IMG Gradings Cause Controversy Reaction to the IMG preliminary grading of clubs has had a very mixed response from clubs and fans alike with those faring well being relatively comfortable with their score, while those who are down the rankings kicking back against the system, criteria, the Rugby Football League, and IMG. There is no question that IMG have been handed a poisoned chalice, and it is impossible for them to make proposals to expand the game without upsetting a few, of not the majority of clubs. But if you believe what a lot of fans say, in that the game is dying, then there seems to be little option than to try something radical and make a change at a fundamental level. Social media is awash with criticism, but those with the most to lose will always shout the loudest, there are unlikely to be many evangelists putting a positive slant on the proposals, as those who are destined to benefit will keep their heads below the parapet.   READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

IMG Gradings Cause Controversy Reaction to the IMG preliminary grading of clubs has had a very mixed response from clubs and fans alike with those faring well being relatively comfortable with their score, while those who are down the rankings kicking back against the system, criteria, the Rugby Football League, and IMG. There is no question that IMG have been handed a poisoned chalice, and it is impossible for them to make proposals to expand the game without upsetting a few, of not the majority of clubs. But if you believe what a lot of fans say, in that the game is dying, then there seems to be little option than to try something radical and make a change at a fundamental level. Social media is awash with criticism, but those with the most to lose will always shout the loudest, there are unlikely to be many evangelists putting a positive slant on the proposals, as those who are destined to benefit will keep their heads below the parapet.   READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

There used to be a phrase: "Listen to the fans and you'll end up sitting with them."

An adaptation here might be: "Listen to the tail and it will keep on wagging the dog."

Frankly, it's a no-brainer.

As in life, you can either take feedback as something to work on, or something you're not interested in.

Personally & after reading the grading PDF IMG have produced, it's all positive. If all the clubs can improve in each of the areas then the sport will be in a much stronger place.

The three real bones of contention however are:

Stadium utilisation - it almost punishes teams for having a bigger stadium than they need. Leigh for example utilise a higher % of their ground than us, but their overall attendance numbers are well below Wigan's. Is that fair? At the same time, I look at pics from Latics home games and it's laughable to see all the empty seats. 30k in a 70k stadium will never look as good (on TV) as 15k in a 15k stadium. To use the Leigh analogy again, it was a great atmosphere with 11k on there earlier this year. You can have 13k on at the DW and it's soulless.

Social media following - this one is a no brainer for me. The bigger your reach, the further you can spread the game. Social is just a fact of every day life now. You can't escape it, it does matter and clubs need to get better at it.

Development of players - I can't see how this wasn't a factor? Being able to produce more players surely should be a core focus for the future of the sport. The more players we produce, the better the quality of the game & the more teams we can support.

Shape up or ship out!

Fantastic to see

Completely agree with all of this. The last point in particular is absolute insanity. There should be some metric that measures how many players a club develops to first team standard.

Completely agree, increasing our online/digital reach is easily the number 1 priority in this day and age and doing that successfully will in turn have more people watch and lead to better TV deals, or alternatively give way to a highly successful streaming platform. It really is a no brainer and all the people whinging about it just read like dusty old men that are out of touch, and I include the reporters in that spouting about missing out on a place in Super League due to having extra visitors on social media. Martyn Sadler of League Express is consistently spouting crap like this as well. Makes us look like such an old man sport. Online presence/reach is literally everything in this day and age.

As for youth development, I remember listening to a podcast with that Matt Dwyer (I think is his name of IMG) who essentially said that currently it's not practical to include it based on how RL and the majority of clubs are currently set up, I believe some clubs aren't even allowed to have an academy. But eventually they aim to make a youth academy part of the minimum standards.

I understand the uneasiness around not having P/L. I feel it myself, but I think that's because here in Britain it's engrained into our sporting soul. I would love RL to be able to sustain P/L as it makes the product so much more exciting to watch across the league, but we can't avoid the fact that it gets proven time and time and time again that RL can't sustain it. Again, I'm fairly sure the end goal is to be able to have P/L without needing clubs to change between part time/full time and going bust chasing the dream etc

I'm pretty positive on the whole about the IMG proposals. My only issue currently is having 7 Grade A clubs seems a bit of a misdirection as it paints the picture that RL is in great health and thriving, when clearly it isn't. I wonder if they will eventually make the grading higher and increase the thresholds etc

London unless they produce the biggest miracle of all time are relegated before the season starts. Who would want to sign for London in the very likely hood that they are almost certain to be relegated?
Am I right in assuming that if London finish 12th in 2024 that they will be automatically relegated and unless gradings change that they will be automatically replaced by highest graded team not in SL even if that team say only finishes 4th in 2024 Championship? Would this be case if say London finish 11th and Salford finish 12th?
I’m obviously not up to scratch on the subject as I should be and would appreciate some help to make my understanding much better on the grading system

London will be relegated regardless of where they finish next year. They're simply too far behind on the other metrics. With hindsight, Toulouse winning a couple of weeks ago would have been a far better result as they finished 10th in the overall gradings meaning they have a great chance of being in SL in 2025.

Honestly not sure what to make of it all. In an ideal world promotion and relegation would exist in RL as it provides more drama and intrigue for the fans but I can understand it might not be the best system to allow clubs to plan ahead and hopefully thrive. I think there's three main things missing - two I mentioned earlier (incentives to produce players, incentives for Grade A clubs to continue to push on) and the third would be a geographical expansion strategy. If IMG really believe that a London club would help to make the sport more commercially attractive in the longer term then maybe there should be some scope for them to be given special status.

Thanks MD.
So the playoffs in the Championship were pretty much meaningless as soon as London pulled off a fantastic end of season. I hadn’t appreciated that at all.
I sort of understand the principle of the grading system but can’t get my head around that a team finishing higher in SL could be relegated because a team lower in the league has a higher grading of say 0.01 point.
I always thought that London would be given some sort of dispensation to be in SL and possibly even managed by IMG.

London are planning on running with a similar team to what they had last season, keeping on their part time players and giving them a shot at SL. While i admire the sentiment, i think it is very telling of how far off being a SL level club London currently are.

I think it speaks volumes that most of their fans seem to be accepting of the grading and seem to see it as a fair assessment. I also liked the club itself's statement after the gradings were released, thought it was classy how they acknowledged that it was an accurate assessment of where the club is at currently and their intentions to improve in the area's outlined. Showing some clubs how that statement should have been given as some clubs embarrassed themselves and showed the type of thinking that has put them at that grading in the first place.

Would London with draw from SL for next year knowing they would be relegated regardless? Could they if they wanted to?

I don’t see the point of them getting beat by 70-80 every week. It wouldn’t do them or the league any good. If they are running with the same part time players as previously suggested those kind of score lines would be likely.