BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Featherstone and Batley have voiced their concerns about IMG’s plans for British rugby league, but Keighley Cougars have been most vocal and outspoken against the marketing company.
They have declared that “fake expansion, spreadsheet grading, and arrogant elitism will kill the sport”. It’s strong stuff from club owners Ryan O’Neill and Kaue Garcia.
The Cougars have been hard up against IMG’s blueprint from the start, voting and speaking out at every opportunity for more than six months. Steve Mascord has given his take on their view already on this site.
The two owners recently did an in-depth interview with the Forty20 Live podcast detailing their issues with IMG at length. It’s well worth a listen, and you can listen to it here.
I did and while I agreed with some of their points, most of it was completely pie-in-the-sky and unrealistic. Here’s a simple breakdown point by point of their claims:
– Keighley seem completely scarred by what happened in 1995 with the start of Super League. IMG is not Maurice Lindsay. 2023 is not 1995. They need to move on.
– They kept saying the IMG grading criteria is very complicated. It’s actually not. It’s all data-driven and laid out for all to see.
– They claim the RFL doesn’t even have a marketing department – it does. They claim the RFL doesn’t even have a TikTok channel – it does. Basic research fellas.
– They claim expansion in rugby league hasn’t been done properly in the past – yes, we know that. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done properly in the future.
– O’Neill and Garcia go on to talk about dying towns in the north of England and how “there’s no cinemas and bowling alleys, and that people don’t go to pubs because they can’t drink and drive”. Um, sorry, what? That’s laughable. There is a problem with towns in the north, but that’s not why.
– Central to their issue with IMG is their belief that rugby league is a town sport, not a city one. This has some merit. But in a lot of towns it is just a community sport. This has value too, but it needs to become bigger. It needs to grow and expand. It just has to.
– They talk about how “football is boring” – which is again laughable. They may not like football, that’s their view. But it is the world’s most popular sport. Being insular and ignorant doesn’t help anyone.
– They go on to talk about how rugby league should give away their free-to-airTV rights for free – that is utter madness. They demonstrate ignorance of the fact that most of the Sky TV money goes to Super League and Super League clubs because that’s what Sky wants to broadcast, not the Championship and League 1.
– O’Neill and Garcia have a big problem with expansion clubs, like London and Cornwall, who don’t bring many away fans. Again, this is an outdated view. Focus on building your own fanbase. While they do have a point on the ‘London’ branding of the Broncos, it’s hard to see a club in Soho would be the solution.
– Phil Caplan makes a great counter point to the Keighley duo, pointing to the success of the NRL and NFL competitions in Australia and America that are franchises and without promotion and relegation. They respond with a claim that “rugby is the main sport of Australia”, which is just incorrect, and that “Australia is a small country, there’s no room for expansion”. Also incorrect. The NRL has successfully expanded in Redcliffe, Melbourne and Auckland. It is crying out for new clubs in New Zealand, Perth, Adelaide, Queensland and Papua New Guinea.
– O’Neill criticises American sport, claiming “No American sport has ever left America”. Has he never heard of basketball? It’s big across the world. The NFL is popular across the world, and baseball has support in Japan, Korea, Cuba, South and Central America, and other places. He says the “American sports model is not very interesting” – one that is worth billions and followed by billions. A completely nonsensical statement.
– Central to the Keighley opposition is that they “don’t want rugby league to be dominated by money”. But this is professional sport in the 21st century. It is not 1895. It is not amateur. All pro sports are decided and dominated by money. This is not park footy. They need to wake up.
At the core, Keighley seem stuck in the past and purely focused on what the IMG grading will mean just for their club. That is, in part, understandable. But this is about what is good for the whole sport, not just one club.
The promotion and relegation system has not worked in UK rugby league. The current landscape is not working. Things need to change. Throwing your toys out of the pram won’t help.
