Happy new year to ALL Fax fans!!!

I just had a look on the Toronto website and notice that they have acquired a strong set of players including FF Moi Moi, Bob Beswick, QLT to name only a few.

It really gets my goat this expansion rubbish and although it is exciting for many, who will suffer as a result - basically anyone in CH1 is pretty much resigned to staying there now.

Good on them.

I hope it's a massive success and the Canadian people flock to watch rugby league.

Good luck to them, hope they do well and be a success like Catalans. Pro Rugby league isn't sustainable without a money-man, and it looks like they've got a good one in it for the long haul.

Another jolly for big Nige and his mates

Farcical having a Canadian team in the comp. My biggest concern, if that's the word , is the fact that part time players are going to have to take about a week's leave from their jobs to play a game of rugby in Canada. Some players are just not going to be able to play especially self employed. Another mad idea.

Agreed, just look at the farce last season with teams travelling to France with 14/15 man squads, it will be even worse going to Canada.

Norman what is your concern?It will be the same for the Wolfpack travelling over here, if you mean Finance then I think the Canadian Owner, Mr Perez has agreed to pay opposing teams travel and Hotel bills,only problem really is taking time off work , I'm sure most teams and players will treat it as a bonus Holiday.
Myself personally I welcome the Wolfpack and whatever they bring to RL, apparently Premier Sports are showing all their games next season, I for one will be subscribing to Premier Sports to see how they run.With the squad Paul Rowley has assembled it should be very interesting,if as expected they get promoted to the Championship it will be a great League in 2018, along with Tolouse and the other teams participating.
By the way Good Luck for 2017.Ian.

Im sure you are going to find loads of players turning down a few days pay for an all expenses paid trip to Canada.

The players have had loads of time to book off work, whats the alternative, stick them straight into super league, where time off isnt an issue, then these same people claim its a conspiracy against the pt teams. At least rfl making them work their way to sl.

Rugby league is on its @rse, and this risky venture is at least a chance for something new. Theres a team just up the road that has had 100+ years at it and still cant pay their players, so give this venture a chance.

They've sold couple thousand season tickets already (heard 5k somewhere)

not many RL teams can boast those stats atm

That's a valid point which, although obvious, I hadn't thought of. The game is a laughing stock at the moment and I cant see how it's going to improve until the turkeys vote for Christmas. Sportsman, shudds Mallinsons Hapi 5.4% Mmm!

The issue I have is that it will be difficult for Champ 1 players to get time off, OK, they may see it as a holiday and a trip to over the pond but I guess they could have done that with a weekend in France, but they didn't.
Coming this way is not an issue, they are a full time team.
I do actually welcome their inclusion, and at SL level it mat well work but I just believe it will be difficult at the lower level.

Oh, and if they are offering discounted fan seats on the plane I may take them up next season just as long as we aren't ships in the night, so to speak.

They'll all live over here, Ian. They'll just travel to Canada for the home games. The only difference is that they won't come home in their blocks of home games.

Griff ,I'm sure I've read somewhere that the Wolfpack have around about 6 US or Canadian players.

Think that total is actually 3 diggory and only one of them will play regularly. Rhys Jacks an American and a Canadian 17 year old not heard of any more than that

The three my grandsons Halifaxwilliam and Halifaxmattew met on Christmas Day morning were from Australia and America.
They were introduces to us by an English member of the squad.
All four were to begin training with all of their colloquies on 2nd January.
They have been training based at Brighouse and looked ready and fit now.
Going back to another post on here, Rugby League already attracts good crowds in Toronto and the players at least see a future fore it.
Nice lads,

What? Been on the shandy John?

Self-employed people do take holidays, you know



Imagine the thought of travelling to a fantastic city like Toronto, completely free, with your mates, to play RL - horrific!

It's an 8-hour flight. I have family in the Toronto area, and have been fortunate to visit a few times. The flight is not an arduous one, and with the games being on a Saturday, sides could fly in on the Thursday and home on the Sunday. 2/3 days off max. I imagine the trip from Whitehaven/Workington to Hemel/Oxford/Skolars will be a good 5/6 hour drive anyway.



For 2017, they have two Canadians in the squad, Rhys Jacks and Quinn Ngawati. Two Americans; Ryan Burroughs and Joe Eichner. And one Jamaican; Nathan Campbell.

That's pretty much what I meant to say DGM, Ionly you described it better.

You are losing it my Lancastrian friend!!!!!

Dave, it's me Ian,aka CC.

I know mate was just taking the proverbial

You have swallowed the spin like many others and I have seen this many many times before with other 'expansion' clubs over the last 30 years and more where people like you believe what that the spin doctors want you to believe, I ask will these guys get in the first team regularly or at all?
The main problem with Toronto is the logistics of this plus being the biggest issue that if they get into SL a current SL club will have to be sacrificed to make way for them which may end up with them doing a Bradford and going bust but hey you and the Fat Controller and his cronies at the RFL keep on believing that a SL made up of 2 French clubs, a London club (who have never won over enough of the 6 million people who live in the capital in 30 years) and a Canadian team will be great for RL in England. Er yer right lots of games with no away fans and no atmosphere whilst heartland towns where the game is strong will be down to just 8, is that good for the game in THIS country????
My dream is that there is a decent league in France with French teams full of mostly French players and the same in Canada before you call me a dinosaur pal!
Can people like you not see that the game in this country is weak and if you were a business you would only expand when things are going well and you are strong enough, you telling me having Sheffield, York and now Bradford all on their knees puts RL in a good place right now? Plus what does this leave clubs outside SL with to play for - nothing as the dream of playing SL will be over as my guess is the RFL will shut the door again once they have what they want.
I dis-pare RL is a great game run by idiots who have self interest and not the greater good of the game at heart = no future.

Hope to see ya soon ,mate, good luck for next season.

wow! Go give your mouth a good wipe mate, you're frothing all over the place.

I merely addressed a couple of points made earlier on the thread regarding playing getting/taking time off to travel to Canada, and the under of 'homegrown' players in their squad (and I use the term 'homegrown' very loosely at this early stage). You're flying off the handle at me like I personally been running the RFL for the last 30 years, calm down.

This right here is one of the strange by-products of the Toronto bid - vitriol I suppose would be the word.

To try and address your points calmly and in a polite fashion;

There are 5 'homegrown' players in their squad for 2017. Will any of them get any game time, yes I think they will. partly because they're playing in league 1, so the standard isn't great and they should be able to not look too far out of place, and secondly because Toronto haven't built up a huge squad (in terms of numbers). A few injuries and these lads will be called up.
One thing that the Toronto club have said all along is that they do not want to rely on foreign imports, and they hope to build on the fledgling youth set up in Canada and also tap into the NFL and other sports 'cast-offs' in North America.

A heartland club "sacrificed". No club is making way for Toronto, League 1 is going from 15 teams in 2016, to 16 teams next year. Also, with the current league structure as it is now, it means that they have to earn their place in SL, they won't be plonked there like we've seen with clubs in the past. this is surely the right way to go?
Somehow linking the demise of one club by the inclusion of another is quite naïve really. Maybe you've said that because of the recent news on Bradford, but their demise has been in the making for the past 10 years, mainly through inept management of the club, and any subsequent club going to the wall (which I hope doesn't happen), will be through their own doing. .
If Halifax were to get promoted, and say Wakefield relegated, how would that be any different? And why would Wakefield be more likely to survive if their relegation is at the hands of a heartlands club?

I share your dream, a French league, a UK league and a North American league - that would be great for the sport, but that just isn't doable now and takes time.

One of the main differences in the Toronto bid is that they approached us. They want to be part of it, they want to invest in our sport, and they're willing to foot the bill for it. The RFL would be mental to turn them and their investment away, especially since the RFL will carry no risk what so ever. I've followed their story quite closely, as I said before, I've family there and I love the city and region. Whilst someone could describe what they're saying as spin, and in a way they're right, there are tangible signs that this could work too.

You've realised you've massively contradicted yourself there though. In one point you're saying the heartlands are strong and why should we need these extra teams, but in another point you say the game in this country is weak. It IS weak, I agree. There are probably only 5 actually strong heartland clubs at the moment.

Your analogy about businesses only expanding when strong is also a poor one really. If a business is struggling and they do nothing, they'll die. Businesses have to adapt and so do we as a sport. Also, unlike a business expanding or investing, this (from our/the RFL's point of view) is completely free.