Toronto Wolfpack players finally paid salaries after five-year battle

Players from the former Super League club Toronto Wolfpack have finally been paid around £750,000 in unpaid salaries following a five-year legal battle, the Guardian can reveal.

The Wolfpack folded in 2020 during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic leaving their playing squad – which included the likes of Sonny Bill Williams – unemployed and without a contract. Some of those players were able to source deals for 2021 and continue playing but others retired from the sport altogether and had to take jobs outside rugby league to make ends meet.

Since then, the squad has been attempting to reclaim six months’ worth of unpaid wages from the end of 2020 without success. Toronto’s former owner, David Argyle, promised monthly “goodwill” payments of around £1,150 until he was able to pay in full, but those settlements were ultimately breached, leaving the players unpaid once again.

The Guardian revealed last year how legal proceedings had been launched by the Rugby League Players Association – a branch of the GMB Union – to recoup as much as possible of the estimated £1.2m in unpaid salaries. That has now reached a successful conclusion, with more than half that sum now paid to the players who were members of the union.

“It’s a huge relief for those players to finally get the wages they were owed for so long,” the GMB’s Pete Davies said. “But it should never have got to this stage. The Rugby Football League, supported by the top clubs, admitted Toronto to the Super League, but denied them any access to equal payments from TV rights.

“Toronto never stood a chance. Our lead representative worked tirelessly and relentlessly with former Toronto Wolfpack owner David Argyle to finally get this deal over the line.”

Adam Sidlow was arguably one of the more fortunate Toronto players, as he was able to secure a contract with Leigh for the 2021 season before remaining in Super League with Salford Red Devils. He said: “For a transatlantic team during Covid, it would have been impossible to keep going and I was gutted when all of the hard work leading up to gaining promotion to Super League was stopped dead in its tracks and ended so abruptly. Finally, the chapter can be closed.”

Prop Anthony Mullally never played at the highest level again after his contract with the Wolfpack was ripped up, leaving him without crucial income for a prolonged period that he has only now been able to recoup.

He said: “This process has been exhausting at times, but Garreth Carvell, Pete Davies and the GMB never gave up on us. They pushed for what was right and made sure we finally got the justice we deserved. It’s a massive relief to see it settled, and it shows how important it is for players to have real union support behind them.”