There are reports from usually reliable posters the other forum that Broncos will not run the scholarship/ academy system in 2024.

I'll reserve judgement until I know exactly what's going on but...

Seems to be true based on parents postings on Facebook. The club need to explain itself.

Is the IMG Grading system offering anything for running an Academy, because I saw nothing to suggest they were.

Not a reason to shut down the Academy, but if the future of the sport is scoring the most points on a spreadsheet, it's not really encouraging investment in areas that don't have a direct impact on improving the Grading.

London are way off, but clubs that are close to either Cat A or simply a SL place are likely to focus on areas that directly convert into grading points. Not convinced that is a good thing if a club decides to invest in a LED screen for 0.125 grading points rather than investing that money in the Academy for zero grading points. Obviously there are indirect benefits (towards grading) to be accrued from an Academy but not a guaranteed 0.125 uplift.

I think Academy costs can be used to offset Profit reductions, but there only appear to be a couple of grading scoring tiers, so may not be relevant to all clubs if no gain to be made in the Grading area.

Okay, extreme examples, but unless the Grading system is entirely fit for purpose, you do feel decisions by clubs being driven by the Grading scores. Which (might) be okay if every scoring area is truly for the benefit of the sport, and more importantly, doesn't take focus away from areas that are really beneficial (but not recognised by IMG's grading system).

If true then this is surely one of the most shockingly bad decisions the club /Hughes has ever made - and let's face it there have been some shockers in the past!
Is this some sort of kneejerk reaction to the IMG gradings?
Last season we had numerous players in the squad, regular first teamers who were academy graduates , possibly equally as many this coming season (with the likes of Meadows and Boafo returning) - if not more. As it seems impossible for us NOT to get relegated next season because of the gradings, how on earth do we rebuild for future seasons?

Is it just me or is this simply the most ridiculous short term decision? No matter how they performed last season the club will just bin the next potential cohort of home grown players?
Or am I missing something?

There's no doubt it's expensive, I seem to recall the club saying north of a million per annum. However, quite how the club think they can build a team good enough to get a fair dump of IMG performance points on the next couple of cycles without decent academy products breaking through is beyond me.

I'll reserve judgement until the club speak, surely they must talk to fans about this, but I'm currently struggling to see any logic beyond a short run saving that will probably seriously weaken the club in the long run.

This is a massive decision and can't possibly be rationalised on the basis that no grading points are awarded for running an academy. It's too fundamental for that.

The club has often spoken about the importance of its investment in the academy and on the move to Cherry Red Hughes said:

[iOnce again we have promoted a handful of players from our Academy and this pathway has to be preserved for the long term future of Professional Rugby League in London.[/i

When last promoted to Super League, Hughes did a series of interviews patting himself on the back and [url=https://www.totalrl.com/london-junior-development-massively-underestimated-says-chairman-david-hughes/touting the academy[/url as massively underestimated by the rest of the game and asserting that youth would be a core component of the club’s long-term plans in the south.

The squad make up under Eccles is indeed based on home grown players (and returnees) with a sprinkling of talent from elsewhere. How can that continue without an academy ? It is very difficult to see where the club is going with this.

It's been obvious for a long time that Hughes has no sense but maybe he now has no money either.

I have been saying it for years - the junior game in London and South is on its uppers, as to be fair is the comunity game in general.

Back in the day, when there were development officers in play around the region, there were great numbers of juniors and clubs and they fed into a well organised Broncos pathway. I am sure a lot of today's Open age former academy players were introduced to the game in this era. RFL stopped the funding for DO. The problem was the DO officers were coaches rather than DEVELOPMENT officers and once they went the void wasnt filled. Player numbers dropped year on year, Broncos did nothing to assist, but the myth that Broncos had a magnificent academy was perpetuated. The slide was marked pre covid, but covid hit the junior game for six. Fewer teams, fewer players, fewer volunteers, less full 13 a side games, less referees; the objective to just get by. Broncos sit in on the end of season Origin games (not neccessarily the best players in the region) rather than go to 'scout' and hope they can get enough players to play academy. The surest sign that things are faultering is the number of players now at St Marys Uni in the Academy. Always a good barometer, last year 4 including Bill Leyland, this year one and I think he is a fringe.

This has been coming for some time I am sad to say.

There's no doubt the junior game is in decline down south. This has impacted the Academy. Recent results speak volumes. I'm hoping the club reveal a plan to use the cash saved to re-invigorate junior RL and then reboot the Academy. That would make sense.

If it's a simple cash save, as I fear, I can't see this as anything other than disastrous for southern RL.

https://www.totalrl.com/newly-promoted- ... rogrammes/ Its official. As the article says nearly 100 youngsters with no pathway to the first team. Words fail me.

https://www.totalrl.com/newly-promoted- ... rogrammes/ Its official. As the article says nearly 100 youngsters with no pathway to the first team. Words fail me.

It's behind a paywall, did the club give any explanation for it ?

Hmm. Not good news as pre- season starts. Our squad generally relies to a significant degree of players we have developed. However in last 3 years how many have broken through? Basically only the Leyland brothers. SL is hardly the place for completely untested academy graduates, nor was bottom of the Championship. We have no Loan arrangements with lower tier teams, Skolars have gone. We have to pay for additional training facilities. We get spanked most times we play the occasional academy fixture and IMG allocate no points for all this good work. Difficult to see how any players we develop could reach correct standard and yet our squad is built on academy players who are in the mid 20s - Davis, Bienek, Walker, Meadows, Boafo, Lovell, Williams, etc etc.
Bit of a s**t show really.

In short, no.

What a mess

https://londonbroncosrl.com/2023/11/15/ ... structure/ From the club - they're calling it a 'restructure' Whatever they call it it still seems wrong - although possibly not quite the total collapse of the set up as first feared?

https://londonbroncosrl.com/2023/11/15/ ... structure/ From the club - they're calling it a 'restructure' Whatever they call it it still seems wrong - although possibly not quite the total collapse of the set up as first feared?

Proof of the pudding is on the eating. If the club are seriously revamping the system then I wish them well. It's clear there are currently issues and they are likely to worsen as junior playing numbers decline, Skolars can't blood players etc. There may be value in revisiting the set up. Hopefully it's not just words to cover up an awful decision.

Agree 100%

"With the new IMG grading criteria, clubs are not directly rewarded for running an ‘Elite Academy’, so we will
focus on other areas to improve the club with the long term aim of becoming ‘Category A’."

So there we go as I alluded to. I'm sure it's not the only reason (or necessarily even the major reason) but illustrates what I'm suspecting that clubs will be driven towards meeting IMG's Grading criteria. IMG had better have got their direction right.

I watched IMG acquire BSI and take over the running of the Speedway Grand Prixs. They proved they can make the top level very attractive, but have done nothing to help (and have in fact hindered) the grass roots of that sport. There are/were other drivers so not all BSI/IMG's fault, but they were only interested in the very top. Poland are the (very) big winners mind.

From my relatively recent view of the sport, whilst I understand the benefits of a more prominent Super League, I'd argue that Rugby League is a sport that needs to expand, yet I think IMG's strategy will shrink it. With it's M62 emphasis, the only other sport I can see that is successful in a very localised part of the country is Aussie Rules in Victoria. And even there they expanded to Sydney / Brisbane / Adelaide / Perth etc. By their very strategy aren't IMG locking out any chance of expansion and limiting what they have now to France (and I'm not sure they really want that) and London (but without a strategy to get there)?

Coming as you do as a newbie Smithers, your views are quite refreshing. You see the blindingly obvious while those running the game cannot.

Always struck me as odd that Social Media etc was considered of more value by IMG than running an academy & developing more players. But what do I know? Which is not a lot to be honest.

I'm a relatively recent Broncos fan, first taking my son along in 2017. Like many from the south my introduction to the game was through the BBC but I hadn't attended many games for about 20 years (my wife and I lived in Yorkshire during the 1990s and I went to a game most weekends but lost the habit when we moved to Sussex). When talking to some of my northern mates, who sometimes query London having a team, I always point to the top level players from the south. It always struck me there's not much point having clubs outside Lancashire and Yorkshire if they don't produce their own players.

If this is driven by IMG's ranking system I do wonder what the clubs were doing accepting it. Having a system that produces players is surely a far more important measure of sustainability than a LED screen or a modern stadium full of empty seats?

We got 8.07 points, around 4 points below what we would need for a SL ranking. Even if IMG had included points for having an Elite Academy I doubt this would have attracted more than a single point since it does not directly support the objectives that the grading system is designed to incentivise. Perhaps with league performance being the biggest single factor in the grading (max 4 points), IMG expected clubs would see the sense in producing a supply of quality players. On the other hand, what do they care if clubs buy in success as long as it is done in a sustainable way.

The club have positioned this decision as being driven by the rating system.


So while communicating this as a decision not to run the Elite Academy for 2024 they also accept we are unlikely to be in SL in 2025.

The question is how is the club going to change in order to make up the ranking deficit ? How are they going to invest that money in a better way ?

I quite agree that having an academy wouldn't secure Broncos a place in the top league. I just think it's absurd that no recognition is made of player development. What were the clubs thinking of?

I think we all know the answer to that one. The £250,000 saved here will go on a new hockey stick for the CEO and a salary hike for a commercial manager who delivered little if any commercial benefit over the last season. God knows it won't go towards attracting new fans to the game!

The club stumbles along in a reactionary manner, with no forethought or planning. Hughes statement a few years back when he rambled on about 2nd tier union and third tier football stadiums only delivered 1 factual reference. The fact that

guess what Hughes. It looks like it's not working because it bloody well isn't. You've AGAIN surrounded yourself with yes-men and now it looks like you're running low on cash.

Once we are relegated we will be back to 750 fans watching Halifax or Whitehaven, in a stadium we neither need nor can afford and now with fewer London born players because of this masterstroke......if it weren't so tragic it would be funny

Sadly, this is indeed the most likely outcome without significant change to the club management.

Not suggesting it's a good idea getting rid of the junior set up but as a matter of interest out of the names mentioned in lot of press out of LMS, Dixon, KPP, Mike McM were any of them part of the scheme? I believe the Leyland brothers were but how many of current squad came through that actual system?

750 you say! Sounds like our aggressive marketing plan has borne fruit.