Wakefield Trinity v Castleford Tigers - the big relegation clash match report (but in 5 years' time)

[The Phantom Horseman]

There was great anticipation before the kick-off at Belle Vue as Wakefield took on Castleford in what for some time has looked to be the 2028 relegation decider -a repeat of the 2023 renewal - with both teams locked on the same number of points in the table – and also boasting identical IMG grading points.

After some tense opening exchanges, Castleford took the lead with an early try, putting them in pole position to secure the 0.111 points on offer for whichever club finished higher in the league table… but Wakefield immediately hit back with a 0.125-point play in the form of the activation of their newly-installed LED advertising boards.

The home team extended their overall lead with an unconverted try and at half time looked to have matters well in control. However, during the interval Castleford seized the initiative once again with a press release announcing that their recent “Players’ Wives – The Swimsuit Edition” feature had sent their website visits rocketing over the maximum points threshold.

An early Castleford try in the second half consolidated their position, but Wakefield responded with some fine tactical play by the board of directors, who announced that the North Stand would be permanently closed with immediate effect due to safety concerns; initially this led to protests from those Wakefield fans who had to leave the ground, but despair turned to elation when they were told that the reduced ground capacity meant they were now back in front due to their boosted “Utilisation” score.

In a see-saw contest, the game then took a controversial turn. Castleford fans attacked and destroyed the Belle Vue big screen, and the resulting 0.125 point loss in IMG points saw Wakefield fall behind once again.

However, with only minutes left, the outcome turned on another controversial incident. Wakefield put out a tweet, later blamed on an over-enthusiastic intern media employee, stating “Tickets for the forthcoming Belle Vue Music Festival featuring @Harry_Styles and @taylorswift13 are available NOW at www.wakefieldtrinity.com”.

The tweet was deleted a few minutes after the end of the game, but the Wakefield website’s visit count had soared over the maximum threshold, and the 0.5 IMG points were enough to secure their SL status and send Castleford down.

"Rugby league is the winner" was the post-game verdict of both head coaches, Wakefield's Theo Paphitis and Castleford's Duncan Bannatyne.

[sam4731]

If the TRLF ran a grading system, thus post would be worth a fair few points. Well done.

[gittinsfan]

An enjoyable read,well done.

[The Blues Ox]

Brilliant.

[HawkMan]

Brilliantly done,but there's a serious point to this. Teams struggling to stay up will be looking to boost these peripheral concerns and will stay up if they boost their grading enough not to worry about on the pitch matters. It's unfair,  unsporting,  open to manipulation,  and will result eventually in a rather sterile competition. It may indeed lead to greater financial stability,  but probably not expansion in a serious way. Which is more important?

[north yorks trinity]

19 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

Brilliantly done,but there's a serious point to this. 

I rather suspect that T.P.Horseman was making a serious point, but in a brilliantly satirical way.

[Taffy Tiger]

Great post in every way

[Harry Stottle]

There is often a lot of truth spoken in jest, I think this very amusing post is highlighting how fragile this system could turn out to be.

[The Phantom Horseman]

2 hours ago, HawkMan said:

Brilliantly done,but there's a serious point to this. Teams struggling to stay up will be looking to boost these peripheral concerns and will stay up if they boost their grading enough not to worry about on the pitch matters. It's unfair,  unsporting,  open to manipulation,  and will result eventually in a rather sterile competition. It may indeed lead to greater financial stability,  but probably not expansion in a serious way. Which is more important?

Yup. I want to give the IMG system a chance as at least there will finally be some accountability for SL teams in terms of minimum standards, and also because the current P & R system has definite problems of its own, but I can't help thinking that at the end of next season the scoring is going to be fairly close between a few teams and it might come down to team A having won half a dozen more games than team B, but team B gets the nod for SL because it has 500 more social media followers, or has just bought a big screen, or has a 1,000 smaller ground capacity, or is situated in an area with a population of 10,000 more than team A.

[corvusxiii]

Three way fight between National Trust, English Heritage and British Museum to sponsor preservation order on Wheldon Lane toilets. 

Cas win the Grand Final from joint bottom!

 

[RBKnight]

Meanwhile, Featherstone Rovers' 2028 campaign appears to have hit the buffers yet again. IMG have ruled that the West Yorkshire Police film of a bunch of chavs stoning away supporters' buses at Post Office Road doesn't count as viral marketing, losing Fev vital metrics in the race for promotion.

Fev - now on their eighth coach of the season - are anxiously waiting on a fitness report on 103 year-old Craig Kopczak, as they prepare for a Championship play-off clash with either Batley or Halifax, who they have lost to at this stage for the last five years.....

[WakefieldCityLoyal]

5 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Yup. I want to give the IMG system a chance as at least there will finally be some accountability for SL teams in terms of minimum standards, and also because the current P & R system has definite problems of its own, but I can't help thinking that at the end of next season the scoring is going to be fairly close between a few teams and it might come down to team A having won half a dozen more games than team B, but team B gets the nod for SL because it has 500 more social media followers, or has just bought a big screen, or has a 1,000 smaller ground capacity, or is situated in an area with a population of 10,000 more than team A.

It will certainly be interesting and hope it will be credible, accurate and transparent.  Will the IMG scoring be live throughout the season? 
 

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