Interim Rugby Football League CEO Abi Ekoku has confirmed that gradings will still decide who plays in Super League at the end of next season: but there is a new formula geared towards financial sustainability and on-field performance.<\/p>\n
The gradings system introduced by IMG has once again been under review in the off-season, with some speculating that it would ultimately be removed in favour of conventional promotion and relegation.<\/p>\n
However, Ekoku told a press briefing on Tuesday in Wakefield that the RFL Council had approved a decision to keep the system in place at the end of 2026 \u2013 meaning the top graded teams will be given automatic entry to the top-flight. As with before, any club that secures Grade A status is guaranteed to be in Super League, with the remaining places comprised of the highest-ranking Grade B clubs.<\/p>\n
But Ekoku admitted it will be a \u2018gradings plus\u2019 system that is introduced, with some loopholes that had been exploited in recent years now removed.<\/p>\n
He revealed: \u201cThe process began at the end of the season. Gradings has been criticised in some areas and talked about more positively in others. It\u2019s there to drive up standards and give us metrics so that the clubs who are aspiring to get into Super League have comparable measures. It\u2019s been good in that sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike any system that comes in, it needs to evolve. If you go in and evaluate a school with Ofsted, the parameters shift. This is a tweak and something that has been enhanced because of the gradings process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe looked at the different pillars of grading and saw some could be manipulated. Gradings is still the process and how you get from Championship to Super League. But what we\u2019ve done is refined certain aspects within it. There wasn\u2019t full agreement initially but we ultimately came to it and it\u2019s good to have that debate. You\u2019ve got to clash over some things to get to an end goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The big changes come around rewarding clubs\u2019 performance on the field and their financial landscape. The old system\u2019s catchment pillar has been removed completely, with that 1.5 points distributed across performance and finance.<\/p>\n
Crucially, the side winning the Championship will receive double in bonus points next year \u2013 0.50 \u2013 with the rest distributed among the performance hierarchy to allow for an extra 1 point to be achieved in that category. A full 0.50 will also be allocated to finance.<\/p>\n
Ekoku revealed: \u201cThere\u2019s greater emphasis on financial sustainability and higher emphasis towards on-field performance. Gradings has provided a benchmark in that if you pass certain tests, you\u2019re ready to be a Super League club. But by doubling the value of winning the Championship, it means the team that wins it has a great chance to be there in Super League.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got rid of the catchment pillar which was easy to manipulate and some clubs were disadvantaged. Those points have been allocated to performance and financial sustainability. One point to performance, and half a point to financial sustainability.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re working with IMG on this because their system they recommended was voted for by the clubs \u2013 and we need them. They\u2019re a global name and they add value in ways that aren\u2019t understood to people in the sport sometimes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe discussions have closed a lot of those loopholes. You\u2019ll always have something someone can exploit but what\u2019s proposed now is an improvement. It\u2019s still gradings, but it\u2019s gradings-plus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Interim Rugby Football League CEO Abi Ekoku has confirmed that gradings will still decide who plays in Super…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-307450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}