OK, so, if you've been following this blog for any number of years, you'll know that I really don't like the current UC format where defeat in the second round means instant elimination. I trot this out at least once every year, usually when a very strong team loses in the second round to another very strong team (think Cardiff and Newcastle this current series and Bristol last series).
In my mind, and the minds of many others such as Weaver's Week, the time to have the 'extended' format is at the second round. (Of course, my preferred preference would just be straight elimination from the second round onwards like it was between 1998 and 2009, but that's besides the point. In fact, now that I say that, I realise that this 37 show format is now the longest running one of the BBC era!) The problem is, how do you 'extend' the format at the second round without dragging the series out longer than it currently is?
Well, many years ago, when the current format was in only its second series, WW proposed a format involving 24 teams, with twelve first round winners going into a 'four groups of three' group stage, with two teams from each group going into the QFs. However, this would come at the cost of abandoning the first round repechage, which is the one bit of the current format we all definitely like, so that's a big no no.
I myself have spent a long time trying to work out how it could be made to work, but all the ideas I've had would see the show run longer than it currently is and/or require multiple shows in the same week to ensure it doesn't run too long.
However, I think I've finally come up with one that doesn't do either of those; in fact, it actually results in a shorter series than the current format...
Remember a few years back when Only Connect attempted two new 37 show formats in Series 12 and 13? Well, S12's proved to be about as unfair as the current UC format, so that's a non-starter. But Series 13's had promise: a second round where the winners go straight to the QFs and the runners-up to a play-off round alongside the two highest scoring R1 runners-up?
Now, that wasn't a bad format; the reason it didn't work was because they then did the exteneded QF format as well, which really did drag the show out too much. It was no surprise they abandoned the idea of an 'extended' format after S13 and went back to the old, and much fairer, format for S14 onwards.
However, with a few tweeks, I think that S13 format could work in UC. Here is what I propose:
- Round 1: 24 teams play 12 matches; winners proceed to R2, four highest scoring runners-up progress to First Play-off Round
- First Play-off Round: Four teams play two matches; two winners proceed to Second Play-off Round
- Round 2: 12 teams play six matches; six winners proceed to Quarter-Finals, six runners-up proceed to Second Play-off Round
- Second Play-off Round: Eight teams play six matches, four 'preliminaries' followed by two 'qualifiers'; winners of two 'qualifiers' proceed to Quarter-Finals
That would bring the series total to 33 matches. It doesn't drag, it's (fairly) easy to understand, and it eliminates the scenario of a team being eliminated after a win and a single defeat.
It would, again, mean only 24 teams could take part. (But that could be a good thing; Oxbridge representation, for example, would probably have be trimmed to at least six,
but no more than eight, as opposed to now where eight is the absolute
minimum)
And it would raise the issue of fairness given how six teams would have only faced two matches to reach the QFs, while two would have had to play four. But this didn't seem to make much difference in S13 of OC; in fact, one of the teams who'd taken longer to get through ended up winning the whole series!
Overall, I don't expect this format to catch on, but I am fairly satisfied with it on the whole and I felt like putting it out there for others to see and judge. If you have any opinions on it, I'd be interested to hear them below or on Twitter.
Back tomorrow with my usual UC write-up; see you then...
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