Salford Red Devils chairman explains misunderstanding of abstention at IMG vote

   19/04/2023

YESTERDAY, all 36 professional rugby league clubs voted on IMG’s proposals to ‘re-imagine’ the sport.

Following six weeks of consultation, the clubs met at the home of Huddersfield Giants, the John Smith’s Stadium, to announce their support, opposition or abstention to the plans put in place.

The results were as followed:

Ten of the 11 Betfred Super League clubs voted in favour, with one abstention. (The 12th club, Catalans Dragons, were not entitled to vote).

Eight of the 13 Betfred Championship clubs voted in favour, with one abstention. (The 14th club, Toulouse Olympique, were not entitled to vote)

Seven of the 11 Betfred League One clubs voted in favour, with one abstention.

However, it was quickly cleared up that Salford Red Devils did not mean to abstain and instead misunderstood what they were voting for to begin with.

As a result, the Red Devils’ vote was turned to support, meaning that the plans had unanimous support from Super League clubs.

Now, Salford chairman Paul King has taken to social media to clear up the cloud surrounding the initial error.

King tweeted: “Our council rep thought he was voting on an amendment not the actual proposal, an error that was quickly corrected. As I was one of the club reps who worked on the RFL realignment and creation and recruitment of RL commercial we are probably the biggest FOR in the room.”

King also explained that IMG’s track record should mean that people fully put their support behind the proposals.

He tweeted: “…we do need to be better and this is a template to achieve that. Fully accept its a vote for the sport and not necessarily us as a club but we’re at a crossroads as a sport and IMG have an incredible track record, so let’s have a go and see where it leads.”