Humphrey Appleby

Don't let details like that stand in the way of unbridalled praise for Cardiff.

Never really understood the attraction of Cardiff to be honest. Rip-off prices (particularly for a provincial city), poor public transportation, cheesy entertainment, usually pretty awful racing, and increasingly yobbish crowds it seems. I've also been reading a thread full of whinges and complaints about this year's GP, and yet the moment there's a suggestion it might go elsewhere, people start lamenting it.

I somehow doubt IMG/BSI will stage two GPs in Britain. If there is indeed a plan to go to Wembley, I suspect it might happen in 2010, and that's what all the sudden whinging about Cardiff hotels was about.

The reported figures should be taken with a pinch of salt. Last year's figures were suspiciously round at several GPs, despite not being capacity crowds. FYI, Cardiff was reported as 41,267. Certainly quite decent if anywhere close to being true, but the likely exaggerated figures for other rounds does make one wonder.

Strikes me they're looking for an excuse to move the British GP. The hotel prices have been outrageous in past years, but it didn't seem to concern them then. Ironic that IMG/BSI should be complaining about a shortage of hotels and the prices then.

I thought you were a great fan of everything SGP and IMG/BSI? How on earth would they make their money without the ability to gerrymander the competition?

I don't even think there's a speedway team anywhere in Copenhagen these days. As in most countries, capital city dwellers don't seem to be interested in speedway.

I've found that EasyJet is probably the best of the budget airlines, and is as good as many of the 'traditional' airlines. It flies to major airports, the staff are reasonably professional if you play by the rules, and the airline seems to be reasonably punctual (although delays will inevitably happen with any airline if you use them enough). Ryanair is for my money too cheap and nasty, and flying to the middle-of-nowhere is often a false economy. BMI proper is still fairly reasonable, although it seems to be focusing more on Trans-Atlantic and Middle Eastern routes now. BMI Baby is just the budget version that seems to have take over within Europe, and I can't say it's good, bad or indifferent. SkyEurope and Flybe have also always been fine when I've used them.

Both much of a muchness I'd say, but can't say I've had problems with either. SkyEurope (http://www.skyeurope.com/) also flies from Luton to Prague.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Olsen propose a GP series years previously? He may have opposed those particular FIM plans as he wasn't sufficient in on the deal, but given his later enthusiasm for the SGP, it would otherwise seem to have been a bit of an about turn.

I think though, Olsen is very much the power behind the throne of the SGP. His concept, and he says what goes. And to think people say the SGP is the future of the sport.

It's not that hard to work out though, and certainly shouldn't be beyond the abilities of a commentator and BSPA Press Officer to get right. I think it just sums up how amateur speedway is these days, even for what is supposed to be the sport's premier event.

It's not the same though. The simple fact is that the SGP would not exist without the three or four main national leagues because it doesn't pay a living wage, and is essentially skimming the cream off the top, without investing in the diary that produces the milk. I appreciate British speedway is somewhat ad-hoc about it's rider development strategy, but in general there's some modicum of commitment to actually develop and provide employment to professional riders. Yes, they can also make profits if they're clever, but they also have to run 20+ meetings a season in order provide the riders with a living wage. By contrast, the private company that runs the SGP behind the facade of 'FIM accreditation', gets the pick of the plum dates, and can choose any riders it pleases without having to pay a penny in compensation to anyone. It also only runs 11 meetings per season with a staff three or four times the size of those tracks that manage to run weekly through the season. It essentially lives parasitically off the labours of others, and if the major national leagues turned around tomorrow and said to their riders it's the SGP or us, then I think you'd think very few riders would be signed-up to the SGP. It's absolutely not fair competition at all, but more fool the professional leagues for simply standing by and letting BSI/IMG take all the money. It really shows what a clueless bunch actually run speedway.

I think 'The Know' is actually someone who gave John a lift.

Aside from the fact that without the leagues there would be no SGP, the same riders riding against each other over-and-over again in individual competition is not speedway to me. It might as well be a separate sport, I think calling people luddites because they don't subscribe to the golden but hollow vision that it is the SGP, is a bit uncalled for. Just where is the SGP going? In the 10 years or so since BSI took it over, it's still trawling round the same old venues in front of mostly small crowds, is using the same old tired format, and has failed to make any real breakthrough on the corporate side of things. The one success is that it gets reasonable viewing figures (by satellite television standards), but I bet the figures for league racing aren't that far behind either. It would be also interesting to compare this with viewing figures for the Polish and Swedish leagues as well. More fool them for helping line the pockets of a private company that puts little or nothing back into the sport as whole.

I'd rather do neither.

I'm sure that could still be done without sponsoring a GP, and probably for a significantly less money. If you feel you're getting a nice (albeit expensive) day out then that's great, but I'm not convinced mates scratching each others backs is the way forward for the sport. On this I agree with you. Personally I wouldn't buy anything from a company that splashes it's name around, because I think products should stand and fall on their merits rather on the basis of whether they happen to sponsor one's favourite sport. That would explain the GBP 250K recorded as being spent on fixtures and fittings then.

Just what are the benefits? Who going to a GP thinks 'goodness I must get my lift serviced' or 'I've just remembered I need to hire an industrial compressor tomorrow'? Most other sports are in the main sponsored by companies whose products can be purchased by the average fan the next day. SGP sponsors come across as a handful of eclectic companies whose Managing Directors happen to be fans, or who're otherwise providing sponsorship in some sort of kind.

QUOTE (Rob B @ Apr 28 2008, 07:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> A few years ago the Grand Prix series use to have some really good sponsors around the air fence and on race jackets such as Castrol, Coca Cola, KFC, Fiat, Egg etc. Now the only two sponsors they have are Speedy Hire & Meridian Lifts. The rest of the airfence is taken up advertising upcomg GP's like Cardiff and the speedwayworld website address. Very poor, thought things werer going to get bigger with IMG. I've always thought the SGP to have a limited market, which is why it's continued to be run on the cheap and has never expanded as much as envisaged. I think Postlethwaite knew he was starting to see diminishing returns, which is why he sold out to IMG. I fail to understand though where it fits in IMG's portfolio, except as cheap filler programming for their sports television programmes.

That used to happen before fixed gate positions were introduced, although it could be done when six points behind as per tactical substitutions.

It looks great, but that's not the point. Eskilstuna also has a great little stadium, but it's in the middle of a Swedish forest nowhere near anything else (although at least Stockholm is a hour or so away). Same with Daugavpils and Krsko, which are quite far from major population centres (although in the case of Krsko, I suppose you could say Zagreb is within striking distance across the border in Croatia). What's good for domestic racing is not necessarily good for the premier event in the sport. I well remember going to the World Final at Pocking, and sleeping in my car in a muddy field next to the stadium. It was a decent little stadium, but I somehow can't see the hordes of Cardiff faithfuls tolerating the lack of facilities around it.

Even though the Telstra Dome is dwarfed by the MCG down the road, it's still a big stadium. Close to 60,000 if I remember correctly, so even if you got 30K fans they'd still be rather lost in there. Mount Gambier as a venue for a GP - is someone being serious here? Although I suppose it Togliatti is being considered then anything's possible.

It's not a case of being happy to do so - I think they have to do so if they want anyone to stay there. To obtain a visa, you either need a letter of invitation, or some sort of documentation from a tour company or hotel. Total bureaucratic nonsense, and one wonders how far we've come since Soviet times.

According to the Russian embassy website, it's 'only' 45 pounds for a single entry visa. That's still a significant cost though, quite aside from the pointless bureaucracy from a tourist perspective (recognising that European countries probably reciprocate the favour for Russians). My general rule is not to travel to countries that insist on visas. It's just a racket, and I refuse to jump through hoops to spend my money in another country.

Yes, but speedway in Russia is popular in a limited number of places, as indeed it is in the major speedway nations as well. I'd certainly put Russia high up in the second tier of speedway nations, but population and geographical size isn't really much of a qualification for staging a GP somewhere. It makes no difference to them at all. The local promoter, except where IMG/BSI promote the event themselves, assumes financial responsibility for a GP. IMG/BSI get the same sponsorship and television money regardless of how many fans turn up. Yes, but how much is each fan paying? It's all very well getting 15,000 fans, but if they're only paying the equivalent of 1 pound each, then overall revenue is still the same as 1,000 fans paying 15 pounds each. The physical ability of Russia to stage big sporting events is not really in question. It's the financial and logistical arrangements that are much more complicated than if you stage events in an EU country, as anyone who has ever done such a thing knows. For starters, unlike Latvia and Slovenia, everyone travelling to Russia needs a visa, then you have to make 'arrangements' to ensure your equipment isn't indeterminably held up at customs until after the event. And so it goes on...