I remembered this debate we had during the off-season on Toronto.

For those who were quite negative about the club, have your thoughts changed, or still don't like the idea and think it wont work?

Forgive me if i can't keep up but their match at weekend was live on premier sports,are they all covered and how do they get coverage and championship doesn't ?

They've set up their own partnerships with broadcasters. Premier Sports show it over here and CBC Sports in Canada. Catalan too have their own broadcasting deal I believe. Can other Championship sides do similar? No idea. Most SL clubs have their own TV Platform too. I think Ultimately the RFL own the broadcasting rights.

I'll wait to see how the crowds hold up but 7000 is pretty impressive.

Away support will have been minimal.

It's five times what we got on Sunday, playing Bradford who'd've had to travel about 15 miles.

If we return to franchising, a lot of folk will be looking at the oblivion of a permanent life outside $uper£eague very soon. Sheffield aren't going to match their crowds, neither are Fax, Fev, Salford, Widnes and a couple of dozen other clubs.

Yes impressive crowd but it was their first ever home game and remember Paris, Fulham and Crusaders first home games???
Come back in 5 years time and if their crowds are the same or higher I will eat my humble pie!

Surely the marketing success in Toronto shows that those clubs are capable of at the very least increasing their attendances quite significantly? I'm not suggesting each club could hit 6/7k anytime soon, but gradual improvements are doable surely?

Toronto have done a brilliant job in marketing themselves in Toronto and Canada using various clever and innovative methods, key partnerships in the media, engagement in the community.

Salford are a prime example of how a UK club is pi£$ poor at marketing themselves. They have a shiny new stadium (albeit in a poor location), they have some really good players, they're winning and they're playing good rugby. However, their attendances are woeful. It should be an easy sell.
But then you think, "well surely they're out there in Salford and Manchester doing all they can?". No. In fact this week on twitter, they asked fans to print off A4 posters and take them round local shops etc. Their marketing innovation is akin to that of a Pennine League club looking for new players.

The owner of their club is a complete bell end who uses incorrect terminology which irks me a great deal. then there is all the spiel about record scores and humiliating other teams who are generally hard working lads who have to pull on overalls the day before/after. Hope they crash n burn.

Stop sitting on the fence and say what you mean

It is easier for Toronto when they have a rich backer who can fund everything, they are the darlings of the RL, the new kid on the block with that novelty factor and they have a winning team. How can you compare that with clubs at Championship and League 1 with no money, losing teams and on life support???

Unfortunately, that's exactly what you need for success.

Totally agree Griff.

If only it was us I hear everybody saying. I wish them all the best and I'd love for us to be in their shoes with a big cash injection. People might moan, the same with Salford and Leigh, but without that money the game would be in a much worse position.

eggsbloodyzactly

I think there's a lot more to it than they got a "big cash injection".

Don't forget this all started with one, passionate RL fan who had a dream to kick start RL in Canada. I don't think he's a particularly rich guy, but he managed to build a 10-person consortium of investors, along with key corporate contacts.

From there He's set up some brilliant partnerships; the 3-year sponsorship with AirTransat, broadcasters in the UK and Canada for example, the marketing around Toronto has been excellent.

Why can't other clubs be inspired by what he/Toronto have achieved? To just go "ahh well, they got loads of money" is a defeatist attitude. If RL had just a couple more people with the will and drive that he has, our sport could go to the next level.

Agree with this to be honest , people are soon quick to put Clubs down that are trying something new the comment re` Salford asking fans to print posters off is a prime example . I think in some cases the Clubs have the same staff for too long with no injection of new ideas they are just regurgitating old ideas all the time . Well as everyone knows if you do " same old " you get "same old" ,does the RFL give seminars with ideas on how to increase your crowds or is that actually too much to ask.

I cannot wait for a Toronto v Toulouse Challenge Cup final, it will give every school child in London the chance to claim a free ticket to Wembley, and it'll be super for the Toronto fans to watch the final while eating their breakfast, gives them the rest of the day to get jobs done and have a lovely day out, maybe a trip to the lakes or up the CN Tower again.

I love RL but to me its like trying to sell a draughts set to Gary Kasparov, then offering him money 'just to take it'

Don't think the RFL would be the best people to run seminars on increasing crowds!

The work Toronto has done to date has been superb. The rest of the sport should have a good look at what they are doing.

What exactly have they done?
Is it sustainable?

More questions than answers if you ask me.

I thought that was Johnny Nash.

No Ian, it was Diane Abbott

I'll wait to see how crowds hold up. But sport is very different in the US and Canada. An away match for Toronto in Vancouver or San Francisco in New York is farther than Fax are ever likely to travel. Consequently, away support is virtually unknown. Teams plan for it. We, on the other hand, complain that Toulouse don't bring any fans, instead of developing our own crowds.

Indeed it was, pictures in my mind etc... many of us older members might remember it from the annual question of sport mystery personality quiz, which I entered religiously, always got right, but never did win my tickets to the Northern qualifiers for the UK spitting competition, or the regional heats of the shin kicking championships.

Back to Toronto, why are the RFL paying for the expansion of the game, and lets not pretend concessions to development clubs have no cost, when the foundations of our own game are built on quick sand, London Monarchs, Calderdale Explorers? Don't want to be a Luddite, but come on, sanity check. We'll have Antarctica and Greenland in a bidding war for the next World Cup on this route, to be played in the UK....Barmy sods.

Maybe RU could let the Barbarians enter the 6 nations one day.

Conversation to be had in a pub 20 years from now 'Remember when the Fat Controller let a side in from Toronto, with no ground and no infrastructure, what on earth was that about'

Let's start with getting it played in schools, and make sure clubs have adequate faciiities first eh.

Take away the atmosphere and your left with an acquired taste only, sports in this country are often envied because we have atmospheres, away fans, banter, singing. Franchises aren't everything.

The RFL aren't paying for Toronto, they are self funded. The infrastructure they have built in under 12 months is substantially stronger than many of the long established clubs, how many super league clubs own their own ground... 4 maybe? They've had trials in 4 different countries to try unearth unknown talent. They are having a go at it, OK they have got wads of cash behind them but if this investment pays off surely its for the good of the sport. I was very sceptical about them but the more I look at their efforts the more I think fair play to them for showing ambition and trying something different.

The latest news Barrow forced to leave 4 players at the airport dew to visa issues