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Toronto RLFC

Toronto Wolfpack
Toronto Wolfpack RLFC logo.svg
Club information
Full name Toronto Wolfpack Rugby League Football Club
Nickname(s) The Pack
Short name Toronto Wolfpack
Colours New Zealand Kiwis colours.svg Black and White
Founded 2016; 1 year ago (2016)
Website torontowolfpack.com
Current details
Ground(s)
Coach Paul Rowley
Captain Craig Hall
Competition League 1
Rugby football current event.png Current season
Records
League 1 Champions 1 (2017)
Challenge Cups 0

Toronto Wolfpack R.L.F.C. is a Canadian professional rugby league club, based in Toronto, which competes in the Rugby Football League system. As of 2018 the club will compete in the Championship, having begun play in 2017 in League 1 and won promotion in its inaugural season. The club is notable as being the first North American team to play in the Rugby Football League system, the first fully professional rugby league team in Canada and the world's first trans-Atlantic rugby league team.

The Rugby Football League first received an application from a Canadian consortium based in Toronto, led by the Chairman of the national governing body Canada Rugby League Eric Perez, in 2014 to compete in the United Kingdom's third tier of professional rugby league. Perez was denied permission to join the first-tier Super League directly, and instead attempted to build the club up to the point where it can be promoted. A press conference was held on 27 April 2016 at which details on the franchise, which began play in 2017, were revealed. The team will be the first professional rugby league team to be based in Canada. A group of 10 businessmen, including Canadians and Australian mining millionaire David Argyle, own the club,, having paid around $500,000 to be granted admission to the league. A condition of the team joining the British rugby league system was that it would be responsible for covering the travel and accommodation expenses incurred for all visiting teams outside of the first division Super League.

It was suggested that it was an attractive market due to Canada having the largest following of rugby league outside of Australia, France, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The club plans to play in blocks of four home matches, four away matches, and cover all expenses of visiting teams throughout the season.

The Wolfpack held tryouts in five cities across North America starting on September 24; Philadelphia, Tampa, Kingston, Vancouver, and Toronto itself. From these tryouts 18 athletes were selected to take part in a tour of England culminating in a victorious game against amateur club, Brighouse Rangers. Three players won professional contracts with the Wolfpack following the tour with another trial in Toronto is set to be held in the following months for the unsuccessful trialists.


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