18-03-2014, 06:19 PM
andyburnett Wrote:Keith Rose Wrote:Andy - I hadn't considered the Euro Cup. I'm not sure if it would necessarily be beneficial to be consistent with this but equally 6 boards for the Rich seems reasonable enough to me. I had actually anticipated some argument from the bigger/stronger clubs against reducing the team size, so a calm start!
Don't worry Keith, I know for a fact that those arguments are on their way
And here they come....
I really like the 8 board format for a couple of reasons. It is the only event in Scotland to use it, so it feels more special, in line with 4ncl. However, my main reason for liking it is that it takes a real club effort, and not just the same people again and again, there is a lot of variation from b5-8 normally. You get interesting match ups produced by the 8 board format. Generally the teams in Scotland who progress further fall into one of two categories: strength in depth, or top loaders. The more you reduce the boards, the more the competition swings in favour of whoever has the strongest couple of players, and in all honesty, it's not hard to spot the clubs that would then dominate.
Another point is possible seeding of teams. It would definitely favour the bigger clubs, and in a way it will engineer the final. Not seeding gives the smaller clubs a chance, much like the romance of the FA cup, where Hull and Sheffield United will compete in the semi, and I can tell you first hand that the buzz created by a smaller club doing well is huge. In either way of doing it, the strongest club should win anyway. If you win all your games, you lift the cup. So it really boils down to what you want the Richardson cup to do: produce stronger match ups on paper, or allow smaller clubs the chance to go further at the expense of the stronger ones.