The whole nonsense is a mess. If Torontans (?), New Yorkers and/or Bostonians want RL, let them grow it. They won't. It's all a sham move to fill the back pockets of certain administrators - embarrassing laughing (all the way to the bank) stock - to expand a little on daft Kev's opening.

Leigh visit the "Lampoon" stadium next week. Will they also be barracked in student accommodation as so many other teams have been? Those classy Trannies apply the agreed rules to the letter though nowhere near the spirit. Another Big Nige Buttock Up (Sorry, couldn't find a buttercup - though there'd be no need to hold one under said man's chinsssssss).

Magic Weekend over there. Nope! Time for the Rimmer to pull his whatever out and find his replacement.

Good (late) evening, Zools. Glad that Bongser's wisdom is beginning to be understood and generally accepted.

Curiously, most other teams haven't had problems getting work visas for Canada. Barrow stands out as having this problem on two out of three visits. Dewsbury also had a spot of bother earlier this month. Getting a work visa isn't difficult if you plan ahead of time and if applicants are straightforward about any possible, er, restrictions. Wolfpack even provide a local immigration consultant to assist away teams.

At this point in the season, it's pretty easy to identify which SL teams will be in the Qualifiers. Those teams should be starting the visa application now.

Its cokey, not Roy. Please learn who is actually posting

Thanks for pointing that out... worst grammatical crime going.

There is always potential that 2,3 or even more players, some of which may be key to be denied travel if they have any sort of criminal record.

Will be interesting to see if any Clubs fall foul & are forced to send a weakened side & possibly lose as a result come the 8's

It was never fair/realistic to have part time clubs having to make the trip over there.
They (Toronto) will be hemorrhaging cash like crazy and if they do fail to gain promotion this season (or next), it could well be they who are an embarrassment to the game, if/when they run out of cash.

For those players lucky enough to make the trip over there, no doubt it will be a great experience but, these players dont just play RL, most of them have a "proper" job as well.

The expansion in N.America still hasn't been thought through properly and we all remain at the "fingers crossed" stage.

As other posters have said, Barrow are not an embarrassment to the game at all but, they are a struggling Championship side, forced to make an unnecessary trip across the Atlantic.

SATs. No apostrophe.

It never going to be a level playing field in the championship with Toronto artificially inseminated to destine them into Superleague.

What happens when they get there they will need 10 to 15 new players from an already shallow player pool, if they don’t get these players it’s likely they will be demoted after one season. Or maybe the RFL will play the “ cant be demoted in the first 2 years” card. If that happens then we don’t have a level playing field in our major domestic competition.

Dewsbury started planning and applying in April.

And as for your comment about the 8's, it may be easy enough to say who may be in the 8's. But you can't say who's finishing where, so who will be playing Toronto away. Or the date of when there playing them.
Toronto have already been told there won't be any banks of games, and they will have to play the fixtures as they fall.

Dewsbury should have started applications in February. They knew the fixtures.

Point taken about who might be playing away, but it wouldn't cost sixpence to start asking players NOW if they have valid passports (6+ months from travel date) or any outstanding previous, in which case it would be a good idea to start the process even if they end up not travelling. The bottom five SL clubs should be on it already.

Last week Barrow added two players to the squad at the last minute and didn't have time to do the normal 3-week visa application. Nevertheless both those players got into Canada, so someone figured it out and was able to rush the applications through. Perhaps they used the immigration consultant that Wolfpack is providing?

I get what your saying. But you would think 2 months would be more than enough time. And apparently 2 were only turned away at the airport.

Like I said earlier, this isn't Toronto's fault. But some of the blame has to be on the RFL who just don't seem to be doing anything to help the club's.

How can the RFL be blamed for this? This is completely an administrative issue for the clubs. We're not talking about amateur teams going on tour here, we're talking about established clubs with established business operations.

All clubs will or should have somebody responsible for dealing with the administration related to the players - either a football manager / secretary or somebody in a HR role. They should be more than capable of sorting this out. Even if they aren't, Toronto provides support on this very issue.

If the clubs are employing players with a past record that makes them ineligible to play in certain countries, that is their decision but it is up to them to bear the consequences of those recruitment decisions. In any walk of life, poor past decisions can influence you career prospects and your ability to travel - professional sport is no different.

Plenty of clubs have gone to Canada with no issues. If they can do so without the RFL holding their hands, I don't see why others can't do likewise. Please can we get away from this idea that the RFL needs to babysit every little thing that the clubs do?