We need to have a conversation about London Broncos and IMG

Rugby league has always managed to avoid the awkward, difficult conversations. It’s one of many reasons why the sport is where it is – and why it’s floundered for so long.

And as the Super League season approaches its final few furlongs, it’s time to sit down have an honest discussion about one club in particular. Of course, it was never really about what London Broncos did on the field which mattered. We all knew that at the end of this year, they would be quietly ushered along by IMG, asked to exit stage left and return to the Championship.

To be clear: that is due to a set of criteria and a grading system which London Broncos themselves voted for. They agreed with this model. They accepted this system.

Anyone suggesting there should be a workaround of the rules to keep London in the competition if they finish bottom are, unfortunately, wrong on this occasion. We all knew what IMG had planned for the end of this season. No club should be given preferential treatment in the gradings.

But there’s a couple of points to bring into the conversation. Firstly – and it’s less important than point two – London have shown that they can be a Super League club this season. On the field, they have won hearts and games with the way they have played.

For a team written off before a ball had been kicked as potentially the worst in Super League history to avoid finishing bottom, given how they are predominantly part-time, would be an incredible achievement. They have taken Leeds Rhinos to golden point twice, and run other big teams close.

To see this squad being dismantled is a travesty. Yes, on the one hand, it is the nature of sport, but barely any of this side were fancied by other clubs before this season and Mike Eccles – another who would be in demand, you would assume – has produced a team and a squad that have earned plenty of admirers.

But here’s the more important point: the confusion surrounding London’s short, medium and long-term future. The problems began in December 2022, when IMG’s Matt Dwyer said the following.

“The thing that surprised us is when we looked at all the data, you took the names off the cities and looked at participation, interest and a few other metrics, London was at the top and I don’t think anyone would have guessed that.”

Encouraging. So much say that almost all the national newspapers ran with it as a leading story because London has cut-through in a way few areas do. For IMG to be so bold and declare London as a ‘sleeping giant’ – their words – of the game, led you to assume there was a plan, and there was a bright future.

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So why, barely ten months later, were London placed 24th in the gradings? If the data and the metrics had London at the top, how could they score less than clubs who were in League One at the time: and one who withdrew from the RFL league system at the end of last season?

This is the problem: a lack of clarity – and it extends beyond London. The silence from IMG is deafening on a wider scale but when it comes to the Broncos, it needs addressing.

Why were IMG shouting from the rooftops that London was front and centre for their plans to revolutionise the game only to effectively consign them to a lifetime outside of Super League less than a year later?

London will go down at the end of this season, and that’s only right because the gradings system is the one the sport agreed to introduce. But you would hope there is some level of conversation taking place at the very top between the Broncos and IMG about how they move forwards together.

If IMG truly believe what they said in December 2022, and London has the potential to be central to their plans, then they need to explain to the Broncos how they get to that stage. Because a look at the gradings as they were last year suggests they are nothing more than fodder in the grand scheme of things.

Broncos prop Jack Hughes was essentially right when he took to social media on Sunday evening and asked the RFL and IMG whether they want a strong London.

The club getting kicked out of Super League at the end of this season is going to happen, whether you like it or not. But what can’t be allowed to happen is London wither away and languish in the lower reaches of the game.

This season has shown there’s potential, and shown there’s a pathway to a bright future. If IMG truly believe what they said in December 2022, it’s time for them to show it – and give London the help they need to fulfil that vision of them being rugby league’s sleeping giant.

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