New Chatham Cup Plan Unfair To S.I.

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32233, 27 February 1970, Page 15

New Chatham Cup Plan Unfair To S.I.

(By Our Soccer Reporter)

South Island soccer has been harshly treated under the reorganisation of this year’s Chatham Cup—the showpiece of the game in New Zealand.

If there have been justified complaints in the past that under the old inter-island system of playing the tournament the South Island has at times had a national finalist when it least deserved one, the new-style competition has now been heavily weighted in the North Island’s favour.

The reorganisation of this year’s Chatham Cup became necessary—and has been widely welcomed—by the $5OOO sponsorship offered by Gillette, enabling the N.Z.F.A. to hold an open draw in the later stages. The plan passed at last

week-end’s annual meeting of the national association is for the three regional areas to hold their usual preliminary competitions, without the eight national league clubs, until they reach the stage of three survivors in the northern, three in the central and two in the southern. Even if matters had stayed at this point, the North Island would have gained a representation in the final stages of six to two, but it could be argued, on the basis of clubs and players, that this was reasonable. However, the next step in the competition has dropped the balance sharply towards the North. The eight national league clubs will then be added to the eight regional survivors, and these 16 will be divided into four groups—southern, Wellington area, mid-North Island and Auckland area. Each group will comprise two national league clubs and two non-league clubs. The matter has been com-

plicated by the fact that the South Island has only one national league club, Christchurch United, so that the South Island, in fact, will have only three teams in the last 16. To enable a southern group of four to be formed, one of the three Wellington national league clubs will have to play in this section. It was decided it should be the most southerly of the three—which may mean making the measurement in feet and inches, not miles. Similarly, one of the three Auckland national league clubs will have to join the mid-North Island group, which will also include Gisborne City and the two regional survivors from that area. The southern grouping will therefore comprise the two zonal champions (last year they were New Brighton and Invercargill Thistle), Christchurch United and an intruder from Wellington. A draw will be made inside each group, bringing the

competition down to the quarter-finals, at which stage the names will go “into the hat” for an open draw and the sponsor’s money used for travelling expenses in the quarter-finals and travelling and hotel expenses for the semi-finals and final. At the best, the South Island cannot hope for more than two clubs in the last eight; more probably it will be only one. If Christchurch United and the Wellington team, as the national league clubs, are kept apart, these would be the favourites to go through to the quarter-finals. While the fact that there is only one national league club in the South Island (provision was made for two), has aggravated. the problem, it would have been a fairer solution for the South Island to have had three qualifiers from the regional competition and either the northern or central regions to have dropped one. In this way, the final southern grouping of four teams

would have been all from the South Island, and brought s representation of two to six in the quarter-finals—and few would have argued further. The addition of a Wellington national league club in the southern grouping has raised the query of expenses, because it was not intended that travelling costs should be met until the quarter-finals. And costs will be exhorbitant if the Wellington team has to travel to Invercargill, or vice versa. Some slight provision, however, has peen made. A club in the regional groups travelling inside its own island will net 10 cents a mile (per club, not per player) and between islands, 30 cents a mile. This would mean that a Christchurch club travelling, say, to Dunediii and back would pick up about $46. Not riches, but certainly better than nothing. The next thing the N.Z.F.A. will have to look into will be a scheme for the participating elubs to get a part of the gate money.