Toronto - Half Term Report : Tue Jul 18, 2017 9:46 am  

The regular rounds in League 1 are now complete (15 rounds), I thought it'd be a good time to take a look at the first few months of the Toronto club. On the pitch they're blowing each team away as expected really, 15 from 15, having scored 916 and conceding just 157. Barrow & Whitehaven aren't too far behind though, so they can't afford to slip up in the Super 8's. They made a decent go against Salford, losing 29-22 in the Cup. Attendances have been strong. They've averaged 6,639, with a record of 7,247 set at the weekend vs Hemel. There's a lot of positivity amongst sports fans in Toronto regarding the Wolfpack. I stumbled on a poll from TSN 1050 on Twitter, asking fans what the biggest Summer sports story was in Toronto. If you read the comments, the thread is swamped by TW fans, annoyed that they weren't included in the poll, and all talking extremely positively about the match days. https://twitter.com/TSN1050Radio/status ... 0186343424 20k on Facebook, 17.5k on Twitter They also recently handed a 3-year deal to what is effectively their first Canadian youngster, Quinn Ngawati. I think he's played a couple of times this year from the bench. Lot's of things to be positive about IMO.

The regular rounds in League 1 are now complete (15 rounds), I thought it'd be a good time to take a look at the first few months of the Toronto club. On the pitch they're blowing each team away as expected really, 15 from 15, having scored 916 and conceding just 157. Barrow & Whitehaven aren't too far behind though, so they can't afford to slip up in the Super 8's. They made a decent go against Salford, losing 29-22 in the Cup. Attendances have been strong. They've averaged 6,639, with a record of 7,247 set at the weekend vs Hemel. There's a lot of positivity amongst sports fans in Toronto regarding the Wolfpack. I stumbled on a poll from TSN 1050 on Twitter, asking fans what the biggest Summer sports story was in Toronto. If you read the comments, the thread is swamped by TW fans, annoyed that they weren't included in the poll, and all talking extremely positively about the match days. https://twitter.com/TSN1050Radio/status ... 0186343424 20k on Facebook, 17.5k on Twitter They also recently handed a 3-year deal to what is effectively their first Canadian youngster, Quinn Ngawati. I think he's played a couple of times this year from the bench. Lot's of things to be positive about IMO.

Re: Toronto - Half Term Report : Tue Jul 18, 2017 10:43 am  

On field - the real measure is starting now in the 8s. They will have sterner tests than they have faced almost all season and so how will they react...i hope they win promotion personally, it'll be good for the game in Canada and worldwide

Off the field they seen to be setting the gold standard in fan engagement and product marketing and making the game an "event" each time, plus links with local hostelries to provide coverage of away days to keep momentum up on those weekends

I wish my own club would take note

Re: Toronto - Half Term Report : Tue Jul 18, 2017 11:28 am  

Lets be honest, they have done unbelievably well and made the very best of a bad situation. It is typical that RL are looking such a gift-horse in the mouth and we can only hope that sanity prevails in the current discussions about structure.

Re: Toronto - Half Term Report : Tue Jul 18, 2017 11:48 am  

The standard they have set off the field is a country mile better than any super league club

Regards

King James

Re: Toronto - Half Term Report : Tue Jul 18, 2017 2:02 pm  

*Activates Leigh fan mode*

They should be playing in their own Canadian league if they're so good. They don't benefit English RL at all.
They can take their bigger crowds and extra TV deal elsewhere, what English RL needs is Whitehaven in Super League.
They've been in the league for half a season now and the Canada team is still rubbish....WASTE OF TIME!

Re: Toronto - Half Term Report : Tue Jul 18, 2017 3:08 pm  

jakeyg95 wrote:

*Activates Leigh fan mode*

They should be playing in their own Canadian league if they're so good. They don't benefit English RL at all.
They can take their bigger crowds and extra TV deal elsewhere, what English RL needs is Whitehaven in Super League.
They've been in the league for half a season now and the Canada team is still rubbish....WASTE OF TIME!

*Actual Leigh fan*

They've done well off the pitch, but I don't trust the RFL's competence to translate this into any benefit for the English game, or have come up with a plan for that when admitting them into the league (not TWP's problem).
They'll be tested on the pitch next season, and will be interesting to see if Rowley and Noble agree on things if they start to lose a few games.

Re: Toronto - Half Term Report : Tue Jul 18, 2017 3:23 pm  

In fairness, its not all Leigh fans, nor only Leigh fans, unfortunately for them some of their empty vessels are the loudest.

But it has been interesting to see some of the myths Toronto have busted, the arguments about the 'fairness' of P+R and it being beneficial for the game as a whole have been thrown out of the window and it is now they are at least honest about their position being solely about self-preservation and self interest.

Toronto are about as clear evidence as you could wish to see that some people arent afraid of the games failure, they are terrified of its success.

Re: Toronto - Half Term Report : Tue Jul 18, 2017 4:28 pm  

what viewing figures do they get on premier sports...

Re: Toronto - Half Term Report : Tue Jul 18, 2017 4:32 pm  

brearley84 wrote:

what viewing figures do they get on premier sports...

I stopped watching a while back, their games are totally uncompetitive, I'll start watching again next season.

I think the big question is if they don't make it to Super League in 2018 or even 2019, how long will there backers be prepared to keep spending money to keep the dream alive, a transatlantic sports team can't be cheap. Hopefully Super League is expanded to 14 clubs in 2018, with 2 expansion clubs gaining promotion.

Re: Toronto - Half Term Report : Tue Jul 18, 2017 4:34 pm  

Sir Kevin Sinfield wrote:

I stopped watching a while back, their games are totally uncompetitive, I'll start watching again next season.

Will they be on Premier Sports next season as Sky have the rights to the Championship (assuming they're promoted of course)?