THE Rugby Football League has confirmed this afternoon that the promotion and relegation proposal tabled by Batley Bulldogs and Dewsbury Rams has been turned down.

The respective Betfred Championship and League One sides proposed a special resolution to amend the Club Grading Model relating to promotion and relegation between the Betfred Championship and Super League.

However, the RFL have since announced that the proposal was defeated by 63% to 37% at today's meeting of the Rugby League Council.

Despite that, a number of other amendments to the grading criteria which had been proposed by IMG, the sport’s long-term strategic partners, following consultation with clubs have been approved by the RFL Board.

These apply to the digital, viewing, stadium and community pillars, as well as to the minimum standards supporting the grading criteria – and are published in full HERE.

The current system means that the top 12 graded clubs will make up Super League in 2026, regardless of their finishing positions in 2025.

Bradford Bulls are currently ranked 16th (Grade B) in the IMG Grading table, with a score of 12.15, which means they sit 1.82 points behind Salford who occupy 12th place at this moment in time.

For further details regarding the scoring system and Bradford Bulls' rating, click HERE.

At this afternoon's meeting, the RFL Board also approved a significant amendment to the recommendations relating to head contact that were introduced last winter, meaning that the regulations around head contact from Tiers 1-3 – Men’s and Women’s Super League, Championship and League One – will remain as they were in 2024.

This follows a significant reduction in concussive and sub-concussive events in the Betfred Super League in 2024, measured by the widespread use of instrumented mouthguards.