May already, the lambs gambolling in the fields, and only my first blog post of 2008. Having the Bobster on the scene has changed things a little bit and time to muse at the keyboard these days is limited. I’ve just read my last post which suggests a semi-final/final bonanza weekend between the big 3 and Liverpool for the FA Cup as a green measure: the initial impact of this witty proposition having been somewhat diminished by the forthcoming Portsmouth v Cardiff final – who’da thunk it? They’d never do such a thing in football of course, as it would threaten the very integrity of the competition. The reaction to the recent Game 39 idea showed that. We can all sit back and enjoy Grand Slam Sunday next season safe in the knowledge that the game we love is incorruptible.
Rugby League is another story altogether. As Dwaine Chambers waits to see if he can play in the top flight of a major sport after 39 minutes of reserve-team action (who needs academies?), he and the rest of his Castleford Tigers buddies are off to Cardiff for a weekend of Millennium Magic: an extra game each, over a bonanza weekend with real league points at stake… and everyone loves it. And not just any extra game: each team plays their fiercest local rivals (and Harlequins play Catalans to make up the numbers).
I was introduced to Rugby League by Jenny’s dad, who’s always been a Leeds fan. Leeds are champions at the moment, so when I go to Headingley with Jen I can’t help feeling like the tourist fan at Old Trafford, only slightly less glamorous.
Millennium Magic wasn’t the first measure to be brought in without a flinch, which might have caused palpitations in the world of the round ball. The Super League is made up of 12 teams, most of whom have adapted daft names with no historical or cultural base whatsoever. Take the Vikings for example. York? Nah, Widnes.
12 teams, so… 22 games each. Not quite enough that. So, the top 6 play each other not twice but 3 times. Some home, some away. Throw in Millennium Magic, and a play-off system so complicated I won’t even begin to go there, and you’re getting on for 30 games. Leeds, for instance, will play Bradford 4 times, Wigan and Saints 3 times and Castleford twice. Then maybe Bradford or Saints again in the play-offs. Yeah, that’s fair I reckon. Still it’s worth bearing in mind that the best teams still win, so maybe it’s not so bad and football should lighten up and learn something.
Where football ponders, Rugby League gets on and does. Take video evidence. FIFA reckon you can’t introduce it into football because the game should be the same at all levels, so you can’t have anything in top-flight football that isn’t in Sunday League. Except fourth officials. With headsets. But you know, anything else. Not a problem for Rugby League, because you only get video evidence if your game is on the telly. Amazing but true. The good teams get video evidence and accurate decisions nearly every week. The weak teams get two extra blokes with flags behind the try line. If that isn’t integrity I don’t know what is.
Anyway, if the weather’s crap this weekend, you could do worse than add a bit of Millennium Magic to your day. It’s on Sky Sports this Bank Holiday weekend. Enjoy, and see you back here at Christmas for my next post.
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