The clubs to have seen their IMG grade lowered and reactions to drops
Hull FC and Newcastle Thunder are the only two clubs whose IMG grading was lowered from last year
When IMG’s gradings were released on Wednesday morning, only two clubs saw their actual grade lowered compared to the provisional one they received this time last year, Hull FC and Newcastle Thunder.
Plenty saw their score – out of 20 – drop, but just those two clubs saw their points fall to an extent which also altered their grade.
For Super League outfit Hull FC, their score decreased from 15.05 to 14.51.
That drop may only be one of 0.54, but it came with the consequence of dropping down from a Grade A club to a Grade B one.
League 1 outfit Thunder meanwhile saw their score fall substantially more, going from a tally of 9.30 in 2023 to 5.20 in the space of just 12 months.
As a result, the North East outfit – who have faced financial difficulty over the last year and avoided the genuine possibility of disappearing from the game altogether – are now a Grade C club.
They had comfortably been a Grade B outfit when the provisional gradings were dished out by IMG last October.
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The clubs to have seen their IMG grade lowered and reactions to drops
FC – who ended the year in 11th on the actual Super League table – will now be one of just three clubs in the top flight in 2025 who don’t have Grade A status, alongside Salford Red Devils and Huddersfield Giants.
What that means is that the Black and Whites are no longer exempt from relegation, though they are the ‘best performing’ of the three Grade B top flight clubs in IMG’s eyes.
Their response to Wednesday’s gradings announcement was lengthy, with chairman Adam Pearson commenting: “While we are naturally disappointed not to achieve Grade A status for 2025, we are clear that our poor performances on the field over recent seasons is the main contributing factor to this, and have clearly identified this as our key focus area for the next grading period.
“A natural consequence of our on-field performances is the slight decrease in our stadium utilisation score; meanwhile, the decrease in our TV viewership figure due to the change of the broadcasting landscape in 2024 is a factor beyond the control of the club.
“We have also expressed our frustration in relation to not achieving the relevant points for our stadium big screens, being marked against unrealistic and unachievable criteria, despite having two of the sport’s best big screens, and being the only club to have two screens, rather than one.
“As has been evident by the plethora of changes to our playing squad and performance department over recent months, work is already well underway to rectify our performances in 2025 in terms of on and off-field personnel, facilities, and player welfare and development.
“With the appointment of new head coach John Cartwright, as well as several new members of performance staff, and host of experienced signings to support and develop our young squad, all led by our new Director of Rugby in Richie Myler, we are confident the changes made will see an uplift in our fortunes in 2025.
“We are also hopeful of seeing some alterations to some of the grading thresholds in 2025, which will see departments across the club have new, realistic targets to aim for, and help drive further development across the club.
“Unfortunately this season due to the current scoring thresholds in place, the club was not able to identify any other areas where the realistic possibility of increasing their score was feasible, outside of league performance and stadium utilisation.
“As well as changes to the big screen category, we also hope to see other positive changes to the stadium category, with the club effectively being deducted points for playing in one of the competition’s premier facilities, and catchment, with the club not able to include the population of local areas including Hessle, Willerby, Cottingham, and Beverley within their figures, despite having a large out-of-town supporter base, while the city of Hull in general is marked down for having two professional teams.”
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Newcastle Thunder response to 2025 IMG score as grade falls to C
Thunder finished bottom of the pile in League 1 in 2024, losing every one of their 20 games and conceding well in excess of 1,000 points in the process.
Their response to the gradings announcement was much shorter, reading: “As a club, we will continue to keep improving in the areas we can control and make this a sustainable club for fans across the North East.
“We will utilise the IMG grading framework to help focus our efforts so that, when the time comes, we are ready to take the club to the next step.
“At present, the grading system has little impact on clubs at our level in League 1. We will continue to receive vital funding from the RFL which will now be aligned to our grading.”
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