Single big money backers are the nemesis that eventually results in the downfall of clubs. All clubs need backing of some sort, but when it's down to one individual it's a recipe for disaster unless there's sustainability in other parts of the club, along with a plan B should said individual walk away.

It's potentially true that licensing could come back as part of a future TV deal (albeit Sky have demonstrated that they like the jeopardy of P&R), but given it will be the incumbent SL clubs at that time that effectively make the decisions, any licensing agreement will only include current SL teams. IF TWP, TO or anyone else wants to be at the table in 2021, then they need to get their act together on the field and win promotion over the next couple of years.

I think next season will be establishing ourselves as a championship club, then the season after mounting a serious pormotion challenge. Like other Bulls fans, i think we'll be mid-table, outside chance of getting in the play-offs.

Finally the penny seems to have dropped with the latest custiodian of the club, to build long-term. We're a young squad, with some good juniors coming through that can grow together.

Absolutely. Lets fill a team full of people who have never played the game before. That makes perfect sense.

Regards

King james

I completely agree. Rugby League has been particularly vulnerable to fickle white knight sods because we are a relatively small sport where even modestly wealthy people can have a dabble. But we collectively never seem to learn the lessons and time after time a club is left in a perilous position after falling for the promises.

Just off the top of my head, there's been the chap at Feath who promised the world, going back a few years the one at Wakey, Leyton Samuel in Bridgend, the man who walked away from Donny after getting them to a good point. They all want to play at being owners but will simply sod off when they get bored or their tiny pot of cash is mysteriously not enough to achieve their Superleague aspirations. Bad enough to have these characters come on the scene when you have a CHOICE in the matter. At Bradford, the last two tinpot owners, who had the collective wealth of my daughter's piggybank, were foisted on us by the RFL who then act perplexed when we go bust again as a consequence.

I feel for the fans who endure the rollercoaster caused by becoming the playthings of these moderately wealthy people, but it will only keep happening.

I've been to quite a few interviews of late where the finance directors have been sacked for leaving big gaps in the accounting and amounts of monies have gone missing. I've seen it again this week in regards to Patisserie Valerie and the world is full of them, it seems there are no systems of vetting or simple uses of references. These shysters are hitting all businesses so by the law of percentages Rugby clubs are going to be targets.

That's a rather bold and unquantifiable statement isn't it?

Us northern flatcappers that created RL in the first place are still doing fine over 100 years later. Its not perfect and needs continued financial support, but the product itself is fine.

Considering we're always accused of it being a regional game in the UK, it is actually just a regional sport in France and the success of Catalans in the past 10 years hasn't really changed that. It seems to me that France needs SL more than SL needs France.

Don't get me wrong. Catalans deserve their place, and if Toulouse earn promotion then they will equally deserve it, but to say SL needs them in order to fulfill its potential is a bit of a stretch.

But again, neither team have earned a spot in SL on merit. Everyone's favourite plastic Frenchman seems to be ignoring that fact. Unless there's a quantifiable and demonstrable benefit to them being given places rather than them having to earn a place like the rest of the league has to, then I see no reason to give clubs like Toronto and Toulouse an unfair leg up.

There was a great opportunity for Toronto to get some game time into some of their local players when they were thrashing league 1 opposition and some opportunities in The Championship but, instead, they chose not to use any of them.
There will be games next season where they could still do this but, it is very unlikely.
Of course, it would be tokenism and even IF they manage to set things up at junior/academy level, it will be at least 5 years and more likely 10, before they have any local talent that will make the grade.

This isnt a surprise though.
The boot camps that they held were great publicity but unless they can find players with some decent rugby knowledge (Union would be ok) we may be waiting a long time to see Canadians playing for TWP.

Not sure I agree. North America is full of sports players and athletes who have not mad the grade too pla NFL etc.

I have no doubt that some of these could be fast tracked into playing RL.

Not necessarily into the more significant positions of 1 6 7 9 or 13. But they should be able to try a couple at winger maybe a big rough forward who can run the ball in

Agree 100%

Of course we will be waiting a long time? I have said this before but to expect Toronto to just find players in canada ready to play professional RL so soon is ridiculous.

Can someone tell me how many players Melbourne storm managed to get into the first team when they formed.

yes they could be some but we could end up with a lot like Dwain Chambers the headless chicken

Looking forward to International Super League.

I can just imagine the crying from the likes of Jon Wilkin, Jamie Peacock and Kevin Sinfield about how much the travelling to France X2, North America & London really takes it out of professional athletes.

I guess there is potentially never a great time. You don't know if another well funded club will enter into League 1 i.e. New York. Bradford could also get some momentum as well.

Toronto not going up messed things up for a few people. Clubs in the Championship that wanted to see the back of them are probably the biggest hit. As well as Widnes who now have a credible rival to gain promotion.

Toronto (2 years into a 5 year plan) and still looking a little green are probably not too bad off as a result. Another year of smashing part time teams should help get a more stable fan base.

The major test for Toronto comes if/when they start losing games.
It's easy to gain momentum when you are beating everything that's put in front of you but, if you start to lose a few or,
not gain promotion, it becomes far more difficult to grow the fan base etc.

Getting back to the 5 year plan, I'm sure the investors will start to get hacked off if they miss out on promotion in the next couple of seasons and with the kind of spend they have on their squad, they should be winning the comp at a canter.

I dread to think how much TWP's 17 cost at the side of London's 17 in the final ?

But that’s very different anyway.

Rugby league has been played in Melbourne since 1914. They’ve had their own league in Victoria since the 1920s.

Rugby league fans have been turning up to games in Melbourne since 14000 turned up for a GB Lions your game and even before the Storm entered the NRL 87000 turned up at the MCG to watch a SOO game.

Melbourne wasn’t expansion and neither were Aulkand/NZ and neither have Catalans been. They were all given a chance to have a team given a spot in the dominant league in the continent after having a strong background and history of playing the sport for decades with a base that can be said to be stable with a player pool.

Toronto are a case we’ve never seen before in rugby league.

Who is “we”?

If it’s the sport then I’ll tell you what we need before we need Toronto in SL:

1. Cleaner rucks
2. Proper PTBs
3. Two on-field refs
4. A ban on diving
5. A ban on pretending to be injured
6. A ban on swearing at officials
7. More investment into grassroots
8. Less reliance on the same old junior/amateur clubs providing professional clubs’ Academies with players and more getting into schools to find a greater player pool
9. A better TV deal
10. The RFL’s move to Manchester happening ASAP
11. Getting rid of the Sky commentary team and getting some fresh blood in who are positive about the sport and being fresh voices and views
12. Getting the sport played in bigger cities in Great Britain and France (London getting promoted is better for the sport than Toronto because of the player pool already playing the sport in London... Manchester Rangers being allowed to flourish - they are ready for bigger and better!)
13. Open up opportunities for future places in the Challenge Cup to more [iEuropean[/i teams (like we have Belgrade next season)
14. Getting the Super League show on at a prime time on nationwide terrestrial television
15. Live SL games on terrestrial television
16. More games on the road like Leeds v Cas at Elland Road this year
17. Getting our “stars” into the mainstream media a bit more: get one on Strictly Come Dancing one year, get more on A Question Of Sport, get them in the studio on the news on terrestrial television more for an interview in the sport’s section
18. Find famous people who are fans of the sport to Tweet/Insta about the sport more
19. Get the international game having a proper structured cycle
20. Strengthening Tonga/PNG/Fiji/Samoa/France/Wales’ national teams
21. GB Lions getting going again ASAP (the name and kit is more iconic than we realise!)
22. Larger Salary Cap to allow teams to keep hold of or entice more stars rather than see them go to the NRL or Union
23. Clubs who can afford it being encouraged to spend more on transfer fees especially down to clubs lower down the league or leagues than them so that there’s more money washing around the sport and get away from the dangerous business of waiting for players to finish their contracts at places so they just leave on free transfers

I like Toronto a lot ,i think theyre a extremely important club to the future progress of Northern Hemisphere RL but i dont disagree about London being important as well for the reasons you give.

I agree with the rest of your post especially number 12,Manchester Rangers being held back ? WTF is that all about ?

Toronto are a long term project regardless of what league they are in. Another year in the Championship could be a blessing. Allowing the fans to come to terms with the game before they risk losing more than they win, giving them time to grow more naturally.

I am sure the investors are investing for the love of the game rather than guaranteed profits. No one who has a few million in the bank that they earned can't be daft enough to believe that Rugby League or sport in general, is a good way to make money. Who knows if they get a good TV deal it could work out well for them, but more than likely they will spend more than they earn for a long time.

The key is to get a team that doesn't crumble when the expectation gets too big. They need a team capable of beating Toulouse/Widnes in a final in 12 months time. However I guess can be said about Toulouse and Widnes.

Toronto will just buy the quality of player to get them into Super League. Remember this was only their 2nd season

Rubbish. The main competition in Australia was a Sydney based league from 1904 to 1994. Just look when the other clubs were created and added to that competition. Canberra Raiders in 1981, Brisbane Broncos in 1988, Newcastle Knights 1988, North Queensland Cowboys in 1995, Auckland Warriors in 1995 and Melbourne Storm in 1998. All those clubs, along with Catalans are expansion clubs.

Yes there was already amateur local rugby league played in some of those areas before the professional club was created, but to claim they are not expansion clubs is wrong. How much amateur rugby league was played in Melbourne prior to their inception? I don’t think a great deal, they still rely on bringing in players from elsewhere just as Toronto do. Melbourne’s reserve grade team are based in and play in Queensland, expansion clubs can be successful without creating their own players, as the Storm have shown.

Indeed, they have no other option.
Just keep outspending their competition until they have bought a place at the SL table.

If Toronto weren’t there Widnes would be outspending the rest of the Championship to as you say “buy a place in SL”. It’s a poor criticism of Toronto.

Will Toronto have any Canadians in their side next year, or the year after that, or the year after that?

They have Quinn Ngawati who is a 19 year old Canadian they picked up from one of their trials. But as I said above expansion clubs can be successful without producing their own players, like Melbourne Storm have done.