IMG today presented to the RFL Council the recommended grading criteria to define how Super League, RFL Championship and League One clubs will be assessed starting from 2025.
That is, of course, part of IMG’s ‘re-imagining’ of the sport which includes a 12-year partnership with rugby league in a bid to accelerate growth and expansion.
However, one club that objected to those proposals was Keighley Cougars, who have been outspoken against the IMG restructure since the very beginning.
“I feel it’s worse than I expected,” owner Ryan O’Neill said.
“You’ve got to have a PHD in astrophysics to understand the grading system they’ve put in place.
“It’s not sport. It’s so technical that it’s going to turn the fans away in droves.
“What you are creating is an elite cartel, it’s elitist and they are protecting the few. They want to get to 12 Category A’s and once they get there, that’s it.
“They are taking away the opportunity, we won’t be given the opportunity to get 10,000 fans against St Helens because they are going to be protected. They will be the elites.
“It’s either IMG’s way or the highway.”
Chief executive Kaue Garcia went further, handing out a dossier to the other 35 club representatives as well as the members of the media outlining Keighley’s opposition to the plans, before stating: “They say every year clubs will get reassessed, its absolutely crazy, there are just a few teams that will reach those categories there.
“They said it leaves the door open so there wouldn’t be a backlash from fans. It’s just a clever way of marketing, they are very good at marketing and that’s what they do.”
Garcia took particular aim at attendance talks.
“As one of the many categories, you would want to increase your attendance. The problem with the Championship is it has a ceiling. The maximum attendance you can get is 5 or 6,000 no matter what you do.
“You can’t fabricate these things, you can put a magician on the field and you are still not going to get a crowd of over 10,000 because the big teams are in the Super League.
“We will never reach a 10,000 capacity, let’s be honest. Our population and area, even after playing the likes of Bradford, there is a ceiling.
“If we had the chance to get up to Super League to play Warrington or Leeds of course you are going to reach 10,000 fans.
“That’s where the contradiction is. You are not allowed to increase your attendances because you have to stay in the Championship and play the likes of Batley and Swinton. They will not come and watch that product. Allowing teams to come up and down is perfect.”
Garcia believes there is more support than previously for Keighley’s objection.
“100%, when I was talking there there were lots of nods and people such as Kevin (Nicholas, owner) from Batley who said: “In this structure from the closed shop of the 12, if you finish in first with a Grade B license but someone finishes sixth that ticks more boxes and has more points in different areas even though you won the Million Pound Game, will they go up instead? Yes.”
“Imagine explaining that to your fans. We are not against progression, but sport is fair: you win you go up, you lose you go down. It’s not rocket science.”
