New format – is it flawed?

As the last round of the first and second division championship starts today, this year’s experiment of extending the competition to play-offs after the completion of the usual round-robin matches has been regarded as a step towards infusing more interest in the game among as many contestants as possible.

The flavour of a knock-out on the basis of best-of-three and best-of-five matches should revive the hopes of most teams of being able to turn the tables in the latter part of the season and eventually end their campaign successfully after a poor start.

League championships are tests in consistency and a prolonged elimination round of play-offs should underline further the fact that the teams winning the title will definitely be those with the best staying power.

Although the matches in the first and second divisions have seen Neptunes and Marsascala sprinting ahead of their rivals, the issue of the destination of honours will start again as six out the nine teams (four in the first and two in the second) will be involved in decisive elimination enounters between the last week of August and the first week of September.

The first two-placed teams in the second division will play a best-of-three series, while the top four in the first division will be engaged in semi-finals over three matches and a final to be contes-ted over five.

There is no doubt that such a format is worth trying and a bold step towards whipping up more enthusiasm among more teams.

League competitions, including play-offs, are no novelty abroad, especially in Italy where the system has been in use for some time now.

Top and bottom teams in that country are involved in the cham-pionship and relegation ties with all matches being played at the same time in different venues.

However, detractors of the play-off system in Malta point out that what works out fine in the nearby peninsula, where there are more than double the teams in the top division than we have in Malta, does not necessarily apply to us.

The percentage of our teams playing in the decisive matches for the title (four out of five) is far too high and the feeling is that the traditional league system will take a back seat in favour of what could be regarded as a sudden death cup-tie format despite its extension to a number of matches per tie.

Moreover, there is no guarantee that the teams will not speculate as to which opponents they should avoid or meet in the semis, when it comes to determining the table placings, given that these semis are over three matches and the final is over five.

A lower-placed team in the standings would probably prefer to face the best-ranked one over fewer play-off matches and thus take advantage of a higher degree of the sudden-death element.

This ‘manoeuvering’ is possible since the last matches before the final standings are known cannot be played simultaneously once we have only one venue. Furthermore, given that there are few teams, we can end up by having too many matches between two particular opponents no matter how keen these duels turn out to be.

This shows that there are certain inherent flaws in the system of play-offs despite the hype surrounding the new format.

Pros and cons

Whatever it is, the ASA will do well to analyse in detail the pros and cons of this year’s system with a view to having a stabilised competition in future, one to fit our specific championship and the number of teams we have.

Meanwhile, sporting battles will be renewed between Sirens and San Giljan today and Exiles and Sliema tomorrow as the four teams play the first of four final matches in their bid to seek the three remaining play-off berths.

Likewise in the second division where the Otters-Valletta and Ta’ Xbiex-Marsascala matches could give first indications of the top two places and eventually the play-offs.

Programme
Today: Div. Two 5.45 p.m. Otters vs Valletta; Div. One 7 p.m. Sirens vs San Ġiljan.
Tomorrow: Div. Two 5.45 p.m. Ta’ Xbiex vs Marsascala; Div. One 7 p.m. Exiles vs Sliema.

Current standings

Note: Bonus points awarded to teams after preliminary round – Neptunes 5; Sliema 3; San Ġiljan 2; Sirens 1.

Note: Bonus points awarded to teams after preliminary round – Marsascala 5; Valletta 3; Otters 2; Ta’ Xbiex 1.