New Scoring system - Danish revolt

Martin Dew-Hattens · 18th December 2005, 19:08

This evening the world class singles player Kenneth Johansson went on television to openly critisise the new scoring system of 21 up score with serve or not.

His basic claim was that since you can score without the serve it would make for far less interesting shots and hence more boring badminton.

I have to say I must agree with him and I hope more players can write in to the IBF to add their support to this corruption of the game.

As far as I understand it the IBF beleive that badminton now takes far too long to find a winner of a match.

We tried rules similar to this as far back as 1985 in the Cockney classic mixed event. I have to say it was unpleasant and boring to play. Just think - you serve in the net and loose a point - so whats the result ? All serves become long serves and players with the perfect defense will become the winners and attacking players the loosers.

In singles as players make safer shots all the time it would not surprise me if the crowd fall asleep watching.

The problem with all this is that simply because the IBF wants to attract sponsers using shorter matches in elite badminton then the rules change will probably reach all the way down to your little club mixed match. So in time it will affect you if you don't say your peace.

So write to the BA of E and the IBF and let them know what you think regardless of your suppot of these rules or not. Don' let just a few IBF council members decide the fate of your Friday cosy mixed at the church hall.

Happy Xmas (happens on the 24th here !!)

rhombus · 19th December 2005, 09:34

Dear All,

Why change, we seem to live in a world now of change for the sake of change. For years now the arguement has been to make Badminton more exciting for TV audiences. Has Tennis changed it's scoring for TV ..... of course it has'nt. Football, Rugby, Golf and even Snooker have not changed. The best of 5 sets to 7 points died a death and I hope this does as well.

Luncheon · 19th December 2005, 13:08

What I don't understand is that snooker (although I enjoy watching it) goes on forever on bbc with no adverts, yet badminton alot faster paced and enjoyable needs to chenge to allow more time for breaks and more crucial points. So why not try 5x9 in a few events, giving more breaks for tv adverts.

I would have thought that in China and the far east that as TV is on telly all the time then they wouldn't want to change the scoring just for tv.
But then 2 points o that:
1) To keep Badminton's olmpic status going, the Olympic council were saying the sport should be less dominated by the Asian countries....so its in Asia's interests to make the sport better for the rest of the world.
Also
2) If the scoring changes to benefiting the stronger quicker more powerful Asians, then the slower, defensive grinding players from Europe won't be able to claw their way back in games. A power player like Chen Hong is less likely to struggle against a defensive player like Ghaffar.

The one thing I see from the scoring changes is that from radically changing the scoring its not going to guarantee more people participating or getting more tv coverage, but it will upset the people that love the game and play reguarly, maybe making some decide to give it up altogether.

Here's a new radical idea for the IBF....rather than spending all this time and money on trying to change the whole game of badminton. Why not use the money and people to build their own TV station, and push that so badminton gets a dedicated channel for distribution across the world. If badminton was on freeview in this country....I can guarantee it would get the tv audiences that we would all expect.

nasigoreng · 19th December 2005, 15:04

Nothing lasts forever. You have to evolve or die. The new 21x3 was tried out in China and by all accounts went ok. as to which type of player would do better, didn't the same players win, i.e the chinese as they do most of the time, whether its 21x3, 15x3, 5x7 do i need to go on. its not the scoring stupid, its who is more skillful. give it a chance before we condemn it to the bin. doesn't mean the idea comes from the far east, its automatically rubbish. the power base has shifted, deal with it. .

Luncheon · 19th December 2005, 15:52

nasigoreng - whether my points are valid or invalid I don't accept the need for any abuse....if you can't just give your views without being some sort of sarcastic arsehole...then don't give them.
Ok so you disagree with my views, thats fine...I'm happy to accept others have different views or opinions, but just because my opinion is different to yours that doesn't make me stupid, just means I have different thoughts to you.

2 further stupid thoughts........
1) if you'd like to come down to Southampton and tell me how stupid I am...we can have a stupid persons conversation (usually with fists I think???), rather than a normal discussion online.
2) you can show that you're not some poxy badminton player, who thinks they're better than they are....and give you're real name...rather than hiding behind a fake name as some tw@t with a small penis...then next time we meet at a badminton tournament or Premier A we can introduce ourselves properly...have an adult conversation about it...you can prove me you're right...that I'm wrong....then you can apologise for pissing me off on a monday!!!!

dlp · 19th December 2005, 15:53

Whatever scoring system is used , on UK TV we will still see fractions of a match at best. If its 3 to 21 we will see the points from 17 onwards on highlights shows instead of 10 onwards.

Someone mentioned snooker, if as the current trend suggests, a world snooker final is in future played between 2 chinese players and half the ranking events are in asia does anyone think the coverage will be maintained?

Under the new scoring I don't think it is whether you win a point or regain the serve which affects the nature of the game, but that the average game length may be shorter, as with the 7 point experiment a few years back this may favour some players.

Lungaard Hanson is quoted on worldbadminton as saying "while the new scoring system will take some getting used to before the audiences see the excitement , it is a less physical game"

Also one of the top mens matches went 21-17 21-17 in only 23 minutes!

You could see events such as the All England being shortened by a day easily with this scoring.

The advantage of this scoring is that matches will be more unpredictable and apparantly closer, even if the loser never strings together more than one winning point at a time he can score where under the current system you can win only marginally more points than your opponent yet he can fail to score for long periods. Of course what we may lose is the fine balance between the attacking explosive player and the steadier more even paced player where one races into the lead only to be caught and lose in three long ends.

nasigoreng · 19th December 2005, 16:17

Luncheon's not your given name is it?, or are you also hiding behind a fake name. Now at least I know you play for hampshire in Prem. A, propping up the division. I don't care if I have spoilt your Monday, I don't like Mondays either.. I do not see anything relevant in what you have said, apart from inviting me to have a fight. 20 years ago I would have accepted, but just now I have to decline, or fight your grand-dad. Read DLP's points, they make more sense, unlike yours.

Markymark · 19th December 2005, 16:23

I don't think the 21x3 will last, just as the 5x7 didn't last.

The players from China and the rest of the far-east are supremely fit. They handle the heat well and can last forever in comparison to their European counterparts. Scoring every point makes the matches shorter (they think about half as short on average) and may potentially make the Asian players less dominant. The same thing happened with 5x7 and it got dropped. We shall wait and see.

I really don't like the only having one serve in doubles thing. It's possible for a player to never serve in a doubles match now!!!! Weird.

Luncheon · 19th December 2005, 16:32

If you check my profile you will see what my name is....or is that a bit complicated.
Yes you are right we are bottom of the table.....maybe not to be in Premier A for much longer....but we'll still give it our best. I'm sure you've got some hilarious comment to make on that!

So in the same observant way you have...I can now see you're considerably older...so either some washed up has-been.....or never-was....or just some cheeky old sod....who has lost any forms of tact and diplomacy.
I don't care bout the fact it was monday....no need for your attitude regardless of the day, you are also clever enough to see my last post was purely insults to you and yes was offering you the option of coming to discuss in a more physical way...because you are blatantly unable to discuss with any respect of others in an online forum.

The offer is still there......if you want to come to Southampton or introduce yourself to me at a tournament or next county weekend...then I can sit you down and teach you some manners (in a non-physical way). That way....rather than reacting the way I have I might have addressed your points, and re-worded mine, so they come across as DLP's do...as although maybe badly worded, I was trying to make a similar point.

Chris Evans
Hampshire

nasigoreng · 19th December 2005, 17:16

Chris, Which insult did you not like, which one hit a raw nerve. I did by process of elimination work out who you were but I should have looked in the profile to save me time. I knew Matt Shuker would not respond in that manner, nor would Mark Ashton or Bruce Peake, they are too nice., so it only left you. Next time I see you I will introduce myself, we have met many times, but I cannot take up your offer, it would not be right. you have got 30 years on me. Maybe my second could be Adam, I'll ask him.