Do it properly, or not at all (From This Is Wiltshire)

YESTERDAY’S bizarre scenario only served to highlight one simple fact - the Knockout Cup has to change or be scrapped.

It’s true to say that rain caused various Knockout Cup fixtures to be left until the end of the season, but it’s also true that in previous years, finishing the competition early has not exactly been a priority.

And completing it early is the route we have to go down if the competition is to continue to exist.

It is obvious that as the race for the play-offs builds in August and September, no one is going to care less about the cup.

Therefore, hold it as a pre-season or early-season tournament, when the league has not got going in earnest and interest in knockout speedway is higher.

Keeping it as an afterthought that is mainly staged in the closing weeks of the campaign is not a state of affairs that is going to help anyone.

The authorities should also get rid of the new KO Cup rules that were brought in as an ‘invigorating feature’ at the start of the season.

Man-on-man tacticals and tweaked gate rules? All that is going to do is confuse fans new to the sport, something speedway is unfortunately pretty good at already.

Don’t mess about with the cup. Either do it properly, or don’t. And get it out of the way by July at least.