Picture the scene. A group of men in New Zealand decide to go on a rugby tour to Australia, Wales and England. They have very little money and will be away for a long time.Theyre not sure if they will generate much interest or if anyone will turn up to watch them. It is 1907 and the other side of the world is a long way away. By the end of the tour, the game of rugby league has become established, the tour itself was profitable and several of the players were given generous payments to stay and play for teams in the north of England. It needed the vision and entrepreneurial skills of a man called Albert Baskerville to pull this off. It must have seemed like a daunting task but he felt passionately about it and took a chance. Where would we be without people like him? Toronto Wolfpack to join RFL Canadian club to enter League One and Challenge Cup from 2017 I can see several similarities with the news on Wednesday that a team from Toronto will enter the Kingstone Press League 1 for next season. It is the result of the drive by a man called Eric Perez, the modern day Mr Baskerville. He has chosen a city that is just over seven hours flight from the England, and with an incredible appetite for sport. This could be a strength or a weakness as the market could be saturated already. It has a hockey team, a basketball team, a baseball team, a soccer team and a Canadian football side. Add that to the fact that rugby union, lacrosse, frisbee and tennis are already played there means that the people either have enough sports to choose from already or just cannot get enough. It is sports mad. Toronto: Home of the new rugby league team the Toronto Wolfpack In fact, Toronto loves sport that much that it bid for the Olympics in 2008 and came runner-up to Beijing. The city is the commercial capital of Canada with a population similar to that of Leeds or Manchester. The fact that it is based on the shores of Lake Ontario make it look a bit like Sydney or Auckland, so can it become a place where rugby league takes root?Well in some ways we need it to. The Canterbury and England forward, James Graham, made comments in Australia recently which implied that rugby league needs to grow its international footprint or the sport would just become a feeder competition to rugby union. I am not sure if that horse has already bolted James, but I understand your point. Staying still is not an option.Here is my summation of the rugby league game in the UK over the last 40 years:We have professional clubs which have existed for around a century which now have no assets and live from week to week. They just about survive but are in a professional sporting sense on a life-support machine, and have been for the last decade. They are going nowhere and havent been well-managed in the past. We have some clubs which have moved into the 21st Century and are well run, hoping that the others will improve and allow the sport to grow as well. These have been in the minority in my opinion. The weak have held back the strong. They will provide players and fans the opportunity to enjoy the sport in a new environment and they are going to encourage local Canadians to play the game. Phil Clarke From time to time we get some enthusiastic people from outside traditional rugby league lands who show an interest in the sport. However, we have not been great at helping the good ones and weeding out the bad. It strikes me that the people behind this Toronto project need backing, just as the ones in Toulouse do as well. The world is a much smaller place than it was when rugby league first started and I hope it goes from strength to strength in Toronto. We have got to hope that Mr Perez does not get pneumonia, like Mr Baskerville did. We need him.Critics could argue that we have not got rugby league going in Liverpool so why do we think we can get a transatlantic team to succeed? Well I would reply by saying that this is a self-funded operation that is not taking money from the existing game. They are going to increase the awareness of the sport in a new area. They will provide players and fans the opportunity to enjoy the sport in a new environment and they are going to encourage local Canadians to play the game.Rugby league has over 100 years experience at trying to establish itself in new areas - some good, more bad, but I have nothing but admiration and enthusiasm for the project. Ill be following the Canadian Wolfpack with interest.Also See:Toronto Wolfpack to join RFLWATCH: Super League triesWATCH: Baz and Tez biggest hitsFollow @SkySportsRLHorace Grant Jersey . -- Aaron Murray threw for 408 yards and three touchdowns, ran for another score, and led No. Pat Garrity Jersey . -- Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Alrdridge were again the go-to duo for the Trail Blazers against the Kings. https://www.cheapmagiconline.com/1008i-amile-jefferson-jersey-magic.html . Ancelotti says Ronaldo has recovered from a hamstring injury but "but he doesnt feel comfortable yet so we wont risk him." 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The fight served as a rematch of the pairs 2006 meeting, which Henderson won by decision.FRANKFURT, Germany -- Former soccer great Franz Beckenbauer has had open-heart surgery and received at least one bypass, according to a report in a German newspaper.Beckenbauers management team has not responded to a request for comment on his health following a report Monday in the mass-circulation Bild newspaper.Bild said the surgery took place Saturday and had been planned for several weeks.The 70-year-old Beckenbauer left for a clinic in southern Germany on Friday, one day after his home in Salzburg, Austria, had been searched by authorities acting on a request by Swiss prosecutors. Beckenbauer is among several people under a Swiss criminal probe into suspected corruption around the 2006 World Cup in Germany.The Swiss criminal case, formally opened last November but confirmed only on Thursday, has caused turmoil at the soccer federation of world champion Germany and tarnished the reputation of a World Cup that was a popular success. In Germany, the 2006 tournament has become known as its Summer Fairytale.It also thhreatens to wreck the reputation of Beckenbauer, arguably the nations greatest ever player.dddddddddddd The former Bayern Munich and New York Cosmos defender captained and coached West Germany to World Cup titles, then organized the tournament.Switzerlands attorney generals office opened criminal proceedings against Beckenbauer and three other German members of the 2006 World Cup organizing committee.The four are suspected of fraud, money laundering, criminal mismanagement and misappropriation relating to a payment of 6.7 million euros ($7.3 million) to FIFA in 2005.Beckenbauers lawyers said he was cooperating with all authorities involved.Beckenbauer headed his countrys bid to win the hosting rights in 2000 in a vote of the FIFA executive committee. Germany won 12-11 in a final-round vote against a South Africa bid backed by Nelson Mandela. Beckenbauer then chaired the organizing committee. ' ' '