Opening the tube for the new Rugby League season, here’s a BBC Radio Leeds programme about the long and awkward process of getting back to a league structure with promotion and relegation rather than more or less dodgy “franchising” or “licensing” processes.
That said, I still can’t really believe the new setup, what with the two-phase league and all. And changes to the league structure always work the same way – 32 men and Kath Hetherington sit around a table and argue until they can’t bear to sit in the same room any more, and then Keighley lose out.
However, the bloke the T&A calls Visionary John Kear seems to think it can work, and he probably ought to know.
Visionary John Kear. I can’t get over that. Great coach and all, but if you told him you had a vision he’d surely tell you to see a doctor. I can see some potential for a new nickname, though. “Everyone look busy, here’s Visionary John”. Or just “How do, Viz?” for those who know him especially well.
They’ve had similar systems in a lot of European football leagues, so it shouldn’t be too difficult. I think it was the only way we were going to get a return to the potential of teams being promoted and relegated, which will be an advantage for teams in the ‘Championship’ and might even lead to a few different clubs getting a taste of Super League.
I can’t remember if this has come up before on your blog, but I always think that the biggest gulf between us and Americans is not the obvious ones like their fondness for guns, or our class system or whatever, but the fact that they don’t have the concept of promotion or relegation in leagues. Indeed I had at least one conversation with an American (my cousin) with complete mutual incomprehension because I found it unthinkable that there wasn’t an (albeit obscure) second tier for American Football and he had no idea what I was going on about.
I reckon Viz has it right. As well as promotion and relegation, the revised play-offs seem a good thing, rewarding the week-in, week-out slog a bit more. Another who should know, El Comandante Sinfield, said in our mag last week it could be ‘the finest Super League yet’ and although he was doing his pre-season promotion duties he’s less given to hype than most. He reckons money spent on youth development is bearing fruit but thinks the salary cap is still a problem with regard to competition from Australia and rugby union. That said, Dave Hadfield won’t be easily swayed: ‘Might not be the best opening weekend for sheer quality but. For competitiveness it would take some beating.’ And as for Wigan dropping that point at Widnes…