Club explains decision to vote against IMG

The Rugby League Council, the sport’s decision-making body which comprises representatives from all three professional competitions and the community game, have today voted in favour of Club Grading – the first recommendation from IMG, the sport’s long term strategic partner, as part of the Reimagining Rugby League strategy.

In a Special General Meeting in Huddersfield, the Yorkshire town where the rebel rugby code was formed as the Northern Union in 1895, the recommendations were supported by a majority of clubs in each of the three professional competitions, and received unanimous support from the community game.

Only six clubs voted against the proposals including four from the Championship.

The surprise name among them was Barrow Raiders who released this statement explaining their view:

“Barrow Raiders today voted against the IMG proposals.

“In terms of the goals of IMG and the RFL we are very much in favour. It is common sense that we want the best clubs in Super League that are able to generate the most revenue. The best clubs inevitably will have the best crowds, have a large digital footprint, are able to attract more TV subscribers, are financially viable and have strong links to the community.

“We are supportive of IMG and the RFL and their ambition to create a system that those clubs play at the top level.

“However, we do not believe that the grading structure should be the mechanism to achieve that. We are strong believers in minimum standards being applied as the vehicle to ensure that the best clubs compete at the top. Once minimum  standards have been achieved then success on the field should be the criteria for deciding promotion and relegation. We believe the whole essence of sport will be eroded with promotion by spreadsheet and there is a risk that we will turn off our key stakeholders, the fans.

“Barrow Raiders were disappointed, despite repeated requests, that we were denied access to the detail of the proposals. We wanted to be re-assured that a club such as Leigh, who have been a breath of fresh air for Super League this season, would not have been denied promotion under the scoring system. We are under no illusion that Barrow Raiders would not be a grade A club despite our growing crowds, fantastic work in the community and our commitment to the Women’s game but we were promised transparency at the start of the process. We were told that we would be able to attract investors because we would know exactly what we needed to improve to become an A-grade club. Unfortunately with the lack of detail in the proposal that transparency has yet to emerge. We had hoped we would have sight of the detail before the vote.

“Barrow Raiders have been strong supporters of the ROI financial distribution model that has been operating in the Championship and League One for a number of seasons and we advocate the roll-out of this model across the whole professional game. In this way the better run clubs will be financially rewarded and it will only be a matter of time that the correlation between distribution income received and success on the field becomes apparent. We would not financially reward clubs for on-field performance under this model but for all the other criteria that IMG have put forward.

“Barrow Raiders believe that the focus for IMG should be on marketing the game and creating brand and player awareness. Record crowds in recent rounds of Super League and rising crowds in the Championship suggest our problems are not as large as perceived. It is the marketing of the product that needs attention to attract a wider audience.

“We believe the vehicle to achieve this is through more regular and meaningful International fixtures. The last household names in the game were the likes of Ellery Hanley, Martin Offiah and Gary Schofield. All of these players had the benefit of playing the Australians every couple of years either on home soil or through regular tours. It is the international game that will bring in a wider audience and complement the popularity of the domestic game.

“Despite Barrow Raiders rejection of the proposals, now that the vote has been cast, we will not sulk but will work with the RFL to try to make the game a success. We are supportive of the new CEO, Tony Sutton, and we look forward to seeing the detailed plans and then producing our own development plan to try to attract investment to match our ambitions.”