According to a journalist (I forget his name) the Craven Streat experience impressed IMG.

Bribed with free cheeseburgers. This is corruption and I hope the RFL are looking in to it.

It's about raising minimum standards across the sport.

Teams shouldn't be penalised for missing out on a major trophy, but they should be for not having simple things that have a commercial value as well as making the sport look more professional to the outside world.

Craven street is honestly awful… I attended a game with my grandfather who is a rovers fan and wasn’t impressed at all…. But if spare land they’ve shoved a few burger vans on.

Think we need to give IMG a chance. The game has been stale for 50 years. Heres a message from my same grandad about the state of the sport:

It’s strange to say but Rugby League has hardly grown since the early 50s, if at all. There were 30 teams, sometimes 32 in the old Rugby League table and, in total, about the same now. There were teams like Streatham and Mitcham, Merthyr Tydfil, Acton and Willesden, Liverpool City, Huyton, Brighouse Rangers, Nottingham City and many many more. Many with NO rugby league tradition. Only the traditional ones live on, it seems. So what is the powers that be doing wrong? It’s a strange one eh? The North, and RL territory, in particular, is a puzzle. What do you think?

I actually think Maurice Lindsay had the right idea when SL started that we needed teams in big cities but suggesting mergers put everyone off. Had the game really focused on Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Hull who knows where it might be now.

RLs always had an odd terriotory tho, big in Wigan but not in Bolton up the road, popular across Cumbria but not Carlisle etc that holds us back

Are the actual scores by metric available anywhere? Read a couple of articles but they just seem to be speculation about category performance, not specifics.

Doesnt seem like they are releasing the specifics, I suppose for now they are draft grades to give the clubs chance to improve over the next year

It's always been the single biggest challenge for the sport, how to change the demographic of its fanbase. Specifically, how to get it into the major cities and sporting catchment areas.

Unfortunately, that requires not only significant investment, but also investment over a sustained period of time, and it's investment the game simply doesn't have, especially in these financially straitened times. Expansion is hardly on the agenda for most areas of business in 2023/24 let alone one as cash-strapped as RL with a too narrow concentrated audience.

I think you're right, the time to make a move like this was in 1996, not 2023, I think it's far too late now, the ship has long sailed for it to happen to any meaningful degree.

Erm, has anyone else noticed that a Rugby League World Cup has been cancelled in France due to lack of funding and Rugby Union have filled stadia in the same country with theirs. There’s the rub, we not only compete with RFU but the major sport in this country, football. RL was born from RFU clubs having to cut costs to survive, cutting 2 players (flankers) to save costs and we’ve been doing it ever since.

I think it's up to the clubs to release them individually, some have

I’m not interested in a squabble about who’s bigger or better in Hull, both clubs getting an A grade is good news.

But Craven streat is far from awful. Let’s not over complicate it in that it’s some luxury bespoke dining option, but what it is is an opportunity for the club to generate additional revenue which would either be spent elsewhere or not at all. It’s also great for the fan experience - live music, street food options, kids activities etc. It becomes much more of an event and much more memorable for the fan - equating to an increased spend and increased chance of return. We’ve now seen charities getting involved promoting there issues, we have seen pop up retail stores from other brands, and we have seen social media figures & “influencers” (No, me neither) gaining social media traction after visiting. All of that is a net positive for the club and to a lesser extent wider game.

It’s why most clubs are trying to replicate something similar

Quote ="Whatamidoinghere?"Craven street is honestly awful… I attended a game with my grandfather who is a rovers fan and wasn’t impressed at all…. But if spare land they’ve shoved a few burger vans on. '" Think it's a bit more then that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-L6ebFRUIw

Quote ="Whatamidoinghere?"Craven street is honestly awful… I attended a game with my grandfather who is a rovers fan and wasn’t impressed at all…. But if spare land they’ve shoved a few burger vans on. '" Think it's a bit more then that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-L6ebFRUIw

Rugby League will be here in the same guise as it was before, when IMG are no longer involved. The sooner the better as well. Clueless yanks.

The cancellation of the France World Cup is sadly typical RL. Both French teams made their grand finals this year, stadiums and training grounds in France have just had a spruce up for the Union WC and Olympics...im pretty sure if most games were in the south of france people would turn up. But it all fallen apart.

I can see your point but the fan experience didnt do Leigh much good on their ratings and having burger bars and street food instead of a stand for spectators at HKR shouldnt be seen by IMG as a positive when stadium criteria is part of their ratings.

Long term the capacity issues will be sorted via an East Extension and refurbished West, with more seating and more corporate. 13/14k capacity is more then adequate for us, so may as well have something unique.

I’d love a KC to be fair, but it’s a non starter so may as well make the ground as unique as possible and with the land available hopefully a campus like Wigan’s Robin park should be the aim

Why should having a big stadium that's under utilized and empty ,score more highly then a full and vibrant stadium that attracts fans to the sport, looks great on TV and increases the exposure of the sport.

Many Hull fans see Craven StrEAT as just a few burger vans. It's far from just a few food stands, Contrary to popular belief we only have one burger van, the rest are made up of street vendors serving noodles, Kebab, Sweets, Pizzas, Tacos. Then we have the numerous drink outlets selling Cocktails, Spirits, Real ales.

StrEAT is open well in advance of kick off, makes a brilliant meeting point for fans to come, meet up and enjoy some quality pre match build up, time with friends and family, this all leads to a great atmosphere and overall matchday experience. We have live acts performing and a DJ after the game. Kids love it, We have a section side set aside for players to sign autographs and mingle with the fans. The fact it's also well placed within the stadium bowl increases it's appeal and whole feel of the place.

IMG are here to drive up standards. We all love this sport, we all want it to grow, and build, so lets be sensible about what increases the profile of the sport. Having big nice stadiums are great if they are full. When they are half full it negatively impacts on the image of the sport. Why should that be rewarded?

Would you guys not prefer a full and buzzing Boulevard to a half empty MKM?

Have you counted how many stands it has?

If we had four stands Craven StrEAT wouldn't have half the appeal it has.

As you were saying it looks great on TV

appreciate your passion but craven park is not a stadium.
Its an old fashioned 3 sided ground that HKR play their rugby.
Apart from Castleford its the worst ground in S/L.
You can put as much spin on having a mini Hull fair instead of a stand for spectators but to say it looks good on TV is deluded

Really??? Why don’t we just hope Hull as a City is a force again in RL like the early 80’s! Fear to come to the City to play either sides.

We don’t need to keep scoring points against each other’s stadium.

Rugby is the winner.

The Derbys and the rugby on the field is where the fun is. The atmosphere, the passion of the two sides is unrivalled.

Well done to both sides for the hard work to achieve the IMG requirements

While id love our own ground again, fans need to remember that our crowds at the MKM wouldent fit in the Boulevard. The 12k we got for the final game there would give health and safety sleepless nights in todays era. With the size of the site and modern rules even if we had rebuilt the Boulevard I reckon you'd struggle to get a 10k capacity there now.

The MKMs atmosphere was good in the mid 00s when we were consistently good, its the years of disapointment that have caused gloom in the stands not the stadium.

I dream of the day when we have a derby that really means something, a CC semi or final (it really is amazing we havent drawn each other in the cup for decades, especially in the new format where SL teams join late)

The only playoff we've had is in 2010 and even then it was 6th v 7th so not exactly grand final hopefuls facing off, while im sure Rovers enjoyed their night they got hammered the week after.

Salford have shared the link to the 'Handbook' of how the scores are calculated https://www.rugby-league.com/uploads/do ... pdated.pdf The social media stuff seems open to abuse to me, like to Hull get to count all the Bangladesh scammers who comment as followers?

Salford have shared the link to the 'Handbook' of how the scores are calculated https://www.rugby-league.com/uploads/do ... pdated.pdf The social media stuff seems open to abuse to me, like to Hull get to count all the Bangladesh scammers who comment as followers?

The Boulevard would have needed extensive work on all four sides of the ground for a 16 - 18000 capacity . Both ends could have been brought forward with new covered standing terracing , Same with the threepenny , Rebuilt like the one at wire . The problem stand would have been the Best stand were there wasn't much room to increase it's size .