Twice-in-a-million shot to reshape rugby
Wolfpack promotion would be groundbreaking and ocean-spanning
Brian McDermott remembers the early years of his pro rugby league career as a series of hardfought matches between rockhard men from mid-sized industrial cities in northern England. The sport was popular in its heartland, but confined there.
On Saturday afternoon, McDermott, now head coach of the Toronto Wolfpack, leads his team into the Million Pound Game against the Featherstone Rovers. The winner gains entry into the RFL’s Super League, and the game’s outcome could shape the sport’s future on two continents.
The Rugby Football League is eager to expand its footprint beyond its traditional base, hence Toronto’s inclusion as an expansion franchise in 2017. Two teams operate in France.
But to expand their niche in Toronto’s competitive pro sports market, the Wolfpack need to keep winning — big. A loss in last year’s grand final kept them in the second division, but a victory would boost the team’s brand and the league’s profile in a crucial developing market.
“Where does (rugby league) go? How do we get it bigger?” McDermott said after a recent practice. “It’s been proven that we … find it difficult to grow the game in another city in the U.K. Something significant has got to happen … Toronto could be the start.”
Even with its graduation to Super League delayed, the Wolfpack aimed to make breakthroughs in 2019.
They partnered with a Vancouver-based cannabis outfit to become the first pro sports club to market Wolfpack-branded, cannabis-infused, pain-relieving topical creams. And they hired veteran sports executive Bob Hunter as their chairman.
After 22 years at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Hunter has a five-year plan to build the Wolfpack into a permanent presence. He believes the club can maintain a Toronto FC-type profile.
Over its first three seasons, the team has averaged roughly 7,000 spectators at home games at Lamport Stadium. Hunter thinks the club can bump that number to 8,000.
Either way, the attendance figure will include Teresa Gard and Wilmer Gomez. The married couple didn’t know much about rugby league when the Wolfpack arrived in 2017, but they live near Lamport Stadium and decided to check out a game. The couple haven’t missed a home date since the club’s debut season, hooked by the sport’s fast pace and physicality — and its fans.
“Having a bunch of crazy, passionate fans, that really sold it for me,” Gomez said. “From day one, we really glued in together … That was one of the big attractions.”
By the time the Wolfpack arrived, McDermott was over a decade into his pro coaching career. He says the Wolfpack’s success — they’re 61-1-3 in regular season games all-time — attracted attention among rugby league’s establishment. “You set up a club from scratch and in two short years you’re banging on the door of Super League, for sure I took notice,” McDermott said. “It was an exciting concept (but) I didn’t expect everything to be perfect off the field.”
And it hasn’t been. The club missed payroll in January, and is involved in a lawsuit with a production company over the cost of TV broadcasts.
And then there’s racism. Majority stakeholder David Argyle made a condescending postgame wisecrack to Swinton player Jose Kenga in April — “Do they allow Black people in Swinton?” he asked. The league fined Argyle, who left his post as CEO.
Fans winced, and tried not to let the incident spoil the inclusive, unpretentious game-day vibe they had spent two seasons cultivating.
Enter Hunter, who stepped in when Argyle stepped down, both to mitigate the damage to the Wolfpack brand and for expertise gathered at the highest level of the sports industry. The Leafs and Raptors don’t miss payroll, and Hunter says the Wolfpack won’t, either.