This has to be by some distance the worst idea the RFL have ever had or gone along with, teams in London and Wales have not worked so how do they expect a team in Canada to succeed?
I have read up and it states Toronto will fund all expenses for teams to travel over there in a sport that is hardly raking it in how will they fund 20/30 men to go over?
How do they expect part time players to get time off full time jobs to go over?
What happens with working visa's what happens if any players have criminal records can they still obtained visas?

Hope we get them away in the cup next year. Watching Rovers over there would be the best away trip ever. Toronto is a brilliant city.

The owner is paying for all the teams to play over their so what is the problem (he must be a rich sod ) and it might get the yanks into playing over hear has well so its a win win does not cost any body anything except the owner

Both the Broncos and Crusaders were massively mis-managed by their owners. It wasn't the RFL which screwed them up. We still see traditional clubs come to near oblivion too - look at Wakefield and Bradford in recent years, go back further to our two clubs, it happens.

Plus, there are still 2/3 London clubs (Broncos, Skolars, Hemel) and two Welsh clubs (Crusaders, Scorpions) in Championship/League1 where Toronto will be.



This isn't some small outpost in Cumbria, this is a major world city. The driving force behind it, Perez, has a number of investors on board with him, as well as the city of Toronto itself. The Major of Toronto was over here was part of the launch too.

They either have the money themselves, or are confident they can create the revenue streams necessary to cover it.



Unless they're working in Victorian England, players who work will get annual leave or can take holiday if self-employed. I'm sure they'd rather take a few days off on a free trip to Toronto with their mates to play rugby, than a week in say Benidorm. A couple of players I know who play at Newcastle are bang up for it (why wouldn't they be).

Fixtures will be set out months in advance, plenty of time to plan, and fixtures can be spaced to give longer turnarounds (e.g. Play on a Saturday in Canada, next game in the UK the following Sunday). It's only 8 hours away, I've been a couple of times to Toronto, and jet lag isn't an issue for me. It's hardly flying to Australia.



As Canada is a Commonwealth country, UK citizens don't need a visa to visit for short periods.

is this effected by criminal records? I've no idea, I don't have one myself, but if it does, tough.

All valid points from both oafy and D&G. The thing I think were this falls down is that it seems the wrong way to go about it. It will be a bit of a novelty but will ultimately harm any chance to grow the game at a league level in that country. Similar to France with Catalan / Tolouse. The only way the game will grow properly is for these countries to have a strong league of there own and not get the cream of the crop playing in a foreign league. How that is done I don't know.

For those with families, it's a max of 5 days away. Superleague clubs have longer pre-season warm weather camps.

How many Championship/League 1 players work in factories? And even if some do, they somehow manage to train a few times a week and play each weekend. Like I said, this isn't Victorian England, it is possible to get time off and most employers are generally quite understanding about employees embarking on fantastic opportunities such as this.

The percentage of players that'll fall under the criteria you've laid out there is so small it's not even worth thinking about.

I'm not sure it is.

If you're following football as the model, with each country having it's own professional league then you're right, but even football recognises that there needs to be a higher level of competition across countries (The Champions & Europa league).

In Rugby Union, the Super15 comprises of teams from SA, NZ and Australia, with sides from Argentina and Japan (I'm not sure if they've joined or set to join). Then there's the Celtic league with sides from Ireland, Scotland & Wales.

Canadian sides compete together with American sides in a number of sports.

NZ don't have their own RL League, yet are more than competitive.


I agree, in an ideal world, each country has their own strong domestic competition, but I don't think it's necessarily vital to international competition/growth.

I know of at least 6 or 7 players in league 1 that work in the caravan industry which is set holidays,
I'm only staging my argument based on what I've seen on social media off lads this would concern and they ain't to white hot on the idea, and that's where it fails it has to be right for everyone it would involve not just the powers at red hall

But on the other side of the argument, I know a couple of lads who play at Newcastle, and they can't wait for it.

I don't think it has to be right for everyone, it has to be right for the majority. We can't ignore and turn away this potential, because 6/7 lads working in a factory will miss 1 game of the season, that's madness.

If those lads genuinely can't make it and have tried what they can, then I feel for them, but we shouldn't let it hold everything back.

Taking into account all the above posts.IMO just can't see it working. Will fold after a few years. Cant knock.anybody for trying but just a gimmick. We are a northern sport rightly or wrongly and IMO should be investing more in the clubs up here.

I don't think it's a gimmick, I think it's a genuine project by some motivated individuals. A gimmick would suggest it's purely being done for publicity, which might be true if it was engineered by the RFL rather than the Canadians.

May be it will fold. It's certainly ambitious, but it's at their own risk, no money is being invested by the RFL.

I agree that more should be done for clubs over here, but clubs have to help themselves too. But unfortunately there isn't a big pot of money sat there waiting to be invested.

I'm not saying I know the answers to this but I do feel by 'implanting' a team that will no doubt be staffed by Aussies, kiwis and Brits I wonder if it will generate enough interest to start up a league or are we building walls before foundations.

Its similar to having an NFL team in the uk, it will be well supported but ultimately it will be a team full of americans playing for us.

Hope I'm wrong and its a raging success and I wont knock anyone for trying.

Your right the Batley v Dewsbury Derby attracted over a 1000 fans massive potential there forget cosmopolitan Toronto lets invest in dying West Yorkshire towns

I get your point, and I largely agree with it.

There are domestic leagues in Canada, not strong leagues, but there is something there and it's been growing steadily the past few years. Maybe an elite side will provide a pathway for these players to aim for, maybe it'll encourage more people to pick up a RL ball, or get involved in their local side.

Certainly at the beginning it'll be full of Brits & Aussies, and that'll be one of the true tests of Toronto, to see if they can bring through home grown talent in time. Reading up on it, they certainly have this firmly on their radar.

It's blo0dy ambitious & I hope the investors are patient. It seems a million miles away from the Crusaders and London setups, so plenty to be excited about, but without the risk.