At 90 mph, the Puk Hurts…
Season Review.
Well, for me, the season got under way on April 16th, 2012,
when I handed over 640 quids worth of used, non-sequential, grubby notes to
Tony Smith (I actually handed them over to Andy, but that’s just a
technicality). This is quite a substantial sum of money to someone on my meagre
pension.
Within a couple of weeks of this momentous event, all of a sudden, a
major announcement from the EIHL, dampens my spirits profoundly for the
upcoming season. The league structure is to be split into 2 separate
conferences. Straight away, I’m wondering if I can get a refund. I don’t like
conference systems, I never have, I probably never will, especially when you
are splitting up just a handful of teams. Ten teams, split into two groups of
five, one called Gardiner and one called Erhardt. The names could have been
different, for example, they could have been called “Top 5” and “Bottom 5”,
“Strong” and “Weak” or maybe, “North” and “South”, or how about, “Scottish (and
Hull)” and “Everyone Else”, then at least the names would reflect the member
teams. Then, to just put me even more on a downer, the EIHL announce the rules
governing the playing sequence for the conference and inter conference matches.
Each team to play their own conference teams four home and four away, and to
play inter conference teams two home and two away. Anticipation of an exciting
season is already ebbing away as I can see boredom creeping in with so many
visits by the same teams. After years of being told “the league need to work
forward to make sure that we don’t get back to the scenario of just five teams
competing with each other over and over”, in one fell swoop, they have achieved
just that. Two separate conferences of five
teams competing with each other over and over. The Scottish teams through their
crying and dummy throwing have managed to get a manipulated league which now
serves as an extended version of the Challenge Cup groups. They wanted to join
this league, but as soon as they did, then decided to throw all of their toys
out and begin shifting the blame to the big boys who were already here first,
(and yes, Edinburgh, I am thinking of you at the moment). If you can’t play in
the big pond, then bugger off back and swim with the tiddlers, but don’t jump
in head first and then start whining that it’s too deep. By all means, come and
play, but be ready to play for a full season and an equal number of times
against every other club in the playground. Also, the excuses of wanting to even up the playing field to give the smaller
clubs a chance of getting to the play-off weekend, doesn’t really cut it anymore
does it, as none were there this year, but on looking back at last year, there
seems to be an infiltration by Hull to the weekend, who are this year included
in the Scottish conference (they must have loved all the extra travel costs).
So, looking at the line ups from last year, a smaller team got through to the
final weekend without the help of any conference set up, but this year, a
smaller team didn’t.
Bingo, that worked!!!
NOT!
I force myself to start thinking “Give it a chance” and await the
announcement of players being signed. But then, the kick in the teeth and I
know the season is all downhill from now. The Challenge Cup groups are
announced, and apart from Hull and Belfast being swapped, the other teams in
our group are the same as our conference group, so another home and away
against the same teams. Belfast must be jumping with joy at the prospect of
their free ride. So now, with league and Challenge Cup games, we have the
prospect of five home games against the likes of Cardiff, Coventry, and Nottingham….
Yawn…. And most of these will be on the season ticket. Including Challenge Cup
games on the season ticket, to me, cheapens the value, especially if they are
towards the end of all group matches. If, like we did this season, the team
storms the group, then the last couple of games are meaningless, as you can
come no higher than first in group. So the end result is getting, what in
reality, are nothing more than dead rubber, practice games. The number of times
playing and seeing each team will, no doubt, for some, get very repetitive, and
take a lot of the atmosphere away from the game. It will end up getting stale,
regardless of how much certain noises try and spin it or hype it up.
Then, just when I think it can’t possibly get any worse, the games
schedule is announced. Good grief, I despair. Most of the other conference
games are at Ice Sheffield, so won’t be covered by the season ticket, there are
more Sunday games than Saturday games, also, there are two or three mid-week
games, and to cap it off, we already have some Challenge Cup games listed.
The lack of other conference games at the Arena, means only one visit
by certain teams on the season ticket, and a couple of teams that won’t even
visit the Arena. After already paying out to see the Arena games via the season
ticket, I am unable to justify the cost of going to Ice Sheffield to try and
see other teams which could, in a way, break up some of the relentless boredom,
which I expect from seeing our own conference teams over and over. Having to
put up with so many Sunday games is something I will never relish. A few, fair
enough, as to fill in the schedule, we will always have some, but when there
are more Sunday games than Saturday, then to me, the value is lost, as with
some members of my close family regularly working on Sunday, this now detracts
from the “Family sport” so intensively pushed forward by the club and the
league, because, now, they simply won’t be able to attend, especially as this
is made even worse by the stupid face off time of 5:00 pm.
So far, it’s not exactly looking promising, at least not to me, and all
this before we even get a team signed.
Oh well. The season tickets had been bought, and as I waited for the
season to start, players were announced one after another. Some sounded good,
some sounded average, some were coming back from last year. Would they make a
team of hard hitting, exciting, win hungry players. Only time would tell.
Fast forward to the games and we all know how they went. Some
disappointing performances, gave some very disappointing results. The few games
where the promised hard hitting, exciting teamwork materialised were few and
far between and this non-commitment cost us any chance of getting in front. By
Christmas, I was getting annoyed at the results as well as getting depressed
with seeing the same repetitive games.
Then, 2 days after Christmas, what the hell? Complete destruction of
Nottingham, by a team I hadn’t seen before.
But, not to worry, normal service was resumed the following weekend.
Back to the non-commitment and the lack of passion. We were winning games, we
were losing games, but there was little to get excited about. Games we should
have controlled were thrown away and when we needed to make games count, they went
beyond reach. The season drifted beyond us. Obviously, by this point of the
season, Tony Smith was less than impressed as a warning about heads could roll
being published in the local rag.
All that remained was to see how well we could play in the two cup
competitions. The Challenge cup games were played by a different team. As
already stated, we dominated our group for the Challenge Cup and moved easily
onto the quarter-final against Dundee. So for this game, we again struggled and
ended up losing. The second leg at Ice Sheffield, which I decided to attend and
all of a sudden, it was team 2 that turned up. Dundee destroyed and a move on
to the semi- final with a match up against Braehead. Both games won to set up a
final against our nearest and dearest. Another anomaly I have never agreed to,
a final played over 2 legs. So a final and then a final final. Well, as group
leaders we had home preference so should have played the final final at Sheffield,
but no, Nottingham were allowed to piss us off and take control of something
they should never have been allowed to. More bullshit from a joke of a league, gifting
games to Nottingham, probably to appease them for years of falling apart at the
seams due to their own ineptitude to play for a full season. So into the first
leg and lo and behold, we die. So, regardless of which order the games are
played, we decide we are not really going to turn up and end the night being 3
goals behind in our own shed. Again, not good enough. The second leg in
Nottingham, too much to do, but at least we put it on the ice, and came away
with a win, but as I said, too much to do. The trophy went to Nottingham. The
same week they managed to do something, which had evaded them for over half a
century. They had done the unthinkable. They had won the league.
Two trophies in Nottingham, and just one tournament left. One that has
been a joke for some time now. Played in the neutral venue of Nottingham, this
can only be the Play Off weekend. We need to get there, no matter what, and
with a third place finish in the league, we get a home and away quarter final
match up against, what has been, a rather poor Coventry Blaze side. We win in
Coventry and lose in Sheffield, albeit in overtime. But disappointing all the
same, as Coventry have struggled all season. Maybe they just want to see if
they could salvage something from what has been close to a disaster for them. But
what is it with our team, not being able to put many convincing wins down in
front of their own fans in their own barn. Pretty much the story all season, let’s
not play for the home crowd, but we can pull it back while on the road.
Disappointment spread to just about every Steeler fan with that result. Again,
no Steeler team in Nottingham. By now, I don’t really care who wins what, as I
fully expect Nottingham to take the remaining cup in the neutral venue, which
is used year after year, although Nottingham fans swear that, no way does it
give their team any advantage what-so-ever. Hahaha, keep trying, as you must be
the only fans of any team playing any sport in the world that actually believes
any crap like that, why do teams clammer for home advantage in so many
different sports.
So, that’s it.
Season over.
So how did we do? Crap, worse than last season.
Was it exciting? No, not really, small bursts of what could have been,
but nothing sustained from game to game.
Was it worth the money? No, not in my opinion.
Am I bitter? Damn right, I am. I want my team to play. The shirt isn’t
a gift to keep them warm, it’s a uniform to have pride in.
Will I be back next year? The way I feel at the moment, I very much
doubt it.
Am I disappointed? Yes, very.
If I do come back, I expect a hell of a different team, and a hell of a
different attitude from players, coaches, managers, and a hell of a lot less
spin and more truth as to what should be put on the ice. This season was full
of bullshit all round, and it leaves a very bad taste. From start to finish, it
did nothing for me, from the rubbish conference set up, to the manipulation of
games, to the disappointment of not being able to compete, to the players
seemingly not bothered, and to being 640 quid lighter with nothing even
remotely resembling value for money.
At the moment, I DO NOT BELIEVE.