Plastic club, horrible owner. Be funny when they prove to be a bigger inconvenience than SL thought they would be.

In Dublin

Away on a Thursday night.

Going to be interesting how the league format is set,firstly they can't play at home till late March because of the winter conditions ,surely playing blocks of 4 matches home and away can't be fair

Don't see why not, we had a run of 4/5 homes games followed by a fun of away games this year.

Also the SL clubs sharing grounds with a FL club play blocks home and away due to re seeding of pitches.

Ultimately Toronto are not the bogeyman. They will either succeed or fail, but nothing ventured nothing gain. I wouldn't have minded whenever came up but I don't get the negativity towards Toronto. They have done it the way everyone used to say any club entering into SL should so deserve their place in the top flight. I hope they succeed as their success will ultimately be good for the game as a whole.

Dont agree with for the good of the game, how many times over the year has that term been used. For me SL have a hidden agenda probably leading to a so called elite league.

Yes they have, home grown players, on a limited budget great travelling support and all blast their national anthem out at home games ... hold on a minute

Its hoping it goes better than Paris st germain ,that was money wasted that could have been invested in grass roots rugby or a Cumbrian team

Have they done it the same way as everyone else, really?

With BLM there on his comments.

Rewind back to 2016 or so, when the news first broke of their creation. It said in the press releases regarding finance, that they would be allowed a special disburtion to exceed the cap. Did other teams. No. Did some teams stretch themselves financially, and struggle, almost going to the wall, yes. What it didn't say is how much extra they were allowed. We dont know how much, but if this is still the case, could they exceed it again, and how much to compete in SL.

Also, there was the saga with the unpaid or late transfer fee with Caton Brown. Heard this wasnt the first time.

One other thing I would mention, though our club wont do this as often as TW, but, I think for one person, the package to travel is about £700 for two nights. Wonder what the bill would be for a whole squad, coaches and backroom staff etc. Can't see too many clubs who closely look at budgets etc, will be too happy with that.

All for expansion but not this way

But regarding the cost for a squad, aren't Toronto forfeiting their SL money which should cover flight costs? I'm sure Daddycool will put me right if I've misread the situation.

Toronto pay for teams to travel and stay there.

Soccer fans travel all over in their comps and we cry about going over the Pennines on a Friday night.

Brian McDermott was completely correct in his post-match comments.

While ever the top of our game revolves around players working on building sites in pit villages, before training and playing in front of 2000 fans, we will never compete as a major sport.

I wouldn't mind but this is not expansion, replacing another club doesn't expand the sport, I'd also go as far as saying the damage has been done to London due to the relegation and will take years to recover

Wonder if it had been either
Leeds, Wigan or Saints would they allow it to happen

Cant really see them doing this forever though, realistically.

Money they're spending on travelling will start to impact their own finance one day. It doesn't last forever.

I'm all for expansion, but in the right way but I dont believe this is.

He wants to keep his mouth shut, the people who work on building sites and pit villages are the ones that pay to watch their teams, you can talk about their supposedly contribution to the game till the cows come home but I will never buy into it.

So your objection to TO being promoted, is that, although they cover the travel and accommodation costs for visiting teams, one day, they may not?

Shall we worry about that when it happens and hope the game's leadership can take advantage of the opportunities offered from getting into the North American market?

Relocating a squad of has beens, second rate Aussies and a few mercenaries isn’t and never will be expansion. It’s just spreading the talent pool a little thinner.

Where are the young Canadian players? It’s been 3 years now and not one in their squad, not even a token pick against the lesser Championship teams.

How many amateur clubs are there over there? Any of the schools playing it?

It’s a freak show and the likes of McDermott, Wilkin and Noble are just milking the cash cow before its inevitable demise.

Yes, the people in pit villages, working on building sites, digging holes (or even in white colour work too, of course), are the people paying for the game. They shouldn't be the people playing the game at the highest level.

I think we have the greatest game in the world. I'm passionate about RL, but we need to be aggressive in how the game is marketed and developed.

I'm not anti-Fev (etc), I'm pro-TO and the opportunities is offers...done to Mr Elston, I guess, now.

Thought he was very disrespectful to be honest, and also just remember his roots and where hes from

The thing is we are not a major sport and probably have our foot on the bottom run of the ladder. Teams in France , Canada and possibly America will not in my opinion shoot the game in to heights many predict.
The promotion and exposure of our sport lacks well behind the front runners, the world cup doesnt enthuse or stimulate new support and the measures taken by SL and the RFL fall well behind what could be achieved. The CC finals poorly, promoted, executed and attended
Take a look at RU and how it goes about its promotion, and before anyone shouts budgets its deffo played dividends for the RU and clubs within the structure. The products attracting more support and that in the very short period of time from going pro.

So I expect then cash will be flowing in next year from this supposed incredible new TV deal people have been salivating over.

From my understanding SL clubs don't receive any benefits travelling there a and wouldn't expect them to any, and as far as wanting places like Toronto, new York, paris , Barcelona, well then crack on and make your super duper league if that's what they want but not at the cost of heartland clubs that put him in the game anyway

Well that remains to be seen (though the current contract has a couple of years left).

I don't know if SL clubs will have to fund their own away trip, though they have got TO's share of the central funding, so perhaps so.

What precisely do you mean by "at the cost of heartland clubs"?

Fev v Batley will not elevate us to the level of exposure we deserve. Having said that, if Fev (or us), earn that position on the field, then that shouldn't be interfered with. Is that what you mean?

TO earned their SL spot, through the same process that Fev tried to. Through the process they all understood at the beginning of the season.