LEIGH LEOPARDS owner Derek Beaumont has called for the IMG system to be scrapped.
IMG were brought in to rugby league back in 2022 in order to ‘re-imagine’ the sport following a number of years of consecutive decline.
Since then, the marketing giants have brought in a new system based on five pillars – finance, performance, catchment, facilities and fandom.
Though rugby league had been crying out for change – and clubs went along with the new system proposed by IMG – Leigh owner Beaumont believes the experiment hasn’t worked and wants rid.
“I would get rid of it, it serves no purpose to me – I’ll be as blunt as that,” Beaumont told League Express.
“Our movement from 12th place as a Grade B club to a Grade A club in ninth was a 3.5 point swing and all I did was look at what I did financially.
“It’s just not right. Look at our big screen. It was upgraded for UEFA for the Women’s Euro Championship but it scored zero for IMG.
“I actually said to the RFL when they told me ‘we will tell Sky we will leave it turned off because why would I turn something on and waste electric when it isn’t getting us any points and then it will affect financial points too’.
“So they then asked ‘is it not fit for purpose?’ and of course I replied ‘no it is’ and then they were like it’s better than nothing – well then score it better than nothing! It’s ludicrous.
“If you want to raise standards with a pixelation of 0.125 score then that’s good but you can’t score me the same as Dewsbury who don’t have a screen. You have got to have a middle ground, it’s a big screen which is better than nothing so it should score something.
“That’s just madness. Look, do I want to spend £50,000 on upgrading the screen to get 0.125 points or do I want to buy laser and lighting to create a better atmosphere at every home game. I know which will grow my club.
“I don’t think sport should be decided on spreadsheets, it should be decided by the warriors on the field and how they compete.
Beaumont has also taken aim at the financial pillar of IMG’s system as well as the catchment area, which punishes clubs who are situated at a near proximity to other clubs.
“The system shackles a lot of things, but if you were going to have it and that was considered the way to go – I don’t think many owners do want that – you’ve got to be far more weighted on performance and financially you’ve got to be solvent.
“But you shouldn’t be getting more points for putting £500k in a year instead of a million.
“Look at our postcodes too, we don’t score because of that and neither do Wigan because of how many people there are in the area.
“We’ve all got fans in PNG or America who fly over, so if you want to measure that then I would flip it on its head.
“Our population is 44,000 and we average 8,000 of which 6,500 are members. That’s 15 per cent who live in this town that pay and sign up for a year to watch this club.
“I don’t want to be rude or be a prick towards Leeds, but Leeds have got half a million people in the city and get 15,000. So who is the more successful? I’m saying there is a different way of measuring it.”
Beaumont also revealed his biggest criticism of the system.
“There are lots of issues and around IMG. You get scored for winning the Challenge Cup but you get nothing for it the year after but everything else is averaged over three years.
“The biggest criticism of it all is uncertainty. The best process we had was the Middle 8s but the issue was uncertainty having been both promoted and relegated through it.
“I’ve won promotion through winning a Grand Final at Widnes against Whitehaven, I’ve done it on a bid with a piece of paper when Toronto were relegated, I was promoted through the Middle 8s and relegated through that too and then relegated by being bottom so I reckon I am well-placed to give opinion.
“Straight up, straight down doesn’t work either as you can’t recruit until you’ve won the Grand Final. Over 80 minutes in a one-ff game, anything could happen.
“With the Middle 8s, the problem was that four Super League teams cast ice on their recruitment as there was too much unknown.
“But now we’ve got more of an unknown because a number that has reached Grade A, they are now looking at how they can change the Grade A threshold.
“The initial thing was that if you got 16 Grade A clubs then you would have a 16-team Super League but we know they won’t do that because there isn’t enough money.
“In reality, the game needs serious investment and then it needs two leagues of professional 10.
“If you’ve got two leagues of 10, the figures could be £1.5 million in Super League One and then £1 million in Super League Two. If you are a forward on £120k-a-year, your contract stays safe if you are relegated but it would go to £80k so you’ve got some certainty.
“You can have true promotion and relegation or bottom and top play-off and you can drop a parachute in there.”
Beaumont also stressed that the current system is a different one to the one that was voted in.
“It wasn’t voted in under the current guise. We were never told we wouldn’t be spending £450,000 for 12 years,” Beaumont continued.
“We all wondered why it was a 12-year deal because it didn’t make sense. But it does make sense if you’re paying for it.
“Someone did a great marketing deal to sign a sport up for £5 million and then harps on about digital stuff.
“Nothing has changed, they are on about growth. I get measured on results and I’m measuring their results for my £45,000 that is being taken that my club loses out on and I don’t see anything that I value so I would stop paying it.
“I would put that £450,000 a year into marketing the Our League app. I would get content on there and get around the stadiums with camera systems so you get a decent quality.”
