If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix it

Something that particularly bugs me about the governing bodies of various sports is when they decide to make a change to a certain facet of the rules or system that there is seemingly no problem with. These changes are often unpopular with the fan base, making them seem pointless, especially when time and thought could be better invested into aspects that perhaps do need fixing.

One of these instances was in V8 Supercars. A few years back the general qualifying system was a certain time period where all cars were allowed to go out and post the fastest lap they could, followed by a “Top 10 Shootout” which was very exciting and everyone loved it. However a couple of years ago they decided to oust this system and implement an F1 style structure that was much less popular. Unsurprisingly, the shootout made it’s return this season.

Another instance of this in V8s was a change this year which sees a qualifying session before every race, where previously the grid for races after race 1 on a weekend would be decided by the finishing order of the previous race. Nobody had a problem with the system while this new procedure seems to have disadvantages such as good battles that occurred in race 1 being unable to continue due to the drivers being separated by a new grid.

A big example is about to hit us in cricket. After being trialled in a number of Test Matches, the ‘referral’ system will become apart of the game later this year. Cricket umpires are quite good and are considered to make the correct decision at least 90% of the time. There have been no great outcries over umpiring in cricket, it is one of the smoothest officiating systems out of all sports. So why unnecessarily introduce challenges? Especially after the trial was far from flawless. I witnessed a number of decisions reversed by the 3rd Umpire due to a challenge that left me scratching my head.

And I couldn’t go without having a dig at the NRL in this article. Golden Point. Why the hell was this introduced? When two teams are equal at the end of a contest, the fair result is a draw, one point each yes? But no, the NRL decided to bring in a way to artificially get a winner.

Honestly, I could bring up numerous rules changes or “new interpretations” that the NRL have come up with that have been inappropriate, the grounding of the ball for a try for one while actual issues go unpoliced such as playing the ball with your foot and walking off the mark.

The message is quite simple, don’t change a good thing. Its one way to frustrate the fans and turn them against you.