OPINION: Plan should not have seen light of day

Anendra Singh
"Desperate Housewives" can be quite therapeutic, sometimes.
The American television series captures the human psyche beautifully amid a complex web of relationships.
So when a Hawke's Bay club soccer stalwart phoned me during primetime Monday night, robbing me of some quality time with my favourite character, Brie, on the last screening of the first episode, I was somewhat distracted.
But not for long, because he was onto my pet subject - rules.
Usually, I would not entertain such a call while I was on two weeks' annual leave. But the caller was passionate about the rules pertaining to a top-four play-off in the Hawke's Bay men's premier division competition won by Cru Bar Maycenvale last Saturday.
Central Soccer boss Milene Haakman had, after consulting the clubs, posted on the Central website the fact that the league competition would conclude with a top-four play-off.
But little did she envisage the havoc that rain was going to create for her best-laid plans.
The frequent ground closures left little time for play-offs. Besides, there was the matter of some unfinished business on the "Road to Petane" for the Knockout Cup bragging rights next month.
That only two clubs - Napier City Rovers and Marist - out of the eight-team league were keen on the play-offs well before the league got to the business end is alarming.
How on earth did this plan ever see the light of day?
Should Central Soccer have consulted the clubs or should it have simply resorted to tyranny for the sake of the code?
While it can be counterproductive to drag in past experiences it is also foolish to ignore them totally.
Remember the hue and cry surrounding the Knockout Cup debacle last season when the draws for the semifinals were surreptitiously altered?
You can have the best rules and regulations in place but if they are not adhered to and imposed with religious fervour then anarchy will reign.
We must take our hats off to soccer's governing body for laying down the rules before the season kicked off, although, caught in some democratic undercurrent, it chose to revisit the play-off plan.
This time, Haakman threw into the equation the proposal of double-headers to make up time lost to mother nature.
Democracy, my good people, can be an excuse for mob rule and satisfying everyone can be a difficult task. More so, it isn't wise for six sheep and two wolves to work on the dinner menu together despite the prey outnumbering the predators.
For the record, the proposal was outvoted, with some clubs totally opposed to playing back-to-back matches on Saturdays and Sundays.
Furthermore, some club administrators were left fuming about Haakman's 24-hour deadline and the fact that it had created a ruckus within clubs amid administrators' demands that coaches stay off their turf - responding to Haakman's e-mail was their job, not the coaches.
Marist club administrator Mark Luscombe made a valid point that many people didn't sit at their desks reading e-mails as he and Haakman did, so a 24-hour deadline was unreasonable.
One may also question the logic of the play-offs in a league competition that decides winners on the most consistent performers in a season.
Isn't that why soccer simultaneously runs a Knockout Cup in a season?
After last season's Knockout Cup draw controversy there were emphatic calls for a forum to lay down clear rules to prevent farcical situations midway through a season.
Unfortunately, that also fell through the cracks.
Perhaps Central Soccer should remove ambiguity in stipulating laws and, more importantly, take an autocratic approach in chastising transgressors, as Desperate Housewives' Brie would.
Conversely, clubs should have representatives who have nous about rules.
Of course, there will always be some Wysteria Lane moments but at least people can't say they didn't see it coming.
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