Super League club faces major IMG problem

[josie andrews]

Leeds Rhinos at Headingley Stadium, Wigan Warriors at the DW Stadium, Warrington Wolves at the Halliwell Jones and Hull KR at Craven Park; Super League is full of top stadiums.

Whether they are traditional stadiums like Castleford Tigers at the Jungle and Wakefield Trinity at Belle Vue or football grounds like Hull FC, Huddersfield Giants and Wigan, Super League has a great array of stadiums.

But many are working to redevelop them such as Castleford Tigers who have had their redevelopment delayed creating a potential problem with their IMG grade as Mark Grattan explained.

Where we are with the development, it genuinely is out of our hands but we have done everything we need to do with it,” Grattan said on the COYFCast podcast.

“It is sat with the council and we said it would hit planning in October or November, likely November. That’s where we are at at this stage.

“Plan A is the full redevelopment which ticks every box going and would help generate more money so then increasing the financial elements of it as well.

We’ve got a Plan B so if there is an issue and if it drags on where we can’t start anything next season, we have £2 million in the pot from the council to do what we need to do in terms of getting that extra point from IMG.

“Things that really count – capacity has to be 5,000 which we have ticked, you have to have 2000 seats which we haven’t got.

“You’ve got to have 200 sponsor seats which are padded and physically cordoned off in a different area which we don’t have.

Your corporate lounge needs to hold 200 which we’ve got, directors box needs to hold 40 and be cordoned off from public are which it isn’t at the moment with direct access to and from the boardroom seats without passing through the public area or be properly stewarded so that’s what we would do.

“There needs to be a broadcast parking area which we have got, studio access for Sky which is on the gantry should be 4 by 4 metres. At the minute it is 3.1 by 3.1 metres but it is doable.

“Media facilities, we don’t have enough but it is doable and photographer facilities is doable. A very rough idea of a Plan B would depend on where we are on the stadium redevelopment by the end of the year.

Potentially, if the stadium looks like it does now going into next year when we need to get the IMG points, we will start work with the council money.

“What we would do then – this is the first draft in my mind – you would refurbish the main stand, you would put the corporate seats in at the top corner and that would be cordoned off.

“We would then move the directors box a couple of rows back to be cordoned off. At the bottom left, it would be more accessible for wheelchair users with a lift where they can watch the game from a height rather than at ground level.

That would tick a few boxes for corporate and accessibility as a part of minimum standards. We would make media benches bigger, a TV monitor in there with a decent wifi in there.

“The seating capacity would go down even further so what we could do then – I’m not saying this will happen – is take the yellow plastic seats and put them down the front of the Princess Street stand for a hybrid seating and standing which would give the tick for seating capacity.

“We know because they will redo the capacities that we need more barriers in the Wheldon Road end. So take the barriers from the Princess Street to the Wheldon Road stand. Then, we’ve ticked all the boxes to get 1.5 points.

Even if we have to do that and planning permission or funding might not come for three years, the Plan B we would do that now and then we would deal with the other when it come along so we know the stadium is safe with health and safety.”

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/super-le ... lem-81818/

[josie andrews]

What a load of bo**ocks!

That ground will not be much different in tens years!

[Wiganer Ted]

Plan A is Plan A and if Planning Perm is given there's no saying Cas have the funds to build it.

As for Plan B! So many items to be done and to specific requirements seems beyond them for art least 2024 or 2025. The place is an utter dump and the RFL/SL need to hold talks with both IMG and Cas to see a way forward.

Like many away fans I always thought Cas and Wakey should have a joint stadium but that seems further away than ever and with the new stand at Belle Vue appears dead.

[nathan_rugby]

Good insight into some of the criteria with regards to stadiums that most fans wouldn’t even think is factored in.

[DaveO]

Ground criteria have supposedly been a thing since SL started and both Wakefield and Castleford have been let off far too often.

If "Plan A" is being delayed yet again for reasons outside of the control of the club then PLan A wasn't very good in the first place because plans that rely on things you cannot control aren't really plans. They are a wish list.

You need to get all the i's dotted and T's crossed before you start telling people you have a new ground being built.

If Cas lose IMG points because they still have a crap ground so what? It doesn't mean automatic relegation. They can increase their points tally by finishing higher up the league and doing stuff like meeting the social media requirements and all the other criteria.

If the fact their ground is still not up to it when the points system comes in and this means their resulting grade means they can be relegated then that's their own fault for literally decades of failure to get the ground up to standard.

If there is a side looking for promotion that has all the ground criteria (and other criteria) ticked are Cas suggesting it would not be fair for them to be replaced by such a club if Cas finished in a relegation spot? Are IMG and SL supposed to wait until Cas is ground is up to standard before holding clubs to the points criteria?

[the pieman]

Ground criteria have supposedly been a thing since SL started and both Wakefield and Castleford have been let off far too often.

If "Plan A" is being delayed yet again for reasons outside of the control of the club then PLan A wasn't very good in the first place because plans that rely on things you cannot control aren't really plans. They are a wish list.

You need to get all the i's dotted and T's crossed before you start telling people you have a new ground being built.

If Cas lose IMG points because they still have a crap ground so what? It doesn't mean automatic relegation. They can increase their points tally by finishing higher up the league and doing stuff like meeting the social media requirements and all the other criteria.

If the fact their ground is still not up to it when the points system comes in and this means their resulting grade means they can be relegated then that's their own fault for literally decades of failure to get the ground up to standard.

If there is a side looking for promotion that has all the ground criteria (and other criteria) ticked are Cas suggesting it would not be fair for them to be replaced by such a club if Cas finished in a relegation spot? Are IMG and SL supposed to wait until Cas is ground is up to standard before holding clubs to the points criteria?

i think this is where we find out how serious IMG are about moving the game forwards

The Cas wishlist above, is hope Plan A (planning permission they've been seeking for 25+ years gets approved) or Plan B, let me write down on the back of a fag packet, things i'd like to do to the stadium, to score some IMG points

my view is quite simple, and credit to Wakey, they have made improvements, but if the ground isnt up to standard then they arent in SL, unless, they score very highly on all other elements, and there is a clear plan (not a pipe dream) in place to improve the ground with funds committed and it would be checked on a 6 / 12 monthly basis

as a game we've been strung out for far too long with all these promises of investment in grounds etc, but never come to fruition, so now is the time for the game to act, and punish the club if they dont get on board

[EDINBURGH-WARRIOR]

As long as sponsors have padded seats and kept away from the commoners everything will be fine . Rugby League a game for the ordinary Joe ???? . Somebody needs to tell IMG

EW

[thegimble]

They had 20 years to sort it out.

They have no intention of doing anything

[fozzieskem]

Which October or November very clever not to name a year it seems to me

[the pieman]

As long as sponsors have padded seats and kept away from the commoners everything will be fine . Rugby League a game for the ordinary Joe ???? . Somebody needs to tell IMG

EW

it is, but equally clubs need to be able to attract sponsors / corporates to the games. Without some of the sponsors i'm pretty sure some clubs would now be bust

one thing i can say though, is that the corporate / padded seats isnt for me. I was invited a few years back to Wigan V Wire into corporate hospitality. Was told to sit down and shut up within the 1st minute by an ex players significantly bigger than i am , so my participation was quite quiet after that