Rally - Just a thought

With regard to the baring of bums in cold winter climes, perhaps it's an idea to cover up rude posteriors now that the dark wintry nights are drawing in.

I know the midges have gone quiet, but there are other things lurking out there in the forested murky glades that might be attracted to soft and succulent white flesh. OK, so succulent is maybe pushing it a bit, but you get my drift.

We've all had a good laugh at the various demonstration antics and the MSA's embarrassment, but perhaps the more we wind them up, the more belligerent and entrenched in their views they might become. We don't know exactly who it was who recommended Jock's escapade to the National Court, but perhaps  it is time for us all to take stock, re-think and allow matters to get back to normal.

If we all lie low, who knows, a certain party might get a nice wee present in the post - his competition licence back before the new season starts. The more we prolong this affair, the harder it will be for both sides to agree a compromise.

Look at it another way, if he doesn't get his licence back then the whole stramash will blow up again  at the first event of the new season when there is a notable absence amongst the top seeds, because he's at home with feet up in front of the fire. That will undoubtedly provoke a renewed reaction. And if he still doesn't have his licence back in time for the joint Scottish and British Championship round in March then the whole affair will blow up again, big time, and reach all corners of the UK, and no doubt further afield.

Less well known is the fact that by way of penance at his Hearing, Jock actually offered the Court the use of his own Special Stage (constructed at his expense in a quarry for the Galloway Hills Rally and used as a spectator stage) for a Marshal's Training Day. Newcomers could undertake the mandatory on-line registration process in the on-site office and then go straight outside for a practical hands-on session  at a real Stage Start, Finish and other marshalling duties. Jock even undertook to get some additional drivers and their cars along to add authenticity. That offer was rejected and the unreasonable penalty handed down.

When I last spoke to Jock he had no intention of appealing the penalty, he was just going to take it on the chin and move on, and perhaps there's a lesson there for us all. That doesn't mean to say that Jock thought the outcome fair either, but that doesn't excuse us from taking a similar view.

Methinks our governors have been taught a lesson. Of course they are there to administer, regulate and adjudicate, but they are also there to listen, respond and represent our interests.

This matter has been ill-judged and over reacted, but I fear that things will only get worse if action is prolonged.

The MSA has been backed into a corner because the National Court is an independent body and the MSA actually has no power to review or overturn their decisions. On that basis, is it time to call a halt to the protest? Allow some time for wounds to heal?

Is it time to pull our breeks up - and keep them up?