FACED WITH DWINDLING TV NUMBERS and fearful of losing the next generation of fans, the European Athletic Association (EAA) has come up with some \u201cradical\u201d changes in presentation for what used to be the European Cup, which at one time was one of the great team competitions going. The new meet, quixotically named The European Team Championships, will attempt to make the sport more accessible to the general public.<\/p>\n
None of the ideas are particularly new, and range in my humble opinion from decent to really stupid. Let\u2019s look at some of the talking points, because they\u2019re relevant at all levels of the sport:<\/p>\n
A no false start rule. Thumbs up. The IAAF should have gone straight to this which a quarter century of high school and collegiate competition have proven to be a winner from the get go, rather than the half baked first falsie on the whole field stricture they went with instead.<\/p>\n
Lane races to be staged in 2 heats of 6. No no no! Anything other than direct head-to-head competition is a loser.<\/p>\n
The steeplechase, 3000 and 5000 will all be contested so the last athlete in the race will be booted in the last few laps. On the surface, this sounds wonderfully exciting, but as one who saw this \u201cdevil take the hindmost\u201d concept fried at innumerable U.S. indoor meets in the \u201870s replete with a devil suited dude with a pitchfork let me say that the reality doesn\u2019t live up to the exciting image. And if it didn\u2019t work indoors, with lots of laps to deal with, it has no chance outside.<\/p>\n
The vertical jumpers will be restricted to 4 misses total in the whole competition. Been there, done that. Not exactly the same, but in the \u201cinnovative\u201d ITA (the failed early \u201870s pro league) there was a fixed number of attempts. The result? Everybody starts too high and the fans are treated to a steady procession of misses. Bad theater all around for an event that would be better if everybody and I kid you not were indeed allowed 4 misses… at each height! The fans love the verticals, miss or make. Do the people who make up these rules ever actually sit in the stands and see what works with the paying customers?<\/p>\n
In the other jumps and throws, everyone is restricted to 4 attempts. I\u2019ve long argued that 6 is too many, with rounds 4 and 5 more often than not featuring uninspired jumping and throwing.<\/p>\n
In the other jumps and throws, all the performers get the first 2 attempts, then the top 6 get 1 more try, then the 4 best get 1 last try. Wow! I\u2019ve been suggesting a staggered cutdown like this for years. With this kind of system, I could even live with going back to 6 rounds, so long as you rapidly cut the number of competitors. One doesn\u2019t tire of seeing the superstuds; one does tire of the spear carriers.<\/p>\n
Having said all that, I would note that my comments are made out of fear that some of these \u201cinnovations\u201d might bleed over to regular meets. Even the objectionable ones I find somewhat palatable in the context of a tightly hewn team scoring meet where an athlete is expected to subjugate personal desire to the good of the team as a whole.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not alone in being troubled by these new proposals. Peter Matthews, highly respected editor of both the British newsletter Athletics International and the ATFS Annual, had this to say:<\/p>\n
\u201cOne can but despair at the politicians of the European AA. Change may be welcome, but change for change\u2019s sake can be very dangerous. The continuing decline in European [track & field] is very worrying, as is the lack of interest in the sport from TV companies, but panic is hardly a recipe for success.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"