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Steve also said on Twitter:

I think a big thing being missed when discussing "free" illegal streams is the format. Yes you can get illegal streams of Polish, Swedish and even Premiership meetings but these are broadcast on a television service which can be tapped into fairly easily. An online stream of such a niche audience is highly unlikely to be hacked and companies that provide such services have many things in place to prevent them. How many free Edinburgh, Glasgow or Redcar streams were available last year? Whether streams take fans away from the tracks is yet to be determined. Edinburgh clearly feel it doesn't affect their crowd as they continue to stream weekly (I think only Poole have additionally announced their intention to stream each week so far). There is a whole audience of speedway fans that currently do not attend meetings whether that be due to ill health or purely distance to their nearest track (even more apparent with weekday tracks). Whilst we chase the new fan, this will hopefully bring some revenue for the already converted but just can't attend.

Winning in Poland means “your”Team won the League and the Prestige means something to riders and Sponsers.Over here “your “ Club won the League using every other Clubs riders during the season.Not a lot of Credibility in that IMO.

I wonder if Nigel Pearson will be reading this...

Crikey, "getting rid of people on an ego trip" in speedway?? Where should one begin.............?!

They actually haven't changed any rule about nomad clubs. It's always been the case that someone trying to bring back a defunct club can run in the junior leagues as a nomad club, and it still is. However in the past the SCB didn't really make any enquiries as to what attempts are being made to bring a club back. So if you just said "I'm trying to bring back Harringay", they'd probably let you run a junior league team. In the last few years they've tightened up the checks. So now if you say I'm trying to bring back Harringay and want to run a team in the Southern Development league, the SCB would be asking where the land in Harringay for this new track is. If you've got a genuine plan to have a new track in place in the next year or two, they'll let you run a nomad team in the meantime. Their reasoning is that they are getting rid of people on "an ego trip" who want to just "play at managing a speedway team", but have no real ambition to actually bring that club back.

You're right, it is one of the cheapest forms of motorsport and I don't doubt that. Certainly not cheap and accessible to the average family or teenager though.. nor is any motorsport, so entry into the sport is always going to be be restrictive in comparison to ball or racket sports for example.

Once Fricke is dialled back in I don't think there would be much between them at BV or elsewhere for that matter. Losing Bewley hasn't weakened them in those terms although I'm sure they'd have loved to have both!

But inaccurate as speedway is one of the cheapest forms of motorsport to participate in.

I've not been posting on this forum for long, but it's been long enough to know that nobody should take this poster seriously. He's always winding people up and looking for a reaction.

Just a quick point on riders coming through? Nowadays, the reason that there aren't as many 'stars' for want of a better word, is because it's way too expensive.....you have to have a few quid to set a youngster up. A lot of natural talent probably don't get chance to have a go. Most probably, the best riders are ones that terrorise neighbourhoods on unlicensed death traps....

If you look at their figures compared to the previous year, you can see exactly what happened. Of course, a lot of it was down to Tyler and Evans, but when every team member raises their average (the top seven by a total of 11.47) that's impressive. Of course, when your worst riders are still well over 5, that gives you great strength in depth. When they won at Edinburgh, Dave Perks had a poor night, Pidcock (9) and Frankland (5+2) picked up the slack. When they edged out Hackney, it was thanks to Pidcock again (11+1) and Stevenson (10+1). The point they earned at Middlesbrough was thanks in no small way to 8+1 from Miles Evans. The win at Glasgow was spearhead by Tyler who got 11+1 from reserve. The real key was having 5 riders who would consistently score between 6 and 8 - and it varied who those five were. 8.99 - Dave Perks (+0.85) 8.75 - Paul Stead (+ 0.89) 8.50 - Graham Drury (0.71) 7.37 - David Tyler (+ 4.79) 6.96 - Chris Pidcock (+ 0.87) 5.83 - Miles Evans (+ 2.58) 5.41 - Mark Stevenson (+ 0.78) 5.35 - John Frankland (+ 0.14)

All common sense in a much needed "reset" plan.. However, it wont happen for all the obvious reasons that exist... With the main one being Div 2 currently rules the Speedway roost... And turkeys dont vote for Xmas.. The NDL up to a few years ago seemed to have the perfect set up between cost, income, entertainment and development progression/opportunity.. Sadly that was taken apart.. The whole operating model is beyond fixing unless the sport works as a collective to fix it.. And that would take huge compromise and a clear plan for demarcation between the leagues, promotion, relegation, (or one league only) and one club per rider etc... What we have is pretty much all that we will ever have I would think is more the reality..

Having a browse through Peter Oakes' excellent history of British League Speedway book the other night. Found it interesting to see some teams that look the part and actually turned out to be not up to much. Also, the opposite, teams that looks pretty ordinary, but actually really clicked. Two examples... King's Lynn 1988 - Lance King, John Davis, Bo Petersen, Richard Knight, Allan Johannsen, Stephen Davies, Adrian Stevens - effectively four heat leaders and two really solid second strings. Finished 9th/11 Long Eaton 1984 - Dave Perks, Graham Drury, Paul Stead, Chris Piddock. Miles Evans, David Tyler, Mark Stevenson, John Frankland - mostly past their best, middle of road or untried...bottom in 1983, champions in 1984 Anyone else got any examples that drained away the start of year optimism or pessimism... ?

So when you going to post the truth or realism

Taken off Facebook: We are thrilled to announce your 'meet the riders' evening has now been organised for FRIDAY 4TH MARCH @ 7PM The evening will take place at our friends, South Gosforth Sports & Social Club and we hope to see as many of you there as possible. The event will be free entry, with amazing streetfood, including Burgers and Gyros, available to purchase on the evening. This is your chance to hear direct from all the 2022 lads about their thoughts on the season ahead, and put any questions to them you may have. As always the bar will be open and we will also be hosting a raffle and there will be music on afterwards for a full evenings entertainment! So make sure you get yourself along, Friday 4th March @ 7pm, and help us start the season off right!

Interesting link, Thanks for posting.

OK

My point is that a conveyer belt of new talent isn't going to be available to Speedway because it isn't accessible to most people, which is what I think Give Me a B was saying. Nothing wrong with his post. Unless there are schemes to make it easier for those people who are not fortunate to have parents pay for everything, the emergence of new talent capable of becoming stars will always be rare. I believe Poland for example have much more support in place for 'newbies' and a bigger fanbase (therefore more interest from them), so they do have plenty of new talent coming through. But then again they have the money to do that.

Just what is the ‘ relevance and reward ‘ then ? How is winning the league in Poland different to winning the league anywhere else ?

But it was never explained why this was! They gave plenty of riders the opportunity to compete and practice.

84/85 King was truly world class - I went to the overseas finals both years (I'm sure you probably did too) and he won 9 out of 10 heats for a first and third. Could have been world champ in 84 had he won his last ride in the final. But after that, he never kicked on, and in fact went backwards - dont think he made another world final.

It will be a niche market given the overall size of the sports following but sometimes that is perfect from a business perspective.... I personally have had no interest in watching any of the streams put out, however, that doesn't mean I won't be interested in the future... The big challenge for me to make it a success is to make each league have some actually meaning, other than just facilitating a system for riders to earn money, which is basically what the sport in the UK has been allowed to evolve into.... If you could get that "this actually means something" into every meeting then streaming would have a much higher chance of success, simply down to more "neutrals" logging in... Poland get lots of "neutrals" watching every week from the UK because it has some real relevance and reward... Get that criteria into UK Speedway and it would make a huge difference to the streaming success I would suggest as circa 25,000 weekly regulars of the sport (with probably even more lapsed who still keep a pretty close interest), being a potential "huge" audience for its small size... Getting credibility into the sport could be an absolute game changer for the success of the sport as an overall entity, and streaming in particular, as it would open it up to all rather than just mainly be of interest to the fans of the two teams being covered...

This a great point and one I agree with

Probably not too far away with that. How many decent riders have slipped through the net over the years simply because they couldn't afford it or couldn't afford to compete with lesser riders on better equipment and those are the ones who have actually got a bike and given it a go. Money rules the roost and when GP level bikes are available to amateur level riders the results will always be skewed. To get the genuine cream to rise to the top it has to be supplied bikes / standardised kit and thats just not going to happen in this variation of the sport.

Sheffield have compiled a great septet. They will take some stopping. But you never know what will happen. If all things are equal, only Ipswich can upset Sheffield currently.

And that could actually be when the stream comes into its own... Without it, at the moment those type of meetings with iffy weather get zero income from the 'stayaways'... Maybe with a stream these people will still contribute some money...

Looking at that Sheffield Team, Panthers hopes are also up in smoke .IMO.

there will be more clubs in the 2022 MSDL ..... a lot of work going in to getting riders valuable track time

Allen and Auty

Lovely photo from 1962 http://www.millwall-history.org.uk/the_den4.htm

What has been stopped (by the BSPL) are those clubs without a permanent track of their own being allowed to run at an adopted track!!

So you want to go back to the ‘ old days ‘ ? Ask yourself why that was done away with in the first place . To provide more ‘ entertainment ‘ of the top level and do away with the mostly corrupt second half finals that were rigged by the riders themselves, as demanded by the dwindling fans who mostly walked out after heat 13.

If Oxford were to race on a Friday, then almost half the teams in the league would race on a Friday. The result of this would be that Oxford would race around half their home fixture on their alternative race day wouldn’t it? So they wouldn’t be racing on a Friday anyway unless they raced, say, every other week. Someone mentioned that Polish club’s often use the same race day. Poland works very differently as they only race at home every 2 weeks. So using the same race day works there. I can’t see how it would in the UK unless fixtures were to become fortnightly. That’s before you consider that speedway in GB doesn’t use a squad system. So as soon as riders are injured, you have a requirement for guests, meaning teams become vastly under strength when they can’t find one as every team is already racing that day. Under GB speedway’s existing set up, I think it makes sense to restrict the number of clubs using the same race night.

Doesn't matter who they sign, with Mark Lemon in charge they're going to win zip.

Yep. Exactly the complaint I have against the SoN compared to SWC...If I am going to support a "team", I want to see that team in every race.

Believe me it isn’t feasible and yes, it’s been tried. A PL match was once put in jeopardy because the track concerned had the air fence damaged by an accident and the paramedics were then taken away to deal with the injured , never mind the last minute track maintenance . Have you ever watched a complete novice child try to ride four laps? Besides the painstaking time it can take, usually with an adult running along side to keep them ‘ steady ‘ how many kids are you going to get on track in an hour ? How many different size kits are you going to require? How many qualified ‘ trainers ‘ ? and so on and so on…. As someone who helps run a training school with hire bikes I do know a bit about what’s involved.

I would suggest if Justin was good enough to be a heat leader in Div 1 and Div 2, like so many other riders are, he may put up with the "sh*t money" given he would be getting two wages.... I am off to email my boss now asking her if she will let me work for just six months this year but pay me enough to live on for the full twelve.. Will keep everyone updated as to her answer...

Do you know how much that TV money is? In fact, is there any TV money at all? The last I heard, speedway in the UK is lucky to have any TV coverage at all, let alone get paid for it.

Not feasible for many reasons including insurance, safety clothing, track time , costs etc , never mind the length of time it takes to kit / dress one kid out for a go on a bike without brakes.

Well at the moment they will be getting nothing,,, so they will obviously be snoozing

They used too….it was called ‘qualifying’.

Guest and number 8s