The impact of no promotion and relegation in Super League

The abolition of promotion/relegation, part of the much debated licensing process, has received a mixed response from fans. But how much of an effect has it had on Super League?

Last weekend saw Bradford pull off a fine come-from-behind victory against league leaders St Helens to bounce back from what was a humiliating home defeat to Warrington just a week before. On the same night, we saw Harlequins pull off a superb 21-4 win at the home of Super League champions Leeds.

Both the Bulls and Quins have fine, young British coaches at the helm in Steve McNamara and Brian McDermott. Although McDermott has been quietly been going about his business - building a solid squad based around English players admist the turmoil and struggles that the London-based club follow in terms of finances, sponsors and getting fans through the turnstiles - rival McNamara has faced much criticism from fans after the Bulls steady fall from grace since their last Grand Final victory in 2005.

McNamara took over from Brian Noble in April 2006 and despite leading them to the play-offs, they were beaten by Hull - the first time the Bulls hadn't reached the Grand Final in six years. During McNamara's tenure, he's had to watch players of the calibre of Leon Pryce, Stuart Fielden, Ryan Atkins, Paul Johnson, Lesley Vainikolo, Ian Henderson and Chris McKenna leave the club, and it has seen Bradford slip further down the Super League ladder.

And despite wins against Saints and Leeds, Bradford find themselves 12th in Super League, five points off the play-off places. But would McNamara still be in a job if relegation was still in place? Probably not, although the form of Celtic this season suggests that it would be unlikely the Bulls would have finished 14th anyway. McDermott too, is another coach who has a tricky job, but can spend time building a squad without the threat of relegation. The rewards of this are already evident, as Quins sit in 7th place on the ladder, just below Castleford, who finished rock bottom of the table last year.

But as with anything, there is two sides of the argument. Celtic are already being cut adrift at the bottom of Super League, with ten consecutive defeats since their elevation to the top flight via the licensing process last July.

And they have been rocked this week with rumours of a fall out between them and the owners of Brewery Field, raising doubts over the financial situation of the club.

The Crusaders are thought to be considering switching several home games to other venues and Wales' end-of-season international against England is set to be played in Neath.

Gerald McCarthy, spokesman for the ground owners, said: "Sport has a unique place in the culture of Bridgend and the surrounding areas and we are beginning an exciting journey which, we believe, will lay the foundations for a strong business and exciting times.

"The Crusaders are part of this unique fabric. They are the latest member of the Bridgend sport family and, to have Super League at our ground is quite incredible.

"In that respect, we are creating a new Brewery Field that becomes a seven-days-a-week business rather than simply a sports ground in the traditional sense."

But there still seems to be some uncertainty over the Crusaders status, and their crowd on Sunday against Castleford slipped below 3,000. Will fans continue to turn out and watch a team that is losing every week? Just what have Celtic got to play for this season? If relegation was in place, they would have to fight to survive, but as is the case, they can virtually write this season off, which surely isn't good for the fans - particularly for a club like Celtic who need to be expanding their fan base immediately.

Maybe soon, their first Super League win will provide them with the press they need to attract the fans through the doors.

But, there will be clubs outside of the top-flight itching for a chance to prove themselves, a chance denied them by the abolition of promotion/relegation. Halifax are one club who are sweeping all before them in the Championship, but their achievements will mean very little come the end of the season. Sure, they'll put themselves on the map for a licence application in 2012, but is that what the fans want?

Subbuteo Rugby

Rugby league has had its fair share of missed opportunities, and maybe the table-top game Subbuteo was one of them.

Subbuteo Rugby was a game of complexities and confusion. There was a combined set for league and union, but it was never marketed perhaps as well as it should have been, and it was taken off the production line in the early 1980s.

But there is still demand for newly painted teams, and the originals fetch tidy sums on eBay and at collectors fairs.

Paul Lloyd owns World Subbuteo Rugby, a shop which paints replicas of the original reference teams as well as modern-day and retro strips. He takes large numbers of orders every week from across the world for a wide range of teams.

He said: "The rules were not clear or definitive either for League or Union. In Union more so than League, certain aspects of the game were hard to replicate. However, perhaps in hindsight more time and development should have been spent on them.

"There was at one time a meeting to discuss if two separate versions should be made, one for League and one for Union. The pitch was neither Union or League, it was a hybrid one.

"Nowadays with the growing popularity of both codes of the game and printing of teams, the game could have been far more successful."

With many sports markets dominated by football, rugby league fans are often keen to support their sport by purchasing related games, videos and books. Rugby league has made it on to video games consoles in recent years, while the number of rugby league publications in bookshops have increased greatly over recent years.

Subbuteo Rugby first appeared in the mid 1950's, but was only available for about four years due to poor sales. However, it was relaunched in 1968 with an international edition which included a pitch, two teams, two goals, a scrummer, two goalkickers and the rules.

The layout was fairly simple - a green baize pitch with two goals at either end. The scrummer was a machine with a hole in the top and six holes on the outside, aiming to replicate scrums. The two goalkickers were special figures that had a moving kicking leg, which could be flicked at the ball for goal kicks.

It was produced throughout the 1970s, but last appeared in catalogues in 1981. 37 reference teams were produced during this time, with many variations. Due to the mix of union and league, teams shared reference numbers. Notable league related designs were Ref 9 (Bradford), Ref 12 (Hull KR), Ref 16 (St Helens), Ref 20 (Leeds), Ref 25 (Rochdale) and many more.

It is thought that the fast flowing nature of rugby league suit table top games far more so than union. Although neither are as easy to pick up and play as football, there is potential for rugby league to succeed Subbuteo-style.

The Subbuteo Rugby Association has been set up to promote the playing and development of Subbuteo Rugby, and members continue to try and come up with a rules booklet that suits. They hope to hold an open tournament each year to encourage the promotion of the game.

Despite production and sales of Subbuteo dwindling over recent years, there are thousands of items going on eBay each week, and Lloyd believes there is still a market for all forms of Subbuteo.

He said: "There is a market. Over 3,000 items are sold per week on ebay, there are dozens of people producing their own figures and selling them which proves that the market is there."

However, there has been conflict in recent years over the rights to Subbuteo, currently owned by Hasbro.

Lloyd added: "If I owned the rights, I would create separate union and league editions, with all the professional and international teams done. The goalposts would be modern and I would make a new kicker model for drop goals. Then a range of accessories, stadia, fencing, flags and the like."

Lloyd pretty much keeps the Subbuteo Rugby market going on his own. He sells vast numbers of new teams, including full orders for all 14 Super League teams and last year, the 10 World Cup teams.

I tried my hand at Subbuteo Rugby a few months ago, playing a couple of matches. The main obstacle was the understanding of the various rules. Rugby league isn't as simple as football. However, once you got in to the swing of things, it was fairly entertaining to play. However, I just cannot imagine the kids of today playing Subbuteo Rugby as much as they do their video game consoles.

It might be too many years down the line for Subbuteo Rugby to work, but the potential there is vast, but is it 20 years too late to be making the most of it?

To find out more about Subbuteo Rugby, visit www.subbuteorugby.com or www.worldsubbuteorugby.co.uk

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Rugby league: What's being born in the USA?

Rugby league's development push will take a significant step next year as it tries to break the USA with the launch of the professional NRL US.

The current competition in the States, the AMNRL, will form the bulk of the players for the ambitious project, which is underway.

Throughout 2009, a series of tryouts will be held to find players suitable for the NRL draft, where 176 players will be selected for eight professional teams with 22 man fulltime playing rosters. The draft is schedules for November 7, with pre-draft camps in October.

And in the coming months, NRL US will announce television partnerships, team owners, team head coaches, team locations and a reality TV series.

But what does this mean for rugby league on the whole?

The Rugby Football League has been responsible for developing the game in this country and beyond in recent years, successfully integrating a French team in to Super League. Live Super League will be played in five countries this season (Scotland, England, Wales, France and Spain).

But an alternative professional competition to SL and the NRL is a must. America is the most interesting choice. While rugby will never be the preferred option to the NFL, NHL, NBA and more, it can become popular. It has similarities to the NFL, whose season only runs from September through to February. There is potential for rugby league to fill the summer void. The plan is to run the season from March 12 to June 11, with the championship final on July 4.

Having another professional league provides yet more opportunities for players. USA will have to rely on English and Australian imports to improve the quality of their league, but what they don't want to do is become flooded with imports. However, a big name signing here and there, and maybe the NRL US can follow the slow but steady growth of Major League Soccer.

If a suitable model can be developed in the US, maybe other countries will follow suit.

The plans are ambitious. Very ambitious. With the season only a year away, we still do not know where teams will be playing. But if rugby league had more of this ambition, then maybe professional leagues could be established elsewhere.

It will be interesting to see how the NRL US experiment goes, and I wonder if we'll ever see a competitive US national side on the horizon? Who knows, but the NRL US development is an exciting one.

Game worn shirts

With ice hockey being a minority sport in the UK, there are a number of ways the Elite League and the clubs try to make extra money. One is by auctioning off game worn shirts.

The team I follow, Manchester Phoenix, had a specially commissioned Children in Need shirt which was auctioned off, as well as a Christmas shirt. These one off pieces are auctioned off on eBay and in raffles throughout the season.

However, at the end of the season, there is a league-wide auction selling the play-off jerseys - which are produced for the end-of-season players only, and no replicas are made.

So at the end of the past two seasons, I have picked up the game-worn shirt of the player who's name I had on the back of my replica shirt - so in 2008, it was Scott Basiuk, and this year it was Bruce Mulherin. Below are some pics:

Do you have any game worn shirts?

Main Pic: Manchester Evening News

Footballing memories

Many years before I discovered the wonders of blogging, I started writing a short story about the memories I had from playing football as a junior. I played junior football for seven years, and it was the best thing I've probably done in my life to date. I miss it hugely. I also regret not trying a little bit harder. I took it for granted.

Anyway, I started writing down my memories not so I did not forget them, but just so I could share them with others. I stumbled across the document on my PC earlier. It hasn't been edited since November 25, 2005, although I'm sure I started writing it a long time before then. My last ever game of junior football was played in April 2005, in a game my team lost 9-1.

The story remains incomplete, but I plan to complete it at some point. I will post snippets from it on this blog from time to time. Your comments are much appreciated.

It was the end of a normal school day, and I was given a letter to put in my bag to take home, but instead of being left in the bag, it was something interesting. Cromwell Athletic football club were starting up, and looking for players at Under 7s, 8s and 9s. I decided I wanted to join. However, it took me a while to persuade my dad to take me, but fortunately I eventually did, and that’s how I got started.

The first time at training was late July, at Mary Ann Meadows, Westbrook. I remember being told to train with the Under 9s, my age group, and many of the other players were there for the first time, like me. In fact, the only person I knew was Josh, a friend from school, but unfortunately at the end of the session he was told he was too old. I didn’t end up playing in the same team as him, or so I thought, it would turn out 3 years later we would be playing in the same team.

At Under 9s, my manager was Ray Langford, and he was a good coach, and a nice bloke, and I enjoyed training for him. At that time, everyone was enthusiastic and willing to learn, I remember one awful night training at Mary Ann Meadows, the grass had just been cut, and we were doing headers. We all got covered in grass from head to toe, but we didn’t care, because we were playing football. My first ever game was at Winwick Community Centre, and we lost 7-2, our first goal coming direct from a corner. Me and a lad called Sean were playing on the wings, and his dad was shouting at us to imagine there was a five pound note on the ball!

My first ever goal came a few weeks after. My 21 year old cousin came to watch and I was obviously out to impress him! It was only a friendly, so the fringe lads got a game, meaning I only came on at half time. Paul Cliff went on a run down the right, centred over the ball, and I just remember launching myself at it, head first, and then seeing the ball fly in to the top corner from the edge of the box. It was my first ever goal, and probably my best ever goal! I scored another in that game, a tap in, and we won 6-2, against Croft.

The week after we played Sankey, and I scored another two in that one, as we won 4-2. Another tap in, and then one direct from a corner with my right foot. Although I was right footed, I was playing on the left flank, and I was working hard in training to improve my left foot, and I think I finally realised what it was for when at training one night, I ran out of pitch on the left hand side. I went on to score 6 goals in my first season from the left midfield position, although I did cover a few other positions during the season. We got to the quarter finals of the cup as well, where we lost 1-0 after extra time away at Birchwood on the golden goal, in a game which I hit the bar. My pre-match ritual in those days was to have melted cheese on toast before the game, and I put my raw pace down to that in those days, and I might be right, because I seemed to slacken in later years!

The name "Sport Report" for my blog was actually inspired by the fact that in my latter years of playing, I started reporting on matches for the website, Our Kids Sports. When I finished playing, I continue to write reports by watching other teams from various age groups. I had a load of pictures on the old website I used to run, but sadly this was lost when the server it was stored on crashed irrepairably.

League coaches bemoan Easter schedule

It rears its head every year, and the Easter schedule has failed to avoid criticism from coaches once again.

Many a coach thinks that the traditional Easter programme is damaging to their players, with the two games over four days taking a long while to recover from, while also impacting on the quality of the second Easter game.

With the Challenge Cup games played a week previous, many clubs faced three games in eight days last week, and it's bound to take its toll injury wise over the coming weeks.

Hull KR coach Justin Morgan has once again called for a change in the Easter programme, suggesting that the matches should be split over the entire weekend with teams playing just once each, as they do Down Under in the NRL.

Rovers won the Hull derby 18-14 on Friday but they fell to a disappointing home defeat to Huddersfield on Monday, with the Giants in a far less intense game against Celtic last Friday.

He said in his local newspaper column: "The time has come for changes to be made to the Easter programme.

"I am not saying this for the first time, and my opinion would be exactly the same had we won both of our games over the weekend.

"However, to ask our players to run themselves into the ground on a Friday, and then repeat that effort on a Monday, is simply wrong.

"It is also poor for the fans, as they are asked to pay the same money to see an inferior product on the Monday.

"Looking at last weekend's games, there was a clear difference in quality of contests between Friday and Monday.

"I can understand that Easter games are well attended and the revenue aspect of the busy weekend programme.

"But fans aren't easily fooled and if we are not careful, many will soon choose not to attend the second game of the weekend because they will know what to expect.

"I fully understand the rugby league's desire to make the Bank Holiday weekend something of a festival of rugby, but I don't see why spreading the games out over the weekend, possibly two a day, wouldn't work."

The feeling is mutual across the leagues, with many Championship 1 coaches scratching their heads at having to play two games over the Easter weekend despite having a free week the weekend after.

Keighley coach Barry Eaton watched his side beat York and Hunslet over the weekend, but rivals Oldham managed to re-schedule their game with Dewsbury, giving them nine days off between league fixtures over the Easter period.

He said: “I don’t think it’s fair. Last year quite a few teams played just once over the holiday period while we had to do Good Friday and Easter Monday.

“As a result of that, we picked up lots of injuries which led to a mid-season pile-up.

“It’s got to be the same for everyone or not at all. Oldham have managed to find a loophole in the system and they’ve used it.

“We’ve all actually got next weekend off and so that’s really frustrating. We could have played Hunslet then.

“It would have been interesting to see what the powers-that-be would have done if every team decided to change their Bank Holiday fixtures to the following weekend.

“If it was exactly the same for everyone then I could accept it without a grievance but then only recently we see Oldham have changed that Easter fixture.”

But one man who isn't complaining is John Kear, and not just because his side picked up two victories - against Castleford and Bradford - over the weekend.

He said: "You can moan and groan - it is difficult for players, difficult for us, we don't get an Easter weekend - but it is part of the job.

"We get well paid and if you want to be well paid for the job you have to get people on the terraces. You have got to generate revenue.

"It might not be best for performances but if we want paying we have got to play over Easter. That is the top and bottom of it."

A number of coaches, notably from the NRL, have taken the side of Morgan, arguing that it proves too tough for players, and it's hard to disagree with them. Both Nathan Brown and Mick Potter have spoken out of the scheduling, despite watching their sides pick up maximum points over the weekend.

It is also difficult for fans, particularly during the economic recession. With two games in such a short space of time, travelling and entry costs might prove too much for many fans.

The Easter period traditionally throws up derby encounters. We saw Wigan play Saints, the Hull derby, Leeds against Bradford, Widnes against Leigh, Rochdale against Oldham, but due to the imbalance of the league, we the Monday games are often against sides a lot further away.

Widnes had to travel to Doncaster, Wigan went all the way to France to face Catalans while Blackpool had to trek to London.

So is it time to scrap tradition - as we have done with the abolition of promotion/relegation - and phase one round of games across the Easter period rather than play the usual double-headers?

This blog also appears on my website, www.lasttackle.com

New LastTackle.com launched

After finishing a work placement at 4thegame.com as an enthusiastic 17-year-old back in 2005, I set up my own rugby league site, attempting to provide the same coverage and processes that I had thoroughly enjoyed doing with football at 4thegame.

Four years on, and I'm still running www.lasttackle.com, and last Friday launched yet another version of the site as I strive to reach the high standards I set myself.

This is the third bespoke design we've had. In the early days, everything was coded in HTML, before I moved on to a news management system (CuteNews), then to a content management system (Limbo, then Mambo). In July 2007, a new bespoke designed site was launched, powered by a simple NMS but with a fully customisable design. This design was revised in May 2008 to incorporate a new menu system.

But I made the decision at the end of the 2008 season that a powerful back end was required, and thus a new news system and stats system was developed and this now powers the new site. The flexibility it brings is brilliant. Anything and everything on the site can be added and edited as we want it, by who we want it and in the way we want it.

It has brought about a host of new features and now I want to concentrate on pushing the marketing side of the site not only to get more people coming through the site, but also to generate revenue to ensure the site's survival in the long term. It's been great running it on a voluntary basis during my college and university years, but now I'm approaching the end of them, I need to make it viable to keep it operating.

Let me know your thoughts on the new site, and if you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback!

Button wins in Malaysia

Formula 1 just gets more extraordinary.

Jenson Button made it two wins out of two in Malaysia after a fascinating race which was ended after 31 laps due to extreme weather conditions.

From the outset, the teams were bracing themselves for rain on what was already a slippery surface, and as the first fuel pit stops approached, a couple of drivers gambled on the wet tyres in the anticipation of a downpour.

It didn't quite come as expected, and Timo Glock, the only driver who went for the intermediate tyre, benefited with a phase of quick driving which ultimately guided him to a podium finish.

The laps went by and the wets were getting worn, and so the race leaders jumped in to change to intermediate, hoping to follow the lead of Glock.

But then the heavens opened. After a couple of laps of treading water, spins and near misses, the safety car was deployed and then seconds later, the race was red flagged.

It was something I hadn't seen before, but the cars all lined up on the grid wondering whether the race would re-start. The ruling states a race can only last either the lap distance or two hours, whichever comes first.

The minutes ticked by with the drivers still on the grid, and Mark Webber was championing the postponement of the race on safety grounds, and looking at the surface water on the track, it was hard to disagree with him.

Eventually, the two hour window came to a close and the race was declared a result, albeit with the top eight drivers only taking half points.

It meant a second successive win for Jenson Button, who picked up five points for his troubles, to go with the ten he got in Melbourne last weekend.

But there was yet more controversy. Timo Glock thought he had claimed second place, but was later switched with third placed Nick Heidfeld, just before the podium celebrations.

Likewise, there were changes in the rest of the order in the top eight, with Lewis Hamilton doing an interview on BBC thinking he had finished 5th, but being told that actually he had finished 7th, with McLaren reported to be appealing that decision.

So it seems another race weekend has gone by without a definitive final classification. And that's before we even think about the Toyota diffuser hearing in a couple of weeks time, which could have ratifications on both the Malaysian and Australian grand prixs.

One things for sure though, Button won this GP, and he is well on course for what would be a sensational title challenge in the debut season of Brawn GP.

Hamilton stripped of podium finish

The rise of Formula 1 in the headlines over the past 18 months has been quite extraordinary.

The presence of Lewis Hamilton, one of the best British drivers for a very long time, is no doubt a primary reason for this.

But it's the controversy that follows F1 even between race days. Sure, at race weekends, the attention is on the beautiful cars, the wonderful circuits and the exciting races, but it seems that rarely does a week pass without incident.

This week, it centres around the finishing position of Hamilton, who has now been stripped totally of any points he earned at the opening race weekend in Melbourne.

Hamilton drove superbly to earn a fourth place finish, not bad considering he started 18th, with Jarno Trulli taking third place (Brawn GP duo Jenson Button and Reubens Barrichello finished first and second).

Not long after the race, and the podium celebrations, an appeal from McLaren saw Trulli stripped of his podium, and moved down to a 12th placed finish, moving Hamilton in to third.

But investigations showed that McLaren or Hamilton had lied to race investigators, and Hamilton was stripped of his points finish and Trulli re-instated to third place.

It's been a torrid few weeks for Hamilton, and he will be hoping to put it behind him by doing all his talking on the track. It would be nice to have a Grand Prix where everything is decided on race weekend in Malaysia this weekend.

Ice Hockey: New Phoenix deal for Hand

After the controversy of yesterday, much was expected from Manchester Phoenix's "major" announcement at 7am this morning.

But it turned out to be an anti-climax, considering the situation, as the news was unrelated to the Elite League break up.

However, in a normal week, it would be big news - Tony Hand MBE agreeing a new long-term deal with the club.

Hand is the greatest British hockey player of all time. At the age of 41, he is still the best British forward in the Elite League.

In 1986, he became the first British-born player to be drafted by an NHL team, when he was picked 252nd overall by the Edmonton Oilers. Homesickness got the better of him, and he rejected a contract in Canada to return to the UK. In his excellent autobiography, A life in British Ice Hockey, Hand admits his regret at not sticking it out across the pond.

Earlier this season, he registered his 4000th career point, against Hull Stingrays. For the past three years, he's been at the helm of Manchester and will continue to do so for the forseeable future.

What remains to be seen is what league he will be leading Phoenix in next season. The story goes on.

Pic: Manchester Phoenix

Ice hockey in "team cut" controversy

I don't like the term minority sports.

But in reality, every sport in this country is a minority sport compared to football. Such is the popularity and the resources available to it, nothing will ever compete with football. But there are plenty of alternatives.

My primary alternative, and my actual sporting preference, is rugby league. But running a close second is ice hockey. Unfortunately, the landscape of UK ice hockey has once again taken a considerable bashing.

For those of you unaware, ice hockey in this country enjoyed a boom in the mid-90s, with large arean crowds of 10,000+ enjoying what is dubbed the fastest team sport in the world. The Super League (ISL) was packed with top quality imports and decent British players, but as the crowds faded away, teams could no longer pay the money required to sustain its quality. And following the withdrawal of Cardiff Devils and Newcastle Jesters in 2001 and Bracknell Bees in 2002 and the collapse of both Ayr Scottish Eagles and Manchester Storm, the ISL collapsed.

Out of the ashes came the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), and for the past six seasons, the league has gone by relatively incident free.

All that changed last night.

Out came the revelation that six clubs (of 10, although Basingstoke have already withdrawn from the EIHL for next season) had met on Monday to plan the future of the league and had, according to some sources, failed to invite representatives of three clubs (Newcastle, Manchester and Edinburgh).

There has been unrest amongst fans of some clubs for years about the power of the so-called big four - Belfast, Coventry, Nottingham and Sheffield - and claims that they regularly break the wage cap, thus rendering a supposed "levelling process" obsolete.

It is believed, by some fans, that these four clubs don't want to lose money by helping out the smaller clubs. The "missing" trio of Edinburgh, Manchester and Newcastle have all voiced concerns about the economics of the league during the recession, and it is believed now that the league will carry on without them.

So now there's the background, what's actually been happening.

Well, Manchester were the first club to come out with an official response, in which they claimed to be unaware of Monday nights meeting and that they were to make an announcement on Thursday morning.

But that statement has been contradicted by a press release on the official EIHL website, which claims that all clubs were aware a meeting was taking place.

It appears that the "missing" trio wanted a reduction in the wage cap and the number of imports to help with the economics of the league, but such requests were dismissed by the "big four" and the other two clubs in the six, Cardiff and Hull.

It's no secret that clubs are struggling, particularly as immediately after their play-off defeat at the weekend, Newcastle coach Rob Wilson expressed concerns about the Vipers' future.

Just a week ago it was confirmed that Basingstoke Bison were ending their tenure in the EIHL, citing a substantial loss and an inability to compete on a level playing field.

The general consensus on the Manchester Phoenix official forum is that the big four are merely looking after themselves. Heck, an article in a Nottingham newspaper is even suggesting that this move may be the start of some sort of NHL-type revolution in this country. What?! The arrogance of this piece, and perhaps a reflection on the stature of the big four, is the following quote:

And who would Nottingham supporters rather see for a season, four or five high-quality games against Sheffield, Coventry, Cardiff and Belfast?

Or the likes of Edinburgh and Newcastle, who go from game to game, needing a home fixture each week to pay the bills?

The Bolton Evening News calls it a "controversy", and if there's one thing the situation is, it's a controversy.

So what does this mean for the future?

The likelihood is the Elite League will continue on with six teams, but what this means in the long term is unknown. I can't help think that hockey would benefit from a pyramid structure and a regional system, perhaps with leagues running alongside each other, maybe with different tiers to encourage movement up the leagues. Another blogger has his own ideas, but it remains to be seen what will happen.

What is for sure, the situation will unfold and become clearer in the next few days - hardly ideal, considering UK ice hockey's yearly showpiece - the play-off finals weekend - takes place this weekend at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham.

Watch this space.

Pics: Elite League,

Shearer, new Newcastle boss, really?

OK, so this Shearer thing, is it an April Fool's or not?

When it was brought to my attention at approximately 11.30pm last night, I thought "interesting". About 30 seconds later, a friend chuckled at me and said "what's the date in half an hour" and ever since then, I've totally dismissed the story.

But such has been the intensity of the coverage by both the BBC and SKY, I'm starting to have my doubts as to whether the only April fool is indeed myself.

Either way, kudos to the coverage both news organisations have given the story. We've seen some great names dug up from Premier League past, from Jon Moncur to Kevin Gallacher and Paul Gascoigne to Steve Watson.

But we've still not had any word from Alan Shearer (puzzling considering his status as a BBC pundit) or from Newcastle themselves.

I'm not convinced either about the post-midday announcement that Iain Dowie is set to become Shearer's assistant. Can anyone tell me the link between Shearer and Dowie, apart from the fact they were both strikers in their playing days?!

We wait for tomorrow's press conference with anticipation, either of cancellation or confirmation. Which one will it be?

Pic: BBC