IMG’S Vice President of Sports Management, Matt Dwyer, has reacted to the significant fallout surrounding London Broncos’ IMG score.
The capital club was given a provisional score of just 8.07 – placing London 24th out of 36 professional clubs.
So, even though the Broncos secured promotion to Super League for 2024, they will almost certainly be relegated at the end of it.
For Dwyer, however, he has labelled it an ‘opportunity’ for the game to grow in the capital.
“The whole objective is to grow the sport in London and this shows there is a lot that still needs to be done in order to grow and have a strong presence in London,” Dwyer said.
“I don’t want to predict the 2025 numbers but they will have some very clear outlines where they need to improve to increase their score. They will obviously benefit from a year in Super League where they should be highly motivated to perform the best they can.
“With grading, many of the scores and categories are done over a three-year period. The score in 2024 will be incredibly important going forward.
“It reflects the challenge we do have in London, I don’t think it is a surprise for anyone. For London to become a powerhouse a lot needs to be done and I think the grading reflects that.
“We have an opportunity to break that scoring down and emphasise with the club to different parts where they can improve.”
Dwyer does, however, feel that London still has a good base from which to work from.
“London we identified as a key area, from a demographic perspective it is the largest market we have. Both interest and participation is quite high in London. It still has the base that will make it a core market going forward.
“It’s pretty broad-based, across all categories London need to improve. There is plenty of room and potential for them to improve.
“All that really has been identified in the grading, is the challenge we have in front of us to grow that London market.
“I don’t think that is a surprise to anyone and it’s a hard market to crack. We have been trying to crack that as a spot for a long period of time.
“It has the right ingredients to be a large market for the sport but we need to put those ingredients together and bake the cake.
“I don’t think anything has changed or is surprising but there is a lot of work to be done for London to be the market we all want it to be.”
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