Quote Fax4Life="Fax4Life"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.'"
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.
