Yep and when he’s quoting the RFL and IMG it’s multiplied by 3



And as the saying goes at least a broken clock is correct twice a day.

But just posting some on thread rugby league news, take it for what’s worth.

Not sure on all of it and how fandom works but in between the times Newcastle said they had withdrawn from Champ 1 and then saying there still might be hope I got awarded a Thunder supporters merit badge on Facebook.

No idea how as I’ve never engaged with anything to do with them on there and have been to their ground twice to watch Fax but apparently could be part of their fan base.

When I went up there this season there was more Fax supporters than Newcastle

Yep and we were all either crammed into the small stand or behind the posts.

Knowing img/rfl they will have included the magic weekend for Newcastle thunders attendance records .

[urlhttps://twitter.com/RL_RKC/status/1717615790831149329/photo/1[/url

Full performance rankings and when we add our bonus for the 1895 cup puts us 0.22 points in front of Bradford and 0.02 points behind Batley. It highlights just how little of importance on field results are though when it comes to the gradings and the funny thing is if we had done better this season or last and managed to finish above Batley in the averages, winning the 1895 cup would have had us only 0.014 points behind Fev for onfield performance.

Wonder if IMG realise that if a team isn’t performing well on the field you can have as many electronic scoreboards, advertisements and frills as you like but inside the ground there’ll be hardly anybody there to see them and with little to no tv coverage at our level even less on outside as well.

Yep, the Whinos are graded the best despite failing to reach the play offs and getting a couple of big spankings in the process. Quite insane. We may as well not bother at all with actually playing any games. We can all do something else on matchdays, save money in the process, and IMG can then announce the "virtual" winner in October each year.

A bit more talk on discussions on Champ & Champ 1 from Wednesday's meeting. https://t.co/a25nFtoWZP

A bit more talk on discussions on Champ & Champ 1 from Wednesday's meeting. https://t.co/a25nFtoWZP

This is exactly it. Everyone i talk to, rugby fan or not, says the same and at the end of the day i can not bring forward any argument against them saying, what's the point? If you wrote a crazy comedy play and put in what the RFL/IMG have come up with and implemented, folk would say it was too far fetched, bonkers. What is the point indeed, and we voted for it!

The statement from Kevin over at Batley is worth a read and I thought it were quite funny when he said he has seen teams moaning about it yet they voted for it and adds that he feels like he can complain if he desires seen as though he was one of the ones who voted against it. I like the bit in the statement where he says that on the field performance is still what he feels is the best target and will look to try and finish as high as possible on the field.

[urlhttps://batleybulldogs.co.uk/2023/10/26/img-gradings-the-chairmans-view/[/url

Just pretend we have broken away and they don’t exist, which to all intents and purposes the link has been severed and either watch it for what is or don’t bother.

I mean if everything being so bad with the powers that be, the structure, our own BoD and the club, if it was say a restaurant that was serving up food we didn’t like who’d keep going in and buying a meal just to complain about it?

Of the lower league clubs did form a break away from SL and the governing body they RFL would be throwing a party behind the scenes. They would have got what they wanted without actually looking like the villain. They would invite Bradford and Wakefield in (who would accept) and that would be that.

Yep!

My opinion is.

Many in the lower leagues can barely survive as it is even with central funding as little as it is and have no chance without that income never mind all the other factors such as having to have some form of governance, match officials, medical staff, security, somewhere to play etc, which still has to be paid for.

Breaking away would be bring us all closer to breaking up or closer to the amateur game rather than the professional one and we already have clubs such as Siddal to watch at that level if that’s what we want.

Just do what they do to us, ignore them, take the money and say at least your not getting that and be as good as you can be on the pitch against your rivals who are in the same position.

It’s as close as we can get to the game we’d rather be watching and the game can be if we just shut them out.

It's all about parity, and the Fax - v Fev and Fax - v Toulouse matches were as good as any SL I've seen on the TV. There could be a very strong Championship with our own Grand Final, and yes, just ignore SL and let them get on with it. After all, SKY seem to be bothering less and less and continues to reduce its funding and eventually SL will be destitute relying entirely on sugar daddies (some couldn't survive without them as it is anyway). He who laughs last laughs longest, as the saying goes.

I’m not saying the lower leagues should break away. I’m just saying if it happened. The SL clubs and RFL would probably not give a toss

I think the current health of the game is summed up by the 8th best club, who are within spitting distance of an elite A grading, literally having had the (virtual) buckets out a few months ago in order to see them through the season - and that ranking is seen by many as being about right

Quote function not working again so copy and paste.
Quote : I’m not saying the lower leagues should break away. I’m just saying if it happened. The SL clubs and RFL would probably not give a toss.

We know you weren't and to use a popular on thread analogy, just saying to do so would be like turkeys voting to introduce thanks giving after just voting for Christmas!!

Yeah total madness yet them and Wakey with some minor improvements can get themselves to be A graded clubs. That to me just screams that the bar is set way too low when basket case clubs are so close to been classed as an elite club. Even IMG were surprised we had so many A clubs which maybe says they have not thought the rankings thorugh that well when the game is in such a mess but over half the clubs are elite.

Copy and paste again.

"It's all about parity, and the Fax - v Fev and Fax - v Toulouse matches were as good as any SL I've seen on the TV. There could be a very strong Championship with our own Grand Final, and yes, just ignore SL and let them get on with it. After all, SKY seem to be bothering less and less and continues to reduce its funding and eventually SL will be destitute relying entirely on sugar daddies (some couldn't survive without them as it is anyway). He who laughs last laughs longest, as the saying goes.

Yep. Ball cocks to them.
They may think they are this superior band of brothers but they are actually the small minority and outside their domineering little world everybody else in the game and most of the neutrals know what they have and are doing to the game and are the most despised group of individuals from every sport in the UK.

In the past I can't remember the last time I was at a Fax game and gave even 1 seconds thought to what Wigan, Leeds or any of them were doing.

They didn't affect my enjoyment, disappointments or whatever one jot then and they won't do in the future.

Follow up statement from the club. https://t.co/mp7v2nc4j1 Worth noting that this board have only been involved in the last 12 months of the 3 year assessment period.

Follow up statement from the club. https://t.co/mp7v2nc4j1 Worth noting that this board have only been involved in the last 12 months of the 3 year assessment period.

Just to confirm, the only thing that is based on a 3 year average is the on field performance isnt it? Our board saying different though. Again suggests flaws in the grading system when even teams seem to not fully understand how things work.

Our finances are clearly a mess though but i think a lot of us suspected that.

A cat amongst pigeons article i suspect https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... dium=email

A cat amongst pigeons article i suspect https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... dium=email

Just to reemphasise the current board have only been involved for the last 12 months and whatever their longer term input is will only be seen further down the line but during the last year things seems to be heading in the right direction even if in small steps.

If there is anyone else who has deeper pockets and are sure they could do a better job with the state of the game at the moment then please have a go.