https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... ed-1863552 Hull KR - this time Thought this was sorted??

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... ed-1863552 Hull KR - this time Thought this was sorted??

Hardly a big issue. A few hours down to London on train, visa obtained, few hours back on train. A day in training missed. No biggie.

No issues with Toronto, the issue/blame lies with those 3 players and why they find themselves in this position. Only themselves to blame.

The guy who couldn't get a Visa to play for Huddersfield is struggling to get a Visa to enter Canada? Shock.

Whatever the reason for individuals struggling to get a visa, the simple fact is that teams could be prevented from selecting their best available team. That cannot be acceptable, in any competition - especially one as vital as this.

Agreed, Hull KR definitely need to look at that when they are employing people

Along with every other club in SL, I would wager, for next season! Of course, then there would presumably be issues with 'equal opportunities' in this country, if clubs were to discriminate against players with criminal records?

Spot on Alan.

A criminal record in any walk of life / employment makes life more difficult. This is something that an individual needs to consider before they commit an offence, and something that employers need to consider when they employ them. My job requires me to travel - a criminal record would make that a hell of a lot harder and there's no reason why it should be any different for rugby players.

It's amazing how people suddenly become apologists for convicted criminals when they're professional sportsmen.

There is no requirement for employers to treat people with criminal records equally to those without when deciding whether to employ them. Quite rightly too!

Well no, its a Toronto problem, its creating a discriminated sport no other club in the competition have visa conditions.

we have that in superleague, see greg bird not signing for bradford, but signing for catalans, same competition, different countries, different visa conditions.

Yes but Greg Bird would be allowed to play a game at Bradford, but probably not allowed to play at Toronto.

Canada has a better system of vetting thugs. Clubs should not employ such criminals. Koukash virtually employed every rogue player he could find....Hock, Chase, Long.....

Ultimately, IF RL continues down the N.American route, it will become more difficult for certain players to gain contracts.
I dont think you can call it discrimination.
We already have rules over here for certain individuals being prevented form working with kids etc and nobody has much of an issue with this.
All clubs need to prepare for this stuff and be happy to either do without certain players for certain games or, not to employ them.

Really? Do you think a team won’t sign somebody because they might not be available for ONE single league game a season?

So what’s your solution? Let’s get rid of Toronto I guess unless the situation changes? Wouldn’t that be discriminating against them.

Thats Toronto's problem to find a solution we want a competition with parity, Barrow last season couldn't take a full team to Toronto last year and got beat by 70 points, thats a farce.

If this is the future then we have less participation in our sport, we can't cherry pick certain individuals and avoid others based on there inability to play a game on another continent.

I would say if Hull K R can't play there 3 players at Toronto then the game should be null and void until the RFL change the operational rules.

If teams end up relegated or in the MPG because they lost away at Toronto with a weakened team it doesn't reflect well on a "fair" competition. What would be the outcry if Toronto won SL/League Leaders Shield because they had a great home record against consistently weakened teams. It isn't a fair concept.

People can quote Greg Bird etc, but whilst he is with Catalans he can play away from home in the UK.

Agreed it is down to the Canadian immigration system, but surely a Canadian team should be in a Canadian/North America competition, not a European one?

So it’s not right to discriminate against a couple of individuals who made a choice that got them in trouble but it’s fine to discriminate against a whole club, it’s players, coaches, management, staff, fans because of visa rules they have no say in.

Quite hypocritical.

All the people involved in one club get punished because some guys act like idiots and get in trouble with the law.

Its amazing how many thugs from Australia end up playing over her, especially when there immigration is much more strict than ours, i have a cousin over there went over when he was 4 years old, had several run ins with the law when he was in teens early 20's, he has been denied Australian citizen ship, he has never been out of Australia as he has no passport and can only get a British one, but he thinks if he leaves the county he wont be allowed back, despite living over there for over 50 years. But that's the tolerant open land of Australia for you.

The visa rules aren't set by Toronto or the RFL. It's not their problem.

It is what it is. I hope all our players can get into Canada, but we've put up with things worse than this before.

Part of the issue is that the heightened 'excitement' (i.e. tension) around the middle 8s, means that everything is magnified. Suspensions and injuries - your own and your rivals, marginal refereeing decisions and so on. For a fourth year in a row, our whole season is crammed into about two months. It's intense and intensely unpleasant.

In contrast, as nice as it was to break our losing streak in the derby, it did just feel like a decent end to a looooooooong pre-season.

I've nothing against this system, in principle - but goodness, as a Hull KR fan I'm sick of the sight of it.

Try Googling "Windrush generation".