By STEVE MASCORD
ON the surface, rugby league’s most ambitious and exciting team owes absolutely nothing to the game’s undisputed seat of power – Australia.
Of course, the Toronto Wolfpack are playing in Britain’s third tier, National League One. Their chief executive, Canadian Eric Perez, was turned onto the sport by watching Super League – not the NRL – on television.
Their players are drawn largely from England, too, with Craig Hall to be captain. They trialled players in Jamaica, the United States and Canada. The coach, Paul Rowley, couldn’t sound more like an English northerner if he tried.
But while the Wolfpack – who make their competitive debut on March 4 against London Skolars in the capital of, yes, Britain – are very much looking east from the capital of Ontario, the wind at their backs is emanating from the west.
It’s a blizzard of money and it belongs to an Australian, David Argyle. Argyle is 54-year-old mining investor with a fascinatingly low profile. He’s worked for some of the world’s biggest companies in his chosen field but remains a mystery man and it’s a mystery he seems determined to maintain; the millionaire is not getting involved in rugby league for notoriety.
But eight days before Christmas, in the historical Yorkshire industrial town of Brighouse, Argyle surprised onlookers when he asked to speak at a pre-match reception. The Wolfpack’s trialists, stars of an upcoming reality show, were about to give the all-black-clad club strip its first run-out against the local amateur team.
The official function in a well-appointed clubhouse was about to come to an end. Contracted Wolfpack players were celebrating their Christmas party at the same time and fans had been warned to get their autographs before they got too drunk (can you imagine that in the NRL?)
Then Argyle, who speaks in a sort of mid-Pacific accent with Australian vowels and North American Rs, grabbed the mic.
“To some, it will seem odd that an Australian mining magnate would fly from Brazil to Brighouse to watch rugby league,” he said. (continued below)
“This is an historic day. When I first saw your beautiful clubhouse, my eyes welled up. I knew the Toronto Wolfpack had found a home in the UK.” The Wolfpack will be based in Brighouse and play home matches at Lamport Stadium in four-week blocks.
One of the triallists, former Buffalo Bills player Cory Knocks, told the League Culture podcast: “It’s been life-changing. I’m very honoured to be even in the conversation this.
“The brotherhood, the camaraderie, the type of people who are involved in rugby league are one of a kind. I’ve never played a game where people cared about you so much.
“I think rugby league is the ultimate team game.”
The administration in England are under fire on several fronts, with England’s aborted Dubai training camp and the collapse of the Bradford Bulls just the most recent sore points. Argyle said RFL CEO Nigel Wood deserved some credit for having the cahunas to admit a team from across the Atlantic. “We are here because of the RFL,” Argyle said, motioning to Wood at the back of the room.
Into the new year, the Wolfpack’s contracted players were unfortunate not to shock Challenge Cup holders Hull in the first “official” Toronto game. James Laithwaite was into the clear with one man to beat when he tried a ‘Harbour Bridge’ pass to no-one. Hull won 26-20 in front of a 3000-odd crowd including some UK-based Canadians. (continued below)
Straight away, Hull coach Lee Radford tipped them to “walk through” national league one and winger Mahe Fonua – Melbourne’s first locally produced first grader – reckoned they’d bounce straight into Super League in consecutive seasons.
Rowley’s approach is “under-promise and over-deliver” but his level of confidence is best exemplified by the club pulling out of a pre-season game against Wigan because, after a double-booking in Manchester with soccer, they basically thought turning out at humble Orrell was below them. No, I won’t be making a gag about refusing to do Orrell….
“Toronto, I think everyone has seen … we’re making a splash,” Rowley tells RLW.
“Anything that we do at this moment in time, it’s got to be an event. We’re not ticking boxes, it’s more about the event and building the profile of the club. We’re only going to be doing things that are going to be fitting for us.”
Also, the Wolfpack have signed one major sponsor and won’t be putting any more on their jersey because they want the strip to be attractive and, according to Perez, “we don’t want it to look like Times Square”.
Turning down short term gain in the pursuit of long-term benefit? In rugby league terms, that could be something that separates the Toronto Wolfpack from the rest of the sport by a distance larger than even the Atlantic.
