Sunday 11 October 2009

Who's killing the hydrogen fuel cell?

In 2006 Chris Paine asked Who Killed the Electric Car? Well never mind that, how about asking why is the electric car killing cleaner technology?

There are many ways to power a vehicle, the Internal Combustion Engine is the mainstay of the motor industry due to it's simplicity. Over the years other methods have been tried by governments wishing to create a new generation of military vehicle. They have even experimented with Nuclear powered cars but the enduring dream has been the electric car. Especially in these newly environmentally friendly times people want new methods of powering cars.

The government and environmental campaigners love the electric car. It looks great for a politician to be seen next to a car with 'zero emissions'. They're wonderful and clean, none of that nasty pollution out of the back of one of these. Of course what they never mention is where the electricity to power them comes from. They sound environmentally friendly so they must be the saviours of the world.

What they're not pointing out is where the electricity your little G-Wiz is currently sucking in comes from. It has to be generated somehow. In this and many countries most mains electricity comes from coal or gas fired power stations. An electric car can only really be 'clean' if governments would fully commit to Nuclear and Renewable energy sources but, of course, they won't.

Not only are all the G-Wiz's around London not reducing the amount of Carbon-Dioxide we produce drastically, they are unsafe. In 2007 the BBC's Top Gear magazine carried out an NCAP style test on one. Upon completion it took over half an hour to extricate the test dummy, which came out in three separate parts.

Last year Honda revealed it's FCX Clarity. A car that runs on a Hydrogen Fuel Cell. Hydrogen reactions have been known to man since long before Karl Benz even though to put an Internal Combustion Engine in an automobile. Fuel cells work by reacting Hydrogen and Oxygen in the same way that a battery works. However, in this case the chemicals involved are constantly flowing into the cell so it cannot 'die' like a battery. It's like having a power station on board your G-Wiz.The only difference to strapping a coal powered station to your car, other than weight, is that the only by product of this reaction is fresh water.

The clarity is not just some pipe dream of a concept car only to be released possibly in 20 years time. It has gone into circulation already. Last year Honda made it available for customers to lease in California, where a hydrogen network had been set up to provide fuel. Honda expects to rent out at least 200 over three years across the US and Japan.

Honda's work shows that the technology is not a flight of futuristic fancy, it's genuinely usable now. All that is needed is for governments to get behind research into a technology that is genuinely good for the environment rather than placating the environmental lobby with ultimately empty gestures.

Thursday 10 September 2009

F1's sticky situation

"I confirm the meeting with Piquet on Sunday morning, but nothing like that was ever talked about." F. Briatore

"It's true, during the Sunday meeting with Piquet the
issue of deliberately causing a SC deployment came up, but it was proposed by Piquet himself" P. Symonds

It's a simple matter for the FIA now of who to believe. Nelson Piquet Jr, who is accusing the Renault F1 team of colluding with him to cause a crash at the right point in the race to hand the win to Fernando Alonso. Flavio Briatore who admits a meeting took place but claims the issue was never discussed (or did last time anyone may have heard from him). Pat Symonds who claims the issue was brought up but only by the driver himself and was rejected by the team.

If Flavio is to be believed then Renault are the victims of a bitter former driver looking for payback. This seems the most logical choice initially, but then you remember than Nelson Piquet (the father of the driver in question and three time world champion) was the man who made the initial claim, not his son. Nelson is not a man to stake his reputation on a lie. Then we have the Symonds version. To believe this we must also believe that a team who new that a deliberate crash was in their drivers mind then saw him crash and thought nothing of it. The whole right rear corner of Nelsinho's car was destroyed. Not a cheap matter by any stretch of the imagination. So why was he not sacked if the team had reason to believe he had willfully destroyed one of their cars. Not only that but should it come out that Piquet had carried out his plan, say nearly a year later, the teams name would be dragged through the mud and their reputation left in tatters.


No matter what the result of the investigation into the events surrounding Fernando Alonso's surprise win at Singapore last September the implications for the sport have to be massive. This isn't just a crash changing the outcome of a race, this is a team conspiring internally to endanger the lives not only of it's own drivers but the rest of the drivers on the grid. This is a team attempting to artificially engineer a situation in which their driver would win a race with little effort.

The name of F1 has already been dragged through the mud enough over the last few years. The acrimony of Fernando Alonso's time at McLaren. The 'spygate' scandal involving McLaren (again) having a dossier on Ferrari's car in their possession. Renault being accused of the same crime involving McLaren data. Max Mosley's penchant for S&M. The threatened FOTA breakaway leading to the potential ousting of Mosley from his position at the head of the FIA, the sports governing body. The lying scandal that hit the Australian Grand Prix when McLaren's Davey Ryan and Lewis Hamilton lied to the stewards to gain a position after the race. The penalty given to Lewis Hamilton, rightly or wrongly, at Spa in 2008. Over the last few years F1 has become a laughing stock, riddled with scandal at every turn. Now, just as the sport seems finally in harmony, we are hit by what could be perceived as the worst scandal yet. Anybody who thought the worst was over should shove their head back into the sand again for a while.


The perception outside of the F1 community and it's fans is already that it's a rich mans play world. The fact that they all appear to be dishonest just goes further to disillusioning any 'floating fans' who might have felt alienated by the events they've seen unfold. The 'crashgate' saga (as it stereotypically must be called now) brings a huge amount of media attention back onto F1, this attention will for a while boost TV audiences baying for a scandal. In the long run people are going to look at F1 and think 'Why should I watch that? Their all dishonest anyway'. Personally I pray that it didn't happen, I hope that despite the evidence mounting against Renault it comes out that Nelson Piquet was just a bitter father who'd seen his son rejected and an investment of millions come to nought. F1 will survive this scandal, but it will take a long time to recover the confidence of it's audience.

Sunday 6 September 2009

The stream that changed F1

It's a small stream running through the Liege region of Belgium. In the whole of it's 15km length the Eau Rouge stream has no remarkable features and is of no significance in the geological world. Yet utter those two French words to anyone who's ever seen a motor race and they will evoke feelings that even words like Senna struggle to produce. Below is a picture of the stream to demonstrate just unremarkable it is:
Picturesque? Yes. A nice place to be? Yes. One of the most famous names in motorsports? You bet.

Of course it's not the stream itself that brings the fame, but the landscape that it has carved through the woodlands that make the name famous. The area around it is a valley carved out of the mountainsides over thousands of years. Allowing for a wooded area to be transformed into possibly the most stunning location an F1 car has driven round for many a year. Of course given that there are numerous towns and villages in the area there had to be roads built to get about. These criss-crossed the area in the early part of the 20th century forming an almost perfect triangle between the towns of Francorchamps, Malmedy and Stavelot, so, humans being humans, people had to have a race. The circuit that was created was one of the fastest and most dangerous in the world. However, all the track did around the annoying stream it had to cross was loop round in a slow section called Ancienne Douane. However in 1939 the organisers decided to use a short cut that swept up the valley giving the circuit a much better flow. I doubt they realised they icon they had just created.

The corner, existing now in the same form it has since 1939, is the first point after the start finish straight at which the circuit crosses the stream. It is approached on a steep decline down the side of the valley from the La Source hairpin (in itself an evocative name). The cars launch over the stream into a massive compression as they flick to the left, bottoming out as they are launched up the other side of the valley at 180mph. They then navigate the ferocious Radillon corner (strictly speaking 'Eau Rouge' is only the left flick at the bottom) arching back to the right before hurling themselves to the left over the blind summit.

The Main reason for the awe inspired by the group of corners is simply the gradient. It is not only the steepest gradient in F1 but comes after a descent that would seem steep were it not for it's position. The combination of the two creates forces not seen elsewhere in F1. The car is pulled downwards by gravity whilst being forced upwards by the gradient. The driver is flung to the right, left and then back to the right again whilst undergoing all this. The cars 'bottom out' as they go beyond the limit of their suspension travel and the whole chassis contorts under the enormous loads its being put under. The forces involved are mind boggling. Nowadays the corner is easily flat out in an F1 car, but the knowledge of this doesn't fit with the sounds you hear as the cars tackle it. Purely due to the gradient the cars decelerate up the slope. That's more than 800 bhp being reigned in purely by gravity. Astonishing.
F1's stars of tomorrow tackle Radillon

The impact that the Eau Rouge section has on people is massive. Walking round the circuit for the first time people immediately plan when they are going to see Eau Rouge. If you walk from the Les Combes entrances clockwise round the circuit your first glimpse of the area is from the Bus Stop area. It's not of the track, just a view of the tree line across the valley taking a sudden, noticeable dip. People who come to this area for the first time point across the valley. No matter where they're from it sets the pulse racing. The problem with writing about Eau Rouge is that words and pictures can never, ever, do it justice. Not one bit. The gradient is steeper than any picture shows it to be. The speeds cars go through there is just mind boggling and the blindness (if that's a word) of the crest of Radillon is unbelievable. Don't believe me? How about Fernando Alonso?:

"You come into the corner downhill, have a sudden change [of direction] at the bottom and then go very steep uphill. From the cockpit, you cannot see the exit and as you come over the crest, you don't know where you will land. It is a crucial corner for the timed lap, and also in the race, because you have a long uphill straight afterwards where you can lose a lot of time if you make a mistake. But it is also an important corner for the driver's feeling. It makes a special impression every lap, because you also have a compression in your body as you go through the bottom of the corner. It is very strange - but good fun as well."

Meanwhile below all this, the stream keeps on its gentle way through the mountains, none the wiser of it's lasting impact.

Thursday 3 September 2009

So that was Spa? To say it lived up to expectations would not do it justice at all. The place is something else from the moment you arrive. When on a coach you're sent off on what is deemed to be a shorter route... through a tiny village on a hillside. The village it turns out is also the coach car park. This after you've spent at least an hour going down a single track lane through the woods from the main motorway.

As you walk up to the entrance all you can hear is the cars, not because of proximity but simply because of the location of the track. It's set right on the hillsides around the small stream of Eau Rouge, a name that almost dwarfs that of the track with it's significance. The hillsides steep gradient amplifies the already mesmerising sound, filling the adjacent valley and heightening the sense of excitement as you approach. If you head to your left as you approach your sense of excitement will only be heightened as you find your way blocked by orange jacketed officialdom unless you posses a gold ticket. The tunnel under the track is the only way for you to go, so you can still hear the cars but again your view is blocked, so under you go, into a small area surrounded by fellow fans all rushing to get toward the viewing areas. Then, suddenly, there it is. You're stood looking down on the cars below you as your first glimpse is from about 30 feet above the track. No other track I have been to puts you in this position. You're stood on the edge of a cliff looking down on the track, with people in front of you who have been there for hours. It's not just a track, newer tracks like Valencia the week before do not offer this kind of experience. This is before you've even approached the well known areas, this is an un-named corner between Rivage and Pouhon. That's the brilliance of Spa. Everywhere has something to offer, I didn't find myself at a single spot where there wasn't either an amazing view of the track or something unique.
Perched on the edge of the path you get a great view of the cars

So the First impressions are good, but that's nothing yet. Wander a little further and your at what the drivers say is one of the most difficult corners in the world; the double apexed Pouhon. A corner approached by both cars and fans down a steep hill, it has a massive spectator bank to the right and trees obscuring the rest of the corner to the left. The cars dive into a cauldron cocooning them between fans and failure, desperately attempting to judge the one downshift that will be the only thing that slows them through the corner. A couple of seconds late and they'll hit the corner too fast, to early and the electronics on the gearbox override the order to change down. Yet again the setting of the circuit causes the atmosphere to be electric. People are perched on the top of the bank in chairs 4 deep but at the back you can still see perfectly. Meanwhile thousands more are sat on the steep bank, often dug in with mini shovels. Behind them Sausages and Hamburgers are being served alonside Waffles and Beer. The whole atmosphere is intoxicating. You can hear the cars straining against their gearboxes during the crucial change whilst turning and you feel a part of the whole experience.

Nico Rosberg Attempts to get Pouhon right

You can spectate on almost every part of the track with a general admission pass, in the next part of this post I'll talk about the Qualifying experience pressed up against the fence on the entrance to the bus stop...

Tuesday 25 August 2009

My kind of Spa

It's magic, it really is. I haven't even got within a day of setting off for my first visit and I'm already excited. What do you expect? Since I was about 11 I've wanted to go to Spa to witness the Belgian GP. It's amazing that a small country in the north of Europe can have produced such an evocative race track. Those who have only witnessed motor racing on TV have never quite experienced the full reality of what makes it wonderful. Spa is one of those places where that wonder is magnified. Firstly at any race there's the sight, a TV camera does not do anything justice. The direction changes and speeds have to be seen in real life when it comes to the higher end of the spectrum. For example a Le Mans Prototype looks like it's trundling along like you or I down the A605 when on TV. Stand next to the Hanger straight and it's nothing like it, 170mph looks amazing, it just does. That speed isn't there on it's own remember, each car is hurtling past you on its way round but a silent race would not be the same. The sound and feeling of a car going past is something else. The sound of an F1 car as it screams past is diluted on TV, it's not a painfully loud sound (In fact the M25 is harder to listen to), but it is an awesome sound. It fills the air around you channeled by whatever fencing may be around the track, echoing of surrounding buildings. The rumble of the sound waves is felt as well. In the pit of your stomach the sound builds into a vibration that digs into you, ensuring that that sound is not just all around you. That sound is entering you. You become a part of what is going past in a way that nothing else can produce. All the while your eyes are being assaulted by the cars going past and your nose is picking up the scent of motorsports. The smell of a race meeting can't be found by a normal road. It's something far more wonderful. A heady mix of race fuel, oil, tyre smoke and whatever is around you. If you don't like it then don't bother with motorsports. It may only be a smell, but that smell is as big a part of your experience as what you are seeing. This is all an almost indescribable effect, each of your senses is being stimulated. No other spectator sport does that for you, you certainly don't get it sat in front of the TV. All of this happens at every race track, but some are more special than others. Spa-Francorchamps is as much a part of F1 as Ferrari, McLaren and Williams. It's been there since the 20's in it's various forms. The modern day circuit, though undoubtedly one of the best in the world, is still but a shadow of it's former self. Neutered for safety it still has corners that strike fear and excitement into the heart of any racing drivers.
The modern Spa Circuit

Originally set between the Belgian villages of Francorchamps,
Malmedy and Stavelot the circuit was a fearsome 15km monster snaking it's way through the Belgian forests. Before it was reduced for safety reasons it contained the fearsome Mastah kink, an incredible high speed left right kink that was crucial to the lap. It was this section that lead to the old circtuits downfall. One particularly gruesome story from the 1972 24hrs race gives an idea of why the circuit had to be changed: During a pit stop during the night HJ Stuck shouted to his co-driver Jochen Mass to tell him to 'watch out for body parts at the Mastah kink'. Mass arrived upon the schene expecting to find bits of car, but instead discovered it was in fact bits of a Marshall. The new circuit hasn't lost much of it's ancestors qualities though, barely 2 years after F1 returned to the track it claimed the life of Stephan Bellof in a sportscar crash. Eau Rouge, Blanchiment and La Source are the only parts remaining of the old circuit. Eau Rouge is perhaps the most famous corner in the world. A high speed left-right-left up a steep incline over a blind crest it is one of the most challenging corners for any driver to master. Until 2000 it was still possible to drive a large portion of the track as public roads. If you really need more proof that this is one of the best circuits around then perhaps Micheal Schumacher can persuade you:

"It is without doubt the best circuit in the world," Schumacher says. "The kind of atmosphere you get at Spa is something akin to the old Nurburgring. It is the only place which still has this quality and atmosphere. Eau Rouge is really the most tremendous corner. It is like flying downhill and seeing a big mountain in front of you. You get the feeling that you are driving into the road and then you go up and it is a sensation which is probably the best you can experience and the most satisfaction you can have as a racing driver."

Spa is motorsports at it's best, I hope that I can convey at least some of what makes it so fantastic over the next week.

Thursday 23 April 2009

Sympathise for victims of points deductions? Not likely

I'm a Leeds United fan, in case you didn't know. So the sight of many league clubs being deducted points over the last couple of seasons hasn't exactly filled me with sadness. Upon Leeds United appealing the 15 point deduction they received for exiting admin without a CVA (company voluntary agreement) in place they were ordered in front of an appeals court made up not of impartial lawyers or the board of the FL, but their fellow football league clubs chairmen. Hardly the height of impartiality. I'm by no means being bitter, after our second appeal was thrown out it emerged that we had no right to appeal and the deduction was never going to be lifted, rather than being the victims of injustice, we were the victims of our own chairman, but I digress.

Upon appearing in front of their peers only a select few agreed that the punishment was harsh. This may have at the time seemed to be a decision impacting upon one club, but, several of the clubs who voted against the appeal have found themselves in the same position recently. Over the time period after the appeal several reports of who voted for Leeds came out, with most of them agreeing on who the clubs were. Out of those rumoured clubs only Darlington have found themselves in a position to be deducted points, for them alone I have sympathy. For the others it seems like they shot themselves in their collective feet with the decision they made in August 2007.

The reason I find myself writing about this is the plight of Southampton that was announced today. They have entered administration and will receive a ten point deduction, when that is applied depends on where they finish in the league. Should they be relegated without they deduction it will be held over till next year, but, should they manage to finish above the bottom three the deduction will be applied there and then possibly forcing them into relegation. This though is a different deduction to the one the clubs debated 19 months ago, however it does lead one to wonder if they, or rather their administrators, will be more thorough in the way they handle the exit from admin. Should they come out with a proper CVA in place they will receive no extra punishment. It has not always been that straightforward for clubs though in recent years.



Southamptons fall from grace rivals that of Leeds

Other than Leeds deduction Luton, Bournemouth and Rotherham (none of whom were on the rumoured list of pro Leeds voters) have faced a large deduction at the start of a season after a period under the stewardship of the administrators. None of those clubs came out with a CVA in place and as such faced the dread 15 (or in this case now 17) point deduction. This deduction, along with a separate one for some underhand dealing with agents in the past, has relegated Luton Town out of the Football League. They will therefore come up against my other team Rushden and Diamonds. Will I show them and their captain Kevin Nicholls (who enraged Leeds fans by trying to bail out of the relegation battle and return to Luton whilst captain of Leeds United) and sympathy? No is the simple answer. They voted for these punishments and have had to face their own consequences. I'm angry at those at Leeds who have brought us into administration multiple times and caused a fall from grace that television commentators delight in pointing out every time the whites appear play live on TV, and have no sympathy for any football club in the league that spends beyond its means.

Boston United were kicked out of the Football Conference a couple of years back having failed to come out of administration before a deadline (this after being relegated straight past the Conference National to the Conference North for their financial situation. Imagine the outcry if the FL took the same stance as the Conference board to this kind of situation?

Outside of the league punishments are harsher

So I say do not complain about 'unjust' deductions. Remember these clubs (not their fans) brought it upon themselves with the decisions they made in the past. Think of Boston and the deaths of Halifax and Scarborough and remember that those in the League get off lightly in comparison. Bitter Leeds fan? No Leeds United got a points deduction that was in the rules, other clubs should remember where those rules were affirmed.

Thursday 5 March 2009

Want to run a football club?

Do you feel you could do a better job than your current chairman? There are a legion of fans of various clubs that believe that the fans should own the club they support. Over the years I've managed to experience this at Rushden when Max Griggs (who formed our club) could no longer afford to run the club and handed it over to the Supporters trust, along with a generous donation to keep the club running for the next couple of seasons.

Safe to say it was a bit of a disaster. The fans had hoped for a more openly run club, but it ended up feeling like a closed system, the people who ran the club did not communicate well with those they represented. Even worse the club proved not to be financially viable in the state that it had been inherited and those who were installed on the board did not have the knowledge to bring the club onto a more steady footing. This lead to the club teetering close to the brink after relegation out of the league. Fortunately for us we had a saviour come along in the form of Keith Cousins and the club is now run better and in a better state financially.


Billy Sharpe: One of the few good things to happen under the trust at Rushden


While those who had a go at running the club obviously did a valiant job it showed that unless you have the knowledge to run a football club you shouldn't rush into owning one. A large group of Liverpool fans wish to purchase their club believing they would be able to turn into into some kind of fans utopia, with a completely transparent system of running the club. Problem is nothing in football is transparent. In fact it probably goes for every sport but most prominently Football is a closed community, dodgy dealings with agents occur every season and we don't truly know the extent of how deals are hammered out. Some deals need to be kept secret at least for a period of time in order to stop those involved pulling out, and in the case of some high paid players to avoid them the embarrassment of their true salaries becoming public.

In Spain many of the top clubs have been owned by the fans for a long time, but they have well established ways of running the clubs and those who are elected to run the clubs have helpers around them and are mostly used to running businesses thus allowing them to integrate into running a club easily. Even at those clubs there is little transparency for the fans, all transfers end up surrounded by huge amounts of secrecy and the finances of the club are not fully known. It's all necessary in the world of football. Even the latest football club run by members of the public, Ebbsfleet United, is now struggling. They were taken over by MyFC last year and are run in a revolutionary way, with members having a say in the running of the team as well as they club, but this is now unraveling as those who paid their £35 initially seem to be reluctant to renew their subscription and the club is struggling to get a budget for the next year together.

MyFC looked to revolutionise the way clubs are run


The idea of creating a club truly for the fans is a far fetched one these days, even those who believe that FC United of Manchester is truly open are living in denial. One day it may happen, but in this day and age the idea is just not realistic.

Sunday 22 February 2009

The sadness of 9

Your football team doesn't win 9-0 very often, I can guarantee that no matter who you support. The last time it happened to my memory was Dagenham's humiliation to Hereford back in the 2003/4 season. In normal circumstances I would be using this blog to lord it over any readers who's club failed to score more than a paltry six goals over the weekend. This time though the situation does not allow for that. On Friday night Weymouth informed their first team players that they were free to look for other clubs if they had an offer, they also could not afford the insurance to play those who remained. This forced them to field their youth team, and unfortunately answer those who on clubs message boards question whether fielding the youth team would do better than the uncaring overpaid Prima Donna's who are under achieving in the first team.

Man of the match Domo Pulls off another save

Weymouth's youngsters will have walked out onto the pitch at the Wessex stadium full in the knowledge that they faced the seemingly impossible. To describe what followed as men against boys would be unfortunately apt. Rushden found the target 16 times, with nine of them finding their way past man of the match Domo. The very fact that the 16 year old Domo was man of the match said it all about the Professional way the Diamonds went about their task. It almost seems cruel the way it ended but had, as some have suggested, Andy Burgess and co got to three goals and then spent the rest of the match passing it around it would have been surely worse for their young opponents. Despite the cruel scoreine Weymouth fans had a lot of praise for all but one of the visiting team. Dale Roberts; Rushdens young keeper, applauded every save that his opposite number pulled off, and ran over to congratulate him at the final whistle. The fans all gave the youngsters a standing ovation come the end of the match.

This was a sad moment for the home fans, but there is always a good side to everything. For Rushden this should give a much needed confidence boost after the upheaval of Garry Hill's resignation, and having not won since the game against Northwich in 2008. For Weymouth it has highlighted their plight to a much greater audience than before, their messageboard has been inundated by football fans from all across the country wishing them well and their appeals to raise money have had their takings dramatically improve. The youngsters will learn from this, they will gradually get stronger as the games pass and shouldn't lose by that margin every week.

Weymouth fans are trying to help raise the 300k needed to pay off debts

There is nothing pleasurable about a football club going out of business, and there are all too many clubs in a perilous situation in the Blue Square premier. Northwich have just got back into her ground having been locked out two months ago, York are in a lot of debt and rumours abound about many of the other clubs. People focus on those league clubs going into administration, but drop out of the league and you can see that clubs are in much much more trouble. Action needs to be taken, the result yesterday sparked interest, I just hope it can spark action.

Tuesday 10 February 2009

The end of the spectre of relegation


The Super League is not an English competition; it has never been so from its inception. It began in 1996 as Super League (Europe) with Paris Saint Germain contesting the first season. When they went by the wayside the only teams left in were English. The problem was that there was not a high enough level of Rugby League being played across the rest of the continent for a team to make its way into the highest league available in the northern hemisphere. This was rectified by the introduction of Catalans Dragons in 2006; they were given a three year protection against relegation to make sure that they had time to establish themselves as a top level team. The move was made in order to help the spread of the more flowing code of rugby better into other countries than England and the Antipodes. There is no doubting that the sport needs to grow, the world cup last year was a pitiful showing of how little recognition the sport has across the world. Bringing Catalans into the Super League cemented the growth into southern France, but the growth would have dwindled had the team been relegated in their first season. The main attraction to Catalans has to be that they are playing in the top competition in the Northern Hemisphere (and if the World Club Challenge is anything to go by the best in the world). They started off life in the Super League fielding a large amount of players seeking refuge from down under but their continued presence in the Super League has allowed them to bring through a larger number of native players helping spread the appeal of the sport even more amongst the residents of that part of the world. Had they been relegated straight off there is little chance that the crowds would have remained, this would have lead to a downward spiral that would ultimately lead to the demise of a promising Rugby club.

Salford return to what is probably their home at the top table of League


So we come to 2009 and Super League XIV kicks off with 14 teams in it for the first time. The choice of teams to add was controversial but the main issue was the elimination of relegation and promotion to and from the Super League. The example of Catalans is ideal to show why this is a good idea, the new clubs are being given time to establish themselves into competitive Super League clubs. Crusaders especially need time as they are a young club from a country outside the usual spectrum of League, they have the opportunity to establish the sport in Wales, a country steeped in rugby tradition but still untouched by the other code. If they were relegated now their chance of gaining a foothold would be lost, but it’s not only they who will benefit. Salford, a once great club fallen on hard times, and even Castleford will now be given the opportunity to improve themselves. Being a guaranteed top flight club means they are more likely to be able to attract top class players, as a result the whole league will benefit as the standard of rugby will go up as a result.

Crusaders begin their first ever season at the top Flight in 09


Over in America they have no concept of what promotion or relegation is, looking to American Football, all teams in the NFL play at the highest level of the sport. There is no chance of a small team fighting their way into the top flight and suddenly finding themselves well out of their depth, as Leigh did in the Super League in 2005. The players are all at the top level of their sport and crowd interest is consistently high. For whom has promotion and relegation worked out for in the Super League over the last fourteen years? It’s not those clubs who have slipped out of the top flight that they would once have expected to be in without a doubt, clubs like Widnes. It’s the big clubs, the Rhino’s, Bulls and Saints of this world. They find themselves with easy points every year in a round that might as well not be played, these games have attracted lower crowds due to the knowledge that the level of sport on show would be lower. Without the stigma of being a club who are probably only in the league for a year the teams will no longer be easy targets. Crowds should eventually rise not just in the new areas but at the established clubs as the fans know that they are going to see the best rugby they could find.

Freezing the Super League will provide a better spectacle, better Rugby, more financially viable teams and more fans across new parts of the world. The winner out of this change can only be the sport of Rugby League.