Well, reading the new details, Top clubs in SL, will be category A, & will not be relegated ! NOT ALL clubs will be Category A rated, some clubs in the main SL 1. will be category B, & will face relegation, the other two divisions, & ie one division will be known as SL 2.
Both divisions will face promotion & relegation, !
The two French clubs will have separate charges to promote the game !
All category B clubs will be under revision for status etc.
Therefore, one can see, only 6 to 8 clubs will get category A status ! Wakey will not get category A ! We are weak in funding & full stadium facilities at best only half a ground by end of 2023 !
The overall outcome will be, the top clubs will get stronger, category B clubs will service them with talent & never grow, result boring finalists
And stagnation in future years. Talented players will only, only want category A status !
I suppose some will say these proposals are a game changer, yes but for the few !

Have you seen the criteria for the gradings if so where is it so I can have a butchers

Details to follow & clubs to settle by Oct 13th I believe, look on BBC sport ! Only a few hours since announced !

This is all on the IMG thread.

The Independent reporting that Category "A " clubs will be guaranteed participation in top tier, whilst category "B'' clubs would be re-assessed on an annual basis,with highest ranking category "B" teams remaining in the top tier. They go on to say "In theory, clubs such as St.Helens and Leeds would be protected from relegation,and clubs such as Wakefield Trinity and Salford Red Devils would be in danger of going down"
Looks like Trinity had better get there finger out.

Clearly all winners of the Grand Final should be Cat A. So that's St Helens, Wigan, Leeds and er Bradford Bulls. Only joking guys. Good luck with your classification. Wish we had someone that could run a club responsibly.

Are you not gonna get a new £30 M stadium ?

To try to reach Category A is to improve the look of the West stand which is quite an eyesore and marketing. We obviously fail on average attendance so hence the need to improve our poor marketing effort. We also need to improve the whole experience of attending the games. I can hear the moaning from here but our on field struggles will go against us because we are perceived to be a club that contributes little.
The plus side is that we support all types of teams, our finances one would hope would be a positive, our off field scholarship scheme and our history but I am not sure this counts.
We will know what we have to do to increase our chances and we must do it, some things will be hard like average attendances and our historic contribution but we are now reaching our 25th season.

Not a chance

They haven't even said what the criteria is. Although some of your points are probably right, they are not 'obvious' yet.

Ooh yes. And when we do we will change our nickname to Flying Pigs.



Can't see us making next season.

What a stich up Did not watch Grand Final because of same old faces .Think TV will only show matches that involves 2 graded A teams playing each other ,so we can say S L will be down to 6 plus teams The other so called S L clubs will be feeder clubs .The Best laugh is for most of the grade A teams it is all down to playing in Football stadiums .It is not for me it is switch T V off time for me

Agree with the last posting, after a while who would get fed up with only watching A listed SL ties, as viewing figures drop, even sky would not pay millions, where will funds come from for B listed teams to build teams up ? Sky deal has one more season to run ? Why should they pay for continued same fixtures & same Finals ?
In the NRL, teams who near or run over salary cap let go of players usually on the largest wages, but, here is the difference, the bottom
Four clubs get first pick ! This is to ensure an evening up of playing rosters where lower teams can & do perform higher the next seasons.
our top clubs fear this & will never subscribe to this ethos ! - for the good of the game !
I fear our rugby is doomed to 6 or 8 clubs only recognised as viable ! This will be so for many, many years to come.

It'll only be "6 or 8" clubs if no one else picks up their game enough to be in there.

The point is to get clubs up to that standard.

I just don’t think there’s enough information… for example… who will manage the criteria, it’s evaluation, it’s application etc… there are way too many variables at this stage and I think it foolhardy to have broken cover with such an incomplete concept.

They’ve just rehashed a few old ideas.. given it a three word slogan and presented it as new… IMG have been small on the ‘what’ will be done and almost silent on the ‘how’

A further period of uncertainty and instability is the last thing the game in the UK needs… yet we have a planned three year period of… ??? I’m not even sure what???…Until the idea is fully formed and implemented …

this is probably the most amateur intervention I have seen in my 50 years as a fan… and there have been some doozers!

Pop tart, getting to the top grade is the point, but you cannot get there without money = investment, but more important while you try to grow talented players will be picked off as they will want to be a grade A team player, if my son came home & said dad, I have a chance of playing for a grade A team or stay with my home club a B rated side what should I do ? Any father would say go & secure your future !
Therefore, category B clubs WILL be feeder clubs !

Why do you think it will be different in future to now? We are not a feeder club and we are not guaranteed SL.

Couldn’t wait for the grand final , kids n grandkids down for a great evenings entertainment , but what we got was a shadow of a classic and felt flat compared to others I’ve watched in recent years . Nothing to do with the same old faces but for me because one of the teams was below par on the evening and brought their B game to the final . when people are constantly sniping about saints or the top 4 , or that’s me done , done look to blame saints but to our own clubs for not driving standards up to try and emulate them ,not knock them .If half the tales and rumours are to believed we’ve done ourselves no favours on the discipline front and that in no big part manifested itself on our table positions bar for a few blips . I say don’t knock the leading clubs but strive to be more like them in their professionalism both off and on the field . Yes it takes big buck to get to the top of the tree ,but by getting new facilities, and a new culture at the club ,we can take small strides to achieve our goal of being a more competitive club ,and one that doesn’t just have the odd giant killing game in a season amongst all the average or below par ones . We are in the entertainment business , let’s entertain both on and off the field . Scores of fans I drop on have fallen by the way side over the years due to various things , but most cite the dour games as one of the main reasons and it’s hard to disagree to some extent . Hopefully with the upgrades to the ground , a new coach at the helm we can breathe some new life into the club , get the first game at a tenner again and get some old and some curious back in , get the team playing open attractive rugby and fingers crossed people will see that we have turned a corner and looking forwards to a brighter future , one which they are happy to be part of .

I kind of get your points but also I don't... I agree that small steps are the way forward... I lived the excitement of the Pearman year when he spent money like it was going out of fashion and the excitement building around seeing the new team play... but honestly they weren't that good and when we realised the "messiah" actually had no money... we were left to suffer at the hands of disappointment and embarrassment.

Glover proved that cheap tickets don't result in permanence... cheapies attract scroungers ... and how do you reconcile a couple of thousand cheap tickets to season ticket holders who have paid in full... further the attendance fees directly reflect the amount the club has to pay players and grow the club. either the game is worth the attendance fee or it isn't... there's no middle ground for me.

Finally I have also thought the team well capable of playing an attractive brand of football, though often the quality of performance of the opposition is not reflected in how much partisan home fans judge the quality of the game.

there's no magic formula and I think IMGs pathetic entry into the debate proves that... hard work and luck are the factors that turn out successful teams

What I was alluding to the tenner was to get in was when we have the new stand up and running , grand opening if you like and get some new faces in and have a look at what we are about ,and hopefully they’ll like what they see as well as a good game of rugby and come back for more . Even I as a die hard fan can’t really say anything really positive about our present stadium , so as a first timer through the gates it must be a massive let down , seen as it’s the only professional club in the city it’s not good by any stretch of the imagination. But hopefully things are slowly coming together ,and whilst not hoping for a saints quality team anytime soon , we could do without those relegation sweats every season to build the fan base back up

Really.

I thought it was one of the best I've seen in years, open RL and Leeds were never out of it.

I agree. We all came away from the stadium saying we really enjoyed it.

And that’s what’s great about RL , everyone sees something in a game differently, for me having Dwyer and Sezer unavailable certainly put a big dint in the Leeds Attack ,and that for me killed the game , as they were aways second best and chasing their tails . Suppose in a way it wasn’t a bad game but I preferred the game between Saints and Salford better in the previous round .

One person responsible for Dwyer not playing or in the Leeds squad. The buck stops with him

Spot on again Spook, summed up very well indeed.