Your analysis is correct, and it's possible that Toulouse could lose out on being in the MPG on points difference. To do that though, they'd have to win one of their last two games because obviously finishing on 4 points isn't enough.

The Toronto try was a travesty, but TO had subsequent chances to win the game via a relatively simple conversion, and then an opportunity for a drop goal to win the game which they didn't even attempt.

We don't "need" TO in SL any more than any other team. If they do enough on the field of play then they'll be there regardless. I'm less convinced regarding TWP - the logistical issues of a team in the comp on the other side of the Atlantic were highlighted with the lack of a video ref for the TO game.

You constantly roll out this sound bite but back it up with very little. Please, in your own unique style, explain why a second side from the south of France, that delivers no VFM for our mainline sponsor, or our #1 income source, our UK broadaster is NEEDED in the ESL?

Toulouse have a hardcore of 1,250 supporters who are dwarfed in numbers by the support of arguably one of the top RU sides in Europe in their professional era. They would deliver nothing other than a derby game for Catalan, although how a 200km journey is hardly a "derby". Soccer is #1 in France, but Union is a giant in the south of France and catalonia........so what else will Toulouse bring to the SL table other than a side of below standard frenchmen bolstered by pensionable Aussies.

I get it that you're a fan, but you need to explain your use of the word NEED........because you desiring it does't make it a pre-requisite requirement to have a second French side in SL......especially one that loses to 2 other championship sides in the qualifiers.

I'd argue that SL needs stronger heartland sides before it needs any more expansion. 7,000 freebies in Toronto to a beet festival isn't going to interest anyone in terms of sponsorship and neither will 4,000 in Toulouse when the union lot are getting 17,000 and winning the European Cup....

You’re speculating, Toulouse shouldn’t have been thinking about drop goals and to prove my point with the bomb kick in the 79th minute, evidently weren’t!

You’re speculating as well on the assumption that the following 60 mins following the MCB ‘try’ play out the exact same.

You're possibly right to a degree that it will increase interest in the game in the region, but stretching that helping to create to an improved French RL national team doesn't quite compute. To build a stronger national team, there needs to be a far bigger and stronger amateur and semi-pro setup supporting it all. One additional team in SL is a relative drop in the ocean if the underlying infrastructure isn't already there.

This is also why TWP are (imo) going to struggle in the medium term. Their model is based on wealthy benefactors with plenty of free tickets, with a lot of supporters seeming to spend more time in the beer tent than watching the game.

Btw, I might not agree with you, but that was a reasonably well thought out response. Please keep it in that vein and we can have some sensible debate here!

Saw Toulouse lose to Toronto at Magic, no video ref there so Toronto got tries they should not have got.

If there is no video ref available in Toronto then they should not be allowed to host a million pound game, and surely they should not be allowed in Super league as the facilities are not up to standard.

A game with a supposed £1,000,000 on the line needs every technology available in place......or the sport leaves itself open to further ridicule.....more so than it is now with the lead RL story on the BBC website being about a player biting another..

Where did I say that? I only pointed out that Toronto should have been 4 points behind where ended up.

The winner of the game means absolutely nothing to me, I just hate to see such a blatant call judged incorrectly.

You said Toulouse shouldn’t have been thinking of Drop Goals so you assumed the next 60 mins played out the same. If MCB is pinged for a knock on then Toulouse could’ve knocked on a tackle or two later coming away from their line and concede a try from the field position gifted to Toronto.

Yes I know it’s an IF but it’s no different from the IF that try was disallowed the game would’ve turned out to be a Toulouse win.

No, no I didn’t assume anything. Read it back and give your head a shake...

A person in the beer tent has paid their way in. The team doesn't get additional revenue based on the % of minutes their eyeballs are directed at the field of play. On the other hand, a person sitting at home watching the game on telly isn't putting money into their club, even if they have perfect recall of every play for the past 120 years.

The beer garden is part of what brings new fans in ... appreciation of the sport comes later. Wolfpack understand that they are first and foremost in the entertainment business.

Free space for Call Me God to have a word about free tickets: _______________________________________________________________________________

Sounds to me like their chief exec should not just be running Toronto but SL as well.

Selling entertainment is what the rfl have forgotten to do.

RU sells corporate packages which makes RU millions.

If beer tents do the same for Toronto well done I say

Maybe more with only 12 on the field *as should have been* !

With 12 men ?

My mate Manages PJ's in the CBD.....he received 50 free tickets for the Toulouse game from a supplier, Mill Street Brewery.......he receives these tickets on a regular basis and has even arranged for a post match meal for a group of 30 he gave tickets to last season.....I believe Lost Craft donated those tickets.....he reckons that the Wolfpack concept has another 18 months i it before the novelty wears off......free tickets are only a good idea if the freebies become paying punters and the Wolfpack apparently have fewer than 1,500 paying punters per game.....and some of those resent the freebies and have stopped going.
He reckons the Irish Embassy on the route to Hamilton Hamilton (same group who owns his bar) ran some free coaches last year with free tickets...all paid for by suppliers....free is great, but once bills need to be paid, then "paid" is better and next year, Argyle will need to pay SL wages......


your invite to comment on Free tickets is nothing more than a preemptive strike.....it is relevant because next year they'll be taking 1.8 million of our cash and giving it to average anzacs all to massage the ego of a miner.

Wow, so when TWP start charging everyone to attend games, folk will be happy to spend maybe 35 $CAD to go to a beer tent, and then spend more money buying the beer? Are Canadians really that rich and stupid?

Do English clubs give you beer for free? Thought not.

Wolfpack entry fee (this season) is CAD$25 east side/$30 west side - between 14 and 18 quid in your fine English money. This year's seasons tickets are $200 (same for 2019 if you renew early). This year we got 9 home games plus 4 qualifiers = 13 home games at $15 a pop. Beer is $9.50.

Other Toronto sports teams cost anywhere from $25 for a seat in the top tier at the Blue Jays where you're so high up your nose will bleed and you can reach up and touch passing aircraft. Lower tiers cost $80 to $200. Toronto FC costs $50+ to $125 approx. Raptors are similar range. Maple Leaf tickets cost your firstborn and a second mortgage. Beer at these venues costs $11.50 for the Budweiser swill to $13.50 for something decent.



No on both counts.

Baseball, Basketball, Hockey and Soccer are well known sports.....therefore no need to give away 5,000 tickets a week and the claim "packed houses" in an attempt to convince 11 SL chairmen that you're the answer to a really stupid question......
6k in the ground and maybe....just maybe 25% of them paid.
This is the reality of The Wolfpack......they need to ease o the investment by getting the 1.8 million next year or the "backers' will start to walk away.....PSG/LONDON/CRUSADERS.......we've ween it all before and yet we're happy to watch it again?

You're saying that the beer is on free-flow? Wow, that's a good way to create revenue! I wasn't far off with the ticket prices.

Your mate the pub manager is doing more reckoning than Radiohead. Your mate also has a crystal ball that tells him how long the Wolfpack concept will last ... and has deep knowledge of Wolfpack ticket receipts ... wow. Impressive. We should hook him up with Argyle.

I don't doubt your info and would not be surprised that some of the craft beer guys would get (or give out) tickets, they are also trying to attract customers. Lost Craft is a regular at the beer garden - but Mill Street isn't as they sold out to Anheuser-Busch and they'd have no stake or interest in promoting the Wolfpack, quite the opposite in fact.

As a season ticket holder, I get a few free tickets during the year and use them to invite friends. Several have become sufficiently hooked and are buying seasons tickets for next year. The people I meet at games have similar stories of successful conversions from beer-slurping newbies to emerging rugby fans who buy their own tickets. It's a successful business strategy, despite the relentless negativity of some on this forum.

I don't know why you feel the need to be so concerned for David Argyle's finances. He's a big boy and he knows what's ahead.

Well...he seemed suitably stunned at the £300,000 cost of the qualifiers for me to be skeptical as to what exactly "he expects"....lol.

I've witnessed what a "hobbiest" owning a club does.......and it ain't pretty once they get angsty as to the failed buy in from fans.......Toronto Wolfpack home games are populated with 1,500 paying punters......max......and even 9,600 at fill tilt won't pay the bills......it genuinely doesn't add up.....not my opinion, just economics.

It looks like the crowd are mainly extras from a Mad Max movie. Its a free day out for the underbelly of Toronto

Toronto does have it's fair share of Boguns........maybe that's why Argyle likes being "the man" and standing a round in the bar.....the big "I AM" so to speak.......