topsoil

So what's your thoughts (and maybe more importantly Adam's) on standardised equipment? What if clubs owned the machinery and only paid riders a much reduced "wage" as the riders wouldn't have the costs to meet. Is it feasible to have standardised bikes in Britain, while Sweden, Poland and the GP's continue with the current setup?

Can imagine there would have been some cracking newsletters over the Summer. 'We haven't had any meetings yet and we don't know when our next one will be. But make sure you stay tuned for our next newsletter, which will be similar to this one'. That would have made lockdown go a lot quicker.

Speak to friends. That's why, for me, nothing compares to live speedway. Watching it on TV doesn't really appeal. Watched a couple of the Polish matches on freesports and can't get excited about it. For me, its all about the social aspect.

Nope

Another nail in the coffin for British speedway. Sorry, force of habit.

Ah i see, i did wonder if something like that was in place, as tv companies often want to protect their own sponsors. Cheers for that.

I always thought the promoters missed a trick when Sky first started to show live speedway, when they could have allowed fans in for free or a nominal fee, to get crowd levels up and make a spectacle for the cameras. You could cover the loss in takings by attracting a match sponsor and allow them basically free reign to plug their business in return. Give them hospitality, give them plenty of exposure to the live crowd and allow them a couple of spots on the TV, take part in the coin toss / award the rider of the night in front of the cameras, so they get their money's worth. Keep the newbies entertained between races with quizzes giving away free tickets to future matches to get them back again, plenty of interviews with riders / managers / crowd. It might work, who knows. It's worth a try surely?

Spot on

still no further forward

so who tried to put who out of business? excuse the ignorance, it's a topic i know nothing about.

The Ekstraliga has wanted exclusivity over riders for a few seasons now. If you look back far enough in this forum you will see the quote from their president at the time. This is the perfect excuse for them to implement that now. And that would cause a lot of pain for certainly Swedish, British and Danish domestic speedway. But Polish speedway seems to be able to do what it wants, even over World Championship levels, so it probably will happen through time.

You laugh, but in a way it is true. If anybody were to look at this forum to get an idea about the sport, they wouldn't go near it. The general consensus is that the sport is either, dead, dying or not the way it used to be in the good old days

This is laughable on so many levels

You can when it's to the detriment of the sport elsewhere. You would be happy if the GP series was scrapped and other leagues stripped of riders, just so they could run their league?

Can't say I'm surprised at this. Polish speedway will do what suits itself and sod the consequences for anybody else. The fact that riders had to miss GP practice for league meetings last year showed who is boss these days. It makes a mockery of the sport that a federation can dictate to the wold championship organisers.

The piece where George explains how the family and the club have helped him turn his life around, that's probably bigger than any trophy the club could win. Excellent documentary. For me, had it focused solely on racing and results I would have been bored. It was interesting to see it from supporters' angles. I would like to have seen / heard more, just like everybody else, riders talking about travelling, tactics in the pits, changing room banter, post-meeting discussions, riders preparations, the promotions thoughts on the future, the list could go on, but there's no way you would fit it into an hour and a half.

Because that's the mentality of Polish speedway

Yes

Meaning?

I would have him in the Berwick team no problem, he has a great record round Shielfield.

I just quoted the figures off "pieandbovril" website

Interesting that some fans are calling for the return of the fours qualifiers on the basis that four meetings in four days would be an attraction, but the BSPA is being widely criticised for organising events either side of the British GP. How many fans can actually afford to go to four meetings in four days? You really think the interest level would be there on the fourth (or even third) leg for supporters of a team well behind from the first couple of legs? Can you imagine the logistical nightmare if one (or even more) of the legs is rained off? It's bad enough trying to get two teams to agree on a re-arranged date, never mind four. Fours qualifiers are best left in the past, when every day was sunny, every meeting was close, every race had passing and life, in general, was just better. Except it wasn't always so. Fours finals day can be a great occasion.

A couple of weeks ago, the average so far for the season was 334. This included a couple of cup matches at the start of the season against higher league opposition which got 5-600. League matches have been getting 250-300.

so who's the new chairman going to be?

The promoters in Britain seem to get most of the blame for allowing doubling up, but I also think it is a domino effect from the wages on offer in Poland these days. You only need to look at the increasing number of riders who only want to ride in the GP series and Poland, or Poland and Sweden, or the likes of Kacper Woryna, who said in the Speedway Star this week that he would only return to Britain if the right offer came along. I read that as saying he would only return if he was to get a nice contract, the kind that promoters in this country can't afford. Riders' attitudes seem to have changed in the last twenty years. Why do they need to ride in Britain if they can get enough money racing a couple of times a week in Poland and Sweden. The only ways doubling up can be avoided, or one league, is to produce more homegrown riders in this country or reduce the number of teams.