Well Frankg, along with many others you correctly sized up the problem with the RFL allowing the Toronto experiment - well done.
I don’t envy the rest of SL as their season is due to restart in a couple of weeks, and I guess that some lengthy late night meetings to sort out fixtures etc will be held very soon!
Another joke move by the money grabbing super duper league. Without a viable league structure in N America what else did you expect when the money dried up?
The COVID-19 situation just accelerated what would have happened when the money men pull out or pressures become too much.
Another failed RFL/SL expansion piece of folly. Get the picture yet???
Wonder what happens next: will they be readmitted in 21?
Will the SL run with an 11 team league next year with no relegation and just promotion?
The Challenge Cup is in serious danger of being an absolute farce now too.
TWP are saying that they intend to field a team in 2021, but what league will they be in. Surely, at the very least they should be deducted points for next year.
I very much doubt that they will be back in 2021 and there will be a few players looking for new clubs.
The RFL should now have a re-think of the SL structure. Maybe consider promoting Featherstone who lost out in the play-offs to TWP in 2019 or London whose place TWP took in 2020. Alternatively, they could run a Championship knock out competition in November/December with a group stage in round 1 (4 groups), with the top team from each group progressing to the semi final and then final to decide who will be promoted. This competition could generate some interest and income for clubs.
The RFL could go one further and promote all 4 clubs winning the group stage, plus a play-off for the fifth place, to make 16 team Premiership, with a 20 team Championship.
Seriously, there is no chance of the SL clubs wanting to share the sky money with more clubs. In any event - assuming that TWP will now concentrate on developing the game in North America - the RFL need to have a far ranging review of the long term strategy for the development and growth of the game in the UK/Europe.
Featherstone not wasting any time expressing an interest in joining SL!!
Wonder what SKY are thinking too....
David Longo is saying that the wolfpack dropping out of SL is leaving an uneven league. Surely he must therefore realise that Featherstone filling the Wolfpack's fixtures would leave an uneven championship.
Surely, a system can be found to play an equal number of games for SL clubs, maybe by playing the add games on cup weekends.
I would personally opt for no relegation from SL this year and either a team promoted from the Championship flay offs or a SL of 11 teams next season giving clubs a rota with a rest week as any further play in the Championship looks u likely.
Prepare for Derek Beaumont's reaction to the Featherstone offer.
Not a very attractive view of RL just dog eat dog. Very undignified.
Everybody knows that the game structure is chaotic and is begging to be re- structured by somebody with integrity.
I see Josh McCrone has had a go at SL/RFL for not supporting TWP with its financial problems during the pandemic. He fails to recognise that they have created their own financial problems with the signings they have made that they clearly cannot afford. Where is the multi-millionaire owner, who is clearly not prepared to put in any more money to keep the club going this year and seemingly blaming everyone else but themselves for the situation they are in.
It has all been built on sand, with half-hearted support from UK SL clubs, with the attitude that TWP can come into SL, but not if they want any of the Sky money, until maybe the game takes off in NA and the tv money will come rolling in. I feel sorry for TWP fans who got behind the team, but not sure whether the support would have been sustainable if they had continued losing games.
The RFL/SL now need to make a decision on the future of TWP. Will they be allowed back into SL in 2021? If so, what sanctions will they face - relegation and/or points deduction? If not, what plans do the RFL/SL have to replace them or possibly take the opportunity to review the structure of the game.
My view is that the so called NA expansion was unsustainable - a Manchester based team with some Australian/NZ imports calling itself Toronto. If there is an appetite to grow the game in NA, the emphasis should be to develop and expand North American teams with a NA league. Maybe the people behind TWP, Ottawa and New York could put their resources into developing this NA league
The RFL would be better putting efforts into developing and expanding the game in the UK/Europe They cannot do this by standing by and letting the game die from the grass roots up. Why not bring in the likes of Barry Hearn, to see if there is potential for promoting, marketing and expanding the game in other parts of the UK, outside the traditional northern areas.
I agree that if RFL see the future of RL based on international expansion, then they need to get fully behind it and let the Championship/League 1 clubs (and the 8 teams currently in SL that would be surplus in the international league) continue independently as an expansionist UK game.
I do wonder whether there is any real support for this international expansion within the SL clubs. They grudgingly allowed TWP into SL on the basis that they would not take any Sky money and would pay travel costs and, according to McCrone, refused to give a £200,000 loan to TWP to see them over their current financial problems. There must also be a question mark about the financial position of TWP, if the owners were not able to raise the £200,000 to keep them going this year.
Perhaps the RFL could publish their long-term vision for the game based on the international expansion model and where the Australasian game fits into this plan. It would also be interesting if the owners of TWP, Ottawa and New York could also spell out their vision and whether their long term aim is to develop a North American league or to be part of an international league.
See TWP will be putting forward their case to RFL for remaining in SL next year ,at a meeting on Thursday, but are now saying that they should have a share of the Sky money.
The Chief Executive makes a disparaging comment comparing the city of Toronto as a brand or a "small community in the North of England". Well the game has been built around these small communities for 125 years and, despite attempts to expand beyond these areas in the UK and elsewhere, is still predominantly based in those areas. The RFL will need to consider why attempts to expand within the UK have failed, although I see the integration of Catalan and Toulouse into the game as a success that could be built upon, with a stronger league and international structure in France.
With regard to this "international" brand, does anyone believe that the Americans, in particular, and Canadians would be able to pinpoint England on a map, never mind Wigan, St Helens, Leeds, Hull, Warrington, Castleford, Wakefield, Salford or Huddersfield. Also, are rugby league supporters in this country desperate to fill Wembley to watch a TWP v Bucharest Wembley final?
Surely, the aim to "internationalise" the game should be to first develop the game in those areas. The RFL should give some thought to the future of the game in the UK , including the existing "small community" teams in Northern England, in developing its long term strategy. Otherwise, they may well find that they end up with an international game, with 3 or 4 UK based clubs, but at the expense of support for the game at local community level.
Sounds like they'll make a pitch that they stay in, receive some central funding but less than the other clubs, and the other clubs can split what remains.
Might convince the SL chairmen to allow it, they'll keep a bigger slice of the pie than if Featherstone or London took their place who would get the full funding.
Everyone's acting in self interest, RL was always bad for it but COVIDs made it worse.
For sporting integrity they need to go down, a middle way in all this might be a complete restructuring of the league like the muted SL1 and SL2 with 10 teams in each. Solves the problem of the more aspirational Championship clubs (ourselves included) wanting to run full time operations in a more competitive league. Where the money would come from I do not know...
Just looking on Zero Tackle and it quotes Bateman as on a $580k contract. We are in a different world!
Agree that the game needs a realistic re-organisation and some serious decisions regarding internationalism. Just how do the authorities see the final package?
The French are developing a French league. Early days yet but it gives a clue to any NA applicants, and others.
The SL and NRL should concentrate on helping that development maybe taking games there 'on the road' or maybe a Euro Cup comp choosing sides from our game on a par with their development teams. Our semi-pro structures can't cope with long distance weekend trips so that has to be avoided.
While the RFL are addressing the future of TWP. they also need to consider the position of Ottawa and NY.
NY are announcing big plans to spend up to the SL salary cap and buy there way through League 1 and the Championship before failing in SL, Sound familiar? It also seems to be developing links to the NRL and keeping their options open.
I think Ottawa have said that they have a different model and are looking to develop and play more Canadian players. We will have to see.
I really believe that if NY, TWP and Ottawa and other potential investors in the game in North America invested in developing and promoting the game in North America, in partnership with the RFL/NRL, there would be a better chance of developing an international dimension to the game in the future.
My guess is that the RFL will wimp out and allow TWP to stay in SL next year with a minimal points deduction (if any) and leave it to SL clubs to decide whether any funding will be shared with TWP. Similarly, having agreed to allow Ottawa to enter League 1 in 2021, the RFL will want to avoid potential legal challenge if they decided to abandon the international experiment at this stage. They should, however, reduce the League 1/Championship salary cap, to reflect the funding available to clubs in those leagues and avoid the ridiculous scenario of a club bringing in players on SL/NRL contracts in those divisions, in order to buy promotion.
When will the Rugby League learn its lesson. London, Paris and now Toronto.
You can not just plonk a team down with no foundations. The monies wasted on these doomed to failure projects could have been put to good use else where.
But once again the game has become a laughing stock.
When will the Rugby League learn its lesson. London, Paris and now Toronto. You can not just plonk a team down with no foundations. The monies wasted on these doomed to failure projects could have been put to good use else where. But once again the game has become a laughing stock.
To be fair Toronto have always entirely self funded and don't take any central funding. It hasn't cost the RFL anything up until the point we are now where there's presumably going to be some sort of cost for re-organising the season.