“Ontario will be your next rugby league hotbed”

[Total Rugby League]

“When I have a vision, **** actually happens, so pay attention when I have a vision.” It’s hard to disagree with Perez on that. He...

View the full article

[Eddie]

Such a positive article, and saying what so many of us want to hear (about a Canadian academy and local teams / league). I’m amazed none of this forums contributors have found anything negative to say about it though, possibly why there are no other comments so far. 

[Mr Plow]

Super League/ RFL should be looking at targeting the South of France, Newcastle and Ontario/ East coast for expansion

[Man of Kent]

Talk is cheap.

[TIWIT]

16 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

Talk is cheap.

And actions speak louder than words.

I'd put the 2 teams Perez has helped establish against the words of an anonymous poster on a forum any day (even if that's all I am too).

 

[silverback]

If ontario is the next hotbed rugby league,who was the last one?

[Manfred Mann]

1 hour ago, Mr Plow said:

Super League/ RFL should be looking at targeting the South of France, Newcastle and Ontario/ East coast for expansion

The RFL are already targeting Newcastle, and the Thunder is moving ahead in leaps and bounds -- especially after its recent victory over Championship club Dewsbury in the Challenge Cup.

The RFL's commitment to the south of France is a question mark, though if Toulouse get promoted to Super League in 2021 (hopefully not at the expense of Toronto) playing in the same competition as Catalans, it will make the south of France a huge expansion area for rugby league. Having Toulouse and Catalans in SUper League together will grow the game exponentially in the south of France. If that happens I predict that a third French club (hopefully Avignon) will shortly afterwards make a bid to enter the RFL rugby league structure, and then a lucrative TV deal could be imminent.

Ottawa and New York City increasingly look like they are going to become actual expansion clubs, thus making Ontario and the US east coast genuine expansion areas.

[Eddie]

10 minutes ago, silverback said:

If ontario is the next hotbed rugby league,who was the last one?

Take your pick from NSW, Queensland, South Lancashire, West and East Yorkshire and West Cumbria. 

[langpark]

That was a really great read and fills but with optimism!  But.... at the same time, one thing is troubling me.  He seems to be in conflict with himself in his vision for the Ottawa club.  He says he wants to go for an organic approach, then right after that, says he wants to reach championship within 2 years and admits that there probably won't be any Canadians in the team (and that it's ok, because in Canada all their sporting teams are filled with imports, and very few Canadians).

So, without local players, it will never become an actual hotbed.  It can still be successful (in a Melbourne Storm way), but not in a 'hotbed' way.

[Damien]

A great article. Perez in setting up 2 professional RL teams has already done more for the game than the vast majority.

[The Great Dane]

34 minutes ago, langpark said:

That was a really great read and fills but with optimism!  But.... at the same time, one thing is troubling me.  He seems to be in conflict with himself in his vision for the Ottawa club.  He says he wants to go for an organic approach, then right after that, says he wants to reach championship within 2 years and admits that there probably won't be any Canadians in the team (and that it's ok, because in Canada all their sporting teams are filled with imports, and very few Canadians).

So, without local players, it will never become an actual hotbed.  It can still be successful (in a Melbourne Storm way), but not in a 'hotbed' way.

In a place like Ottawa (or just Canada in general) where RL is basically unheard of, if they aren't reasonably successful then they won't draw any attention, if they don't draw any attention they'll very quickly die, and then they'll never produce any players.

Besides, there aren't any sources of Canadian players of a high enough standard to play for them anyway, so for the time being it's basically impossible for them to meet your ridiculous purity test.

[Chanter]

When Toronto start producing home grown talent and a grass roots league., then maybe ill get exited about expansionism 

[ojx]

34 minutes ago, Chanter said:

When Toronto start producing home grown talent and a grass roots league., then maybe ill get exited about expansionism 

Agreed. 

TWP and Aces should at least set up a joint academy. It could do a couple of tours to the UK each summer, and have an invitational tournament in Canada for UK academies. In terms of players, they would have to feed off young Union players because that is what is played in schools. I think many RL fans would appreciate such an effort, me included.

[Oldbear]

A joint academy would not be that difficult to do, and finding players for it not that hard either, but it would cost $$$ and that might end up being the stumbling block, is Mr Argyle and the owners of Ottawa willing to inject a large lump sum when there won’t be a quick payback?

[Eddie]

6 hours ago, Chanter said:

When Toronto start producing home grown talent and a grass roots league., then maybe ill get exited about expansionism 

You should let Argyle and Perez know. 

[Man of Kent]

8 hours ago, langpark said:

That was a really great read and fills but with optimism!  But.... at the same time, one thing is troubling me.  He seems to be in conflict with himself in his vision for the Ottawa club.  He says he wants to go for an organic approach, then right after that, says he wants to reach championship within 2 years and admits that there probably won't be any Canadians in the team (and that it's ok, because in Canada all their sporting teams are filled with imports, and very few Canadians).

So, without local players, it will never become an actual hotbed.  It can still be successful (in a Melbourne Storm way), but not in a 'hotbed' way.

Yep, we heard this kind of talk before from Perez.

Fool me once....

 

[RayCee]

Toronto were in a hurry to get into SL so they couldn’t use local players. The point I got from Eric Perez is if they hang around in the Championship without pressuring themselves about SL, they can introduce a few Canadian players. If that costs them some competitiveness, so be it. Of course, even those local players will be a challenge  to find unless some sort of structure and pathway is put in place.

[Lowdesert]

8 hours ago, SL17 said:

Academies are a pathway to first team RL. They don't tour. A Canadian equivalent of BARLA is what they should be striving for.

Of course Academies tour.  Just depends on where & when they want to tour.

Canada would need an amount of amateur teams to form anything like BARLA, as that is who they represent.

[Hela Wigmen]

The North East will have, likely, raised a smile at this. 

[Tommygilf]

2 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

Yep, we heard this kind of talk before from Perez.

Fool me once....

 

To be fair I think a lot of this depends on the coach. Perez has consistently been open minded about Canadians and their prospects but has also been consistent that the coach picks the playing squad. The Rowley recruitment method was clearly to go with players he'd worked with before - perhaps the vision of the squad could be what Perez begins his coaching interviews with.

[Tonka]

This shouldn't really lead to a row.  It will take at least a generation to seed a team or multiple teams in North America.  It might fail, it might succeed.  But if it succeeds, it could take the sport to the place it wants to be i.e. with genuine global reach and competition outside the UK, Oz some bits of France and NZ and pacific islands.  It is better to try this and fail than not to try.  

[ckn]

Moderating note:

5 posts removed.

I seriously don't get how some people haven't done themselves a mischief given how angry they get over anyone more than a couple of miles from the M62 playing out sport. Give it a break for a while. Pretty please!

[langpark]

12 hours ago, The Great Dane said:

In a place like Ottawa (or just Canada in general) where RL is basically unheard of, if they aren't reasonably successful then they won't draw any attention, if they don't draw any attention they'll very quickly die, and then they'll never produce any players.

Besides, there aren't any sources of Canadian players of a high enough standard to play for them anyway, so for the time being it's basically impossible for them to meet your ridiculous purity test.

Fair enough, which is why my only gripe with that whole article is the part where he says they are going for the 'organic' approach.  Just don't say it, especially if you contradict it only a few sentences later.

[Oldbear]

It’s interesting again that Perez is highlighting Ontario whilst making no mention of British Columbia. BC happens to be the rugby union bedrock of Canada and the talent produced by BC would be much greater than Ontario, so is Perez deliberately staying away from BC to avoid upsetting Rugby Canada, or does he think it would too expensive to recruit BC players into an academy, or what?

[mrfranco]

8 minutes ago, Oldbear said:

It’s interesting again that Perez is highlighting Ontario whilst making no mention of British Columbia. BC happens to be the rugby union bedrock of Canada and the talent produced by BC would be much greater than Ontario, so is Perez deliberately staying away from BC to avoid upsetting Rugby Canada, or does he think it would too expensive to recruit BC players into an academy, or what?

Or he just doesn't think Ottawa can stretch its brand and/or resources that far...