Super League has been Europe’s elite rugby league division for close to 30 years now but during that time it’s seen many iterations, however it’s been set on 12 teams for the last nine seasons now.
The upcoming 2024 campaign will mark the tenth year in a row that the competition has boasted just 12 teams, after being cut from 14 with the 2014 season being the last time more than dozen sides competed, but that could soon change.
That 2014 season saw two teams relegated with Leigh Centurions being the unfortunate Championship side not to get promoted, however with the introduction of IMG to the sport many fans have feared that traditional promotion and relegation will again disappear.
IMG’s recommendation of grading criteria was controversial when first introduced and today has seen the preliminary gradings released, stirring up just as many questions as answers.
It’s been confirmed that all Grade A clubs will be in Super League and the preliminary findings have revealed that seven clubs have reached 15 points and therefore Grade A, whilst there are a whopping 17 Grade B clubs.
IMG and the RFL spoke with the media today outlining their plans for the future and the notion of a return to a 14 team Super League was suggested, given the teams ranking from tenth to fourteenth are separated by less than one point (12.97 to 12.02).
Matt Dwyer of IMG outlined the company and the RFL’s vision when a 14 team Super League was suggested.
“It’s a good question,” he explained.
“I don’t want to speculate on when we would be able to do that, but I think we were very clear from the beginning that objective number one was to get 12 Category A clubs, then objective number two, expand the size of the league.
“So I think from that point of view, that probably has accelerated it because we are closer to having 12 Category A clubs than we originally thought we were going to be.”
It had been highlighted that both the RFL and IMG only expected four or five Grade A clubs and therefore the fact that these preliminary gradings saw seven sides ranked Grade A, that’s what could potentially accelerate the process of a return to a 14 team competition.
Dwyer continued: “I think some of the improvements that we’ve seen, even just over the last 12 months, means that there are clubs that are not far below those seven Category A clubs as well.
“If they continue on the path they’re going along now, it’s not unreasonable that they’ll be hitting Category A status in the near future. So I guess the answer to your question is yes, it’s probably does accelerate based off of that perspective.
“I think that’s probably the real pleasing thing, is seeing how the clubs have responded to this and how they have looked to change and grow their own clubs. I think that’s a real positive and that is the ultimate objective of what great is.”
The RFL’s initial statement had indicated that Super League will remain at 12 teams for at least the next two seasons, however these comments do in part contradict that.
“Membership of the Betfred Super League in 2025 will be determined by the top 12 teams in the 2024 rankings, which will be announced at the culmination of the 2024 season,” the RFL explained upon releasing their preliminary grades.
