Latest IMG proposals for Super League

[Wb1234]

Hopefully the comp gets expanded to 14 teams in 2025 to save some disappointment. It'd be good to see Bradford back.

100 percent

you can see the top 14 are the cream and there’s a big drop off after that

odsal is still an issue though they aren’t paying for the maintenance anymore.

there are other grounds they have tried in the past that are options (dewesbury or valley parade)

or they could move into Bradford park avenue and try and get that upgraded

 

[TDD91]

Classy response to the gradings from London, as opposed to the childish responses of Castleford, Featherstone & Keighley.

Can we slip London an extra point or two just for that?

 

[Wb1234]

Just replace London for wakey and that’s an excellent 14 team super league

 

[jason taylor]

Classy response to the gradings from London, as opposed to the childish responses of Castleford, Featherstone & Keighley.

Can we slip London an extra point or two just for that?

Might not be enough for 2025, but that mindset will have them rapidly moving up. Plus don’t underestimate how much of a difference replacing 2021 with 2024 will be for them, considering their lack of a secured home ground in 2021 ect (which they now have a 10 year agreement on Plough Lane)

 

[taste2taste]

How much does social media count towards the grades? I'll make sure to follow, like, subscribe to all of London's and Toulouse accounts lol

Will this scoring system lead to clubs fudging crowd figures, revenue.. etc ? Seems like IMG is asking clubs to fill out paper work that could lead to thier demise or survival and expecting them to be honest ?

 

[Gobsmacked]

How much does social media count towards the grades? I'll make sure to follow, like, subscribe to all of London's and Toulouse accounts lol

Will this scoring system lead to clubs fudging crowd figures, revenue.. etc ? Seems like IMG is asking clubs to fill out paper work that could lead to thier demise or survival and expecting them to be honest ?

Fraud is prison time.. that's a reason to be honest lol
This system does many things:
1: gives clubs stability in the top grade meaning they can develop talent and build their way forward without blowing money on players in short term in an effort to avoid relegation.
2: gives sponsorship , investors and broadcasters stability and more assurance of their investment.
3. Incentivises clubs to be proactive in all these areas like better stadium, growing their fan base and developing talent.

There's only positives that will come from this , it won't be fast and obvious at first but after 20 years it will be !

 

[yakstorm]

It seems like social does play a reasonable part, based upon this paragraph from Wakefield

In the light of the difficult times the club have been through, particularly on the field in 2023, we are pleased with our outcome of 12.52 points and a ranking of 11th in the games’ overall pyramid. This reflects a significant improvement from the provisional score of 11.14 indicated to us in August with the improvement being largely due to the strong financial figures contained in our recently filed accounts and progress in our social media reach.

1.38pt increase in two months does show that clubs can make significant movements in short periods of time if they focus on the recommendations from IMG.

 

[taste2taste]

Fraud is prison time.. that's a reason to be honest lol
This system does many things:
1: gives clubs stability in the top grade meaning they can develop talent and build their way forward without blowing money on players in short term in an effort to avoid relegation.
2: gives sponsorship , investors and broadcasters stability and more assurance of their investment.
3. Incentivises clubs to be proactive in all these areas like better stadium, growing their fan base and developing talent.

There's only positives that will come from this , it won't be fast and obvious at first but after 20 years it will be !

No doubt it's a great step in the right direction.

One of the biggest problems with SL is the same couple of teams win every year, it's hard to ask fans to attend and support thier team when they have no chance of winning.

What can Super League do to address this ? How can they evenly spread the talent and give fans of all teams a chance to win ?

 

[yakstorm]

There's only positives that will come from this , it won't be fast and obvious at first but after 20 years it will be !

Agree. It is making clubs actually focus on the items off the field they have been neglecting, including the boring but really important things, like governance, compliance, fiscal responsibility, etc.

Considering the direction the pro game had been heading in the UK, it was questionable whether there would be a Super League in 20 years. This process gives the full time pro game a lot more of a chance.

I hope the IMG criteria is set to evolve year on year, so even the top clubs are forced to actually improve and not try and keep the status quo.

 

[Gobsmacked]

No doubt it's a great step in the right direction.

One of the biggest problems with SL is the same couple of teams win every year, it's hard to ask fans to attend and support thier team when they have no chance of winning.

What can Super League do to address this ? How can they evenly spread the talent and give fans of all teams a chance to win ?

I honestly think p r had a lot to do with it. Anyone outside the top 4 could have a bad season and be relegated, so it made it even harder for sides to sign players and the bottom sides always just put the best team they could on the park to avoid relegation meaning they could never develop a long term strategy with players ect.
Like what hope did a Wakefield have? Who's going to roll the dice with them on a long term deal? They get the scraps.
Now however, they can lock down upcoming talent on a 5 year deal and build.

 

[Gobsmacked]

Agree. It is making clubs actually focus on the items off the field they have been neglecting, including the boring but really important things, like governance, compliance, fiscal responsibility, etc.

Considering the direction the pro game had been heading in the UK, it was questionable whether there would be a Super League in 20 years. This process gives the full time pro game a lot more of a chance.

I hope the IMG criteria is set to evolve year on year, so even the top clubs are forced to actually improve and not try and keep the status quo.

Realistically it will evolve. If all clubs regular attendance is 12k then that becomes average and you'll need an average of 15k to get full marks.
At least that's how I see it playing out.

 

[Gobsmacked]

Anyone notice how Perth Red was pro promotion and relegation until it became apparent hull kr were looking comfortable under the new structure?
Funny that.

 

[Perth Red]

A rebrand of Super League could still take place - but it won't be coming next year. IMG are understood to have made a name change a priority upon their arrival into the sport, which would have been a seismic change for a competition that has had the same name since 1996.

Last year, Rugby League Live revealed those plans, with one of the main motivations surrounding the fact a number of other competitions have taken on the same name, such as football and netball's top-flight women's divisions. That had resulted in plans to identify a fresh look for the competition.
That could still come to fruition moving forward in the future but when asked about the prospect of a name change, Rugby League Commercial Managing Director, Rhodri Jones, said plans were on hold for now.
"It was on the table and I wouldn't say it's off the table," he told Rugby League Live. "But it's not something we're going to look at doing in time for 2024.

"Two bits, one around the length of time it took us to finalise the broadcast deal, it didn't feel like we could start looking at renaming a competition whilst we were going through those negotiations. And we've tied in a title sponsor for a Super League competition for the next three years. So immediately there are no changes to the Super League competition, but it doesn't mean we've taken it off the table. It just might stay on the table for a bit longer."

Super League rebrand not off the table as officials providing name change update

Discussions have taken place regarding a name change for the RFL's premier competition.

www.examinerlive.co.uk

 

[Perth Red]

Anyone notice how Perth Red was pro promotion and relegation until it became apparent hull kr were looking comfortable under the new structure?
Funny that.

Nothing to do with it, it was obvious from beginning we’d be a top B at least and safe.

I’ve been consistent in saying promotion and relegations has it’s pros and cons, being a fan of hkr I know this better than anyone, especially when it comes to getting new markets into a top tier.

ypu only hav e to read the majority of blow back on social media to see many fans still prefer P&R over this system. For me I think we give it a go for ten years and see if it works.

 

[TDD91]

You could argue that the relegation in the Million Pound Game was what gave Hull KR the kick up the arse needed to get them to where they are now.

 

[Gobsmacked]

Nothing to do with it, it was obvious from beginning we’d be a top B at least and safe.

I’ve been consistent in saying promotion and relegations has it’s pros and cons, being a fan of hkr I know this better than anyone, especially when it comes to getting new markets into a top tier.

ypu only hav e to read the majority of blow back on social media to see many fans still prefer P&R over this system. For me I think we give it a go for ten years and see if it works.

It doesn't need 10 years.
It needs decades of stability before you'll see all the benefits. 10 years is how long it takes for the ship to turn.

 

[Perth Red]

It doesn't need 10 years.
It needs decades of stability before you'll see all the benefits. 10 years is how long it takes for the ship to turn.

My club has gone from a championship club to a grade A club in 7 years.

 

[Gobsmacked]

My club has gone from a championship club to a grade A club in 7 years.

That's great but it can't be expected.

 

[Perth Red]

That's great but it can't be expected.

I think within ten years we should have a good picture if this system is strengthening RL in UK, or weakening it.
A glaringly obvious scoring criteria that is missing is player development.

 

[Perth Red]

Hunslet share their rating:

Some six months down the line, Hunslet have been less than impressed by their ‘score’ as allocated by IMG. Their total of 6.94 (from a possible 20) comprises:

• Performance: 0.46 (from a possible 5)
• Fandom: 2.05 (from a possible 5)
• Finances: 1.75 (from a possible 4.5)
• Stadium: 0.68 (from a possible 3)
• Community: 2.00 (from a possible 2.5)

CEO Neil Hampshire said, in a message to Hunslet’s loyal fans posted on the club’s website: “The criteria are based on a mixture of three-year averages and in-year achievements. 2023 is a ‘dummy’ year so that clubs can get used to the process. The scoring will formally come into play in 2024 when the results from that year’s exercise will determine the top twelve teams in Super League for 2025.

“It’s important to note, though, that the grading score has absolutely no impact on promotion and relegation between Championship and League 1. Like us, I know a lot of you will look at the figure and see it as disappointing, but there are a few points I would make:

“As you will be aware, we voted against the introduction of grading. No one can ever be against improving standards, but this system has proved overly bureaucratic and complicated for fans to understand. As an example of the bureaucracy, completing the return also required us to submit duplicate figures to the RFL from the last two years; we have made it plain to the RFL that we do not accept that level of administrative burden to continue. From here on in we should, really, only have to provide data for one year.”

He added: “We shouldn’t forget that this is a whole-game comparison and we are being ranked against some clubs who have received around £40m central funding since the inception of Super League in 1996. Indeed, top-end Championship clubs will also have had significantly more funding during that period too. Obviously, that has given them more opportunity to invest and grow their business and stadiums. That’s not a criticism, but a realism that we are not operating on a level playing field. It would be interesting to undertake a comparison of the IMG grading score ranked against the central funding received by each club since 1996. Going forward though, if we are serious about return on investment, we believe that there also needs to be some adjustment made to reflect that gap in central funding, even if it is just for the three-year period under review.”

Hampshire continued: “We are already working with Leeds City Council to address issues around the South Leeds Stadium, and are confident that our score will increase in that area in 2024. On the performance front the report period for 2023 covered 2020 to 2022 and so this year’s second-placed finish in Betfred League 1 will be taken into account in next year’s return.”

He concluded: “The RFL will now be undertaking a review of the IMG grading criteria process and we will certainly be happy to input into that. Oh for the days when the rewards for sport were focussed on how you performed on the pitch!”

Club Statement - IMG Grading Score - Hunslet RLFC

The Club have moved quickly to appraise their supporters - and the wider Rugby League public - of their reaction to their initial IMG grading score.

hunsletrlfc.com