Montreal for Super League

[The Daddy3]

http://thelinknewspaper.ca/blogs/en...o-wolfpack-edition-ft.-eric-perez-founder-ceo

Not sure which forum to post this in but Eric Perez is very ambitious and is looking at bringing a Montreal team into SL as a rival for Toronto and also other Canadian cities. Wow big plans. Kind of changes the dynamics of global RL

 

[Pommy]

You can't fault his enthusiasm but he needs to see how the Toronto side plays out first. My guess is if they have 2 Canadian and 2 French sides in the SL (assuming Toulouse can push on) they will have to increase the number of sides in the SL.

Just started listening to this interview the guy could have at least done his homework on the sport he's talking about.

 

[Foreign Legion]

How about he start up a canadian/usa league? Would be easier but good on him

 

[roughyedspud]

Thats my stance..id rather they pump the money into a north american comp and then send the national team on tours to england & australia to progress their development...than have a team full of english championship level players running around as toronto..which is seeming very likely....id love 25 canadians to be playing for em but i just don't see it.. its all very "celtic crusaders" 10 years ago..a welsh team full of aussies & english did nothing for welsh RL

 

[Pommy]

How about he start up a canadian/usa league? Would be easier but good on him

My guess is thats a long term goal but its a big ask to start from scratch with all the competition in the market.
Where would you pull 10 teams worth of players of a decent standard from to set up such a thing?

 

[Pommy]

Thats my stance..id rather they pump the money into a north american comp and then send the national team on tours to england & australia to progress their development...than have a team full of english championship level players running around as toronto..which is seeming very likely....id love 25 canadians to be playing for em but i just don't see it.. its all very "celtic crusaders" 10 years ago..a welsh team full of aussies & english did nothing for welsh RL

I think to get a real team going in Wales would be almost impossible. Its die hard Union country and lets face it both sets of fans can be pretty hostile to the other code.
Hopefully they can get some code swappers from Canadian football or American football to take part. (I'm not saying from the top levels of those sports)

 

[roughyedspud]

Wales RL is far better served having two teams in the lower leagues full of welsh players than having a team in ESL full of aussies/english

 

[Pommy]

Wales RL is far better served having two teams in the lower leagues full of welsh players than having a team in ESL full of aussies/english

Is it? Why not have 3 sides?
Doesn't seem to have hurt Wales in football terms having 2 teams in the PL full of foreigners in the last few years.

 

[Evil Homer]

Thats my stance..id rather they pump the money into a north american comp and then send the national team on tours to england & australia to progress their development...than have a team full of english championship level players running around as toronto..which is seeming very likely....id love 25 canadians to be playing for em but i just don't see it.. its all very "celtic crusaders" 10 years ago..a welsh team full of aussies & english did nothing for welsh RL

Yes it did, it brought through about 10 Welsh juniors who are still playing in Super League/Championship, and it created two professional clubs in Wales where there were none before.

 

[RedVee]

I hope 1 or 2 Canadian teams could be included into the US comp;
or a NA Super Bowl competition after the regular comps with the top 1 or 2 from each country's various province or conference. Be great to include a Jamaican club into this if possible.

There is a greater need to raise the domestic standard than to be flying teams to and fro across the Atlantic.

 

[Pommy]

I hope 1 or 2 Canadian teams could be included into the US comp;
or a NA Super Bowl competition after the regular comps with the top 1 or 2 from each country's various province or conference. Be great to include a Jamaican club into this if possible.

There is a greater need to raise the domestic standard than to be flying teams to and fro across the Atlantic.

Surely seeing Canadian teams competing at a decent level is what is going to drive the domestic standard in the long run? Of course this depends on Toronto and perhaps Montreal gaining promotion to the SL.
Having other Canadian teams in the US comp should be a target but is it really going to create interest in the sport without being able to watch the game played against decent competition.

 

[deluded pom?]

Surely seeing Canadian teams competing at a decent level is what is going to drive the domestic standard in the long run? Of course this depends on Toronto and perhaps Montreal gaining promotion to the SL.
Having other Canadian teams in the US comp should be a target but is it really going to create interest in the sport without being able to watch the game played against decent competition.

Plus it's the Canadians money. They want to spend it on a club playing in the UK not on developing a NA domestic league. That's their prerogative.

 

[RedVee]

Surely seeing Canadian teams competing at a decent level is what is going to drive the domestic standard in the long run? Of course this depends on Toronto and perhaps Montreal gaining promotion to the SL.
Having other Canadian teams in the US comp should be a target but is it really going to create interest in the sport without being able to watch the game played against decent competition.

I'm thinking not many Canadians will be playing in the Toronto and perhaps Montreal teams that journey across.

 

[RedVee]

Plus it's the Canadians money. They want to spend it on a club playing in the UK not on developing a NA domestic league. That's their prerogative.

True that.

 

[spinnerhowland]

I hope they pull the Toronto thing off. BUT if there is such an interest in Canada for RL that you can have two teams pushing for Superleague, there is enough money for (i) The development of a Canadian League of a high caliber. And I am assuming that if they reach the Superleauge, they are going to expect the SL teams to at least fund some of their own travel to Canada, unlike their current model of paying the teams to come. This would suggest that the extra dollars used for travel to Canada, could be used in the domestic development of teams in the UK/Europe.
I am all for the global expansion of the sport, but the ultimate goal of nations should not be to supply players and teams to the NRL and Superleague. If a nation is big enough to support their own competition at a high level, then that should be the "big dream".
Somewhere at the bottom of all of this plan is DOLLARS before the domestic development of the sport in Canada. I would also like to see the model and plans where the Wolf Pack are assisting the development of RL in the Toronto market. Are they going to assist the CRL in youth clinics, camps to pass on knowledge to the current amateur teams, etc. All the stuff that current high level teams do?