Quote Willzay="Willzay"Do Toronto have any form of representatives going into schools, like clubs do over here? Do they have any form of a community department? What about amateur clubs? What about properly growing the game instead of plopping them into established divisions'"
Wolfpack are doing a lot of outreach to a wide range of audiences - corporate, sports, kids - as they are trying to build support, sponsorship and to get local recognition to build a fan base. There have been a few visits and coaching events with schools, but the structure of this season means they only overlap the school year for one month (June), as school ends here at the end of June.
Just a few examples: They had two little kid rugby teams playing during half-time last week, it was a hoot. This Saturday, kids under 12 get in free and before the game, there is an open training session for women's rugby league.
Wolfpack also co-sponsored a day-long tag rugby event a couple of weeks ago, teams were all corporate types, looked like a lot of fun and appeals to the sort of people who might cough up some sponsorship.
In the past month, team members have been very visible around Toronto, showing up at events and generally being good ambassadors for the sport.
Growing the game is going to take time. Having a team at the top level is one way to grow interest in the sport among the youngsters coming up - it doesn't have to be either/or. Right now, Wolfpack is focused on trying to get into Super League, if they can pull that off then let's see where they go next.
Quote Willzay="Willzay"and giving them special dispensations?'"
Eh?