GMB, the Union for Rugby League, has accused the RFL and Super League of leaving Toronto Wolfpack players in the dark over the possible takeover of the Canadian based franchise.
The GMB and players are yet to hear any concrete details over the takeover of the club. Meanwhile, the players’ families have been struggling without wages for three months.
The club was forced to withdraw from Super League for 2020, citing major financial issues caused by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. In recent days the club has announced that they are talking to four interested parties surrounding a takeover, however little to no information on this has filtered down to the players or GMB.
Yesterday players took to social media to vent their frustrations after receiving no pay for three months and being ‘stranded’. Some have even faced evictions.
GMB is calling on the RFL and Super League to step up and pay the players contracts up to the end of the season in November, ensuring that the families have the means to live and are taken out of the current limbo they find themselves in.
GMB has also questioned the ‘due diligence’ undertaken when allowing Toronto into Super League, labelling the current situation ‘completely unacceptable’.
Garreth Carvell, GMB RLPA rep and former Great Britain International, said: “The current situation, pandemic or not, is completely unacceptable. We are still waiting to hear from the club regarding any potential take-over. Whilst I'm sure those talks are sensitive, that doesn’t alter the fact that players and their families are left facing an ever-increasing struggle to survive.
“It is time the RFL and Super League stepped up to the plate and took some responsibility for this crisis.”
Pete Davies, GMB Senior Organiser, said: “As we currently don’t have a seat at the table, our players have no choice but to trust the governing bodies and league structures to ensure this kind of collapse cannot happen without consequence. In this case those rules and that governance have failed spectacularly.
“It was their job to see that due diligence was carried out when they allowed the club into Super League, they simply have not done that. In my opinion, pay out the remainder of the contracts to the players up until November and call in their ‘Personal Guarantee’ from David Argyle to recover the money. If that is worth little more than the paper it is written on, then we’ll all know whose fault that is.”
