Toyota Cup Receives Strong Backing
Thursday, 28 February 2008 - Newcastle Knights
Officials, coaches and players have today backed the Toyota Cup, declaring it one of the most important strategic initiatives since the formation of the National Rugby League.
The strong support came as NRL Chief Executive David Gallop launched the Toyota Cup for 2008 and with it national television coverage through Fox Sports.
The Toyota Cup is already gaining recognition as a ground-breaking initiative in Australian sport, providing a blueprint on how to prepare players for the demands of professional sport and for life after football.
Importantly, it also gives fans the chance to watch the game’s next generation of players, coaches and referees hone their skills in a unified competition that will precede each Telstra Premiership game.
“This will become the elite youth competition of any code in Australasia,” said Eels CEO Denis Fitzgerald, one of the architects of the national youth competition.
“It will grow in stature and I think it will be such a success that other sports will look at something similar.”
Dragons CEO Peter Doust, another member of the sub-committee that developed the Toyota Cup, added: “We are involving players at younger and younger ages these days and we think this competition will be very positive for the development of their Rugby League careers as well as representing a commitment by all clubs to these players to give them the opportunities that will help them succeed off the field.”
Israel Folau, the Dally M Rookie of the Year who is still eligible to play in the Toyota Cup, said the competition would provide players with an important stepping stone to the NRL.
“The boys here are really excited about playing in it and getting the chance to impress the coach and try to get into first grade,” Folau said.
Dual Dally M Medal winner Johnathan Thurston said the competition would also benefit regional areas.
“The Toyota Cup will give young country players another pathway to the NRL,” Thurston said.
“It also safeguards the future of these young guys by ensuring that there is life employment for them after football.
“I know how excited the fans are to have another Cowboys team to cheer for each week they come to watch us play.”
Gold Coast Titans coach John Cartwright said the Toyota Cup would “further strengthen the game here on the Gold Coast”.
“This competition will provide more opportunities for young players to pursue their NRL dream,” Cartwright said.
“It provides the game’s best junior players with a direct pathway to first grade, it provides leadership, vocational training and a range of educational opportunities that will benefit players on and off the field.”
Toyota Cup Manager Michael Buettner said the emphasis the competition places on education and work-place training is unique in Australian sport.
“It’s an unbelievable opportunity for these kids to be involved in such an exciting time in the game’s history,” Mr Buettner said.
“They should be proud to have the opportunity and I think fans will be just as excited with the quality of football these talented players will produce each week.”
The Toyota Cup provides another development pathway for players striving to play in the NRL in conjunction with the Queensland Cup, NSW Cup (formerly NSW Premier League) and the Jim Beam Cup.
“We are launching a new-look NSW Cup this season, which has created enormous interest in that competition, a Perth team has joined the Jim Beam Cup, and with the Toyota Cup they provide more opportunities than ever for players to progress to the NRL,” NSW Rugby League General Manager, Mr Geoff Carr, said.
The restructured 12-team NSW Cup kicks off on March 14 – the same day as the Telstra Premiership – with Central Newcastle Knights, Cronulla Cobras, Wentworthville Magpies, Central Coast Storm and Windsor Wolves joining the competition alongside Auckland Vulcans (formerly Lions), Balmain-Ryde Eastwood, Bulldogs, Manly, Newtown, North Sydney and Western Suburbs Magpies, while this season’s Jim Beam Cup features a team from Perth – the WA Reds.
The Toyota Cup, meanwhile, has already won significant media and corporate support.
Fox Sports will broadcast an average of two matches per week and Sky TV in New Zealand will televise Warriors’ Toyota Cup home matches.
As well as Toyota being the naming rights sponsor for the competition, each club has attracted strong sponsorship support for their under 20s teams.
like fox 4 ;)
