salty

You talk of these "awards" but I have been unable (despite exhaustive research) to find any confirmation of what these "awards" were and the relevant voting results. For all we know they were the result of an arbitary panel handing out the "award" without any public vote, rendering them largely worthless. Some more information and a pointer towards the published results of any such polls would be much appreciated. Maybe you could start a seperate thread so as not to cause any confusion with the BT Minority Sports award?

What is your point Gustix? I posted about the minority sports poll last Saturday on the SPOTY thread - for reasons already explained. Refer to John Leslie (post 437) why it wasn't the worst idea to do so. The thread about him winning it was started today. Clearly it is not an issue that upsets too many other people as nobody else has felt the need to re-inforce your moan. Maybe you should go back to reminiscing about how Speedway was so much better when it was black & white...

When you see some of the xenophobic bile on this site, little wonder that Nick's Dad took the decision to move over to Aussie in the first place.

I was the person who first mentioned the BT Minority Sports poll on this thread. Thought it was prudent to put it on the BBC thread as it would be noticed by people who were interested in such polls and Tai's presence/non-presence on them. Also I couldn't see any other mention of the BT poll anywhere and couldn't be bothered to start a new thread. In fact you were one of the first to respond with the normal nonsense about how Speedway was never a minority sport in your day, blah, blah, blah etc.

Have to say I have really enjoyed the Best of British series. Much prefer to read such an in depth feature than the track by track news, which, in my opinion, is the weakest area of the magazine, particularly in the off season.

Thanks SCB

Was flicking the sports channels last night and when I went on BT Sport to check the score of the Stenhousemuir/Rangers match obviously there was no football to watch as the game was off. Instead they had a studio based programme in which they were introducing a poll for the "Minority Sports Person of the Year". One of the 5 nominations was a certain "Tea" Woffinden. Couldn't see any reference to the poll on their web site last night, but they said the result will be announced next weekend. Might be suitable for all on this thread who felt miffed by the Beeb's snubbing of our sport. Apologies if already posted elsewhere - but I couldn't see anything.

Can't argue with Justin Rose's inclusion. He won the US Open, which is a pretty impressive thing to have on your CV. Comments page is open on the BBC website. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/sports-personality/25017298

Just as well - as SCB says - you are 100% wrong. As someone who lives in the Northern Ireland bit it is somethng we are reminded of quite often!

On the face of it the idea ticks a number of boxes. It helps cut costs. It makes it easier for clubs to keep the top boys in the UK. Which makes the league more attractive to the TV companies. The 20 young Brits should develop and help the sport nationally. Gets rid of the low average foreigners! The devil will be in the detail (as Tsunami mentions) What riders will qualify for these positions? (and how will it affect their positions with other clubs in other leagues) Who goes where? What changes will take place to the match format? How will Matt Ford come out of it at an advantage? Can we trust the powers that be to implement this fairly and appropriately????

Can't see it happening. Similar sentiments were expressed when Oxford closed, but nothing came of it. The idea of the shared events is to generate as much revenue as possible, which is why neutral venues are rarely used. No home promotion to host the meeting would be logistically difficult and I suspect too much to gamble. Best hope is a new promotion at PL level.

Sky isn't just the Sports channels though. My understanding is that there has been a massive increase in their investment on original drama as they see that as key in changing their viewers profile. That must impact on their spending power on the big sports events. Would be good if BT can be enticed - over the weekend they were showing "best of Women's tennis matches 2013" - which reminded one of the early SkySports days.

Offical figures provided by the BLPA at end of 1971 season Lofqvist CMA 8.75 Nygren CMA 8.12

Matt Ford was only 5 at the time, so hard to blame him. This time...

I do remember rider control and it was done away with because it was no longer fit for purpose. Even back in the early 70's we knew at Cradley we would be shafted by the big clubs who had their place at the top table. Read John Berry's Confessions book to find out how shabbily Ipswich were treated when they moved up a league (they took over West Ham's licence, but the Hammers top man Christer Lofqvist ended up at Poole). Given the petty jealousies and back-biting that goes on now, coupled with the all pervasive "social media" I don't envy Messrs Morris and Vatcher their job.

Like I said, all about getting a TV deal by making it easier to keep the top riders.

I notice Dave Hoggart is still on the MC. Suggests he must still be likely to be involved at Owlerton...

Where did you get the 20 years from? I'm talking about the compulsory junior rider scheme which last for two seasons from 1986. Read the latest Backtrack for full details! Screen and Stoney came along later.

I'll give you your Screen, Stoney and Wilson. You can also add in Paul Fry, Ray Morton and Andy Phillips who all went on to have decent careers.

This smacks of trying to keep the TV people enticed. We keep the attraction of the top stars (who still want to ride here), but cut costs at the bottom end of the team. Very much a fix for next season only, to keep the all important TV money. A lower points limit (as was rumoured) would have meant more of the top boys being forced out and would have made Terry Russell's salesman job all the more difficult. If Sky do sign up again, does anyone want to hazard how many times Pearson - prior to the reserves races - says "their points count just as much as the heat leaders"?

That'll be fun. Lambert gets allocated to Poole....

And as I recall the new agreement(the one that has just expired) was arranged well in advance of the old one running out. Which along with Sky dropping the GP coverage is why there is pessimism they will come back on board.

As a Virgin XL customer wish we had got this during the speedway season, but at least I'll be able to watch NHL for nowt which is cool. Hope they keep it for free in 2014.

Interesting points as ever, Arthur. Unfortunately, I think the key difference between greyhounds and speedway will be the influence of the bookmakers. They have a vested interest in keeping the dogs on sky as the live coverage boosts their turnover. They also have the funds to help shore up the production costs. Speedway has nothing like that level of support and it will be the BSPA on its own that will have to come up with a package to entice the broadcasters.

Interesting thread. Fair play to Steve for kicking it off. Having said that I can't see the BSPA grasping this particular nettle. Setting up their own subscription streaming service would be a bit too much like speculating to accumulate and I sense a conservative approach is more likely. I reckon there will be a fair few promoters believing that the lack of Sky coverage will encourage more people to go to the tracks. More workable in my view is the idea mentioned by Flagrag, whereby the BSPA self produce a televised product and Sky pay a reduced fee for the rights to show that. Greyhounds went with that approach when they lost the Sky contract last winter. They had the advantage of having the expertise of the Racing Post TV team to fall back on and also the support of the bookmakers who like to see the sport getting TV exposure so it was perhaps easier for Greyhounds to do this than it will be for Speedway. May be that promoters will see that thee knock on effects of TV exposure for their other sponsors will be worth investing in this approach. As a Speedway fan in exile I have reduced by live viewing to GP's for the past 3 or 4 years and personally I would find it unlikely I would bother paying for a subscription to a streaming service. The Elite League has been so poor the past couple of years with teams seemingly relying more and more on RR and guests that I would rather stick with the GP weekends. The domestic scene would need a major overhaul before I would be thinking about putting my hand in my pocket.