Richardson/Spens - what next?

[Keith Rose]

I have this evening emailed clubs and team captains the following:

Further to my invitation to contribute to discussion regarding the future direction of the Richardson and Spens cups:

I received direct replies from 4 clubs, two team captains and one club member:

One club offered no opinions as it does not, and will not, play in either competition;
One club prefers knockout format, 8 boards;
One team captain and the club member (from different clubs) prefer knockout format and would have semi-final and final played on the same day;
One team captain prefers two groups, 6-board teams;
One club prefer to combine Richardson and Spens with fewer boards.

In addition some discussion took place on the CS forum with regard to the Richardson and a series of polls were conducted. The results in brief (I have attached a doc with the full responses) at 30 June were:

Format – No change, i.e. knockout (73%)
KO Format – As 2014 (85%)
Players per team – 8 (87%)
Venue – option of the home (first-drawn) team except for final (67%)
Bona fide – Remove 30 mile restriction (65%)
Board order – as at present (50 point variability) (39% though no pertinent alternatives were offered, other options were in connection with pools and advance team publication)
Team lists to be published in advance – (57%)
Team lists to be published 24 hours in advance

From the responses above I now have some indication of the general feeling. Format, players per team, venue and board order will therefore remain unchanged. I will look again at the bona fide rules to see if they can be further relaxed (for the Spens if not the Richardson) and the procedure for advance publication of team list.

Although there is more discussion to be had on some aspects, one change I will make for next season (in respect of Richardson) is to reduce the size to 8 teams. There were 8 entries last season and it has been some time since we got anywhere near 16.

One consequence of this will be a need to consider promotion from the Spens. Currently both finalists are entitled to promotion but a 25% turnover in the Richardson would be too much in my opinion, in which case only the winners of the Spens should be promoted (or the losing team if the winners decline). I am happy to open this up to debate. A method to determine relegation from the Richardson will also be needed.

Spens

There has been one call to scrap the Spens. If anyone else feels the same then now is the time to say, otherwise it will continue. How to make it work better? One thing will be to remove the 30-mile restriction as per the Richardson but perhaps more can be done with this.

Over the next couple of months I will also think about format (stay with knockout or regional groups? If K.O., single matches as now or home and away?);

Venues – neutral/central venues have been mentioned but generally speaking costs would be prohibitive unless multiple matches take place at the same time (which could be in combination with Richardson matches). Local knowledge of affordable venues would be usefully shared as would 'home' venues that could accommodate more than one match and on a cost-sharing basis.

I invite current and potential Spens teams to share their thoughts and ideas.