RUGBY LEAGUE’s new partners IMG have denied that their proposals for grading clubs and guaranteeing a Super League place for clubs classed as Grade A is effectively a return to licensing.
Between 2008 to 2014, licensing was combined with the abolition of a formal promotion and relegation system and some observers believe that what IMG is proposing is a rehash of that system.
“I don’t think that what we are proposing is similar at all,” said IMG’s vice president of sports management, Matt Dwyer, last week.
“We are not trying to find 15 clubs that fit into a league.
“We will base the grading system on clear criteria. The model that we have created needs to be objective, transparent and clear to everyone and not subjective.
“The difference is that the licensing system was based on business plans rather than what clubs had actually achieved.
“One of the challenges was that the clubs claimed to make plans for their future development, but they weren’t sticking to those plans.
“In contrast, we are looking at what clubs have actually done. So a club that claims to be planning to build a new stadium will only get credit for its plans when the stadium is actually built.
“We have been doing an enormous amount of work to gather the data we need to establish the criteria. The initial iteration to reveal the criteria is expected to be in early February. And we are looking at 2025 when the new system will come in.”
IMG have been explicit about the need to develop Rugby League in London.
“The thing that surprised us is when we looked at all the data, you took the names off the cities and looked at participation, interest and a few other metrics, London was at the top and I don’t think anyone would have guessed that,” said Dwyer.
“We’re all sitting there thinking there’s a sleeping giant here. We’re not saying London for the sake of it because it’s London. We’re saying it because there’s a future here and the metrics we’ve seen suggest it.”
The difficulty facing the game in London, however, is that both the Broncos and Skolars are part-time clubs with little prospect as things stand of elevation to being full-time members of Super League.
“The demographic from both participation and interest is very positive but we are going to need a club that’s competitive,” conceded Dwyer.
“I’m keen to work with both clubs. But the step we’re at now is revisiting the past and working out what we can learn from that. It’s still very early days.
“It’s a long-term project, we’re not going to be able to click our fingers and 20,000 people will turn up to watch the Broncos. But it’s got the right foundations.”
