| September 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Look, I'd have to get round to it sooner or later so we might as well get it out
the way now. Pyramid reorganisation. King Tut never came up with that one did he?
It was all simple for him. Get 50000 slaves with a block of stone and put them
all together. Is it a good thing or not? No not slavery, I mean re-organisation.
Well yes, er, and no, erm, and maybe. Something is needed that's for sure. It's been heading towards this for about the last 10 years. With promotions and relegation the borders of all the Non-Leagues have blurred and overlap. The Southern League is almost a national league. How it's finally been settled is Conference Premier at level 1, the top of the Pyramid. Next is Conference North and Conference South at level 2. Level 3 will be the Southern Premier, Northern Premier and the Isthmian Premier. Level 4 will be four new regional leagues. A Northern league, a Midland league, a South Eastern League and a South Western League. Level 5 will be the current regional feeder leagues such as Midland Alliance or Screwfix Western, feeding into the four level 4 leagues. Got it? Basically it's a 1,3,4,12 pyramid. Obviously it's been organised to keep as many people, and league committees, as happy and satisfied as can be. That way they'll all vote for it. Though the Ryman would probably block anything which doesn't give their member clubs automatic promotion to the Premiership! Admitted the planned structure is much better than what was before. But I can't help think that a great opportunity has been missed because of inter-league politics. If we forget any current leagues and split the pyramid into purely regional sections, I think that would make more sense. Level 1 would be a National League. Level 2 would be two semi-regionals, a Northern and Southern league. Level 3 would be four regionals, a Northern, a Midland, a South Eastern and a South Western league. Level 4 would be first divisions within these four regional leagues. Level 5 would be the 14 current regional leagues, feeding each Level 4 regional league. In short a 1, 2, 4, 4, 14 Pyramid. Although roughly the same, with this set up less clubs would be demoted. It also has the affect of creating smaller regional leagues with less travelling and more local derbies. Clubs currently in the Northern Premier, Southern Premier and Isthmian Premier that don't get selected still have to suffer the effective relegation but with the introduction of the four regional league it means more clubs benefiting from the extra league places, and less being effectively demoted down the Pyramid. |
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Is it time to move the goal posts? Apparently fewer goals are being scored and
many officials at the top level of the game believe it's because goalkeepers are
getting bigger. (No, seriously.) Unfortunately for lovers of the beautiful
game important 'no marks' like FIFA el Presidente Sepp Blatter support the idea
of actually making the goals bigger, and it's who else but those great wreckers
of gentlemanly sporting conduct, the Americans, who are prodding him from behind.
(Literally? Who knows?) Statistics certainly show that modern day goalkeepers are getting bigger. The England goalie of the 50's, Alan Hodgkins, was 5ft 7in whereas current England goalies David James and Paul Robinson are 6ft 5in. Even they are dwarfed by Shaka Hislop at 6ft 8in. A football goal measures 8 yards by 8 feet, the dimensions which were fixed in 1865. Today, height averages are 4 inches taller than 150 years ago, and some idiots are actually seriously pushing for the goals to become bigger. Peter Gill (who?) of Internet site Football365 has been quoted as saying: "Bigger goals would mean more goals scored so teams would be rewarded for attacking play. Scorelines would reflect more accurately on the team that has been superior in a match." Also Australian football pundit (Australians? Aussies bounce their football don't they?) Nigel Anderson agrees. (Wow) He said: "A marginal increase by around 4 inches would mean that anything which now hits the bar or post would be a goal. That makes a usual 1-0 win into a 2-1 or 2-2 scoreline." What these people don't realise that watching football is not just about scoring goals. It's about defending with quality, passing movements and little tricks on the ball, as well as thundering tackles and laughable mistakes. If these people really want more goals why not get rid of the goalkeeper, or award three points for a goal. Here's a revolutionary idea, why not allow the attackers to pick up the ball and if they run over the goal line and put the ball down give them, oooh let's say 6 points. Then if they kick it over the bar let them have an extra 1 point... or something. Football matches will soon have scorelines like 24-15, what value for money that would be! Yes I'm being ridiculous but so is the idea of increasing goal size. Goalies are bigger, yes, but so are attackers and their shots are getting more powerful and quicker. Ronaldhino scored for Barcelona last weekend from about 35 yards out with his shot timed at over 76 mph. As you'd imagine the goalkeeper didn't even see it till it was in the net. Nothing to do with size. Also with a law change like that, it would mean a blanket change of goal sizes from the World Cup right down to Anstey Nomads reserve games. How many keepers in the Leicester Senior League are 6ft 5in? Then, who's going to pay for all the new goal posts? Have FIFA bought shares in a goal post manufacturer? Conspiracy theories at the ready. Unfortunately the Americans have wanted to mess about with our game for years. Remember the Major League Soccer folded because of reported lack of interest. Then the rumours before the American World Cup' about the pitch being divided up and different points awarded for scoring from different sectors. Well it seems they are trying it on again. They don't like draws and they don't like low scores, so why don't they just stick to their girlie helmets and padding version of rugby? Leave us to enjoy our beautiful game that is perfect just as it is. |
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| Talking about goals and goalkeepers, I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Tommy Whittle for his display in a recent performance for Hinckley. Nothing to do with goalkeeping mind, I never knew he had such a good aim with a Lucozade bottle... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| September Results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Despite the freakish Newport result, you can't argue with that. Worcester were as good as we would have expected and Newport was just a 'one off' game (I hope!) You get them every now and then, but importantly we didn't dwell on it and picked ourselves up straight away. Three away wins in one month and the excellent point gained against Stafford, leaving us still in the top 6 and through to the next round of the FA Cup. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In out, Shake it all about | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Poor Simon Tucker, five appearances no goals but probably the best nickname any Hinckley player ever had. DT released the 'Crab' at the start of the month to make way for new loan signing Matt Lewis from Kidderminster. Young Matt played for Coventry Marconi until he scored 52 goals in one season. Harriers duly signed him on a three year contract. He has made first team appearances but spent most of his time in the under 18's as well as on loan at Evesham and Solihull. Made an immediate impact scoring on his debut and a total of 4 goals in his 5 games so far. Chalk and Cheese... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World of Football Stuff | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Football freak David Bell drove 274 miles to watch his team Hartlepool beat
Grimsby 8 (eight) goals to 1. (isn't it funny when so many goals are scored
that the vidiprinter has to spell out the number?) Unfortunately for him,
getting stuck in traffic meant that he only saw one of them scored. He regularly
makes the 5 hour trek from Surrey to the North East but the M1 and A1 were both
gridlocked and he missed the first hour of the game. He said: "It seemed like a
'run of the mill' hard fought 1-0 win to me!" Talking of the North East, Darlington's Chairman has threatened to confront critical fans in their own homes. Ex convicted safe cracker George Reynolds is furious at the flak his team has received over their early season form. He warned on the club's Official website: "Detractors can expect confrontation either at the ground or at home." (and I always thought that detractors were Ipswich Town?) Reynolds has blamed an unofficial website (tch, pesky things those) and a minority of supporters for creating a 'climate of hate', which resulted in his family being verbally abused. Police have already been called to a number of incidents where Reynolds is alleged to have confronted critics. (I wonder if they searched his lock up for any dodgy gear too, erm, guvnor?) Amateur referee Wayne Millin gave his boss a yellow card for swearing and ended up being sacked. When Wayne was allegedly called a w@^$�r by his boss Robert Smith, who was managing one of the teams involved, the ref booked him and told him he was going to report him to the FA. When he went back to work he got the cold shoulder from his colleagues. (Being sent to Coventry must be the worst punishment ever? Just ask Gary McAllister!) Then a player he booked during the game, who was also a work colleague, attacked him with cleaning fluid. (and our Tommy would know all about spraying liquid!) When Wayne officially complained of bullying he was sacked. At a tribunal Wayne was awarded $6000 compensation. He said: "I was only doing my job as a ref." Robert Smith wouldn't comment but you can bet it's the biggest fine for swearing, $6007. (and probably worth every penny...) |
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| Coming next Month: Away to Bath and Weston at the start of the month and home to Worcester and Dover at the end. Right in the middle is the little matter of a trip up the M1 to play Wakefield & Emley in the FA Cup 3rd qualifying game. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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