Keighley owner questions suggestion Catalans Dragons have been “a huge success”

Tomorrow, Super League, Championship and League One clubs will vote on whether or not they bring in IMG’s proposals to radically change the sport ending traditional promotion and relegation by bringing in a new grading system.

One club has stood against this from the beginning and that is the 2022 League One Champions and current Championship team Keighley Cougars.

Ahead of the vote they have made one last effort to convince others to follow suit and vote against the changes in a video package that compares the system with ING’s new system which they say will bring about “the death” of the sport.

“Under the IMG proposals even though you might win the Million Pound Game it doesn’t mean you will be promoted. If the bottom club in Super League have only half a percent more in the grading system than the Championship Champions for having an LED Screen or a larger catchment area means that Super League loser stays up and meaning the Championship winner stays exactly where they were having achieved nothing and won nothing more than a medal this will drive away ambition from clubs and mean there is no investment to get better.

“It will turn away fans too as the excitement of jeopardy is gone. Investment and interest in the sport will decline.

“We at Keighley Cougars oppose these changes, we believe that these proposals will bring about the death of the sport.

“Change is needed but sport by spreadsheet is not the change this sport needs.”

Naturally, this sparked a lot of debate including about expanding the game to new areas which takes time.

The best example of this is Catalans Dragons which fans brought up saying that it took time to become “a huge success.”

However, one of Keighley’s owners Kaue Garcia took to Twitter to say:

“Yeap. Catalans Dragons are adding a lot to the sport Alex. ‘Huge success’ as you say.”

He said this whilst attaching an image of the lowest Challenge Cup attendance.

Yeap. Catalans Dragons are adding a lot to the sport Alex. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 ‘Huge success’ as you say. pic.twitter.com/NAF5VUqdVZ

— Kaue Garcia (@KaueGarcia12) April 17, 2023