Today it was announced that the Super League (an inappropriately named body if ever there was one) has decided not to readmit the Toronto Wolfpack Rugby League club following their forced exit from the 2020 competition during the pandemic crisis. Thus the small-minded Royston Vasey locals (League of Gentlemen black comedy program – Google it) who run what they like to call The Greatest Game have decided firmly against expansion and to keep the game in ‘the heartlands’, which really means within a few miles either side of the M62 motorway in northern England. About as parochial as you can get (I’m from there, I know).
So I wanted to say Thank You to the Wolfpack, to the staff and the players who gave us such a great run over the last 4 years and who proved (Royston Vasey notwithstanding) that a fast, exciting sport, played in front of new fans and devotees, with the right approach from players with no ‘side’ to them, could be a success. Crowds of 9,000 in only the team’s third year proves that.
Thank You, and thank you to Steve Gaunt at touchline also for giving me the opportunity to fulfil a personal dream and take pictures from the sideline at a true professional sporting event. It was a blast.
Chris McPhee - Photographer 