SBWho? Toronto unmoved by deal
He’s a human headline at home, but Sonny Bill Williams hasn’t made a splash in his next destination. Despite becoming rugby league’s best-paid player in history, the ex-All Black hasn’t featured on the major Toronto sporting media websites since his signing last week with the Wolfpack.
Toronto’s billionaire owner David Argyle is hoping that the signing of a the Kiwi superstar will raise the profile of the fledgling rugby league franchise, which will begin its first season in the English Super League competition in February.
The club claimed news of the signing made their website crash. Yet there’s a mountain to climb for the Wolfpack to garner any notable attention – even when the season kicks off – in Canada’s biggest city with almost no affinity for the sport.
On Stuff Sport, there’s three pieces on SBW on the main Sport page, four in the league section and three in the rugby section.
But scrolling through the sports page of the Toronto Star online won’t bring you any Sonny Bill news.
In the 65 stories featured, there’s no mention of the codeswitching 34-year-old as ice hockey dominates the news.
There are seven stories on veteran commentator Don Cherry getting fired, and 13 on the city’s storied NHL franchise, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Wolfpack will also have to battle the current NBA champion Toronto Raptors for sporting attention, with nine stories on last season’s titlewinners.
Also featured are the city’s baseball and football clubs, the Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto FC.
The Globe and Mail has 62 stories over the past five days on their sports page, none of which are on SBW.
But after clicking on the ‘‘view more sports’’ pointer, you scroll through 19 more stories before coming to the November 7 piece headlined ‘‘Toronto Wolfpack open the vault to land All Blacks star SBW’’.
The story then ironically leads off with the sentence: ‘‘Toronto Wolfpack have already proved doubters wrong by managing to establish a toehold for a little-known sport in North America.’’
Maybe it’s a little toe?
It’s a similar fate for the twotime Rugby World Cup winner with the All Blacks and two-time NRL champion with the Canterbury Bulldogs and Sydney Roosters in the Toronto Sun.
You have to scroll past 63 stories – including four lacrosse stories – before spotting the ‘‘Wolfpack make it official, signing NZ superstar to two-year deal’’ piece in the ‘Other Sports’ – next to an article headlined ‘‘Ex-gymnast reveals secret job as porn star’’.