By early as 2016 England’s rugby League 1 could boast a Toronto-based rugby team.

Eric Perez, the chairman of Canada Rugby, has taken the incredible step of lobbying for a Toronto team to play in England’s third tier competition. While discussions are ongoing, Perez believes the odds are stacked in their favour and by next year there should be Canadian representation in Britain scoring tries and kicking field goals.

“We made our own process. Usually you’d have to operate within England to and go that route. We should know where we stand in the next few months,” Perez said. “The fact we support our teams in Toronto really well and have a sports market here – the chances of being accepted are very good.”



When asked if the concept would fail given the fact there are not that many foreign teams operating in countries other than their own region, across many sports, Perez said Toronto already has teams like the MLB Blue Jays and NBA Raptors that travel and play in foreign cities.

“There are foreign EPL teams. The New Zealand Warriors play outside their zone. Borders are small,” he said. “There’s no professional rugby leagues in Canada. It’ll bring promotion and relegation incentive – something we’re not used to here in North America. We’re the perfect city to do it.”

League 1 is semi-professional 16-team competition based in England where teams travel to places including Macclesfield, Richmond and Coventry. The Toronto team, if inducted, would have to soak up the travel costs flying the team back and forth to England and will also have to pay for visiting teams to play in Canada as well as accommodation expenses and staff salaries. Perez said these costs would be absorbed by sponsors and owners of the team.

“Is it sustainable? Yes. Absolutely. Look at the NBA or the MLB. Toronto teams will fly to L.A., which is five hours away. We’ll fly to Manchester, only six hours away. It’s not that big a deal. The world is small.”