If teams end up relegated or in the MPG because they lost away at Toronto with a weakened team it doesn't reflect well on a "fair" competition. What would be the outcry if Toronto won SL/League Leaders Shield because they had a great home record against consistently weakened teams. It isn't a fair concept.

People can quote Greg Bird etc, but whilst he is with Catalans he can play away from home in the UK.

Agreed it is down to the Canadian immigration system, but surely a Canadian team should be in a Canadian/North America competition, not a European one?

So it’s not right to discriminate against a couple of individuals who made a choice that got them in trouble but it’s fine to discriminate against a whole club, it’s players, coaches, management, staff, fans because of visa rules they have no say in.

Quite hypocritical.

All the people involved in one club get punished because some guys act like idiots and get in trouble with the law.

Its amazing how many thugs from Australia end up playing over her, especially when there immigration is much more strict than ours, i have a cousin over there went over when he was 4 years old, had several run ins with the law when he was in teens early 20's, he has been denied Australian citizen ship, he has never been out of Australia as he has no passport and can only get a British one, but he thinks if he leaves the county he wont be allowed back, despite living over there for over 50 years. But that's the tolerant open land of Australia for you.

The visa rules aren't set by Toronto or the RFL. It's not their problem.

It is what it is. I hope all our players can get into Canada, but we've put up with things worse than this before.

Part of the issue is that the heightened 'excitement' (i.e. tension) around the middle 8s, means that everything is magnified. Suspensions and injuries - your own and your rivals, marginal refereeing decisions and so on. For a fourth year in a row, our whole season is crammed into about two months. It's intense and intensely unpleasant.

In contrast, as nice as it was to break our losing streak in the derby, it did just feel like a decent end to a looooooooong pre-season.

I've nothing against this system, in principle - but goodness, as a Hull KR fan I'm sick of the sight of it.

Try Googling "Windrush generation".

The grown ups at Hull KR signed Todd Carney for the qualifiers, well aware of his startling history and two previous refusals at the UK border. He is signed July 7, when HKR are well aware they will be in the qualifiers and very likely playing in Toronto. He arrives in the UK on July 22 or thereabouts and, amazingly, is admitted. Hull KR presumably used lawyers to persuade the UK border chaps that Carney was a reformed character or whatever. There isn't much time to get Carney processed for the trip to Toronto. All hands on deck. And yet the Hull Daily Mail, in a story full of speculation and no direct quotes, starts stirring the pot: how dreadful it is that three players may have to miss a day's training!

Here's another take: with only days or weeks notice, the Canadian High Commission has made its staff available to conduct personal interviews for three Hull KR players, including a very recent signing who really should not be allowed into Canada given his long-standing criminal history. Canada bends over backwards to help and the Hull Daily Mail has managed to turn it into a criticism.

If Carney is refused admission to Canada, and he should be, then the whingeing will be deafening and expect all kinds of hellfire on Toronto, the Wolfpack, the RFL, the league, expansion, na na na na na.

But if that's what happens, the blame lies with Hull KR for signing this dodgy bag of tricks in the first place, if they actually expected to take him to Toronto. I hope this wind up is just an attempt by the Hull Daily Mail to sell papers and not the official position of the club.

You know what we like in Toronto? For all clubs to show up happy, with a full squad, and a management that views the trip as a positive.

But these contracted guys who act like idiots and get in trouble who can play for against at least 30+other clubs but can't play against Toronto, it just doesn't wash from my perspective.

People voted for Brexit because they wanted to 'control the borders' so we didn't get 'criminals from other countries' coming here. Now when Canada does the same thing you want to cry about it. lol

hey as a Leeds fan in the 4 years its been going we have been either champions twice or in the middle 8's its a system

The OP is totally misleading, the issues are nothing to do with Toronto. Opponents’ actual or perceived difficulties are with the system not the club or the competition.

Whats Brexit got to do with it, the problem is quite fundamental, certain players are restricted in playing against one particular club, that is not a fair competition.

What it has to do is that people traveling to different countries need to do different things to get into those countries. This is how the world works. If you want an open borders policy or visa-free travel to Canada then write to the Home Office and ask them to negotiate it, or lobby your local MP.

relating to the article quoted by the OP, it is perhaps worth noting that it is not supported by any recent quote from Hull KR. Also, for those unfamiliar with the local KuH rugby bubble, James Smailes is big fan of Hull F.C. and his coverage of Hull KR is not always universally acclaimed by fans of the red and whites.