Second Canadian team for League 1

[Evil Homer]

This is happening, expect an announcement within 6 months.

 

[adamkungl]

Guessing Montreal?

 

[RoosTah]

Very cool news - if NY is successful and they get a similar trend going there they'll have enough teams for their own North America conference within a decade - that would change both the League and Union international landscape.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

The tweet from the show he was on said a second team will PLAY next season.

Surely that can't be right.

An announcement or preparation next year maybe, but competing seems unlikely within that time frame.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Is this in addition to New York? If so, and you combine this with the 2025 World Cup, we have really stolen a march on Union in North America

 

[adamkungl]

The tweet from the show he was on said a second team will PLAY next season.

Surely that can't be right.

An announcement or preparation next year maybe, but competing seems unlikely within that time frame.

League 1 sooks won't be happy..

But tbh there are some good reasons why this might be too much too soon.
Obvious reason being Canada isn't actually producing any professional quality players yet.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Meh. Neither is Melbourne or, dare I say it, the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.

The good thing is, the Wolfpack can bring in better and better players, as they are, and the genuine League 1 players can go to the new team. And the Canadians and Americans that are coming through have somewhere to start that is closer to their level. Plus if it's Montreal they can bring in a few players from Elite 1 to give it a French flavour.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

Nothing wrong with having more options for blokes to ply their trade.

 

[Stallion]

Is this in addition to New York? If so, and you combine this with the 2025 World Cup, we have really stolen a march on Union in North America

Lol. I wouldn't say that union has been usurped? That code has instant introduction through its scholastic ties which rugby league, though a more attractive code, has not got. Good on rugby league for being good enough to attract such interest without 'establishment' support.

 

[Stallion]

Is this in addition to New York? If so, and you combine this with the 2025 World Cup, we have really stolen a march on Union in North America

Lol. I wouldn't say that union has been usurped? That code has an easy passage/ introduction through its scholastic ties which rugby league, though a more attractive code, has not got. Good on rugby league for being good enough to attract such interest without 'establishment' support.

 

[latingringo101]

Eric Perez said Canadians dont care who plays for their team as long as they win.

A professional team can help develop players in a new market, but the main aim is to expand supporters of the game and increase revenue. The Wolfpack have done this and are doing what they set out to do...put Rugby League on the map in North America

 

[Stallion]

Eric Perez said Canadians dont care who plays for their team as long as they win.

A professional team can help develop players in a new market, but the main aim is to expand supporters of the game and increase revenue. The Wolfpack have done this and are doing what they set out to do...put Rugby League on the map in North America

Im all for it! This is great stuff! Just think its quite an achievement given the obstacles this great code faces in so many areas. Maybe if mentioning that RL doesnt have the headstart other codes have may explain to a number of people why the code hasnt been developed as much as it should have been to date. It answers alot of questions that would be asked.

 

[deluded pom?]

Im all for it! This is great stuff! Just think its quite an achievement given the obstacles this great code faces in so many areas. Maybe if mentioning that RL doesnt have the headstart other codes have may explain to a number of people why the code hasnt been developed as much as it should have been to date. Its answers alot of questions that would be asked.

Union is known to a lot of Canadians, some of them will now be wondering why they haven't seen or heard of League until the TWP came along. It wouldn't hurt to educate them on the dirty tactics used, even to this day, by Union to deny League a fair chance.

 

[Jankuloski]

Some more detail: https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.the...team-rugby-league-eric-perez-toronto-wolfpack

Second Canadian team planned for RFL, says man behind Toronto Wolfpack
• Eric Perez believes new team will join RFL in 2019
• Perez wants northern hemisphere league within 10 years

• 
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Aaron Bower

Friday 15 September 2017 11.58 EDTLast modified on Friday 15 September 2017 12.05 EDT

The man behind the launch of Toronto Wolfpack has revealed plans are already advanced for a second Canadian team to enter the Rugby Football League in two years’ time.

The Wolfpack, who have averaged crowds of more than 7,000 in their first season, won the League 1 title last Saturday and have generated significant interest as they prepare for the Championship next year.

Hamilton is understood to be a likely destination for the new venture and the Toronto chief executive, Eric Perez, said: “Within six months, the world will know about the next Canadian side coming in for 2019, so get ready.”

Ryan Brierley on playing for Toronto Wolfpack: 'It’s a crazy way of living'

“I can’t say where yet but I will say it is the way to generate serious revenue in this market. Having one team is not enough. We want two, three, four and then five [North American] teams. Once you’ve done that, the revenue will begin to spill into the British game to help prop up clubs who are struggling.”


Perez also revealed his desire for a northern hemisphere league to be created within the next 10 years, allowing the best rugby league sides on both sides of the Atlantic to combine forces.

Perez raised eyebrows when, before the Wolfpack’s formation, he claimed they would reach Super League with stronger crowds than some top-flight sides in year one. A crowd of 7,972 watched them beat Barrow last Saturday to win the third-tier title but his sights are set much higher.

Toronto Wolfpack take leap into the muddy unknown in rural Yorkshire | Aaron Bower

“It is not inconceivable that 10 years from now, Toronto Wolfpack could be drawing crowds in the region of 30,000,” said Perez, who added they will sell out their near 10,000-capacity Lamport Stadium at some point next season in the Championship.

A second Canadian team – Perez will help with the formation – may not be the only North American team on the horizon. Preliminary discussions are understood to have taken place regarding a franchise based in New York entering the British league structure though no timeframe has been set for their inclusion.

 

[Foreign Legion]

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/set-of-six-storm-in-a-preseason-teacup-20170917-gyj3ez.html


Perez says it's his 'life force' to found more clubs in Canada, US


Toronto Wolfpack founder Eric Perez has revealed his dealings with "multiple rich guys" to dot North America with professional rugby league clubs; teams in New York City and Hamilton, Ontario, could be announced within six months.

Speaking to Set Of Six at the Wolfpack's final home game of their league-winning debut season – watched by 8500 fans – Perez denied he had left the club but detailed an unusual arrangement under which he will set up rival teams in his spare time.

"I'm always going to be at this club. This club, it's part of who I am. I'm still a board member, still an owner, still where I was before but the mission isn't over. The Wolfpack need more teams."

He added, with a trademark flourish: "It's my destiny. I believe in it so much I've made it my life force. It's what I do. I make things happen."


More on New York and Ontario

It was Wolfpack player Ryan Burroughs who said in a weekend interview Perez's new teams would be in Hamilton – a city of around 500,000 between Toronto and Niagara Falls – followed by New York in 2020.

Perez earlier told Set of Six in relation to a number of cities that did not include Hamilton: "On a daily basis I have guys in those places and in other places who are actively pursuing an expansion team. Each one of those places has multiple rich guys. Whichever one [is launched first] will be the one that benefits the game the most and has the strongest infrastructure."

Asked if he was working on behalf of the RFL, Perez said: "I'm representing rugby league … Within six months we'll be announcing the first one – possibly two of them."

On reports Newcastle assistant Michael Potter would be the NYC coach, he said: "I've never met Mick Potter. Some of [the reports are] real, some of it might not be real. I can't confirm what is real.

 

[RoosTah]

This is just so bloody cool. If only Perez could be launching startup sides like that across NZ and the rest of Aus lol

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Good luck to the fella, can't knock someone who has that get up and go about them.

 

[juro]

Is Hamilton the right place for the second team? I don't know anything about the area, but google is telling me it is an hour (70 km) down the road from Toronto. It looks like another Toronto team, really. Is it an advantage or disadvantage to be so close? Is there any rivalry between the 2 cities?

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

League 1 sooks won't be happy..

But tbh there are some good reasons why this might be too much too soon.
Obvious reason being Canada isn't actually producing any professional quality players yet.

Such a pathetic excuse. We here the same about Melbourne and Perth...

How does anyone expect them to develop juniors when there is no elite team advertising the game. Of course the best young athletes go to other sports.

It wouldnt f*cking matter if every player in the SL came from the same street in Hull. Elite comps are about the fans, and fans will follow a Canadian team even even if it is full of Auusies and Brits.

F*cking insulare RL people. Just pathetic...

 

[adamkungl]

Such a pathetic excuse. We here the same about Melbourne and Perth...

Well, while I 100% agree with both a Perth and Melbourne team, back in the 1990s I wouldn't have put Perth Melbourne and Adelaide in all at once, which is basically what we're debating here.
Or, more currently, I wouldn't expand to Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Wellington all at once.

Would I put another American team in? Yes. Would I do it next year, then another the year after, then another? No. It's nothing to do with insularity or even where players come from, but if you put 6 American teams up in 6 years without giving them time improve their player development you have 6 teams pulling players away from Australian and British leagues which impacts the sport as a whole. There are consequences to that, which may or may not be acceptable, but at the very least they have to be analysed at a deeper level.

In Australia we have 'experts' sooking that even expanding to 18 NRL teams will dilute the quality to unacceptable levels. I don't agree with that, I think the impact would be trivial. But multiple American teams is a reasonably big step up from that.