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Did nobody clock the crowds at Belle Vue and Peterboro last week? These massive roll-ups will have doubled, even trebled, the respective promotions' revenue over a regular meeting. Similarly, what about the huge interest in the soccer play-offs each year as clubs battle for promotion in their various leagues? Or the full-house attendances at ice-hockey play-offs at Nottingham every season? The revenue from being involved in play-offs is a massive boost to any club's financial year, and in some cases could make a difference between failing or surviving. Regardless of the "fairness" of it, they are here to stay, and the season-long league table is a qualification process, no more, no less. It is up to the promotions at every track to make their regular matches bright and entertaining enough to keep them close to their budget, while aiming for a shot at glory in the play-offs to put icing on the cake. Yes, speedway is a sport. It is also a business. Run a straightforward league with only one winner and see if you can stay in business. Money talks.

By the sounds off it so does Jan.

Their fans are tiresome and seem to think they’re down here doing us all a favour.

Just for the avoidance of doubt Marcin Novak is not “apparently” getting married on Saturday (copyright Edinburgh Speedway Official Website) he IS getting married on Saturday. Just want to be clear on that point - and while we are at it this has been arranged for a while and not just since last Friday - yes I know it’s hard to believe that a wedding can take longer than 8 days to arrange.

Some of these Polish riders are massively overrated. They wouldn't cut it in the Premiership.

What a joke from Glasgow! Discriminating against their own! Foreigners get it for 1/3 of the price of us how the hell is that fair

On reflection, not sure what I enjoyed most? GB winning (simply coz I'm not used to it...) or the fact that we stuffed the Poles for a change ? It's great to 'shut up' their bullish following!

Can't see Poole leaving Championship yet

British speedway fans. Absolutely no pleasing them. It's Glasgow in October ffs of course there's going to be rain about. Delays were completely unavoidable so all this could've finished is nonsense

They were getting on with it, but they'd already had a delay for one crash, and another delay for Miskowiak to receive medical attention (and there was a paramedic require with a fan at that time too). So yes, there were delays, but they weren't really avoidable. Outside those, the referee was very quick with the two minutes and track work was brisk. There were at least two other restarts too.

Most probably intends to start by avoiding signing riders with guaranteed earnings

That's all well and good but take the example of the 2003 season... Edinburgh won their first ever title. We went top of the league at the end of August after a victory at Glasgow (sorry Weegies, I had to mention it!). The following Friday (5 Sept), we raced IoW (or PoS as I used to call them) at sunny Armadale and the place was packed. From that meeting on, 'til the season finale on 31 October, crowds were well above 'normal' levels. 9 meetings' worth of barely being able to move on the terraces. Compare that with your play-off scenario above. 2 home meetings. 3 in the Championship. And also add in the fact that you've diluted the League programme into qualifying skootaboots, it's hardly surprising the casual punter doesn't turn up 'til the 'business end' nowadays. It wouldn't surprise me if the play-offs actually cost clubs money every year which, in turn, leads to the dropping of standards across the board at all levels, which in turn leads to even lower crowd numbers, etc., etc. Poole Pirates - the people's Championship Champions 2021.

Yes in my mind they are. Were significantly better over 2 days and for example could to lose it due to an engine failure at the gate. That's highly unfair IMO I understand the concept, but do the top 6 in the gp go into a head to head over who is world champ? Do mercedes and red bull have a race off in F1 to see whose world champions? It's an Americanism which may work in some instances but in Motorsport is something I wholeheartedly disagree with.

To be honest some of the stuff being written on here about Dale Allitt is pretty unpleasant and uncomfortable to read, of course the frustration is understandable after a dreadful season but do people really need to slag him off day after day?

Of course not, the Stars season ended way before the Panthers, why shouldn't he celebrate, he was involved afterall .........

Why not have the play-offs at the start of the season, than have the league to see who should've won?

This is what gets up peoples noses.He claims he is only concerned with Lynn.Yet every time you see him at Peterborough he is dressed up in all his Peterborough attire.If he wants that fine,stay there. When I have seen Rob at Lynn,on quite a few occasions he's not in anything Lynn he has his Peterborough cap on.Does Allittt not realise he's pissing a lot of Lynn fans off by doing what he does.Then again I suppose he doesn't with the way he has spoke to some. Peterborough fans you have it all to come,don't disagree with anything he says or else you may feel his bitter tongue.

What's the difference ray c ? Same riders in both league's apart from a few . And it costs a lot more to ride in the so called premiership, so I understand Poole staying where they are, more teams in the championship.

No, we don't want Poole .....

Just checked on the result again.. Still says Great Britain won.. Poland were second And Denmark third.. No mention of who beat who, and by how far, and how many times they did it in the qualifying races leading up to the Final... A Final which ended, Zmarzlik, Lambert, Bewley, Janowski... GB 5 - Poland 4... I suspect as the years go by and it passes into the midst of time it will still only say.. 2021 Speedway Of Nations 1st Great Britain 2nd Poland 3rd Denmark... How it all unfurled will be but a side issue...

What you say about Woffy, Lambert and Bewley is true (and you can add that much of British champion Adam Ellis' formative experience was on French grasstrack). BUT To survive British speedway needs to produce its own riders. The NDL plays a vital role in ensuring that we have the second strings of the future. Without the NDL to provide opportunities to learn would riders like Paul Starke, Danyon Hume, Alfie Bowtell and Simon Lambert still be in the sport?

I'm opening this one up as a general topic following on from a "discussion" I've been having on the Leicester thread and their range of Championship & Shield winning merchandise available from the "Club Shop", which in my opinion is woeful. I've been to all the club sites and seen what's on offer elsewhere and to my surprise the results were very different. I've not gone digging too far and only looked for links from the club's website home page Premiership: Belle Vue: Pretty basic compared to the best but better than most Ipswich: No club shop Kings Lynn: No club shop Peterborough: Disappointing Sheffield: Pretty basic Wolverhampton: Pretty basic Championship: Berwick: No club shop Birmingham: No club shop Eastbourne: AMAZING! One of the clubs that all others should be aspiring to be like Edinburgh: Pretty good... I do like the look of those tartan shirts! Glasgow: Shop coming soon, disappointed in that, I expected better from Glasgow Kent: No club shop Leicester: Pretty basic, hardly anything cashing in on the clubs success Newcastle: No club shop Plymouth: Quite impressive from the newcomers, very similar to the Eastbourne offerings Poole: AMAZING! One of the clubs that all others should be aspiring to be like Redcar: Shop on website showing nothing available Scunthorpe: No club shop Some clubs seem to be running their own merchandise operation and others have subbed out their operation to a company called Jaybea designs who look like a from the bedroom using a mobile phone company. There's money to be made in club merchandise and many don't seem to have cottoned on (forgive the pun) to this. It's easier than ever in the age of the internet to get merchandise produced and sold. Some clubs are not even offering branded face masks in a global pandemic... Some people wouldn't know a business opportunity if it walked up to them and hit them in the face shouting "I'M A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY".

100% Agree.Just unlucky with the last crash or the meeting would probably got to the end.

Not so sure many of them were that local,there seemed to be a lot that had taken in SON and extended their stay for this match.Pity about the crash and the weather,was getting interesting.Poles we’re getting setups sorted and starting to gate.Brits we’re good though,Harris gave everything as usual.

Whatever you may think of previous meetings at Ashfield, the 'delays' this evening were purely down to racing incidents as already detailed above by the more astute members of this forum. Mr McGregor had the 2 minutes on after the finish of every race other than when a rider had 2 on the trot.

British speedway fans jeez oh if we were counting in old money pre decimal would be moaning if a farthing was too much

I’m raging. My invite was for the original date guess I will need to go to Armadale to soak up the abuse from the locals. As long as they remember the fixodent I’m not too fussed.

What a waste of 15 quid. Hardly worth double the cost and more of a monthly Eurosport player subscription. Meeting could have been completed half an hour ago in the dry.

https://speedwayupdates.proboards.com/thread/20590/great-britain-poland-glasgow-2021

Outdoors standing the limit is 4000 before Covid passports. Even then they are only checking larger crowds at random despite the narrative.

You actually sound like you could be him,dick.

Thank you. I did just find the relevant information on the Glasgow website....... TEST MATCH – FAQS October 19, 2021 Tomorrow sees us host one of the biggest ties to ever take place in Glasgow and we can’t wait to welcome you all to Ashfield for what is sure to be an incredible night! Naturally, we have been inundated with messages and questions and whilst we are trying our best to answer them all, we thought we’d provide this article to cover the most popular questions we’ve had. This is also a page you can send to anyone who you know who is looking for clarity on any of the points below. How can I buy tickets? Will they be available on the gate? Ticket sales have been incredible so far and you can buy tickets online here. The seated section of the stadium has already sold out but there are still some general admission (standing) tickets available online. If there are any remaining tickets left over, then tickets will be sold on the gate. We would advise to avoid disappointment, booking online. Is there a stream? Yes! We didn’t post any news about the stream as we were exploring a few options but we are delighted to confirm that the match will be streamed live via TigersTV. It will be available in both English and Polish. The English stream will feature Nigel Pearson, Stephen Craigan and Michael Max. The Polish stream will be covered by Tomasz Lorek. I want to watch the stream but can’t watch it live, can I watch on catch-up? Yes you can. The match will be available from an hour or so after the match has finished to watch on catch-up and can be watched until Monday 25th at 9AM.

When he speaks to some fans the way he does Bagpuss he does need to take the criticism.If he had spoke to me the way he spoke to someone I know,a lady that has spent a fortune on speedway like many I wouldn't be going anymore until he had gone.In his position he needs to have some kind of manners.

When are Poland riding at Redcar do you not think that this meeting is costing the Glasgow promotion more than it costs Redcar to put on a CL meeting

Ricky Wells or Richie Worrall to come in at 1?

Rules: http://www.scbgb.co.uk/download.php?view.9246

Probably depends whats cheaper the fine to not complete fixtures or the costs of a dead rubber elsewhere?

Goret is French they only abide by EU laws that suit them, otherwise anything goes!

Poole back to the Premiership please. Oxford into the Championship has to be on the cards too given the comment from the track owner about Friday night meetings. I think they’ll stick with the rising star system but maybe tweak it slightly.

Dale is more than welcome at Peterborough. He's the proud owner of the premier league winners trophy too.

The photo they posted looks like they put covers on an already wet/damp track, that's a big no no, can sweat badly and be a mess under there with no air to it.

As i`m not Polish - nor have a VPN then the answer is no- and just so you know i pay for SKY, Eurosport, BT and Fanseat(Sweden).

To be fair, Janowski is a bottle job. This is not the first time he's let his country down hence why he always gets left out usually. This may well have been his last chance as a Polish International

Yes Doyle had a truly awful season, only 4th in Ekstraliga averages.

I'd call it old fart syndrome.

I would say that the BBC is irrelevant to most sports fans

So that's 1 million a day... and they're probably all tuning in to listen to the looney stories the BBC love to cover... while the rest of the 65m population carries on living their real lives.

Naturally I thoroughly approve of this issue and highly reccomend Backtrack anyway, it's a great, informative & enjoyable read....

One obvious way to reduced the level of unsatisfactory starts would be for the majority of start marshals to grow a pair and get riders (home and away) to start within 75mm of the tapes. Its much harder for them to roll if they are closer to the tapes.