Hubert Lawrence | Sports and the push for change

At last weekend’s Grand Tour finals, the International Table Tennis Federation introduced a challenge system, similar to that seen in lawn tennis, to adjudicate faults on service and to split the difference when it isn’t clear if the ball has hit the side or the edge of the table.

It was the latest initiative in an ongoing wave of change to the rules and format of the game.

The wave began after the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The ball grew from 38 millimetres in circumference to 40. In 2002, the scoring system changed from games to 21 points to games of 11. In 2008, speed glue was banned for safety reasons after 40 years of use by players to boost the spin, bounce and speed of the rubber sheets that contact the ball.

An underlying cause of these changes was the need to make the game more watchable for television audiences. If this sounds familiar, it’s because every sport depends on television for exposure and sponsorship.

The ball is now ’40 plus’, and today table tennis is doing all kinds of experiments. The Chinese Super League has successfully introduced the use of ball boys and ball girls to keep the pace of play lively. Allied to that, when one ball goes off the table, the umpire simply gives the players another one and waits for the ball boy to retrieve the one from the previous point.

That innovation has made its way on to the professional circuit. On the horizon is another change – a time limit for matches. In a format seen in the International Table Tennis Federation’s T2 tournaments, a 24-minute clock begins ticking when each match begins. When it stops, the remaining games are played to 5, not 11.

In normal tournaments, a timeout lasts for a minute. In T2, it’s 45 seconds.

No more deuce

The cherry on the top is the elimination of deuce. Instead of players battling to win games tied at 10-10 by two clear points, the next point decides the outcome.

Curiously, the increase in ball size was intended to make points last longer.

Tradition can get burnt but the need for viewership and sponsorship is a compelling reason for sporting federations to tinker with time-honoured formats. Cricket has its T20. Netball has its Fast5. Long ago, volleyball revved itself up by discarding its old ‘serve and side out’ format for a spicy formula where every point counts.

In this space some five years ago, I guessed that football would eventually move from the end of regulation time straight past extra time to penalties. The trend began this year in Jamaican schoolboy competition. That may have been done for health reasons but it goes to show that change is relentless.

Even so, every sport needs a connecting line between the past and the present. The basic objectives of the games need to remain constant even as it evolves. If the central charm of the sport is diluted too much, it may die as new amusements attract viewers away.

Timing is key, too. The changes to the Diamond League affect, for example, the triple jump and the shot put. However, the world records in both triples and the men’s shot put were pulled into reach in 2019. It would be sensational if those 24-year-old records were broken. Fans would love it. So would the viewers on television.

The prudent course is not to stop change but to apply it with care. Hopefully, when things settle down, our favourite sports will still be standing.

Hubert Lawrence has scrutinised local and international track and field since 1980.