1. History
    2014–2016: Origins and foundation  2017–present: First seasons 

2. Stadium

3. Logistics

4. Media

5. Kit sponsors and manufacturers

6. 2019 Squad

7. Transfers

8. Players
    Captains 

9. Staff
    Coaching staff  Management Staff  Coaching register 

10. Records
     Individual Records  Team Records  Attendance Records 

11. Honours

12. See also

13. Notes

14. References

15. External links

The Toronto Wolfpack are a Canadian professional rugby league club, based in Toronto, which competes in the Betfred Championship. The team began playing in 2017 in League 1 and won a promotion in its inaugural season.^[1] In 2018 the club competed in the Championship and The Qualifiers, where it was one win away from promotion to the top-tier Super League. Wolfpack will return to the Championship in 2019. The club is the first North American team to play in the Rugby Football League system, the first fully professional rugby league team in Canada and the first transatlantic rugby league team.^[2][3][4][5]{{refn | group=note | name="First trans-Atlantic team" | While they have been described as the world's first trans-Atlantic professional sports team,^[6][7][8] there are earlier examples of teams participating in trans-Atlantic competitions such as the World League of American Football,^[9] and Super Rugby.^[10][11]}}

History

2014–2016: Origins and foundation

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.^[12] 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.^[13][14] A press conference was held on April 27, 2016 at which details on the franchise, which began to play in 2017, were revealed.^[15][16] The team will be the first professional rugby league team to be based in Canada.^[16] A group of 10 businessmen, consisting of mostly Canadians and an Australian mining millionaire David Argyle, own the club,^[16][17] having paid around $500,000 to be granted admission to the league.^[18] A condition for the team to join the British rugby league system was that they would be responsible for covering travel and accommodation expenses incurred for all visiting teams outside of the first division Super League.^[18]

It was suggested that it was an attractive market as Canada has the largest amount of rugby league followers outside of Australia, France, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.^[19][20] The club plans to play in blocks of four home matches, four away matches, and cover all expenses for visiting teams throughout the season.^[21]

The Wolfpack held tryouts in five cities across North America starting September 24; those were: Philadelphia, Tampa, Kingston, Vancouver, and Toronto itself. From these tryouts 18 athletes were selected to take part in a tour in England, culminating in a victorious game against an amateur club, the Brighouse Rangers. Three players won professional contracts with the Wolfpack following the tour, with another round of tryouts to be held in Toronto in the following few months for the unsuccessful trialists.^[22]

The Toronto Wolfpack owns rights to all broadcasts of their matches. In Canada games are broadcast on CBC Live and on Game TV,^[23] in the USA games are broadcast on Eleven Sports, and in the UK and Ireland Premier Sports broadcasts through the Sky Network.

2017–present: First seasons

On January 22, 2017, The Wolfpack played their first professional game, a pre-season friendly against Hull F.C. at the KCOM Stadium. The final score was 26–20 in favour of Hull.^[24] The club played its first competitive match on February 25, 2017, resulting in a 14–6 victory in the third round of the Challenge Cup against the amateur NCL champions: Siddal.^[25]

On March 4, 2017, Toronto played its first League 1 match, away at London Skolars. They won the match 76–0.^[26] Their first home match was played on May 6, 2017, where they defeated Oxford in front of 6,281 fans at Lamport Stadium.^[27]

The Wolfpack would go on to have a successful campaign, winning all fifteen of their regular season matches and five out of seven playoff games. The Wolfpack finished the season with 41 points from 22 games and points difference of +921.

Promotion to the Championship, and the Kingston Press League 1 Title, was secured on September 9, 2017 with the Wolfpack defeating Barrow Raiders 26–2 in front of 7,972 spectators.

They closed the season on September 16, 2017 with a win against Doncaster. This game also drew a record attendance of 8,456.

The following season saw continued success by the Wolfpack; winning the league leaders shield in the championship competition, and a season that has seen an 18 game winning streak as of July 21.^[28] However, London Broncos beat the Wolfpack 4-2 at Lamport Stadium in the MPG, condemning the Wolfpack to another season in the Championship at significant financial cost to the franchise.{{cn|date=January 2019}}

Stadium

The team's home stadium is Lamport Stadium in Toronto, which is known as The Den for Toronto matches. The stadium seats 9,600.^[29] The stadium was opened in 1975 and has an artificial field. In addition to rugby, it has also hosted soccer and lacrosse.^[12] The team signed a three-year lease.^[30]

Home games have also been held at Fletcher's Fields in Markham, Ontario and New River Stadium in London, England.

Logistics

As most players on the roster are not from Toronto, the team stays at the George Brown College residence in West Don Lands that is the former site of the 2015 Pan American Games Athletes' Village and trains at Lamport Stadium. Away teams stay at York University residence^[31] and train on York University athletic facilities. Through a sponsorship deal with Air Transat, the team covers the travel and accommodation cost for all of the away teams.^[32] Toronto Wolfpack continues to cover expenses for the visiting teams in the 2018 season.^[33]

Toronto signed an agreement with Brighouse Rangers to share their training ground for pre-seasons and while the Wolfpack are in the UK for away fixtures for 2017.^[34] At the end of the 2017 season the Wolfpack confirmed their intention to switch to a base in Manchester, UK, during the 2018 season, and in 2018 announced the deepening of their partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University and its community.^[35] Manchester now serves as the Wolfpack's home in the United Kingdom.

Media

Toronto Wolfpack games are broadcast on Canadian specialty channel GameTV, with further digital rights extended to CBC Sports with games streamed on the CBC Sports website. Matches are also archived on the Toronto Wolfpack YouTube Channel.

All Toronto Wolfpack games are broadcast live in the UK on Sky Sports - Arena which reaches 11 million homes across the Sky Network. In the USA Eleven Sports send broadcasts into 50 million homes.

There are agreements in place to broadcast the 2018 season in China, Brazil and Australia.

Kit sponsors and manufacturers

2019 Squad

Transfers

Players

Captains

• Craig Hall 2017
• Josh McCrone 2018–present

Staff

Coaching staff

Management Staff

Coaching register

• Paul Rowley 2017–2018
• Brian McDermott 2018–present

Records

Individual Records

• Drop Goals In A Match: 1, Ryan Brierley vs Dewsbury Rams, April 15, 2018
• Goals In A Match: 13, Craig Hall vs Donaster RFLC, April 9, 2017
• Tries In A Match: 5, Liam Kay vs York City Knights, July 1, 2017
• Points In A Match: 38, Craig Hall vs Hemel Stags, July 15, 2017
• Drop Goals In A Season: 1, Ryan Brierley, RFL Championship 2018
• Goals In A Season: 170, Craig Hall, League 1 2017
• Tries In A Season: 27, Liam Kay, League 1 2017
• Points In A Season: 436, Craig Hall, League 1 2017

Team Records

• Biggest win:

82–6 v. {{leagueicon|doncaster|16}} Doncaster (April 9, 2017)

• Biggest loss:

66-10 v. {{leagueicon|Warrington Wolves|16}} Warrington Wolves (May 13, 2018)

Attendance Records

• Highest home attendance:

9,266 v. {{leagueicon|London Broncos|16}} London (at Lamport Stadium, October 7, 2018)

Honours

• Division 2/ Championship

Winners (1): 2018

• Division 3/ League 1

Winners (1): 2017

See also

• Canada Rugby League
• Rugby league in Canada
• Canada national rugby league team

Notes

References

External links

• [https://www.torontowolfpack.com/ Official Website]

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