Do we need a Charity Shield?

As is the case for all minority sports, ice hockey in Britain suffers from a questionable sense of identity. The game’s roots are in North America, and a vast number of the Elite League’s players and coaches from that continent; it is inevitable that the game will be split between the sporting cultures of Britain, and Canada and America. 

The key to success, however, is finding a way for the sport to fit into the cultural landscape of this country and ice hockey is doing a good job of this.  British domestic competitions have a league competition as their focus and I think it has been important for British ice hockey to do the same. When people ask about the sport they tend to do so in terms they can understand, and a familiar system makes it more accessible to new fans. 

The playoffs are a good example of a sport evolving its own traditions to fit in with its fan base. They are a great way to finish the season - often exciting and the finals weekend is the perfect way to bring fans together for the end of the year.  

Having a best-of-seven (or even five) series would be hugely impractical in terms of ice-time and attendances, but a weekend where fans can come together for one last display to finish the season is perfect for the fan base in this country. While there is a temptation to try and make the sport more like it is across the pond, for a sport to flourish in Britain it is far better to follow the model of popular sports in this country and find something that suits its followers. 

The Challenge Cup is another successful competition; cup tournaments of this kind are a vital part of football or rugby seasons and it is little surprise that the Challenge Cup has proven popular. 

Other cups, such as the Crossover Cup, have fallen by the wayside but to give them a trial was certainly the right thing to do. The only way to find out what works for a relatively new, minority sport is to experiment and not be afraid to stick with or drop an idea.  

Taking its lead from cricket’s T20 competitions, the most recent experimentation was the 20-20 hockeyfest. The event can be deemed a success and with some modifications could become a much-loved fixture in the season’s calendar. The success of T20 is cricket has surely surpassed any realistic expectations, and while the hockey version won’t capture the public’s imagination to the same extent, having a faster more attacking version of the game will surely only help to attract some new faces. 

This year’s cancellation was unfortunate as the competition could work well as a season opener, allowing fans to see a wide range of new players before the season starts. Also, the format of shorter 4-on-4 matches allows teams will players yet to arrive to be more competitive. 

Hockeyfest is an example of what growing sports need - a well thought out adaptation of a successful format. The implementation, and continuation, of a Charity Shield has, sadly, been done with less consideration. 

With teams rarely boasting a full roster a week before the season and nobody caring about the result it is laughable, and faintly patronising, to see a trophy awarded at the end of the match.

The game offers little excitement for fans. In fact, very few if any seem to care. Supporters of the losing side tend to be philosophical, saying that ‘it’s early days’ or ‘the team need time to settle in the country and get to know each other’. Fans of the winning side are equally apathetic to the result, ‘it’s early days’ or ‘best wait until the first couple of games into the season before we start to get excited’ being common platitudes, so why have the pretence of a competitive element? 

The Charity Shield is a lazy reproduction of something that happens in football (something perfectly summed up by not even devising an original name), even though it offers no benefit or interest to followers of ice hockey in this country. The future of a minority sport relies on cultivating competitions and thinking about formats that can help the game, like hockeyfest, and not by mindlessly copying something. Doing so actually undermines the efforts made to give a minority sport its own identity.

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