Major Castleford Tigers IMG grading hint dropped as score update provided

[Firestarter]

It is a nightmare to get a beer to be fair.Last game i gave up as the queue only moved slightly during half time

[ian.birchall]

Never mind the food!
Cas should not be in Superleague as long as their pitch is too short by at least 10 yards, probably 15. They need to start by rotating the pitch 90 degrees but this if course means knocking down their crappy stand.

[the pieman]

Cas should be nowhere near Grade A
Dump of a ground, oh i forgot, they put a couple of rows of seats in, so thats fettled it :)

Admittedly, the choice of food / snacks etc is good, but surely that cant sway a s*** stadium, small pitch, poor performance for last few years on the pitch

Regarding the gradings, and a question earlier, there is nothing that i have seen in relation to away fans but it all about perception on the TV. How does it look, are there gaps, hence why Wigan are scored down because we have a 25k seat stadium, that we averaged 15k this year. So, Cas would score better as their utilisation / %age fill is better than Wigans, go figure when they can only fit 10k in max. There are also bits about the TV facility, seating, corporate seating etc, so again Cas have fulfilled that obligation by clodding a couple of rows of seats in, and thus will increase their overall score

[southportcdm]

Latest rumours (Yorkshire Post) are that 9 of the 12 Super League teams will be A's including Cas and Wakey. Looks like SL will be a closed shop within a year or two. There are claims that if more than 12 teams reach 'A' standard in future, SL will be expanded. I'd like to see that but can't believe the SL clubs will let that happen if it means a smaller slice of the Sky pie for each of them.

[josie andrews]

FFS! Wakey & Cas should be nowhere near grade A ! It’s a f**cking con! Who has paid IMG off?

[Mike]

Latest rumours (Yorkshire Post) are that 9 of the 12 Super League teams will be A's including Cas and Wakey. Looks like SL will be a closed shop within a year or two. There are claims that if more than 12 teams reach 'A' standard in future, SL will be expanded. I'd like to see that but can't believe the SL clubs will let that happen if it means a smaller slice of the Sky pie for each of them.

Grow the pie. That's what IMG are in it for. They don't get anything much unless they do that.

[fozzie58]

Latest rumours (Yorkshire Post) are that 9 of the 12 Super League teams will be A's including Cas and Wakey. Looks like SL will be a closed shop within a year or two. There are claims that if more than 12 teams reach 'A' standard in future, SL will be expanded. I'd like to see that but can't believe the SL clubs will let that happen if it means a smaller slice of the Sky pie for each of them.

I’d like to see SL up to 16 clubs and an end to loop fixtures won’t happen I fear to many vested interests and not enough molah to go round

[nathan_rugby]

Latest rumours (Yorkshire Post) are that 9 of the 12 Super League teams will be A's including Cas and Wakey. Looks like SL will be a closed shop within a year or two. There are claims that if more than 12 teams reach 'A' standard in future, SL will be expanded. I'd like to see that but can't believe the SL clubs will let that happen if it means a smaller slice of the Sky pie for each of them.

What do you mean closed shop? The criteria is clear. If a club gets an A grade they are in?

Seperate question as to how achievable an A grade is for a team in the championship though… proof will be in the pudding

On your last point, can the super league clubs reject? Or are these the rules now?

[nathan_rugby]

FFS! Wakey & Cas should be nowhere near grade A ! It’s a f**cking con! Who has paid IMG off?

Are you suggesting the criteria has been set to benefit Castleford and Wakefield?

OR

They have been given incorrect scores ?

I personally don’t think anyone has been paid off. It’s just ill thought our criteria that most likely hasn’t had many scenarios played out and people with rugby league knowledge involved.

Who would really pay off IMG to secure Castleford and Wakefield?

[the pieman]

FFS! Wakey & Cas should be nowhere near grade A ! It’s a f**cking con! Who has paid IMG off?

Are you suggesting the criteria has been set to benefit Castleford and Wakefield?

OR

They have been given incorrect scores ?

I personally don’t think anyone has been paid off. It’s just ill thought our criteria that most likely hasn’t had many scenarios played out and people with rugby league knowledge involved.

Who would really pay off IMG to secure Castleford and Wakefield?

as with most things RL related it feels like we are again rewarding mediocrity

now i will give Wakey credit. For many years i have called them, particularly in relation to the ground, however, they have actually spent money, new stand and i'll call it cover over the old away end. So at least they have done something to at least progress 20+ years too late

Now, we have been commenting on the stadium / %age fill, and this is where the whole thing is wrong. Wakey and Cas will score better than Wigan because they have conveniently made the capacity just over min capacity to achieve top score, and then their average attendance is therefore quite a decent %age fill. whereas Wigan (Hull, Huddersfield and to an extent Leeds) have larger stadiums, but are penalised because the %age fill is lower - just plain stupidity, and something i would hope is reviewed or addressed in future reviews. How can a club with the potential to have 25k attendance every week, be scored down / lower than somewhere that can only hold 10k

i also think that Wakey knew they would be admitted back into SL. The brought in smiler Powell, and have gone big on signings both this year and for next, which could only work if they were a SL club. So whilst there may not have been envelopes passed, there will certainly have been conversations

IMO both Cas and Wakey, whilst in their current grounds should be nowhere near A, B absolute Max. If IMG talk about perception (and i am quite a traditionalist too), then putting Wheldon Rd on TV aint going to attract new viewers compared to Saints, Wire, Leigh, Wigan etc