NARL poaching players further diluting the UK game. Or maintain the status quo and keep seeing the game contract???

[Robin Evans]

1 minute ago, RobertAM said:

There's a number of RL "fans" who think we should go away and form our own North American RL competition. if that were to take place and it was well funded and took off (as soccer did) with decent crowds and a US TV contract in place (and the money that brings) what's to say you wouldn't have the new league attracting top UK talent in a few years time? then you would have both the NRL and NARL poaching players further diluting the UK game. Or maintain the status quo and keep seeing the game contract???

One would hope that if a North American content RL was inaugurated, that it would eventually have enough players to sustain that league.

Logistically, North America remains difficult to work in perhaps a way that a new club in say Valencia, isn't.

 

 

[FearTheVee]

9 minutes ago, RobertAM said:

There's a number of RL "fans" who think we should go away and form our own North American RL competition. if that were to take place and it was well funded and took off (as soccer did) with decent crowds and a US TV contract in place (and the money that brings) what's to say you wouldn't have the new league attracting top UK talent in a few years time? then you would have both the NRL and NARL poaching players further diluting the UK game. Or maintain the status quo and keep seeing the game contract???

That scenario would be amazingly good news for the game.

About as likely as me swimming the Atlantic though.

[Man of Kent]

3 hours ago, RobertAM said:

what a little ray of sunshine you are!..let's see what Sky want, at the end of the day that's who SL have to take seriously isn't it?

We’re not all dreamers and fools on here. Sorry.

[GUBRATS]

On 06/08/2020 at 13:19, Lowdesert said:

IMHO I think it’s already decided.  SL will stay at 11 clubs.  TWP will be allowed back at Championship level (if they are successfully bought out) and promotion will be 1 team at a time, every year for 3 years under normal promotion.  Then I think it will go another 3 years before review.

So next year is a complete mess , 11 in SL = no magic , 15 in Championship = no summer bash ?

[Lowdesert]

4 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

So next year is a complete mess , 11 in SL = no magic , 15 in Championship = no summer bash ?

Just my guess mate based on what Elstone said and Hudgell.  

Don’t know about the Championship.  I don’t see a change in 2021.

[Smudger06]

4 hours ago, RobertAM said:

what a little ray of sunshine you are!..let's see what Sky want, at the end of the day that's who SL have to take seriously isn't it?

Sky don't want teams dropping out. 

[Robin Evans]

5 minutes ago, Smudger06 said:

Sky don't want teams dropping out. 

This

[silverback]

Yep, its a long haul to the top.pointless dropping out bailed/declared when things get tough.should have had a backup plan in place to look after players and all the well paid staff.

[Tex Evans Thigh]

This 'go and start a north american league' line doesn't wash really does it. I think one of the massive factors in Toronto's initial appeal to locals was the fact they were competing in another country in an established league.

Just setting up a few pro north american teams wouldn't garner anywhere near the same interest, funding and attention. The RU league in America is a joke to be honest and it would no doubt be worse than that. The USARL league is a park comp. A realistic NA league would need teams to be incubated in the European league first until there were enough of them to break away.

[Whippet13]

2 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

We’re not all dreamers and fools on here. Sorry.

If you don't have a dream, how you gonna make a dream come true?

[Man of Kent]

3 minutes ago, Whippet13 said:

If you don't have a dream, how you gonna make a dream come true?

Happy talk.

[RobertAM]

2 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

We’re not all dreamers and fools on here. Sorry.

Plenty of luddites and Little Brits though eh?

[westlondonfan]

Expecting Toronto to succeed was always hope over experience.

This article from Brian Noble from the 18 March 2020 in the Independent  is very interesting.

“I still genuinely think that the Wolfpack was set up to fail,” he said. “Ralph Rimmer wasn’t the RFL CEO when he made the comment on our acceptance that ‘this is the harshest deal I’ve ever seen’.

“He was in a position to change it – a fact I kept reminding him – but there was no will to do something and still isn’t. Maybe that’s because I’m as myopic as all the other clubs with the individual challenges they face.

“But I’m an expansionist too, and you have to give things help to be successful, I don’t care what anyone says.

“The club isn’t seeking favours, just not to be disadvantaged.

“The extreme of that is if it is perceived to have failed, they get relegated from Super League after one season and the ownership group pulls out, what does that say about the sport?

“Are we done with expansion? Is that it then? Is bringing in Ottawa just lipservice? Is there any policy? “

“I could stomach all of it if there were different, known, criteria as you progress through each level – and not just for new teams. There isn’t any of that.

“All the clubs in each division have a say and, if you become a threat, there’s a fear factor in what you’re potentially achieving and you hit a lot of brick walls.

“I just hope that if the Wolfpack was to fail, it wasn’t as a result of restrictions placed on the club that no-one else has had to deal with.

“There are no more difficulties than at any club I’ve been part of, just twice the logistics with two bases and one massive difference – they’ve not taken one penny of central distribution to help out with all that.

“It’s wrong, anti-competitive and discriminatory.”

 

[Man of Kent]

11 minutes ago, RobertAM said:

Plenty of luddites and Little Brits though eh?

I’d be more sympathetic if Toronto didn’t have the appearance of a tax write-off scheme for which there is no further need. 

[RobertAM]

20 minutes ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

This 'go and start a north american league' line doesn't wash really does it. I think one of the massive factors in Toronto's initial appeal to locals was the fact they were competing in another country in an established league.

Just setting up a few pro north american teams wouldn't garner anywhere near the same interest, funding and attention. The RU league in America is a joke to be honest and it would no doubt be worse than that. The USARL league is a park comp. A realistic NA league would need teams to be incubated in the European league first until there were enough of them to break away.

Agree with the first para..a massive attraction to me as an expat was the thu/fri arrival of the heartland teams and their fans descending on Toronto and our neighbourhood bars..we had a whale of a time raising the Hornets and Knights flags over the bar and mixing in the beer garden. I also looked forward to flying into Manchester and heading in for an "away" fixture. It was a brilliant 3 years.

as far as MLR is concerned it is in its infancy but at least they are trying and perhaps you are right - the Wolfpack, Aces and NYRL would maybe have gone thru an incubation period and broken away..would that satisfy the naysayers in the heartlands?  likely we will never know.

[Keith989]

24 minutes ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

This 'go and start a north american league' line doesn't wash really does it. I think one of the massive factors in Toronto's initial appeal to locals was the fact they were competing in another country in an established league.

Just setting up a few pro north american teams wouldn't garner anywhere near the same interest, funding and attention. The RU league in America is a joke to be honest and it would no doubt be worse than that. The USARL league is a park comp. A realistic NA league would need teams to be incubated in the European league first until there were enough of them to break away.

The MLR is most certainly not a joke. The fact their small franchises are already signing players from around the world on multi year pro contracts shows how very serious they are.

I think you're right about teams having to be involved in the European league first and then you could maybe look at a NA comp. I really hope Ottawa get a chance to develop, I've always thought they could be a big success.

[DimmestStar]

No matter how many teams in Super League in 2021 the chances of Magic Weekend taking place must be small.

I'm sure the public of Newcastle wouldn't want thousands of Kirkless, Calderdale & Bradford folk congregating in their city right now. Until there is a vaccine this type of event is not going to happen. IMO.

[Lowdesert]

Not dead yet, it seems.

https://www.torontowolfpack.com/toronto-wolfpack-ownership-update-august-7-2020/

[RobertAM]

6 hours ago, FearTheVee said:

If SL entertain Toronto in any form they want their heads testing.

It's a lame duck, a money pit of a vanity project.

Same could be said of SL, take away the SKY money and most if not every team would fold. That's not a lame duck it's  a dead one.

[Man of Kent]

4 minutes ago, Lowdesert said:

Not dead yet, it seems.

https://www.torontowolfpack.com/toronto-wolfpack-ownership-update-august-7-2020/

“Like ourselves, all potential ownership groups share a genuine appreciation of how a North American team enhances the global attraction of the Betfred Super League.”

Not necessarily in Toronto....

[Scubby]

2 minutes ago, Lowdesert said:

Not dead yet, it seems.

https://www.torontowolfpack.com/toronto-wolfpack-ownership-update-august-7-2020/

Let's hope one of them isn't Feisal Nahaboo  

[Tex Evans Thigh]

1 hour ago, Keith989 said:

The MLR is most certainly not a joke. The fact their small franchises are already signing players from around the world on multi year pro contracts shows how very serious they are.

I think you're right about teams having to be involved in the European league first and then you could maybe look at a NA comp. I really hope Ottawa get a chance to develop, I've always thought they could be a big success.

Ok, well let's agree on the fact that having teams in an established league makes them more appealing, at least to start with. I doubt Toronto would have gotten anywhere near the support had they just started up in a NA league. If you could get 6 teams built up to that kind of level you could start to look at conferences with where there is less need for intercontinental travel.

We're now a long, long way away from that.