Doncaster to Whitehaven is 166 miles a round trip of 332 miles
Doncaster to Toronto is 3453 miles a round trip of 6906 miles

Was Branson any good for the Broncos? It is questionable. He got involved for his son and as in all things he does. To promote himself and Virgin as a brand.
He did spend a few bob and bought in some good players. In truth the club also got some good publicity from it. I do not think he could believe his luck that we made the cup final. He milked that for all he could.
But remember that we sold thousands of tickets to the final, but got no data for further marketing. Nobody thought to gather that information, how poor was that?
What did for Bransons involvement was 9/11, His main business at that time, Virgin Atlantic suffered terribly and he looked to rid himself of London Broncos to save money. Up stepped David Hughes who had refused to sell his stake in the club to Virgin when they took over. David saved the club at that time.
Branson only ever attended games when cameras were present. We sat in the directors box in those days at Charlton and whenever he attended a flock of virgin Atlantic stewardesses attended, they sat near us, which was very nice.
To be honest. If it was down to a choice between Richard Branson or David Hughes as owner of the club, give me David every time. However I would choose former owner Barry Maranta over both of them.

Branson was a business man that’s it.
Geoff not sure what your getting at, using haven and donny as success in RL is a bit of a laugh.

Toronto are here, they have money and they have fans, something donny and haven have very little of.
Nobody in here is going to argue with you, on what expansion should look like but so far in the south, in wales it’s not worked, so do you deny someone like Toronto the chance? So far they have done more as a team expansion wise than any club in wales.
Every team has the opportunity to do do what Toronto have done, Toulouse have gone a similar path, do you think they are a waste of energy as well.
It is what it is Geoff, will they be around in 10-15-20 years that’s the test.
As for other expansion, Bristol? Given the opening, what’s happened?

I'm not sure about that. I sat in-front of him in the main stand at The Stop one Sunday afternoon. He was there with his son. Saw him in Richmond afterwards.

I remember a Virgin plane flying over the Stoop and wondering what his thoughts were.

I was using the distance from Whitehaven to Doncaster as a comparison to the distance to Toronto. In the recent past how many teams in the UK have the RFL let die, regarding Bristol the only thing I know about Bristol is Adge Cutler
If people dont turn up in numbers to the game in the UK maybe the product needs altering.

Geoff. What do you think of franchise system that was in place a few years back?

How are the RFL letting teams die? It’s not the RFL that fund teams, if you go into pro sport it’s up to you to make sure you can afford it! Catalans came about because Bernard brought two teams together and stopped em in fighting.
Why is RL in Cumbria on its knees, it’s not the RFL it’s the haven, town bloody mindedness. Do a Catalan pool resources bring the fans together, bring the clubs together, it will never happen but really it should.
Expansion can happen but it needs people to make it happen
It’s 1000 miles from Manchester to Perpignan
What has distance got to do with anything anyhow?

Toronto came along with the money, with a plan, and with the desire.
Who else is doing that? Toulouse are one. Anyone else? Nope, Oxford were meant to be part of the whole Bristol re launch re birth whatever! That seems to have gone quiet.
It’s not a defence of the RFL, they have in effect turned there back on the south, especially with development which is a travesty
But
Where else is there anyone trying to expand the game?

I was told at Workington that Cumbrian Rugby's decline is totally due to the RFL giving all the development money to London Broncos, starving Workington of finances, thus its decline.
This comment was echoed in the Whitehaven program when we played them a few weeks later.
So the sports decline is our teams fault.

London lost a lot if not all of its development teams if im not mistaken. Didn't sport England pull the money

It seems the Wolfpack themselves see weather for early season games as an issue. Argyle is quoted in the rlGuardianrl “[iWe’ll be playing some of our early‑season home games in other cities across Europe that people will enjoy. We’ll be taking Super League to major European cities that haven’t seen it before”

Let's hope he is counting his chickens here.

Hey Northernbloke, there is me thinking that you knew everything and you ask the question. What has ice got to do with it?
4G pitches and ice do not go together. If you have been to North America in late Winter the temperature changes can be quite large. It can rain and suddenly the temp drops and it freezes. It can happen very quickly and it would make playing rugby on their pitch impossible. Ice is more of a problem than snow.
How would it be if a team flew out only to be told the game was off. No they will not start playing home games until late spring.

Hey bosty, it’s interesting though, they still manage to play football in March in Toronto, wonder how they coped.
It’s Canada, they know how to deal with ice and snow, only issue is freezing rain which is unusual in the area.

Did you read that Guardian article ? They are looking to play early season games in Europe.

Copenhagen....colder than Toronto in Feb.
Argyle comes across as your usual aussie bartender......no idea of anything other than spending his cash and givin' it the big "I am".....he shouldda bought salford