Ottawa

[Foreign Legion]

Ottawa has a new team wearing red and black – rugby league’s Ottawa Aces.

Toronto Wolfpack co-founder Eric Perez unveiled details of his new franchise Monday in Ottawa. The Aces are slated to begin play in 2021 – out of TD Place Stadium – in England’s third-tier Betfred League 1.

“It’s Commonwealth Day so why not start a rugby team in Ottawa that plays in England,” Perez quipped at a news conference. “Seems like a good idea.”

That’s the same level the Wolfpack entered at in 2017. Three seasons later they had won promotion to the top-tier Super League.

“Our goal is to, one day, do what they did and make it to Super League,” Perez said. “We’ll do that with patience and hopefully with some homegrown talent as well. We’ll try and get that in as soon as possible.”


Perez’s consortium has partnered with the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), which owns and operates the CFL Redblacks and OHL 67’s as well as managing the stadium/arena complex.


The club will wear red and black, like the CFL Redblacks. The 67’s wear red, black and white.

Perez and his ownership group bought the license to England’s Hemel Stags in September 2018, with a view to moving the franchise to Canada. He then negotiated a deal with the Rugby Football League, the sport’s governing body. to finalize the move.

“Today is about a new beginning and a new era for the club,” he said.

The Stags remain an amateur club, playing in England’s Southern Conference League.

Perez has assembled a 26-person ownership group in Ottawa. He calls it a “more of a communal thing” than Toronto, where David Argyle – an Australian-born Toronto-based entrepreneur – is the majority owner and clear signal-caller.

The Aces will start training camp in early December, likely in England. The season will start the end of February or early March. Because of the Canadian winter, the first home game will be the last week of March or first in April.

“In rugby league’s 125th year, as we celebrate the rich heritage of this sport, the introduction of Ottawa Aces to the competition allows us to look to a colourful, expansive and global future,” said Rugby Football League chairman Simon Johnson. “They will bring a new and passionate audience to our great game.

“The wonderful facilities here in Ottawa will bring an exciting new element to the Betfred League 1 next season.”

The 28-team RFL now has two franchises in Canada and two in France – in addition to 24 in England and Wales.

New York will likely be the next North American franchise. The RFL confirms Monday that talks on New York “are progressing and that negotiations are advanced for New York to enter the Rugby League Challenge Cup next year.”


The group behind the New York bid is slated to hold a news conference in Liverpool on Tuesday.

Like Toronto, Ottawa will pay for visiting teams to get to North America.

Perez said he expects to announce a coach in five to six weeks, with player signings to start in June.

“There are a lot of players who are, on the back of Wolfpack, really really looking forward to trying to get on this roster as well. Because it’s an amazing opportunity for a player to come over here and play.”

Perez said the club will not spend all of the 1.8-million-pound ($3.2 million) salary cap. The team has started accepting $50 ticket deposits.

The club plans to form an academy to help develop Canadian talent. “There’s already a great base of athletes here,” said Perez.


Perez was the face of the Wolfpack in the first year but stepped back as Argyle took a more public role. While Perez expects to leave the Wolfpack’s board of directors, he retains a small ownership stake. He also plans to end a temporary front office role with struggling Bradford.

A graduate of York University, where the Toronto native earned a degree in business and society, he worked in university advertising with a few friends. That took him to England, where he looked to start up a similar venture.

He was taken by the lesser-known 13-man rugby code when he watched a Super League game on TV in 2010. Upon returning to Canada, he formed the Canada Rugby League Association.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/spo...ew-rugby-league-team-to-be-known-as-the-aces/

 

[adamkungl]

This is good news.

The next step is for these 2 clubs to work with the Canada RLA and even the USARL.
Push local growth, give the local leagues the assistance and advertising they need, start developing better rep pathways through age groups.
Get the Canada national team playing in front of crowds a few times a year.

Canada could jump to the top of the pile of American nations by the next qualifiers if they take advantage of this opportunity properly.

 

[Pommy]

Red and black, move the bears to Ottawa!!!

 

[Perth Red]

Nice stadium, good brand, owner who knows what he is doing. Fingers crossed they survive and get up to SL. Imagine a 16 team SL with 2 Canadian teams, 2 french teams and NY (and maybe Perth ) in it! Puts the NRL's "expansion" to shame.

 

[adamkungl]

Nice stadium, good brand, owner who knows what he is doing. Fingers crossed they survive and get up to SL. Imagine a 16 team SL with 2 Canadian teams, 2 french teams and NY (and maybe Perth ) in it! Puts the NRL's "expansion" to shame.

My biggest concern is that they don't have a roadmap for how they're going to manage this in future.
These foreign teams *will* require the structure of the competition to change.
Whether it's something as simple as expanding the number of teams to keep a strong enough heartland presence for the English crowds and broadcasters to stay on board with, or something more radical. It depends what they see as the future of Super League. There might be a few different 'right' answers but the wrong answer is to not have a plan at all.


I'm leaning towards a model where there's basically an England conference with P&R, and an Expansion conference where the clubs are licence franchises.
To move towards that I would suggest giving Catalans, Toronto and Toulouse SL spots with exemption from relegation, for a 13 team comp with 10 English and 3 foreign.
The mid-term goal is to get to 10:5 - 3 conferences, England East + West, Expansion.
Long term, 12 English 6 Europe 6 N.America.

How could you sell that to English clubs?
1. Less RFL central funding for foreign teams (do the French teams get RFL funding at the moment?)
2. More money into the Championship to achieved a 1:4 funding ratio with Super League and close the gap.
3. Re-introduce the Million Pound Game to give the lowest placed English club an extra buffer on relegation.
4. Foreign clubs can't be "promoted", so effectively can't take an English club's spot. Foreign clubs have to achieve conditions to earn a licence in which case competition expansion would be considered without demoting an existing club. Licence conditions would include the development of local leagues and professional player pathways to ensure the future growth of Super League, contribute a wider player pool and reduce reliance on England and Australia.

 

[Perth Red]

My biggest concern is that they don't have a roadmap for how they're going to manage this in future.
These foreign teams *will* require the structure of the competition to change.
Whether it's something as simple as expanding the number of teams to keep a strong enough heartland presence for the English crowds and broadcasters to stay on board with, or something more radical. It depends what they see as the future of Super League. There might be a few different 'right' answers but the wrong answer is to not have a plan at all.


I'm leaning towards a model where there's basically an England conference with P&R, and an Expansion conference where the clubs are licence franchises.
To move towards that I would suggest giving Catalans, Toronto and Toulouse SL spots with exemption from relegation, for a 13 team comp with 10 English and 3 foreign.
The mid-term goal is to get to 10:5 - 3 conferences, England East + West, Expansion.
Long term, 12 English 6 Europe 6 N.America.

How could you sell that to English clubs?
1. Less RFL central funding for foreign teams (do the French teams get RFL funding at the moment?)
2. More money into the Championship to achieved a 1:4 funding ratio with Super League and close the gap.
3. Re-introduce the Million Pound Game to give the lowest placed English club an extra buffer on relegation.
4. Foreign clubs can't be "promoted", so effectively can't take an English club's spot. Foreign clubs have to achieve conditions to earn a licence in which case competition expansion would be considered without demoting an existing club. Licence conditions would include the development of local leagues and professional player pathways to ensure the future growth of Super League, contribute a wider player pool and reduce reliance on England and Australia.

Going to be a few years in reality and by then none of them may be around going on past experience. I guess if Ottawa and NY get up to Championship and look serious for SL that is when they may consider the structure but that is likely 4--5 years away at least. A lot can happen in RL in England in that time!

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

My biggest concern is that they don't have a roadmap for how they're going to manage this in future.
These foreign teams *will* require the structure of the competition to change.
Whether it's something as simple as expanding the number of teams to keep a strong enough heartland presence for the English crowds and broadcasters to stay on board with, or something more radical. It depends what they see as the future of Super League. There might be a few different 'right' answers but the wrong answer is to not have a plan at all.


I'm leaning towards a model where there's basically an England conference with P&R, and an Expansion conference where the clubs are licence franchises.
To move towards that I would suggest giving Catalans, Toronto and Toulouse SL spots with exemption from relegation, for a 13 team comp with 10 English and 3 foreign.
The mid-term goal is to get to 10:5 - 3 conferences, England East + West, Expansion.
Long term, 12 English 6 Europe 6 N.America.

How could you sell that to English clubs?
1. Less RFL central funding for foreign teams (do the French teams get RFL funding at the moment?)
2. More money into the Championship to achieved a 1:4 funding ratio with Super League and close the gap.
3. Re-introduce the Million Pound Game to give the lowest placed English club an extra buffer on relegation.
4. Foreign clubs can't be "promoted", so effectively can't take an English club's spot. Foreign clubs have to achieve conditions to earn a licence in which case competition expansion would be considered without demoting an existing club. Licence conditions would include the development of local leagues and professional player pathways to ensure the future growth of Super League, contribute a wider player pool and reduce reliance on England and Australia.

I think it will be a while before we have this problem, and it will be a good problem to have...

I think the very long term solution for NA (basically once we have 8+ teams there) is to have their own version of a Championship and ringfence a few SL spots for the top teams.

So, for example, SL has 2 spots for the highest ranked NA teams while the other 6 play a domestic season. Then, at the end of the year, the lower ranked NA team in the SL plays off against the Premiers from the NA Championship for that spot.

As for continental European teams, I dont think any provisions need to be made. Even if they can get up to 5-6 Euro teams (along with the 2-3 NA teams), that still leaves 8 English clubs in what would be a hugely respected and competitive comp.

 

[adamkungl]

It may not be an issue now, but you need some idea what you want the future to look like otherwise how do you make decisions?
Have a vision, make decisions to get to it. Otherwise its just random hope for the best

 

[jim_57]

This will be just as interesting to watch unfold as Toronto was and still is. Ottawa has Toronto's model to follow but face some steep hurdles.

Hopefully as mentioned these 2 clubs can really help build the local scene in Canada which is where the future sustainability will come from.

Who'd have thought we'd have a 2nd professional club in Canada before NZ?

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

This will be just as interesting to watch unfold as Toronto was and still is. Ottawa has Toronto's model to follow but face some steep hurdles.

Hopefully as mentioned these 2 clubs can really help build the local scene in Canada which is where the future sustainability will come from.

Who'd have thought we'd have a 2nd professional club in Canada before NZ?

I cant wait to see what kind of local match they put together between Toronto and Ottawa.

Obviously the first few years at least will be non-competition exhibition games, but it will still be great to see some annual matchups

 

[Foreign Legion]

https://www.loverugbyleague.com/pos...ayers-with-chance-to-earn-full-time-contract/

Ottawa Aces have announced they will hold trials for Canadian players once coronavirus restrictions are lifted in the country.

The Rugby Football League will welcome Ottawa Aces in to League 1 in 2021, and the game’s latest franchise are on the lookout for Canadian players.

If selected by the Ottawa coaches, the trialist will be rewarded with a full-time professional contract with the club.


The Aces will be offering up to 10 contracts for their maiden campaign in 2021. Players can expect to spend four or months of the year in England and the rest of the year at their Ottawa base in Canada.

With founder Eric Perez aiming to expand the game in North America, the trials will be for Canadian athletes only and players must hold a Canadian passport to be eligible for selection.

No date has yet been given for the trials due to the coronavirus pandemic – but the Aces have confirmed they will hold trials for Canadian athletes once restrictions are lifted.

An Ottawa spokesman said: “Rugby league is one of the toughest, most exciting sports on the planet.

“It requires strength, skill, bravery and athleticism. We at the Ottawa Aces believe these are qualities Canadian athletes have in abundance. Are there any athletes in Canada that feel they can make the team?

“The Ottawa Aces want to know – and if the answer is yes, we want them on our side.

“Whether they’re a football player, rugby player, hockey player or just a gifted athlete who thinks they can play the greatest game of all, this is their chance to prove it.”

For any Canadian players who are interested in taking part in the trials, email info@ottawaaces.com.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

This is great....

It will be a while before we see a decent Half or Hooker come through, but im certain there are some decent players able to step into the pack or on the edge.

It is funny that we will probably have more luck with guys coming from Hockey than Canadian Football. They both hit as hard as RL, but the Hockey players might go flat out for 10 minutes at a time.

 

[Pommy]

This is great....

It will be a while before we see a decent Half or Hooker come through, but im certain there are some decent players able to step into the pack or on the edge.

It is funny that we will probably have more luck with guys coming from Hockey than Canadian Football. They both hit as hard as RL, but the Hockey players might go flat out for 10 minutes at a time.

Is Canadian football stop start like NFL?

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Is Canadian football stop start like NFL?

CF and AF are nearly identical. CF is just played on a bigger field and a few other small rule changes....

One of the many tragedies of RL history was not linking with CFL. Our game and the Canadian game were nearly identical until the CFL adopted the NFL rules between 1940-60.