Leeds Rhinos • Re: IMG Recommendations for British RL

Two leagues of 10 would involve horrendous amounts of loop fixtures though, unless there were some creative cross-division games but they would likely be lopsided. Even if nominally SL the lower league will have less funding so you'd also be sending two SL clubs down, with all the financial and squad retention implications of that.

FWIW I think IMG have focussed on entirely the wrong area, or at least media reporting of it has focussed on the wrong area. Whilst yo/yo clubs are clearly a bit of an issue the structure of the game simply isn't the main problem we face. How the sport and its players are promoted, how local communities are re-engaged with Rugby League, how confidence in and of the sport is rebuilt after quite a long malaise etc. These are the areas of real importance. We've been through enough structure changes over many years that show that they are never the positive revolution they are sold as. In fact constantly changing is one of the problems that has led to where we are: it has given off the impression of a sport adrift, unsure of what to do, unstable and potentially contrived.

A 12 team top flight is perfectly fine, one up one down likewise. The people in charge have historically reached for changes in structure as a lever to pull precisely because it's the easiest route to follow. Sadly it looks initially like IMG are going down the same route, hoping that ill-thought out changes in league structure or top flight criteria will be the golden shot instead of actually focussing on the important but more difficult things. I suspect more of the latter is happening in the background but going in big with this proto-licencing doesn't fill me with much confidence.