McDermott blaming a ‘ civil war’ for demise of Toronto

TORONTO COACH Brian McDermott says his club are the victims of a civil war in rugby league.

The former Leeds Grand Finalwinning boss made the claim during a media briefing the club called to launch a hardship fund for players and staff who have not been paid for seven months and are now out of work.

The Wolfpack’s bid to gain readmission to Super League for 2021 was rejected by the Super League board two weeks ago.

The Canadian club had the support of the Rugby Football League and three clubs but were blocked by Super League itself and seven of its teams.

And McDermott says Toronto were caught up in the crossfire between the rival governing bodies.

“This isn’t about Toronto Wolfpack,” McDermott said. “It’s almost like we’ve got a civil war going on and Toronto Wolfpack is the stick that each governing body is trying to beat each other with.

“This really highlights how the dual governance is hurting the game. They don’t seem to be speaking to each other.”

McDermott, Martin Vickers ( Toronto’s UK business manager) former player Jon Wilkin and Toronto chairman Bob Hunter are behind a GoFundMe campaign that aims to initially raise £ 30,000 which will be shared between the club’s 50 players and staff based.

Vickers says the club will continue to push owner David Argyle to meet his obligations and say the club received a oneoff payment of £ 30,000 jointly made by the RFL and Super League but were excluded from a £ 25,000 dividend distributed to each of the other 11 clubs from pay cuts taken by executive chairman Robert Elstone and other Super League executives.