25 Oct 2023

RFL RELEASE GRADING RESULTS

Huddersfield Giants have been graded ninth place in IMG's Reimagining of Rugby League gradings.

The Rugby Football League in conjunction with IMG have today released gradings to clubs and the public based on data submitted from the 2021,2022 and 2023 seasons, with key areas of improvement and strengths given to clubs to ensure they have ample time to seek improvements ahead of the 2024 submission. This will ultimately determine league positions.

Huddersfield Giants have been graded in 9th position with a B rating.

Giants Managing Richard Thewlis said “The grading is exactly where we believed it would be from our perspective given the information and data that we have submitted to the Rugby Football League. The challenge was always going to be to get to the 15 point mark and the A grade classification which will be so important going forward. Every area identified by IMG counts of course and from a supporter point of view our crowds are critically important as that naturally leads into the digital engagement side of things and ultimately finance. Our season cards have been priced accordingly to both keep the existing loyal core and to increase with new holders particularly younger ones and to date we are showing good growth there. We expect every club to improve next year as the focus really hits home on grading and we also expect the squad assembled next year to improve upon our disappointment last year which would also bring higher marks to our overall classification. The simple reality remains though that we need to increase our crowds, TV audiences and digital followers.”

Membership of the Betfred Super League in 2025 will be determined by the top 12 teams in the 2024 rankings, which will be announced at the culmination of the 2024 season.   

The main purpose of the indicative grading process that has been running throughout 2023 is to give clubs a clear indication of their strengths and weaknesses, and the areas in which they need to improve to increase their score in 2024. 

Grading was one of seven recommendations which were presented to Rugby League in the autumn of 2022 as part of IMG’s Reimagining of the sport rugby-league.com/uploads/docs/Reimagining Rugby League Presentation – MEDIA_27Sep2022.pdf, and which were supported by a substantial majority of clubs at all levels. 

Grading has been designed to incentivise clubs to grow their fanbase, grow top-line non-centralised revenue, to better engage with fans, to be run in a best-in-class way, to invest both in their club and the sport in a sustainable manner, and to ensure strong governance.  Full details of the grading criteria were published in early 2023 - IMG & Rugby League Grading Criteria 2023.pdf (IMG & Rugby League Grading Criteria 2023.pdf (rugby-league.com)) – with clubs receiving the grading criteria handbook later in the spring which has also been published given the emphasis on transparency throughout the process.

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