Re: IMG Announce Proposed Criteria for Super League 2025 : Wed Jul 05, 2023 7:32 am  

Guys calm down. Gledhills knows exactly what he's doing with that tweet and everyone gives him what he wants by responding and getting angry to him.

We're a B grade just like everyone else apart from Wigan Leeds Saints. The liklihood is Toulouse will be the 12th team IMHO Especially if they go up.

If the RFL/IMG/SL or whoever really wants us in SL they would have done it years a go. We've had years of "they won't relegate Bradford" " they'll parachute Bradford in SL" and it's never happened.

[Wildthing]

Re: IMG Announce Proposed Criteria for Super League 2025 : Wed Jul 05, 2023 8:17 am  

Bull Mania wrote:

Guys calm down. Gledhills knows exactly what he's doing with that tweet and everyone gives him what he wants by responding and getting angry to him.

We're a B grade just like everyone else apart from Wigan Leeds Saints. The liklihood is Toulouse will be the 12th team IMHO Especially if they go up.

If the RFL/IMG/SL or whoever really wants us in SL they would have done it years a go. We've had years of "they won't relegate Bradford" " they'll parachute Bradford in SL" and it's never happened.

Exactly, taking anything Gledhill says (or tweets) seriously is laughable.
He has zero credibility.

Re: IMG Announce Proposed Criteria for Super League 2025 : Wed Jul 05, 2023 8:29 am  

Bull Mania wrote:

Guys calm down. Gledhills knows exactly what he's doing with that tweet and everyone gives him what he wants by responding and getting angry to him.

We're a B grade just like everyone else apart from Wigan Leeds Saints. The liklihood is Toulouse will be the 12th team IMHO Especially if they go up.

If the RFL/IMG/SL or whoever really wants us in SL they would have done it years a go. We've had years of "they won't relegate Bradford" " they'll parachute Bradford in SL" and it's never happened.

I almost agree with you.
However, IMG will have taken a decent "wedge" to come up with something new and if the net result is Toulouse being promoted in place of Fev (or whoever else), it really hasn't been a worthwhile exercise.
As for putting Bradford back in "years ago", I'm sure that if it was worthwhile, they would have but, Bradford haven't been stable enough to put anywhere and it would have been akin to dropping a grenade into the the comp and just waiting for another big bang.
You've had Nigel Wood as Chairman for the last 3 years and he has both ambition and a book full of contacts to help their "re-birth" and as a club, Bradford are al least competitive in The Championship.

Re: IMG Announce Proposed Criteria for Super League 2025 : Wed Jul 05, 2023 8:43 am  

Dunkirk Spirit wrote:

The narrative theses past couple of years has been “ Super League needs Bradford “ and it now seems to be getting louder by the day. I’ve always thought that the IMG system has been deliberately manipulated to suit certain clubs, currently outside SL,and if those clubs are admitted in favour of current SL clubs, then the game will eventually be in serious trouble, just my opinion of course.

I've said all along this criteria can be manipulated to get the teams they want in top 12

[PopTart]

Re: IMG Announce Proposed Criteria for Super League 2025 : Wed Jul 05, 2023 9:30 am  

It's not the teams "they want in". It's the teams "capable of getting in"
I think Bradford are a long way off but if they can turn it around to get a license then they deserve it

Re: IMG Announce Proposed Criteria for Super League 2025 : Wed Jul 05, 2023 12:31 pm  

I never understood why they chose Bulls for a moniker, until I used their toilets. It is just like a cattle shed.

Odsal is possibly the worst ground in Rugby League.

Re: IMG Announce Proposed Criteria for Super League 2025 : Wed Jul 05, 2023 1:35 pm  

PopTart wrote:

It's not the teams "they want in". It's the teams "capable of getting in"
I think Bradford are a long way off but if they can turn it around to get a license then they deserve it

Do you think that anything so far could be described as "reimagining the sport" ?
On the plus side, clubs are having to get their houses in order and show that they are making progress towards the new criteria but, ultimately, there looks like being very little change.
Yes, we could see someone like York or Newcastle getting the nod but, their "on field" performance doesn't merit their inclusion but, we could also see a club like Fev or maybe Trinity or Cas missing out and none of this will do much to elevate the sport in the eyes of the media.
Including Toulouse could give RL a wider appeal but, this would also consign a "heartland" club to the "wilderness".
Yes, they would have the opportunity to try and gain "grade A" status but, what will this actually achieve and where is the 5 /10 / 20 year plan ?

Re: IMG Announce Proposed Criteria for Super League 2025 : Wed Jul 05, 2023 6:36 pm  

Just seen this on Total RL. It appears clubs can also be deducted grading points, and receive fines. https://www.totalrl.com/the-eight-ways- ... -gradings/

Just seen this on Total RL. It appears clubs can also be deducted grading points, and receive fines. https://www.totalrl.com/the-eight-ways- ... -gradings/

Re: IMG Announce Proposed Criteria for Super League 2025 : Wed Jul 05, 2023 11:44 pm  

Dunkirk Spirit wrote: Just seen this on Total RL. It appears clubs can also be deducted grading points, and receive fines. https://www.totalrl.com/the-eight-ways- ... -gradings/ This is the first time I have seen any relevant detail about the grading system… and it looks promising… I am still concerned about how the sub criteria for points scoring will be articulated and managed… who the authority will be for employing and training and managing of assessors, and how the whole matter will be managed (with clarity) to ensure objectivity. Personally I don’t think the sport will take to this approach… in the medium to long term, but there are good signs here!

Dunkirk Spirit wrote: Just seen this on Total RL. It appears clubs can also be deducted grading points, and receive fines. https://www.totalrl.com/the-eight-ways- ... -gradings/ This is the first time I have seen any relevant detail about the grading system… and it looks promising… I am still concerned about how the sub criteria for points scoring will be articulated and managed… who the authority will be for employing and training and managing of assessors, and how the whole matter will be managed (with clarity) to ensure objectivity. Personally I don’t think the sport will take to this approach… in the medium to long term, but there are good signs here!

Re: IMG Announce Proposed Criteria for Super League 2025 : Thu Jul 06, 2023 9:20 am  

Just to expand the subject of scoring categories.
Aaron Bower has written an article about the catchment area process and scoring - it's at thirteenrugby.com but behind a paywall.

He explains that the catchment area population for each club is reached by dividing the Local Authority District population for each club and dividing it by the number of SL/Championship clubs in that area.

So the Office for National Satistics figure for the Wakefield area according to Bower is 353,300 which, dividing by 3, means Wakefield, Castleford and Featherstone will all have a "population score" of 117,767.

Bradford meanwhile have an ONS figure of 546,400 and as they share the District with Keighley that has to be divided by 2, meaning Bradford (and Keighley) have a "population score" of 273,200.

Now to the interesting bit. Every club will score either 1.5 points, 1 point or 0.5 points for this sector.
And the threshold to score 1.5 points has been set at 260,000, with the threshold for 1 point set at 130,000. So Bradford will edge into the maximum 1.5 points, and Wakefield, Cas and Fev get the minimum 0.5 points.

Putting my tin helmet on here, but I'd be very interested to know how they reached those seemingly-arbitrary figures of 260,000 and 130,000. Why not 300,000 and 150,000, or 200,000 and 100,000? I hope the management at Wakefield, Castleford and Featherstone are talking to each other about this.