fevnut's musings 2024/#02: Hunslet, IMG and Fixture schedule

Hunslet v Fev 

It was always going to be an interesting game with so many new signings on both sides. Considering that, we were really pleased with the fluency of the moves from Fev and some of the new lads seem to be settling in really well.

We got treated to one particularly amazing try from Connor Jones (if you weren’t there do take a look on the RoversTV highlights). Amazing it was but had an opposition team scored like that we would all be very worried about our defence.

Gareth Gale scored his seventh Fev hat trick and that takes him up to joint third place in the list of Rovers hat trick scorers. One more and he will go joint second with one of the Fev all time legends.

Whilst we are on about last week’s match there is a rather surprising matter to note about York’s 114-10 thrashing of Newcastle. We keep details of records pertaining to each club. You would imagine a scoreline like that would throw up one or more new records, but not so. York’s record for points scored in a match is actually 144, in a win over West Wales Raiders in 2018. And it’s not even the highest score that York have achieved in Newcastle. Back in 2011 they went to Newcastle to play Northumbria University in the Challenge Cup and won 132-0. There is an interesting connection between that match and York’s win last weekend. One record set in the that game was for the highest number of points scored by any player in a match involving an English professional team. York’s stand-off that day scored 56 points (4 tries and twenty goals). It is a record that still stands today. And who was the player in question? None other than the current Newcastle Thunder coach, Chris Thorman!

IMG 

As each week passes, the insane nature of what IMG are doing to the sport of rugby league becomes more apparent. The grading system that they have set up to determine the worthiness of clubs is a catastrophe that could end up destroying our sport.

That’s not an immediate judgment we have come to. We were quite willing, when they were first appointed, to look at what they would propose and see whether it might contain benefits for the game as a whole. But now the evidence is there for us all to see and it’s a disaster. 

Let’s take three examples of the appraisal of clubs.

First there is the issue of London Broncos. As we know, to our cost, they performed magnificently in the latter half of last season to win promotion. And yet, we now know that, because of their pitiful IMG grading, they will be relegated whatever happens on the pitch in 2024. Even if they were to win the Challenge Cup and the Grand Final (of course they won’t) they would still find themselves relegated. So that makes them unable to recruit players that might help them build into the future. Is this what rugby league is about? NO!!

Second, we find York in 17th position with Newcastle in 18th. Think about that. Two very similarly rated clubs play each other and one beats the other by over a hundred points. Not only that, the Newcastle club virtually collapsed at the end of 2023 and their ability to play at Kingston Park is hardly guaranteed in the future.

Third, and the one that makes us even more angry is Bradford Bulls in 14th and Featherstone Rovers in 15th. What on earth makes Bradford achieve a higher grading than Fev? In the last seven league tables Fev have been above Bradford every time. We own our own ground which is generally regarded as one of the best in the Championship and better than some in Super League. In contrast, Bradford play on a ground with a totally unacceptable playing area and which they don’t own or even hold the lease for it. The facilities are awful and the club has been in administration and have had to be bailed out by the RFL taking on the lease. Now Bradford Council is facing huge financial pressures and want to sell the ground. Bradford Bulls have been in turmoil for years. In contrast Fev are a well run club who not only own their own ground and land around it but also have acted responsibly and not run into administration.

It’s mad, it’s not sport and it could destroy rugby league. The RFL should get out of their contract with IMG as soon as possible. If they don’t then I think the time has come for the Championship and League One clubs to sever the connection with the RFL and Super League and look at alternative structures and funding for the future.

Fixture Schedule

As soon as the fixture structure for the first few weeks of the season was revealed we felt apprehensive. Filling the early weeks with Cup games leaves makes it quite possible for some clubs to end up having several away games in succession. For Championship clubs this is exacerbated by the (understandable) decision by the RL that all group ties between Championship and League One clubs are to be played at the ground of the League One club.

Fev didn’t have a guaranteed home match until March 29th which is just over two months after the season started on January 27th. So, it was with even more interest that we sat down on Monday to watch the draw for the 3rd and 4th rounds of the Challenge Cup. And our worst fears came about. Nothing to worry about with the opposition but we got drawn away for both rounds, so that makes it four successive away matches to start the season.

And there is the potential for it to get even worse, much worse! March 3^rd is the Quarter-Finals of the 1895 Cup and, assuming we get through the group stage, we could get an away tie for that one as well. The week after that is the 5th round of the Challenge Cup and the same applies. Potentially fifth and sixth away games in a row.

Then at last the Championship season starts and what do we have – Batley away! Before we get to our second Championship game there is the weekend of the Challenge Cup 6th round which could also end up being away (if we get to the 6th round, that is).

At last, on March 29th, we have a guaranteed home tie against Wakefield in the Championship.

We believe it is completely irresponsible to design the opening weeks of the season that could see a club faced with 8 away games in a row. It must have big implications for club finances and we are not just talking about ticket money. Add in to that the lack of income from sales at the ground and the cost of eight away travels both for the club and for their fans.

As we said, it’s irresponsible. You can be absolutely certain that there would be a huge fuss if Super League Clubs were treated that way. But they wouldn’t be, it’s only the lower leagues and, it would appear, that messing them around doesn’t matter.

The flags above represent all the nations that, under current rugby league rules, members of the 2024 Fev squad have played for, or are eligible to play for.