Re: Toronto Wolfpack 2017 : Wed Apr 27, 2016 9:51 pm  

Salary Cap is irrelevant if you have £5000 spare and can guarantee it will be worth at least 6 points to break it

Re: Toronto Wolfpack 2017 : Wed Apr 27, 2016 11:10 pm  

NO salary cap for Toronto Invaders.... The club will not receive central funding from the RFL but are likely to get special dispensation to exceed the salary cap to enable them to run a full-time team and have pledged to cover all costs of visiting teams, who will fly out on a Thursday, play on Saturday and return the following day. nicked from http://www.sportinglife.com

NO salary cap for Toronto Invaders.... The club will not receive central funding from the RFL but are likely to get special dispensation to exceed the salary cap to enable them to run a full-time team and have pledged to cover all costs of visiting teams, who will fly out on a Thursday, play on Saturday and return the following day. nicked from http://www.sportinglife.com

Re: Toronto Wolfpack 2017 : Thu Apr 28, 2016 8:03 am  

Surley it would be better to send liason and development officers on medium to long term secondment, to grow and establish a competitive professional competition in Canada. I don't really see the benefit of having overseas teams playing in English competitions. What does it actually do for the game on a whole?

Re: Toronto Wolfpack 2017 : Thu Apr 28, 2016 8:08 am  

You would assume they still have a salary cap, but expenses such as flights and accomodation are the parts given special dispensation, and understandably so. Although I expect London will be on the horn soon asking for the same (albeit at a lower level). I can't see it just being a "You don't have a salary cap, spend as much as you like on players".

The whole idea is barmy and I can't see how it's going to work. But I confess it's peaked my interest and I'm sure there are people behind the scenes that are better with money than I am who think it can work.

Re: Toronto Wolfpack 2017 : Thu Apr 28, 2016 8:21 am  

On a selfish point... Will Bulls benefit financially from sharing facilities?

[Bulliac]

Re: Toronto Wolfpack 2017 : Thu Apr 28, 2016 9:06 am  

Bulls4Champs wrote:

Surley it would be better to send liason and development officers on medium to long term secondment, to grow and establish a competitive professional competition in Canada. I don't really see the benefit of having overseas teams playing in English competitions. What does it actually do for the game on a whole?

I guess it's a case of 'great oak tress from little acorns grow', though it could be a long [and expensive] gestation period.

I think it was workable in Europe where a ready made audience was waiting but, like you, I'm far from sure about Canada. I feel it would have been better to try and grow the game over there and build from an amateur level - though I fully get the idea of the professional team being a driver in that growing process. We still have only two [assuming Toulouse are?] pro clubs in France after around ten years and that's with an already RL receptive audience.

I wish them well, but they'll have some work on.

Re: Toronto Wolfpack 2017 : Thu Apr 28, 2016 9:30 am  

People just aren't thinking this through. There is NO downside. All being done at the Canadian owners expense, and giving the game a rare little window of exposure too. Sustainable? Like many clubs in many sports, they will be "sustainable" as long as a financial backer fancies sustaining them. That may spell trouble if the backer decides they've had enough, but looking at comparable sports globally, whilst that happens, it really isn't a major issue in any sport. Owners seem to be, in general, suckers for punishment, and on the rare occasions they depart, usually someone else steps in. And, it's not the RFL's idea. How could it be, nobody would dream that one up. They were approached, thought about it, spoke with the clubs and -rightly so IMHO -said "crack on". So talk of the RFL should have instead funded a growth program in Canada or other such twaddle is frankly deluded. The RFL would hardly have the funds to suddenly pay for a web of RL across fscking Canada, now would it, secondly it's hardly their job, thirdly it is up to the Canadians to lead any expansion of the game there, the RFL's place as well as the international board is to help and co-operate where it can. Bulliac wrote: I feel it would have been better to try and grow the game over there and build from an amateur level But what you feel is totally irrelevant, unless you had plans to fund such a thing. Secondly, many people posting have no idea of the actual current level of Canadian RL. I didn't either until a few weeks ago, when this news first came out but had a look into it and was pleasantly surprised. Only last weekend their season kicked off with the inaugural Ontario Nines, which featured a lot of junior activity too. Have a look here, you may be pleasantly surprised. http://www.canadarugbyleague.com/2016/0 ... rio-nines/ If the Canadians have got it wrong, then it's their problem, but they obviously feel that they need a bit of a standard bearer to spread the word and up their standards, as well as no doubt using the presence and publicity to attract new international recruits, and this is just part of the plan they have drawn. People who think the Canadian backers have just come up with something on the back of a fag packet down the pub one night are seriously wrong. The Canadians have done a lot of work on this, they have clearly considered and addressed all the foreseeable issues (for example, playing 4 or 5 away games in "blocks" to cut out 80% of the travel) and it is actually rather insulting for people who have little idea of how structures a plan it is, to simply ridicule and dismiss it out of hand. Will it help RL in this country? How can it not? A local game such as Keighley v Toronto Wolfpack is already on my buy-a-ticket list and if only the fixture planners don't clash them with local clubs I'd expect plenty of interested speccies turning up at those fixtures. And as a player in C1, I'd guess an annual all-expenses paid trip to Canada would be viewed as some perk for most. Speaking of players, in the Nines final, Tony “The Cat” Felix dived over from dummy half to tie it up 20 – 20, Felix converting his own try for the Centurions win and the title of 2016 ORL Nines Champions Felix the Cat? If I were Green, I'd have signed the lad up yesterday, just for his name!

People just aren't thinking this through. There is NO downside. All being done at the Canadian owners expense, and giving the game a rare little window of exposure too. Sustainable? Like many clubs in many sports, they will be "sustainable" as long as a financial backer fancies sustaining them. That may spell trouble if the backer decides they've had enough, but looking at comparable sports globally, whilst that happens, it really isn't a major issue in any sport. Owners seem to be, in general, suckers for punishment, and on the rare occasions they depart, usually someone else steps in. And, it's not the RFL's idea. How could it be, nobody would dream that one up. They were approached, thought about it, spoke with the clubs and -rightly so IMHO -said "crack on". So talk of the RFL should have instead funded a growth program in Canada or other such twaddle is frankly deluded. The RFL would hardly have the funds to suddenly pay for a web of RL across fscking Canada, now would it, secondly it's hardly their job, thirdly it is up to the Canadians to lead any expansion of the game there, the RFL's place as well as the international board is to help and co-operate where it can. Bulliac wrote: I feel it would have been better to try and grow the game over there and build from an amateur level But what you feel is totally irrelevant, unless you had plans to fund such a thing. Secondly, many people posting have no idea of the actual current level of Canadian RL. I didn't either until a few weeks ago, when this news first came out but had a look into it and was pleasantly surprised. Only last weekend their season kicked off with the inaugural Ontario Nines, which featured a lot of junior activity too. Have a look here, you may be pleasantly surprised. http://www.canadarugbyleague.com/2016/0 ... rio-nines/ If the Canadians have got it wrong, then it's their problem, but they obviously feel that they need a bit of a standard bearer to spread the word and up their standards, as well as no doubt using the presence and publicity to attract new international recruits, and this is just part of the plan they have drawn. People who think the Canadian backers have just come up with something on the back of a fag packet down the pub one night are seriously wrong. The Canadians have done a lot of work on this, they have clearly considered and addressed all the foreseeable issues (for example, playing 4 or 5 away games in "blocks" to cut out 80% of the travel) and it is actually rather insulting for people who have little idea of how structures a plan it is, to simply ridicule and dismiss it out of hand. Will it help RL in this country? How can it not? A local game such as Keighley v Toronto Wolfpack is already on my buy-a-ticket list and if only the fixture planners don't clash them with local clubs I'd expect plenty of interested speccies turning up at those fixtures. And as a player in C1, I'd guess an annual all-expenses paid trip to Canada would be viewed as some perk for most. Speaking of players, in the Nines final, Tony “The Cat” Felix dived over from dummy half to tie it up 20 – 20, Felix converting his own try for the Centurions win and the title of 2016 ORL Nines Champions Felix the Cat? If I were Green, I'd have signed the lad up yesterday, just for his name!

[Bullseye]

Re: Toronto Wolfpack 2017 : Thu Apr 28, 2016 9:38 am  

I agree FA. Bring it on. While they're funding it all themselves then I can't see any issues. Good luck to them.

Re: Toronto Wolfpack 2017 : Thu Apr 28, 2016 9:41 am  

Feee - liii - ix
Feee - liii - ix
Feee - liii - ix

I can hear the chants now

[Bulliac]

Re: Toronto Wolfpack 2017 : Thu Apr 28, 2016 10:06 am  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

People just aren't thi.....ZIP

Yes yes yes, Fa, I agree with all that, but I just felt like giving my opinion, y' know, as you do on the boards.

I KNOW it's at their expense, we knew that at the outset, I also know that corporate interest doesn't have a good track record in sticking with things which don't give the impression of being a good bet [with winnings often expected instantly] so my views on building up slowly are with that in mind and purely in their interest.

They won't care, of course, they're doing what they want, so probably won't even know what any of us have put anyway, but hey, what the hell, I'm a bolshie sod and I've done it anyway!

..and I still wish them all the best.