RFL Chairman NIGEL WOOD explains the rationale of the Super League clubs’ decision last week to expand their competition to 14 teams from next season.
I AM delighted that at the Super League Meeting last week eleven out of twelve clubs voted for an expanded elite division in Europe, with no club voting against.
It was a unanimous vote for growth and expansion to further broaden the reach of our best competition.
When the clubs asked for a review of the game’s strategic direction, the main criticism of the status quo was the loop fixtures, which can so badly distort the final league placement.
Everyone pleaded with us to get rid of loops without damaging the precious revenue of the clubs.
We have work to do, but we believe it’s possible to grow the overall GDP of the sport by going to 14 clubs in our elite competition.
A one respected chairman told me, “You are either growing or you are dying.” I couldn’t agree more and the clubs chose life.
There was good, high-quality debate on whether that expansion should be undertaken in 2026 or 2027, with meritorious arguments on both sides. But the reality is that three-quarters of the Super League clubs concluded we should grasp the nettle and voted for change as quickly as possible.
While there is much work to be done, even under the current grading system we could have multiple clubs suddenly having to move leagues at short notice. And if grading worked as intended we could have had 13 Grade As, so expansion would have had to happen anyway.
There seems to have been some concern about how clubs 13 and 14 will be selected, but let me clear that up. We started the season with grading determining the composition of next season’s Super League and no one was prepared to deviate from that.
We will use the basis of grading for clubs 13 and 14 as well, and why wouldn’t we?
But there has to be an enhanced scrutiny of the financial aspects of grading to find clubs with the sustainability to cope within Super League, even if they don’t receive a full distribution.
We have all seen the difficulties Salford have had all season. The simple grading process neither foretold nor prevented those problems. With that in mind we have to ensure that clubs 13 and 14 have been stress-tested properly.
But to be clear, and as Karl Fitzpatrick pointed out in his excellent pre-match interview on Friday, the league structure is not the panacea for all ills. It is just one element.
We still have masses of improvement to make in the sport, particularly in sharpening up the contest and de-refereeing the outcome.
Most importantly, we have to begin to feel comfortable with more narrative, more storytelling and more character creation.
There are some great personalities around our sport and other off-field broadcast content which we will be working up for next season.
Rugby League does have pockets of sardonic, divisive and destructive media. That’s the world we live in; people seeking controversy and notoriety for their own sake.
It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but we have to embrace the viewership and the listenership. As Oscar Wilde said, there is only one thing worse than being talked about….and that is not being talked about.
And we all have a role to play.
The decision to go to 14, in my view, galvanises the whole pyramid for Rugby League. It opens up opportunity for all and I am sure we will see continued investment from aspiring clubs.
The emergence of Leigh and Wakefield is a refreshing boost for our elite league, a real testimony to owners who plotted how to leap out of the Championship and into Super League. It can be done and it can be done well, with planning, energy and investment and that is to the benefit of the whole league. Let’s celebrate this and look to replicate it. Everyone loves a renaissance.
The work of the Strategic Review Committee continues.
This week the Championship and League One clubs will discuss how we can deliver the most compelling fixture list for the vital part-time game.
If we can’t provide strong central revenues any longer for tier two, the least we can do is create opportunity for them to grow by giving them the best fixture format possible to give them a compelling competition.