Be careful re: Away support comment. You will have the Rhino expansionist group here telling us how we
shouldn't rely on away support blah blah blah

That's an interesting use of language; your flat cap must be chafing!

I'm fully in favour of SL supporting the development of new league structures in other countries - we should be mature and established enough by now to be able to do that - but as stated previously, I don't think that should be at the expense of existing clubs. I don't count Catalans in that by the way - they've earned their place and for me, stinky season aside, they add value to SL in their own right.

It will certainly do no harm, if a North American league takes off, for ESL to be their new BFF's, because it has the potential to be way more successful and powerful than SL ever could be, purely on the basis of scale. It's a longer term project of course, and that requires vision and patience.

Sadly Bren, the game has supporters who want to maintain a "local" M62 league. Forget New York, they wouldn't want to travel to Edinburgh, Bristol or Exeter for example.
Such a big shame we could not make Ireland work for us, North or South. Canada is on my bucket list thank goodness!
The NFL is massive and they run budgets based on home support due to the size of USA. Even though the game may be sheiite to us, there is still a massive atmosphere on match day.
RFL needs new visionaries looking at marketing us in a better way, then again, we all know this and all agree on this.
Image is massive.
Fat Nigel and the Invisible man looked embarrassing at the G.F.

That's an interesting use of language; your flat cap must be chafing!

Dictionary definintion of the word "Infiltrate", Bren : "To enter or gain access to an organisation or place surreptitiously and gradually". I have a distinction in GCE English and have NEVER worn a flat cap!!!!



I even followed Trinity to Kent Invicta, Southend etc back in the day, but d,
But seriously, I have no objection to expansion in this country or abroad. I even followed Trinity to Kent Invicta and Southend back in the day, but would just prefer countries to nurture their own leagues.

A bit of terrible typing editing there, I think!!

I shouldn't worry about it, he's bright enough to work it out

Yet 6000 to 7000 was a great League One crowd, surely a SL game would increase that

You do realise the Toronto club dont subsidise our reporters from our rugby papers! Thats why they dont cover there home games ! So if you think that British supporters will go over in there hundreds think again, and home supporters wont no the difference between championship and super league untill they start to lose a few then watch the crowds drop.

To market a sport that nobody knows about and get 7000 fans to watch games against third tier opposition, is some effort.

Any National league, most Championship and over half of the current SL clubs would be over the moon with those numbers (and with little or no away support).
The RFL are missing a trick by not getting Perez and some of his team involved in marketing the game.

I agree that the real test will come when they start losing games but, they may be up to 10k by then, which would be a fantastic achievement.

I'm completely in favour of one US and one Canadian club in SL under the principal of developing there own players and national team
If it can do for those countries what it's done for the kiwis with the Vodafone warriors then it's a great thing, same applies with Catalan and France

When they get to the stage where they can produce enough players then great, introduce a second team

That's something that will happen in the NRL too
Another kiwi team has being on the cards for some time and I'd say we will see it in this decade
The next NRL franchise discussions are not that far away

Fiji Samoa and tonga will all get a team in NSW/Queensland cup soon enough too like PNG, all v positive steps for RL

Our game abroad is clearly getting stronger

Its just a shame that chairmen of the present super league clubs dont feel the same way!

Someone should have told them in wales! How many miles away is that? There super league life did'nt last long but a bit longer than paris!

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/ ... -1-toronto Interesting read!

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/ ... -1-toronto Interesting read!

hang on didn't we get figures like that to find that we was supported by free loaders

It's not just the 7000 fans, it's 7000 new RL fans that have watched Toronto at home, against low ranked opposition and with no away fans ! and form a cold (sub zero) start up.
It's reasonable to expect that playing games against "better" opposition and with increased marketing etc, they should grow their support base still further and whilst there are some issues with location and the practicalities of having a North American club in The Championship, for a guy like Perez to get this thing off the ground and have some vision to try and establish RL in new territory, is a superb effort.
Unlike some of the failed "expansion" efforts in the past, this one has some serious backing behind it and they are working to a long term plan, investing in some local based players and trying to convert some new players from "football".
Although there are implications for the game in the heartlands, it's up to THe RFL to manage the situation properly and maximise the benefits for the game as a whole.
Whether they can do this remains to be seen but, IF and its a huge if, RL can establish itself in new territory, we should all hope that it succeeds.
The potential is massive but, getting the thing right and working out how this best fits with RL in Oz, NZ, the UK and France and not damaging what we already have, will be a tricky balancing act.

Splashing out on old NRL has beens and the thugs of RL is not a long term plan.

Might not just be those type of players if the new clubs over there keep springing up.

Until they can produce and develop their own players aren't they just a parasite on the game over here? You could end up in a few years time with Toronto and NY both in SL full of Brits, Aussies and Kiwis. For all the 7k attendances where are the new players coming from? What good does it do the game in this country if it's just producing players for foreign clubs?

Don't understand what the end ambition is here.

Do the RFL think that having a super league with 2 American teams in is the way forward? Makes sense if it is temporary with a view to setting up a north American league. But to have two teams on a different continent just doesn't seem to make sense long term.

the question is are they just opening the doors, don't question the ability for expansion, lets put it this way corners shops don't get the same amount of footfall if the product cost more do they

Its worked for wakefield for how many years?

Regards

King James

Do Toronto even have an academy?

None. It's something that the ultra expansionists don't seem to realise. Believe it or not I'm not against expansion I would love to see London, Oxford, Newcastle play in SL but the RFL don't seem to have or care for a long term plan in these places. They've just got dollar signs in their eyes.

RL dont seem to have a plan for any of this.
The North American thing is being driven by Eric Perez and not by The RFL.
OK they must have agreed that the North American clubs can compete in "our" league but, they have no ide how to promote the game or sell the sport for anything like a decent price to Sky and that is the thing.

IF SL could include 2 North American clubs and 2 French clubs in an expanded SL and there was a substantial increase in funding, where is the problem ?
Ultimately this will mean more opportunities for people wanting to make their way in the game and whilst there would be some kind of player "drain" from down under or over here, IF, there is a heap more cash coming in, then, why not ?
IF, of course, there is no extra brass coming in and we are slashing and burning the domestic comp, just to try and attract clubs stuffed full of "over the hill" Aussies then, we just shouldn't entertain them as it would dilute a game which is on it's and desperately in need of higher revenue.
We've seen clubs like Paris, dropped into the game and spectacularly fail but, that doesnt mean that we should be happy with a shrinking game, dropping further and further down the sporting pecking order.
If the game doesn't grow, it will die.
Whether this is the right thing, I dont know but, Perez seems to have more drive and ambition than all the RFL put together, something we haven't seen in the game since Maurice Lindsay was around.

what clubs are going to fall by the wayside because of this......Americans have the money which none of the English clubs do.Money talks in whatever country it is

if we don't get a stadium I know who one I will be

Even though they won't say who the money backers are, according to the Daily star .Although other like the Guardian and Sky say it's two
Seen as they're British money men, it's a shame we couldn't get them to invest in Sl/British Clubs.

Also noticed that the consortium spokesman & co-founder is Yorkshire lad Ricky Wilby, I remember hom being a PE teacher a few years ago and the kit man for Catalans in the UK, before moving on to be their statstician. That's some coup for him to be involved in that. Then there's another guy called Tom Scott also acting as the representative for the investors. Eric Perez has been confirmed that he has nothing to do with this New York plan