Why watch when there is nothing to play for?

Why watch when there is nothing to play for?

Rich Clarke
CricketPaper
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The County Championship is back. On Monday, six teams will resume their fight for the title in what promises to be an exciting finale. All the big counties are assembled in Group One, apart from a Surrey side who continue to disappoint. As the only county not to regularly host England internationals, you can argue their replacements are Somerset. The nearly men of the red-ball game are the pick for the neutrals enviously peering over the wall at what has been dubbed ‘Super September’.

The concept of the three conferences has been much discussed but little has been set in stone. For all we know, we could revert to two divisions in 2022 or this season’s placings will determine next term’s starting positions. Like the decision to switch systems before the 2020 campaign, these pronouncements will come out of the blue, often late, and with little sense of real strategy.

For me, the final stretch of this season reveals the real weakness of the three-conference system - what happens to the remaining 12 counties? Frankly, there is nothing to play for.

The scheduling of the entire 2021 season has been annoying and confusing for ‘legacy fans’. The Championship has been exiled to the extremities, the Royal London Cup has been diluted and overshadowed while the Blast has been protracted to the extent of near meaninglessness. Fans of Leicestershire, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire and Worcestershire have had no live cricket to watch since they exited the 50-over competition on August 12. That is 18 long days in the height of summer. My own team Essex have played one day of red-ball cricket since June 3 due to the abrupt cancellation of the game at Derbyshire due to a Covid case.

Of course, the feather-bedding of The Hundred is at the heart of the scheduling issues but, let’s be fair, the structure of the Championship is one of the few county-based concerns for which this wretched competition cannot be blamed.

To me, the conference system makes sense if you view it through the prism of the well-established argument that devotees use to sustain the need for 18 first-class counties. Namely, that it feeds the England Test team, the game’s major money-earner. In these circumstances, you would want the best playing the best in the most meaningful, intense conditions.

The weakness of this argument is that it entirely disregards county cricket as a spectator attraction. Yes, yes yes, we all know crowds are spartan on many days and the “one man and his dog” idea is hard to shake. They tend to be older too, the wrong demographic to attract blue-riband sponsors. But, at the same time, I have been in many T20 crowds that match those of lower-end Premier League games but earned no coverage in the popular press or on television. The media business knows football sells and therefore the game consumes nearly all the airtime and column inches.

Howver, the overall success of T20 and the popularity of the county streams demonstrates there remains some sort of market for the game, at least until Generation X starts to die off.Thousands of donated membership fees underwrote a vital part of the domestic game during lockdown. These supporters need some value in return so losing a chunk of the summer followed by a host of dead rubbers just will not do. After handing over the best part of £500 inside two years, you can expect some members to ignore their renewal notices when they arrive early next year.

The two-division system was not perfect but there was normally a hope of promotion or risk of relegation for most teams until the final couple of fixtures. And fans would be keen to watch games against those teams going for the title, especially if they were rivals whose hopes you might derail.

Earlier this week, I canvassed opinion on this end-of-season question on a few message boards. Most were well aware of the issues but were likely to go along as normal. Established county members have long since learned to take the rough with the smooth. Some even recalled the one division championship before the turn of the Millennium. It was full of meaningless games at the fag-end of the campaign.

With contracts running out, finances tight and points unimportant, Group Two and Three counties may build for next season by handing experience to young players, who may be less costly in appearance fees and bonuses. Normally this would only add to the pre-season friendly feel. However, somewhat perversely, the Royal London Cup may have acted as a primer here. Before that tournament, Josh Rymell was just a name on an Essex Second XI scorecard, now I want to see this free-scoring batsman in the flesh at Chelmsford. He is one of many breakout stars from a glorious 50-over competition this season.

Then again, perhaps this is just what avid fans do - create their own interest when little exist.

Let’s be honest, all sports spectating is merely a wonderful waste of time. An amusement that stirs cathartic emotions while creating crucial bonds of meaning and identity. As Italian football manager Arrigo Sacchi once said: “It is the most important of the unimportant things in life.”

That may well be true but the matches still need to feel like they matter.

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