Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TORONTO GO
Billionaire Argyle: This is just the start for the Wolfpack... I want to crack new markets
Toronto Wolfpack v Castleford Headingley, Today, 2.30pm
PLENTY thought David Argyle was crazy when he started dipping into his billions to form Toronto Wolfpack.
His talk of getting the Canadians into Super League within five years caused the howls of derision to get even louder. But that target was smashed by two years and his trans-Atlantic Super League revolution kicks off against Castleford in a televised doubleheader at Headingley today.
So is Argyle sitting back smugly and thinking that it’s job done? Not a bit. In Argyle’s eyes, it’s Super League today, north America next, then China, and, before you know it, rugby talked about the world over.
It’s another potential eyerolling moment but Argyle dares anybody to ever again doubt his ambitions or those of the Wolfpack. The man who did the almost impossible and brought Sonny Bill Williams to Super League said: “I am definitely a flawed individual.
“But the journey has only just begun. We will face challenges as a club but there are things we can guarantee – our heart, our soul, our chequebook, and an intention to achieve our objective.
“That goal is to put balls in hands of kids around the world and raise the profile of our game. That is what we are on earth to do.”
The 58-year-old Australian earned his fortune as a mining magnate in countries around the world and tackled the plan to set up Toronto with the same business model.
He said: “In the mining industry you have to take over-sized risks. It is part of the DNA of that industry and you have to embrace it. If you don’t take risks looking for minerals you never find anything.”
Once he’s identified a potential market, however, Argyle says he then devotes himself to taking away any risk of his gamble backfiring. He added: “The same mentality works with Toronto. There are risks but fundamentally rugby is the greatest team sport in the world.
“I want to expose the world to rugby. It’s critical to crack new markets if we are to get to the next level.”
And herein lies the biggest bugbear to Argyle’s lofty ambitions.
While he wants to lift Super League to a global platform that will attract greater sponsorship and broadcast deals, as well as larger crowds, certain clubs seem more intent on protecting their own backyard.
Toronto fund themselves entirely, without any TV money, while covering all costs of opposition teams to travel to Canada
Visas for opposing players alone are expected to set Wolfpack back by about £400,000 this year.
Their pleas to have, what they have repeatedly claimed, was a fair review of their salary-cap allowances met with hostile criticism from some quarters.
It’s the sort of in-fighting that winds up the ambitious Argyle, who has spent around £15million in the last few years. He said: “There needs to be some recognition that we are creating an opportunity to create more money for everyone.
“We should be talking instead about how we are growing the game.”
The journey has only just begun. We will face challenges