This column has been advocating a soccer knock-out tournament on the lines of the English FA Cup for half a century. Finally, such a tournament, the Copa Argentina, was instituted this season after what Argentine Football Association (AFA) chief Julio Grondona says were months of study. Actually, what happened was that what caught Grondona's eye earlier this season was an English FA Cup tie between mighty Manchester United and then non-league Crawley Town which got a lot of media coverage here because the latter club had an Argentine in the team. Grondona thought how nice, this could be a success here.
Yet after only having to copy the English FA Cup, or other similar knock-out tournaments in Europe and, according to Grondona, months of study, they got it wrong. Maybe I expect too much from a body like the AFA which has not exactly excelled itself with making the correct decisions, but the mistake they made — making all teams play on neutral grounds in the provinces — could well sink this competition (partly for commercial reasons) as it has previous such knock-out trophies. The most remembered of these being the Copa Competencia Británica won by Huracán in 1944, the Copa Argentina (not with so many teams) won by Boca Juniors in 1969 and the Copa Centenario won by Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata in 1994. None of these tournaments were repeated and others in the past were not even completed.
Also, so far this current Copa Argentina has been played by reserve teams, which this column half expected in line with what happens, for example, in the English League Cup, but here to a greater extent. As a result, there have already been a number of upsets and in the currently progressing round of 64 clubs (out of 186 which started the competition) — and the first in which National A Division teams entered — four of the 20 top division teams, playing with reserves, have already been knocked out by clubs from lower divisions.
The idea of playing all ties in the interior on neutral grounds in midweek with the idea of taking what they call "top class" soccer to these areas has certainly not worked out. Not only have the long journeys cost a lot of money, paid for by organizers Santa Monica (who will lose money on the deal), but has also tired out players of all teams. This makes sense for teams to send reserves so as not to tire out players for their week-end league games. And the fans cannot and will not make long, costly midweek journeys to see their mostly reserve teams, so ticket sales and interest is also low.
If cup ties were played on the ground of the club first drawn out of the hat — a lot of the charm of the English FA Cup depending on this luck — only half the teams would have to travel, in many cases not so far, home fans would be able to see their teams without expense (if played at a decent hour). A lot of the glamour of the English FA Cup is to see big clubs having to visit small, unfamiliar stadiums.
If the AFA does not adopt the system of games being played on the home ground of one of the participants, this tournament is doomed to failure.
Some of the ridiculous situations: River Plate and Defensores de Belgrano, whose stadiums are a few blocks from each other, have to travel to San Juan to play each other. Last week, Almirante Brown travelled over 30 hours by plane and bus to play a Santa Fe team in Catamarca. Boca Juniors managed to get their tie postponed until next year because, they say, they want to field a full strength team (hope so). They were due to play Tandil's SantamarÃa in Salta.
There is another mistake. Match schedules should not be changed at short notice. A SantamarÃa fan hitch-hiked 2,400 kilometres for days to get to Salta, only to find the match had been cancelled.
Hopefully, the next rounds will see fewer reserve teams playing and next season the AFA will change the playing system. But, as mentioned in the past, a new tournament often does not become popular right away, the Libertadores Cup being a good example.
FIELD HOCKEY. The International Hockey Federation (FIH) also needs to stop making a mess of its tournaments. Earlier this year, in the Women's Champions Trophy — which is no longer a champions tournament anyway — their stupid format and badly written rules almost kept Argentina out of their rightful final place which they only recuperated after two appeals taking not much less than six hours to discuss. Now they invented an even sillier format for the current Men's Champions Challenge which hopefully they will not repeat for next year's Women's Champions Trophy in Rosario.
The eight teams taking part in the current tournament in South Africa played 12 matches in two groups of four teams just to arrange their places in an eight-team knock-out quarterfinal in which all eight started playing again yesterday. To have dreamed this one up, they need their heads examined.
It appears the FIH is worried about the small crowds of spectators at this and other tournaments (except in the Netherlands, India, Pakistan and Argentina). But why do they worry, if it is of their own making. The format of the above mentioned tournament could be one reason, but there are others which we will not go into here.
Next year's Olympic hockey tournaments will be played on a blue artificial carpet instead of the traditional green which makes it look like grass on which the game was born. FIH president Leandro Alegre was quoted as saying that the blue pitch means "spectators both in the stands and on television will get a fantastic visual experience."
I ask you: Is a blue field going to make the game more spectacular, better or more popular?
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