By Andrew Dewhurst

This is not a new subject to me, either on air or in print but it is one that I believe needs urgent attention or we face the very real prospect that the patient may die.

The Chatham Cup is a much revered and historic competition, one of the oldest annual sporting competitions in New Zealand. Over the years it has survived changes to the national league, reemerged following WWII and even undergone a little tinkering to its own format with home and away finals experimented with (briefly in the late 80’s) and the ill fated NZFA Challenge Trophy.

Presently though it appears perched at the edge of the precipice and in desperate need of saving. Indeed there are some who might suggest it has already fallen and the only remedy now is the ambulance waiting at the bottom of the fall.

So why in recent years has the competition undergone such a dramatic decline in interest, quality and profile? Just five years ago Napier played host to the final in front of close to 4,000 fans with the match covered live on television and radio and picked up by plenty of print media before and after.

Now we have a competition without a sponsor, games without fans (100 turned up to see North Shore win their quarter final), will we won’t we TV and Radio Coverage and at best a token gesture from other mainstream media. What’s gone wrong?

The main contributing factor is surely the introduction of the NZFC and the subsequent removal of effectively the best eight clubs in the country from the entry list.

Not that the NZFC should be blamed, I am in favour of the concept (if only it was properly resourced) and indeed was on the advisory panel that recommended its inception following disaster after financial disaster in previous national league formats.

The answer for me is obvious. Include the NZFC clubs (let’s drop the pretence of ‘franchises’ once and for all) in the competition. Not including them is akin to the Premiership Clubs withdrawing from the FA Cup – it is nonsense.

I cannot think of any one reason as to why our best clubs and therefore our best players should not be playing alongside all others with the aim of having their team name engraved alongside the previous 76 winners.

If New Zealand Football has any intention of promoting the NZFC as the premier domestic club competition then they must surely be serious about having players commit to that competition alone. It is time they were told to make a choice – get serious and dedicate yourself to the NZFC and the NZFC alone.

One incentive to achieve these ends is to include the NZFC clubs in the Chatham Cup. This can be done with relative ease if the clubs are able to use the Chatham Cup as meaningful pre-season match play.

The timing certainly works out. The NZFC begins in September/October and the Chatham Cup final is usually played in early September. Without the distraction of winter club commitments NZFC squads can come together in June and enter the competition at Round Three (32 teams). At worst this might necessitate putting the competition back one week to allow them sufficient preparation time.

The draw can and should be manufactured at that point to avoid NZFC teams playing each other. This would possibly apply into the round of 16 also, especially given the current draw has teams protected along geographical boundaries right up until the quarter finals.

The Chatham Cup Final would then be played one or perhaps two weeks before the NZFC kicks off. The NZFC teams enjoy a meaningful preparation, the players enjoy a shot at our most prestigious of historic competitions and the cup itself will receive a huge boost in coverage, quality and more than likely, sponsor investment.

The only complaint I can possibly hear is that echoing around the ‘winter clubs’ about now saying such a format is not fair and that the NZFC is a franchise competition and therefore should be kept away from ‘their’ Chatham Cup. Well I’m sorry; any such thoughts simply don’t wash with me.

Cup competitions the world over are about the very best in the country being pitched in to the same draw and left to battle it out on a knockout basis to the bitter end.

The result of such a format is the glamour tie for the non-league club, the giant killing run of a lower league side and the romance of the individual starring effort that results in 15 minute bursts of fame.

And yes, generally speaking such a competition will see the cream rise to the top, the best sides usually progress to the latter stages of the competition. But isn’t competition about finding the best in the land? It certainly shouldn’t be about finding a winner only after you have excluded the best eight teams from playing.

Winter clubs and administrators bitching about life not being fair need to ask themselves what they would prefer.

• Winning the Chatham Cup in 2010 in front of 500 people with no media interest and paying your own way to the final.

• Or would your rather the chance to measure your team against the best in the land, maybe with a glamour home tie in the quarter finals. And who knows, with an upset win or two perhaps even a classic underdog shot at a Cup Final live on TV and radio in front of a few thousand fans with an all expenses paid trip for the team.

I know which I would prefer. New Zealand Football needs to act now or they will oversee the demise of a once great competition.