London Broncos need applauding for positive reaction to 24th ranking in gradings

27 October 2023 , 12:15

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London's Iliess Macani is tackled by Toulouse in the Championship Grand Final (Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com)

London Broncos need to be applauded for their reaction to being ranked 24th for the indicative phase of the game’s new club grading process.

The top dozen clubs at the end of next season will be in Super League for 2025 and London - only promoted a few weeks ago - now know they’ve little chance of earning a spot regardless of what they do on the field. But their attitude and understanding has been excellent. They understand that this is a bigger initiative than any one single club.

And for the competition to grow here and the relationship with IMG to develop further, this is the structure that needs to be put in place. And if right now they don’t qualify as a top 12 club, and they do get relegated next year, they look at it and think ‘right, we need to improve and get to where we need to be.’ Rather than bitch, moan and whinge like some and say ‘this is how we’ve always done things.’

Seeing on Wednesday just where all 35 clubs are in the process - 12 months before it’s done for real - was a positive step forward. Particularly in our sport, we don’t have the luxury of Premier League football money, or even Championship for that matter. It’s important that the clubs are very well-rounded in what they do and what they offer their communities and they are well-run businesses. The grading process ensures that happens and now they have time to improve.

We have seen in other sports - that aren’t football - that disaster can strike unless clubs are on a good financial and business footing. It makes sense to make our top division around that. Seven clubs earned Grade A status including Hull KR and Leeds. KR are a good example of what can be done. They realised the club needs to be good not only on the field but off it as well in all the ways so many clubs that historically won trophies have good foundations. They've put things in place to get there and are now rewarded.

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Every now and then a team can go through and have one good season but to be consistently excellent and challenging it’s more than just throwing all the money at the team on the pitch. Accountability will then drive standards; you can’t get into the top-flight if the rest of your business - your rugby club - is not up to scratch. It can only be a positive going forward.

With Leeds, historically it has been an exceptionally well-run club off the pitch ever since Gary (Hetherington) and Paul (Caddick) took over. When you have people like that leading the way, it drags everyone else up with them and we now have some great other clubs doing likewise.

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Jamie Peacock