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I feared a few clubs would hit the wall this season after seeing the outcome of the AGM. When I was in 'the club' I was always amazed at the amount of ideas coming from promoters which increased costs and when ever I had an idea that increased revenue they would turn their nose up. Seems the boat has now sailed and nothing but a complete reset will fix the mess the sport is now in. When the whole lot collapses I may put a plan together for a few clubs to break away and start a new league based around British riders on club supplied equipment with standard engines. Numbers drawn out of a hat for who rides what bike before the start of a race with team selections made after practice. From there the sport can grow again.

Time for speedway in this country to rebuild- let’s get back to weekend fixtures home meetings every other week in one big league- if riders can’t commit to every fixture there team races in don’t sign the rider - only riders 100% committed to British speedway should be used not the will ride in Uk if there is nothing else better elsewhere attitude- and reduce admission to £15 .

Every club has to run on the best night for their business, to attract the best crowd. If the riders can't commit to this, then they have to go. What is more important, The track surviving, or the riders financial needs.

If Rye House have pulled out and I stress IF at this point, then this is 100% on the BSPA, this was totally unavoidable unlike most track closures. Whilst BMR have probably made a number of mistakes I am sure those mistakes were made in good faith, they have made hugh committments into the club, paying top dollar (in English Speedway) for Harris, NIcholls and KK to put out a competitive team and were rewarded with great crowds last year. But the BSPA true to form weren't going to leave a good news story alone so they imposed the ffffing ridiculous fixed race nights on Rye House, top that with the collapse in TV money (negotiated by ????), it didn't need Hercule Poirot to for see this one coming. Lets hope if and I stress IF Rye House cannot continue in the Premiership speedway is not lost and Championship or even National League would be a return to sanity. I sincerely hope to apologise in the next few days for this posting and that I (like everybody else) has misread the smoke signals.

It is true to say though that for much of last season and over the winter, most people on on forum thought FRN were the answer and the BSPA must have listened to that, along with Jason Doyle, Chris Holder and other riders. I always said it was a bad idea, tail wagging dog etc. If a rider cannot commit to a club then get someone who can - their loss. To risk the viability of clubs is the ultimate risk in my view, much more important than transient riders. Why should they be allowed to ride in 2 or even 3 UK leagues? Those over 6 in PL should not be allowed in CL and I don't care whether they rode CL or not before. It's time they got tough with this. Yes, it will reduce riders in the CL but there are plenty in NL and development leagues to take up places.

If the team are unable to continue and that in itself is a sad state of affairs and the blame must sit with the BSPA who voted through the changes that have had such a detrimental affect on clubs and in turn lead to supporters not turning up on ‘off’ race nights one must hope that the speedway track is retained and perhaps an open licence can be granted to run some individual meetings and possibly share with short track until something more permanent can be sorted out. The sport really has hit a nadir and those in charge should hang their collective heads in shame. Time to have an emergency BSPA meeting, sort it out now and not November and allow clubs to revert to race nights that offer the best chance of getting punters through the gate and clubs generating some income. Sod Poland and the other nations, start thinking of number one. Are you listening BSPA?

Damn if only you posted this a bit earlier. I already left after 5 Heats. Couldn't watch anymore of the abysmal performance.

come on sheffield supporters for goodness sake you have heard the thoughts of our promoters and if you have then stop with the negativity of our two new signings.with kyle out for a while, we need the backing of all of you to turn the season around.one poor meeting for broc at newcastle and all the gloom and doom merchants start.i bet those that got on his back didn't last thursday at owlerton.i really think that given time and the right backing that he is going to be a very good rider.look at shawn moran when he first signed.even though the scores weren't there to start with, you could tell he was going to be something special and the rest is history.so come on, lets get behind broc and georgie.what happened with josh was just one of those things but it happened and thats that so lets get behind this hard working,wonderfull promotion and stop being so damned negative!! u.t.t

There in lies the problem! It's really not that long ago riders weren't expecting to make a living out of speedway. Wolves all conquering 1996 side James Grieves and Stewart McDonald had jobs outside of speedway and pretty sure Craig Taylor did too.

as soon as i found out you were thinking about moving up here . i started to put plans in place to move in the other direction !

Think Glegg had plenty chances at Edinburgh,better with who they have got IMO .

Therein lies the root of most of the issues. The sport is run to appease the riders and everything and everyone else has to fall in line behind Until that mentality changes it will continue to spiral southwards!

I wouldn't be surprised if it's now the same people moaning about the FRN that thought it was a good idea those many months ago.

I expect we will get another keyboard warrior update tonight from wimborne road in which I look forward to just one difference though I will be there to see it happen

I think you have got that all wrong WG1884, you can make a much better judgement on the meeting on your PC watching on speedway updates that actually at the track.

I posted this on 1st Sept last year in a thread called Jason Doyle. It was my last post on this forum, such has been my rate of decline in interest in the sport, but my tune hasn't. I am sure the problems of Rye House are more complex that race night alone, but the whole marketing strategy of the BSPA is ill thought out. It is a sad day for the sport, again.

bookmark Poole 43-47 Somerset comments please

MFF you are so full of crap. You have never been to Poole. Your Bedroom is the closest you get. Idiot of the highest order.

Course you left after 5 heats.....

Zero - but had as much merit as your post re Redcar Its called communication - well done to Redcar for being proactive in setting out what they are doing to help the day run as smoothly as possible

It's just too expensive to attract and keep new fans and particularly families. My speedway experience is to pay £16, enter a stadium which is dilapidated and, (unless I want to watch from behind the glass, which I don't), is in a worse condition now than it was in 1974 when I started going. There are no seats, just dusty steps. The pre-meeting entertainment is to listen to Now That's What I Call Music number 124 and watch a pathetic introduction of the riders by a half-hearted announcer. There is then about 13 minutes of action over the next hour and a half to two hours with a raffle akin to the ones people used to have for a tray of meat in the Working Men's Clubs of years gone by. There is no second half, nothing to entertain the kids or anyone else - nothing. The riders all seem to manage to ride around in vans as big as a starter home and even the reserves at 'Championship' level appear to be full-time. So, the equipment costs a fortune and riders want paying a fair return for the expenditure and the risks they take. I have no problem with that, but the situation cannot continue. The sport has to find a way of reducing costs of equipment and riders have to realise that it is not sustainable to be full time when they are riding in front of crowds of 500-1500 people. Promoters have to promote. All they do is to open the gates, expect people to come and pay their money and come back again the next week when many of them do absolutely nothing to encourage a return. Times are hard for a lot of people and there is better entertainment to be had elsewhere. I've been to the ice-hockey a couple of times recently and it's not my cup of tea to be honest. But there were thousands there, many in replica kits, games and entertainment for the kids, a brilliant arena and cheaper than the speedway. I prefer the speedway because I've been brought up with it but in terms of value for money there was no comparison. Speedway, on its's day, can be the best sport in the world but it needs someone in charge who has a vision and some radical ideas. The promoters have to promote and the riders have to be more realistic and realise that they can't all be full time.

So Garry has out Matted Matt Ford.

And possibly in the Championship to! Let’s look at the reason Rye House is such a mess after so much was promised a few years ago by the wealthy owner Warren Scott. Firstly the ludicrous decision to make the long bar a motorcycle dealership. Can someone explain how this benefits anyone? The presentation is awful. That’s no criticism to Craig Saul who does a sterling job alone, but it’s basically flat! The way the meetings are run as though no one has a care in the world, well the Rye management may not have, but the few paying punters that are there most certainly have. The meeting against Belle Vue, one of the air bags was punched. Already delayed by a sun break the replacement air bag was sought and it took ages to come from the pits. Surely they should be on the bends ready in case of such an instance! Then we come to the moto cross effort that is now in place of the centre green. Are they getting massive crowds for these events? Have they actually had a meeting yet as such on the jumps? The awful stand by the starting gate which has steps that are so steep! How on earth the H&S people passed that I have no idea what’s so ever. The viewing platform by the top bar [by the starting gate] on top of the container is an accident waiting to happen with uneven planks of wood! The suicidal decision to move to the top league and loose there Saturday race night was probably the biggest mistake they have made. Even with good crowds last year there’s been money spent on the stadium no doubt but I’m not sure in what part. Who’s to blame? Ultimately the promotion but the also the blame is partly with the cronies at the BSPA. If speedway is to continue at Rye House then it needs a team the club can afford, race on a Saturday night and Bank Holiday Mondays and in a lower league. Unless the dithering idiots at BSPA HQ decide to make more changes next year [which they’ll have to] speedway really will be on its last legs in the UK. Probably six man teams and have a combined 1st/2nd Division and a NL for those who basically can’t afford to run higher league speedway, which will probably be most teams. One final point the start line girl who holds the blue umbrella needs a new one as its basically had it!

A rumour is speculation!

But you were not within 100 miles of Poole. You are in your bedroom in somewhere like Peterborough. You have never been to Poole. You talk utter crap. Utter utter crap.

You were saying. You will need to come up to Swindon to watch a decent team.

Poor Shovlar. It’s the 2nd time this season he has been made to look silly. keep the quotes coming.

And we all get to throw this at you for the rest of the season

guess you haven't checked out the averages before posting that garbage

Was that from one of your well placed connections? or are you sitting at home making stuff up as usual ?

All on busters watch. Save as many clubs as we can this season do whatever it takes. Next season 1 league, whatever race nights suit each club.

Bookmarked and throwing it back at you! You just didn’t learn from your pre-season over confidence! Maybe a learning in humility for you here!

He mentioned to me in a pm that he only doesn't go to Poole when the weather is borderline, so as it's a lovely night, i'm sure you will be joined by him shortly!

Mff I am bythe starting gate. Why don’t you walk around and join me. I will then introduce you to Neil after the meeting at the conference where you can tell him what you think of him and ask him to resign. You up for it?

Only because the BSPA let it... Instead of getting upset at the GP taking 'their riders' (laughable I know), they should have worked a plan to plough their own furrow.. Instead, as usual, they did their normal fudged/half way house/let's see if we can cobble together something that doesn't really actually help anyone/cross our fingers and hope for the best, 'plan'.... No one who runs the GP's bothers about British Speedway, nor do those who run their respective Leagues in Denmark, Sweden and most importantly maybe, Poland.. This must surely eventually dawn soon on those who run the sport in this country? And when it does they can then make plans to restart and rebuild the sport in Britain... With the first point on the agenda, running speedway meetings on the nights you can get your best attendances...

looking good so far

Richard is a fine rider and a damn decent bloke. Every confidence.

Mildenhall is the king of fish & chips in British speedway!

I think a few people have jumped the gun here. What could turn out to be an innocent postponed has fuelled some people's imaginations. I think we all have to calm down and wait for an official update and not speculate what may or may not be happening.

I remember following Bob Garrad up the M11 and he had his bike tethered to the boot of his of car with the front wheel inside and he worked full time in Maldon. Oh, for those who do not know who Bob Garrad is, well he has ridden the most matches and scored the most points for Rye House EVER.

One big league no clashes then with other domestic leagues - In Rye House case we went last season when Kings Lynn was there on Easter Saturday and I’d not seen a crowd like that at Rye for many years - surely Saturday night speedway has to return to Rye or there will be no speedway there - it’s the same at some other clubs a move to weekend speedway or what ever night is best suited to each club - but definitely like to see speedway run more at weekends as they do in Poland - one big league using only riders that put our league first no exceptions

Clubs should race on the night or their choice,we will always disagree on rider availability,but we should pick riding that commit to GB even if it means lowering the standard .Fans Are paying over the odds for the standard they are watching now IMO.Id rather see young riders putting in some effort than watch what I am seeing now by so so called star riders.Everything hunky dory in BSPA TOWERS though.

Excellent post, pretty much sums up this once great sport of ours. However "expect people to come and pay their money and come back again the next week" there's no meeting next week, the next home meeting is 2 or even 3 weeks time, therefore even diehard fans get out of the habit of their weekly speedway fix!

You always type rubbish

That's odd? only the 2 clubs that were represented on the Management Committee allowed to change race nights? Have you got that right? Don't Peterborough and Lakeside race on Fridays too? So let me get this right Edinburgh, Glasgow, Lakeside, Peterborough, Scunthorpe and Workington have Friday fixtures with riders competing in qualifying rounds all over as well. I make that 6 home meetings so there is not enough riders for 12 teams to be in action with guests and R/R? Oh! there are only 11 teams in the league that means at least 1 possibly 2 or 3 can't run on a Friday otherwise there won't be enough riders for the rest (or teams for that matter). "Let's tell those who do not have or gave up their Friday priority they can't run that'll solve it". Never mind Marras you can fill your blank Saturdays instead, start with re-arranging your postponed fixtures; Scunthorpe and Sheffield. Oh! they've already declined your offer of dates then why not go to the Management Committee and get them to force those clubs to come on a Saturday? Oh! those clubs are on the Management Committee, isn't that where this started? Why don't Workington race some meetings on a Friday then? 'Twas on the Monday morning the Gas man came to call

Rye used to be a nice place to watch speedway in the uncle Len era, although the stadium was starting to look shabby in his latter years. With the cost of repairs and a shrinking fan base, Len decided to jump ship, who can blame him. Rye has become a very uncomfortable place to watch speedway, and dragging over there on a Wednesday night has become a real chore for me. Still old habits die hard, and I have not missed a home meeting this season. Will I get to see another one, that is the big question.

Be more useful getting the Rubberman in to replace Vissing... couldn't do any worse!

Your new Rye House signing is...……..Peter Schroeck

To save on speculation, instead of putting due to unforeseen circumstances, why don't the club reveal more? If it is a problem with the Stadium or Track, then say it. If it is a problem with Riders, then say it. If it's something else then explain a little more. Fans are left so frustrated with announcements like this.

Number 6 gets harder races than number 7, so don't expect Phillips to be scoring many more! I.e If heat 2 Scunny get a 4-2 Phillips gets one point between oppostion, then in next 2 races he meets the 1&2 then 3&4 pairing, so can only expect him to come last! Manzares would probably get an extra race in ht 12 or 14. So Phillips would end up with a 1.33 ave just by riding to form!