It was circled in the calendar months ago: Toulouse vs Toronto.
Up until this fixture popped up in the British championship, I had lived in abject remorse for not attending that trial match between Melbourne and Adelaide in Hobart at the beginning of 1998 (Terry Liberopoulos has the program).
I am proud to say I saw the Hunter Mariners play Paris Saint-Germain in 1997, with John Paul Young singing Love is in the Air at halftime and the Paris side including more Australians than their opponents.
But for the rugby league anorak Toulouse vs Toronto with full-time sides – I think some of the Olympique players might still have jobs on the side? – tops them all.
So on Saturday night the better half and I set off for Heathrow mid-afternoon, arrived at Blagnac airport close to midnight and retired after an oversized beer each.
Sunday was spent in the idyllic town square eating baguettes and drinking pastis, followed by yet another Touchstones book launch at Pub O’Clock – one of the home side’s sponsors.
I have a rule with these launches: if there are fewer than ten people there, my duties are zero besides signing and selling. There were more than ten, so I had to speak, and what I said was along the lines of this column so far. What a time to be alive, eh?
Monday was as enjoyable a day at a rugby league game as I can remember. The Olympique CEO, Cedric Garcia, hosted a lavish luncheon in a marquee and in the first half we sat next to a full brass band at Stade Ernest Argeles, home of Blagnac rugby union.
In the second half, sunshine and presions were in ample supply on a deck as the Wolfpack withstood a comeback to win 24-22 and go to the top of the table.
Cedric explained that Olympique’s home ground, Stade des Minimes, is undergoing renovation and won’t be ready until 2020. So if they go up next year, they’ll still be here.
Friendly, familiar faces like former French Rugby League Federation head honcho Carlos Zalduendo, French national coach Aurelien Cologni and ex-France skipper Olivier Elima abound, a perfect melange of the old and new in rugby league. Manase Manuokafoa, who’s playing for nearby Albi, is there as a spectator, as is his coach, former Penrith centre Eric Anselme.
But without overusing the word ‘sobering’, take a look at the teams mentioned at the top of this story: Adelaide Rams, Hunter Mariners, Paris Saint-Germain. They don’t exist anymore.
By most measures Melbourne Storm are the only successful expansion club (in other words, club from a non-rugby league area) in the sport’s entire history. At my London book launch last year the Storm’s former CEO Mark Evans estimated $9 million had been spent to keep them afloat.
For all I know, Wolfpack owner David Argyle may have already spent that much.
The beauty of the English competitions is that the expenses involved are far lower than they are in the NRL. One rich guy in any part of the world can theoretically have his team in Super League in three years and playing away to Toulouse in two.
North Sydney Bears could be playing away to Toulouse in two years if they wanted to, so could the West Coast Pirates.
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It’s a situation, a lack of red tape, that is thrown up by other professional sports that could see teams in Boston and New York within a couple of years.
But I am not blindly optimistic.
Toulouse Olympique have been around since 1937 and will survive not going up to Super League. Toronto have been around for two and you need to spend time with Argyle to realise how serious he is.
We need more like him and more days like Monday. These guys shouldn’t have to find us; we should be out pitching to them. I’ve only learnt in the last two months what a ‘deck’ is – a short, engaging document pitching for investment. Why can’t the sport itself identify areas it wants to expand into and use these things to pitch to millionaires and billionaires?
I don’t want to be talking flippantly about Toulouse vs Toronto in 20 years the way I speak about Hunter vs PSG today.
But I am not yet convinced I won’t be.
Steve Mascord
Guest
Maybe I have become too negative. I'm just being honest. That's all I try to do - this is how I feel now, that is how I felt then.
Steve Mascord
Guest
That is no longer the case. Toronto had the same salary cap last year in league one as any Super League club. All three divisions now have the same cap.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Sounds like a lot of rugby union promotions in Europe! And discover? It was well documented & even if somethings free doesn't mean people will turn up. You have more aliases than a Maxwell Smart episode.
Bargeall
Guest
Steve you appear to have swung too heavily to the near negative from your hyperbolic enthusiasm of your younger days. I remember how enthused you were when Russia v USA RL in Moscow drew 30,000 only to discover admission was free (or nominal amount) which was entry for a half-time draw for a car in a poor part of Moscow.. 2 steps forward, a couple to the side
Steve Mascord
Expert
I think one way is this: he's gonna do a deal with the Super League clubs - he doesn't want a share of the TV money. But when the TV money comes in from the US and Canada, he gets the first X million. If the New Zealand Warriors had done a deal like that, they'd be rolling in cash now. He's not gonna make a profit unless he makes a series of genius moves that set the standards for team owners to follow.
Fred
Guest
Super League also has a salary cap which is well above what the tier 2 clubs have. They also let their big city expansion club - London, their equivalent of the Storm - be relegated, and they let one of their big heartland clubs - Bradford - go down as well.
sham
Guest
Also on a positive note the Catalan Dragons had a good win on Monday - hopefully they start to string some wins together now. Having been to a Catalans game in Perpignan I can highly recommend going to see them play. Rugby League is so much stronger with a broad international presence.
RandyM
Guest
promotion and relegation could never work in the NRL with the current salary cap. There is no way in hell the NRL would allow the Broncos to be relegated, nor the Storm. They would have to scrap the cap and let these clubs spend up. It will just be the poorer sydney clubs, knights, raiders, titans getting relegated every few years. Broncos, Storm, Roosters, maybe Warriors and Bulldogs would be top 8 nearly every year.
Big Daddy
Guest
It works in super league o.k. . If Toulouse or Toronto go up they would need to strengthen their rosters. Catalans look like it at the moment but I don't think either Toulouse or Toronto would beat them at the moment. Our second tier here has a huge gap to claw back and instead of being a feeder club some club's just don't have that clout unless they go private. Could you imagine norths coming back to NRL via promotion and relegation. I don't think the NRL want p&r but a stand alone 2nd has some merits. NSWRL and QRL wouldn't like it because they may lose control.
Fred
Guest
But isn't the attraction of the second tier in Europe the thrill of chasing promotion to the Super League? I don't think a stand alone second tier without P&R would last. i.e if Toronto and Toulouse had no hope of achieving a place in Super League I doubt they'd have the same level of interest.
Big Daddy
Guest
One of the problems here is that our second tier is basically being feeder club's to NRL sides with a few exceptions. Having a stand alone 2nd tier on a national basis is the ideal scenario but it is financially and logistically impossible because we do not have enough clubs with that sort of money unless they are privately owned or have some assistance from the NRL. In Europe obviously most super league clubs are always nervous because the have promotion and relegation. To have that hear we have to have stand alone 2nd tier.
Mike
Guest
I don't know how the Wolfpack can possibly make a profit. I would think they will keep going as long as Davie Argyle has deep pockets and a passion for the game. If either one wanes I suspect they will go the way of the Rams, Reds & St. Germain.
Big Daddy
Guest
The story you have just told is really a good lesson for the NRL to learn from. Instead here we have every man and his dog clamouring for teams to be included in the NRL top tier. Any one here should be taking the same route as the Toronto wolfpack . You have to start at the lower level and earn your spurs. In the past we have had too many teams go bust or have financial difficulties including teams in the current set up. I don't think we will ever have more than sixteen teams but who stays and who goes is the big question.
BA Sports
Roar Guru
This is my beef with the NRL's "strategy". Their strategy appears to be - whoever gives us the best bid is where we will put team, regardless of if it is in the best interest of the game. It should be the other way around. The NRL should have identified where they believe the best location is for a club based on demographics, economics, commercial opportunities etc.. and then get out and try and sell the proposition. Right now their strategy is just "expand because". It has zero substance, so why would anyone - with an ounce of business acumen, want to invest in that?
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
What a day it sounded. Must do a Euro RL trip one day featuring all the new members of the RL family. What might have taken days in the past would most probably take weeks even months just to take in today's rugby league. Perhaps when I retire!
Da No
Roar Rookie
Hear hear
Andrew MacLeod
Guest
Canada is full of optimists so you'll get nothing but support from this side of the pond. The journey for us so far has been awesome and the Toulouse game was all we hoped it would be. Perez and Argyle make a fiercesome duo and I hope people watching can see that RL is a great sport and expansion can succeed.
Fred
Guest
Steve, as you'd be aware rugby league in France has survived more adversity and persecution than any other sport in the developed world. You can't kill league in southern France. Not even the Nazis and their Vichy collaborators could. Can't necessarily say the same for Canada, but Toronto has done everything right so far. Their national team gets pretty decent crowds when they play the US and Jamaica too.