IMG recently revealed the provisional grades for all 36 professional rugby league clubs, but it wasn’t without its fair share of mishaps. Let’s take a look at the three most memorable gaffes from the day.
First up, we have the Castleford debacle. Just before the grades were released at 10am, Castleford Tigers made headlines by announcing that there had been an issue with their financial data. However, this wouldn’t affect the grade they would receive later that morning. It turns out that the Rugby Football League (RFL) had made a mistake in their finance calculations, resulting in Castleford Tigers being bumped down to 13th place. The club was understandably disappointed with the RFL’s decision and plans to issue a statement with more details.
Next on the list is the case of the two Wigan clubs. In a bizarre turn of events, Wigan found themselves both in second place and 31st place in the IMG grading table. How is that possible, you ask? Well, it seems that Workington Town suddenly became the Wigan Warriors, with the wrong club badge displayed next to Town’s name. Talk about a funny mix-up!
Last but not least, we have Keighley’s Error 404. The Keighley Cougars, known for their vocal opposition to IMG’s plans, experienced a rather unfortunate technical glitch. When fans tried to access the club’s statement, they were greeted with an Error 404 message, indicating that the content had been removed or moved to another URL. Rugby league fans couldn’t help but find the irony in this situation.
Despite these gaffes, the grading process will continue, giving all 36 clubs a year to improve before the 2025 season. It’s safe to say that IMG’s rugby league grading D-Day was anything but smooth, but it certainly provided some entertainment for fans. Let’s hope the next grading announcement goes off without a hitch!