Jo Jumbuck wrote:I'm not one of the fans that want to see Toronto fail, In fact i want them and anybody else in an expansion area to succeed. I have big doubts about the whole thing though. One is i am not convinced that the S league clubs will let them in when it comes to the crunch. I know they are making all the right noises, but League is famous for saying one thing and doing the opposite.
As far as i know the reason for the " so called breakaway " by the s league clubs is because they need more of the TV money that they generate, which inevitably means less for the lower leagues, which i fear will be the end of some clubs " maybe quite a few. ( not in any way the fault of Toronto ).
At the time I thought PSG were going to be the huge boost for League that it promised to be but sadly it went the way of many many more attempts to spread the game, In fact history is littered with failed attempts to get league going in other areas, The sad fact is the only place there is any real passion for the game in Europe " with the exception of the South of France" is along the M 62 corridor,
How long has London been going now 30 some years, and they have a decent catchment area by anyone's standards, They just do not take to the game, end of.
So what is the story with Toronto, The hope is that the game will take off over there big style, and the dream is that we will all of a sudden have access to the biggest sporting market in the world, That is the dream and i'm not saying that it can't happen, and i have little info true, but it seems to me to be another PSG with a very wealthy man behind it " which may make the difference ".
My problem is that until such times as some of these other dreamed of teams over there come into being " of which as yet there is no sign but it is very early days " Till then it seems as though Toronto will just be adding costs to the S league clubs running costs at a time when they claim they need more money. They could of course be playing the long game and gambling that it will take off big style over there " and who knows " but playing the long game is a another trait that RL has not done well in the past.
So who knows, I certainly wish them the best of luck, I have watched the game for 60 years now " and there are plenty who have done longer " It needs a huge boost from somewhere because it is a shadow of the game it has been in past days. I have real reservations about Toronto but i will be hoping they can provide that boost.
I had a vacation home in USA for 10 years RL’s problem is that the NBA, NHL NASCAR etc etc and American Football is just the tip of the iceberg and fill the US TV channels and offer great day experiences to watch a live game.
College Football draws bigger crowds than Rugby League, minor league baseball draws half decent crowds and let’s be fair in a run in between the NRL and Superleague at the moment if you were a US TV channel which would you choose ?
jumbucks other comment ‘it’s a shadow of what it was’ speaks volumes to me as a ‘dinosaur’ as a lot won’t remember it as a winter game.
Lots of negatives but serious rugby at the major holidays at Xmas you planned around being at Thrum Hall for derby with Halifax.
At Easter you could spend two days and watch Wigan v Saints, Warrington v Widnes, Bradford v Leeds and Hudds v Wakefield travelling by car and except for the driver have a great two days with a few beers, meat pies that were things of legend, big crowds and good rugby.
Days that as Jumbuck says have gone but I think the cure for the game lies somewhere in the middle of taking the game forward with innovation but not forgetting that there’s an awful lot of good things we’ve got rid and still do of which people miss and the cure lies somewhere between both
