Round up following IMG gradings

I thought it'd be good just to give a few thoughts on the back of the IMG gradings and the subsequent promotion of three teams to Super League from The Championship for 2026.

Well done to York, Toulouse and Bradford

These three teams arguably deserve their shot at Super League in 2026. Yes, they all have their pros and cons and I'll go into a little bit of that but they were the three best sides in The Championship last season. For York, they have the financial backing and have been building steadily over the last few seasons. They'll hope that Super League can boost their home support in 2026, without doubt their attendances will be boosted as York will be a popular away day for many teams. From a Newcastle Thunder perspective having our strategic partners in Super League does mean that we can potentially look at stronger players appearing on dual registration for us. We have seen last season that our relationship with York is really strong and I hope that continues for a long time.

Toulouse ended up winning The Grand Final in 2025 so deserve their place, they're not talking about making too many signings which could be a bit of a concern as there is a gap between The Championship and Super League. They've also committed to paying the cost of teams to travel to France which is the same arrangement as Catalans. Along with York they have to do this on half of the funding of the other twelve Super League sides. This is going to leave them at a disadvantage. But a French derby will be good for the game and hopefully they go well. I'm a big fan of growing the game and for me success would be Catalans and Toulouse eventually moving over to a fully professional elite league in France. You can then create a european tournament as other leagues grow. But we are a long way off that and I welcome the French teams in Super League.

Now we come to Bradford, ever since Nigel Wood got back involved at the RFL there has been this feeling that they would end up in Super League and so it's happened. To be fair to them they've done what IMG has asked of them as a club and got the points required to make them Super League and they've been amongst the top teams in The Championship. Odsal itself is a concern, there are talks of some improvements in the off season but the money needed spending on it is a lot more than what Bradford can achieve. Ideally they probably need a plot of land and to build from scratch, but that's not easy in the current climate. One thing's for sure, their supporters will bring a lot to Super League and they will be backed strongly week in week out.

The Championship

With three teams going up, that meant that one has to come down and that at the moment looks like Salford although they along with Featherstone have an asterisk next to their name due to financial problems.

Bradford and their fanbase will certainly be a miss to Championship clubs as they always travel well.

The early favourites will be London who missed out along with Oldham, Widnes and Doncaster on being the thirteenth and fourteenth Super League teams. London have been taken over by an Australian linked consortium but have Darren Lockyer and Gary Hetherington involved, they're going to be full time next season and are already making Super League standard signings. I hope that they can get this right and attract an audience in London and have the ability to be able to get to Super League in the future. I'm a firm believer that a strong London team and presence in the capital is good for the game. Oldham will probably be the main challengers to London and have Super League ambitions themselves.

As for the format, fixtures etc there's still a fair bit to be worked out but now they know who will be in Super League hopefully this can be worked out pretty quickly.

Magic uncertainty

Speaking of things to be worked out, there's still no confirmation if Magic Weekend will be in the calendar in 2026 or not. I know first hand that a lot of the supporters who come up to Newcastle when it's here enjoy their weekend and the city. I hope it stays here but with a bigger marketing push. I wrote a piece on this earlier in 2025 and will put a link to it at the bottom of this piece. From a Newcastle Thunder perspective we enjoy Magic Friday and having rugby league as the main attraction in a sports mad city. Get it in the calendar and let's have it in Newcastle in 2026!

What does all this mean for Newcastle Thunder?

On the back of the club not receiving an IMG grading the club did release a statement. In summary they will work with the RFL to get a retrospective score and the main thing is to continue to put the foundations in place for professional rugby league in the North East. Things have been quiet from the club in the off season, but I'm sure the work hasn't stopped in preparation for 2026.

Although as with many League 1 and Championship clubs an IMG grading is irrelevant as we don't have Super League ambitions at the moment, I think it's important to get a retrospective score so we know where we need to improve and where the main gaps are in the organisation. I've no doubt that those in charge have a good idea of this anyway but in the rugby league world we need to play the IMG game.

As those who have read some of my stuff before, you'll know that I've always been fully behind those in charge and I understand as much as I can the difficulties the club faces. My opinion on that hasn't changed, when Semore Kurdi decided to not continue backing Thunder a couple of seasons ago I put my trust in people who wanted to keep rugby league alive in the North East. We have people in charge who aren't in it for the money or fame and genuinely care about rugby league in the North East. They're doing this on the back of other jobs and our primary aim over the last couple of seasons has been achieved in that we're still here.

I look forward to announcements in the coming weeks and without knowing anything at all, my gut is that with York in Super League that will strengthen us a bit in what will be a tough Championship season regardless of whatever the structure looks like. It's important we continue to back the club and get people back watching who have been lost over the last couple of seasons.

As much as the results over the last couple of seasons haven't been what anyone has wanted, I've enjoyed meeting people at matches, chatting and catching up with people. Sometimes you have to appreciate that sport is tough but getting along on a weekend and having a bit of banter is still enjoyable. The other thing I would say is there's still a lot of goodwill towards us in the rugby league community and people want to see a successful Newcastle Thunder side.

Over the coming weeks, we'll no doubt get some clarity on who the Head Coach will be. Graham Steadman steadied the ship last season following Chris Thorman's departure to York but at the time that was announced as an interim appointment. Also we should start to see some player news as pre-season will be starting soon and excitement can build towards the 2026 season!

Red Bull

I've read a couple of comments online following Red Bull purchasing Newcastle Falcons about how they should buy Newcastle Thunder. I'm sure if Red Bull did want to buy into rugby league we'd be in a good position to be a club they might be interested in. I've been to Kingston Park for their home matches this season and the Red Bull marketing machine is pretty impressive, to be selling out when the team isn't winning. I think one of the things that may put Red Bull off investing in rugby league at the moment is that there always seems to be issues and controversies in the running of the game, the politics in rugby league is like nothing I see in other sports and for them that could be a red flag!

Field of dreams

This is something I've spoken to a couple of people about and is more a pipe dream than anything realistic. But having watched Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams where Flintoff along with others engages kids who haven't heard of cricket and turns them into a team. Could something similar be done for rugby league in the North East?

Imagine if the BBC would approach say Sam Luckley and Chris Thorman and said right guys we're doing this, you're going onto the estates of Tyne and Wear to get kids introduced to and playing rugby league. It could attract new people to the game and a new audience to rugby league up here. As I said, it's not something I can see happening but would be epic if it did!

Things to look forward to

Next season will see us in The Championship and we will get to welcome some new teams and fans to Blaydon, if going by last season we should have competitive games to look forward to from the end of January and as we know Blaydon in the winter isn't for the faint hearted! As news starts to come through I'll provide further insight as we build towards 2026!