Toronto: A tiny shop in a hip downtown neighbourhood is not your typical rugby league team headquarters. But not much is typical about the Toronto Wolfpack.
Inside its merchandise store – tucked between a Greek diner and a bakery, and across the road from the Wolfpack’s stadium – last year’s RFL Championship trophy takes pride of place on the counter, ribbons dangling. There is no room to sit down; meetings take place at a cafe down the street.
Just three years old, Canada’s only pro league team is a lean yet slick operation, bringing a start-up’s energy – and disruption – to the 124-year-old game.
Though “Toronto” is in the name, most players are British or Australian – there are no Canadians in the squad. They train, and mostly play, in England, flying to Canada for “home” games.
It might not make much sense, but it is paying off: three seasons after they first fielded a team in
the RFL’s League 1, the former underdogs have made it to the Super League – with a new international-level player to boot.
The signing of Sonny Bill Williams – on a two-year contract, reportedly worth $10 million – was announced as the first winter snow fell in Toronto.
The Wolfpack marked the coincidence on Twitter with an artist’s impression of Williams wearing their jersey, captioned: “It’s Always Sonny in the 6ix” – the nickname of the city he will play for, but not live in.
In a country where ice hockey is king, and in a city saturated with professional sports teams – NHL and NBA, plus Major League Baseball and soccer – league is still little, if at all, known.
The Wolfpack are banking on Williams to change that.
“This is going to shake up the Super League,” head coach Brian McDermott said on the phone from England, where Williams met his teammates this week.
“I don't think anybody makes any apologies in the fact that we're signing on the brand and the profile of Sonny Bill Williams … but first and foremost, number one on the list, he's got to be a good player and he's got to be the player that's made it to what he is today, which is a very honest, hard-working, extremely professional man.”
SBW bowed out of rugby with victory against Wales in the bronze medal World Cup play-off.
Williams will begin training with the Wolfpack in January – a month before their season opener in England (they won’t play in Toronto until two months later, when the snow will have melted).
In the meantime, they will upgrade their 54-year-old stadium to match their top-tier status. Currently, its 9600 seats are concrete benches, its locker rooms are spartan, and there is no big screen – just a dated scoreboard.
SBW and Wolfpack on collision course with KangaroosAdd to shortlist
The Wolfpack will fund most of the upgrades. Its wealthy backer, Toronto-based Australian mining executive David Argyle, has invested millions into building the team’s success.
“As they always say, how do you become a millionaire? You start as a billionaire and then you buy a rugby club,” Argyle told The Sydney Morning Herald at his Toronto restaurant.
Sure, it’s prestigious to own a team, but Argyle said his motive was singular: get more eyes on rugby league, and therefore more rugby league balls into kids’ hands.
“This game needs to be spread wide and far,” Argyle said. “If you look at Beckham and the LA Galaxy, he helped to legitimise football in North America. Our objective is bigger, better, faster, stronger, and that's the way you actually get more engagement from the youth.”
He added, with a grin: “Sonny Bill is bigger, better, faster, stronger than David Beckham, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, Pele and Cristiano Ronaldo combined.”
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