I think the idea is to get the game going over there jools not prop up a load of failing clubs along the m62. We have had 150 years to grow the game , and failed miserably, after all those years only half a dozen clubs are anything like secure, and all have very wealthy owners.

Where it leaves us long term is exactly where we have put ourselves, Toronto makes no difference to that either way , but i agree with you that one club in Canada is of little use to us, they need a league but that takes time, why you think that would somehow be at our expense i don't know.

Utter tripe. They bring absolutely nothing to the game and are playing to different rules to the rest of us. Shame on the RFL.

f

It’s failjng miserably because the RFL does sweet FA to support the game at grassroots level- without young people playing and watching the game it fails.
Case in point- in order to run a junior team coaches have to have a minimum amount of training-in safeguarding and also coaching.
Currently the one and only single training course the RFL has made available for level 2 coaching is full- and there are no safeguarding courses available-which is a minimum requirement! Bearing in mind all junior coaches are VOLUNTEERS. so any junior clubs wanting to start a team cannot. But the RFL have the money to jet off to Canada.....

your correct on this as for a Canadian team it simply will cost too much for the smaller clubs to fund, I don't want to be right as it will be the end of the game as we know it

Again i understand your point and agree with what you say about the RFL, i just don't see how it is the fault of Toronto, As far as i know they stand the cost of every game they play at home for both teams.

Teams flown half way round the world and put up in substandard accommodation. Not great for professional sport.
Do you not think it costs clubs to sort out a trip, visas, equipment, insurance etc.
Not to mention missed training sessions/jet lag/ that interferes with other games.
And they get nothing out of doing that.
If there were any Canadians in the squad, or a Canadian coach then I’d perhaps be behind it.
Toronto may just as well be Birmingham, or Glasgow, or indeed anywhere in the UK.

Except they have tried everywhere else in the UK jools, They can't even get it going in Rugby mad Wales, It's dying on it's feet even along the M62's much vaunted heartlands, while Union grows ever bigger. Sad to say something needs to change, and as i have already said one team over there is a nonsense, but if after 150 years we can only boast Half a dozen stable teams, who themselves are completely reliant on Sky for survival, there is not much hope long term.

The most sensible way forward would be for mergers ( as far as survival goes ) but we all know the thinking on that " I'll give up watching the game first ". (Maybe sooner than we think). Anyway lets see what S league have in mind when they take over.

The fault with Toronto as a team Jo nothing, the fault lies with the team construction ie too few Canadians too many overseas players.But the root cause is back to money once again.By the way the RFL have shown a loss of£2 million this last season and a sizable chunk of this went in golden handshakes to departing directors.

They wouldn't have been getting golden handshakes had it been up to me. Iv'e been saying for years that S league should break away from the rfl, You'll hear the whinging start when the gravy bowl disapears.

Regarding Toronto, i can only repeat what i have already said, Where are you going to get Canadian players from, it takes years from a standing start.

And just as a matter of interest does anyone know how many foreign player we have playing League here, We all seem perfectly happy with that, In fact at the Giants alone we are getting all exited about the rumour of signing a new one, so it appears to me we are quite happy with these imports as long as they are coming here.

Anyway there are big changes coming and they had better work, or there will be no one to watch, When you are involved in the fortunes of your own team and their up's and down's and struggles, it's easy to miss the sorry state the game as a whole is in, Hence this move by S League.

Until they start putting money in at grassroots level things won’t improve.

Again i see your point jools, So i take it you are in favour of ESL " the breadwinners " including the Giants coughing up more of their earnings to fund the Grass roots of the sport as well as the championship and below that.

The SL owners have reputedly voted the opposite way to that claiming that they need more money to keep the level of SL up ,so that the value of the TV deal has a chance of at least staying as high as it is now.

The argument being that without SL there is no TV deal, without the TV deal there is no Rugby league at any kind of pro level. The challenge cup has diminished in importance and value alarmingly, So the only thing making any money to talk of is SL. So what do you reckon, share the money out more ,or every man for himself, I'll be really interested to hear what people think.

And without talent coming through from grass roots SL will all collapse anyway.

Then there is the answer the TWP cannot possibly meet the criteria so in all reality cannot be accepted into SL.

Wrong jools, Sky money will keep it going and we can always import enough Aussies for a certain level to be maintained.

So what about my question which side are you on.

Bikko , both you and me know the main criteria is Money, otherwise the Giants for example would more than likely be in the bottom league.

What about my question should the big clubs fund everything else as well.