The $90,000 Fuifui Moimoi deal that helped Toronto land Sonny Bill Williams
Toronto Wolfpack owner Dave Argyle’s journey to helping ink the richest contract in rugby league history can be traced back to a $90,000 punt on a 37-year-old NRL cult legend.
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For his first big signature, Toronto Wolfpack owner Dave Argyle shelled out just $90,000.
Or less than NRL minimum wage.
Yet still, enough for the Australian mining magnate to get himself that inaugural turnstile spinner.
Or something like that.
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Understanding at the time, Fuifui Moimoi was 37, playing off the bench with English battlers Leigh and contemplating retirement.
Still, Argyle reasoned, English fans seemed to love the nuggety prop all dreadlocks and kamikaze playing style.
Even dubbed him ‘Car Crash’.
Official: The wait is over, Sonny Bill Williams (@SonnyBWilliams) signs a 2-year contract to join the Wolfpack. #SBWTO | #RugbyDisrupters21
— Toronto Wolfpack (@TOwolfpack) November 7, 2019
Details: https://t.co/d1XOqsusdT pic.twitter.com/hEkXy0QokD
And so, the Wolfpack owner shelled out those five figures.
The start of what now looms as the greatest story anywhere in rugby league.
For what else would you call the rise and rise of Toronto Wolfpack?
This fledgling footy franchise that exists in North America, plays 6000km away in England and, until this past week, was arguably best known among NRL fans for axing Dave ‘Coal Train’ Taylor before he even played a game.
But not anymore.
No, only three years after Argyle signed ‘Car Crash’ for pocket change – and debuted Toronto in an English third-tier competition – the millionaire owner is now readying for the 2020 Super League season with no less than All Black Sonny Bill Williams as his No.1 draw.
Truly, not since Zach Galifianakis stood on the roof of Caesars Palace — flick knife in hand — has there been so much interest in a Wolfpack.
An incredible reality which has already drawn comparisons to English footballing icon David Beckham joining LA Galaxy some 12 years ago.
Although it should be noted that when Beckham jetted into Los Angeles in 2007, he was not only a global megastar already – thanks to stints with both Manchester United and Real Madrid – but playing a sport most North Americans were aware of.
Yet right now in Toronto, the biggest question among Canadian sports fans appears to be: Sonny Who?
Still, they’re asking.
Not only about Williams, or even rugby league, but exactly where one can buy his new No. 21 jersey.
For this, apparently, is the number SBW will wear when he returns to the same code where he previously won NRL premierships with both Canterbury and the Sydney Roosters.
Which again, draws comparisons with Beckham and that No. 23 Galaxy jersey he wore in Major League Soccer (MLS).
Yet more than selling a club, or even a competition, Williams is now charged with promoting an entire code.
And while sculpted footballing mercenary may not be in the same stratosphere as Beckham, nor does Jason Taumalolo boast the some celebrity as SBW — yet in recent days we’ve seen the power of his signing with international minnows Tonga.
And so we wait.
Understanding that when Beckham signed with Galaxy in 2007 – on a deal which Forbes recently valued at $255 million over six years – there were only a dozen teams in the MSL.
Now, however, there are almost double that – with Nashville set to become the 24th franchise while Cincinnati, Detroit and Sacramento have all submitted their own bids, worth upwards of $70 million, to join the league.
In his opening game, Beckham drew a crowd that included the likes of Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger, while European stars like Thierry Henry also followed him into a US competition that was soon being broadcast nationally on NBC and ESPN.
It is a blueprint, too, the Wolfpack hope to follow.
And all for that initial outlay of $90,000.