Humphrey Appleby

Philippe is in a more privileged and influential position that most of us. As the proprietor of the only industry magazine (at least in Britain), he's in the position to ask the difficult questions and his views would carry some weight within the industry. For example, with respect to the way speedway has sold itself both domestically and internationally, is the sport being well served by these arrangements, and how do they compare with equivalent sports? Writing stuff like 'the sport is at crossroads', 'where do we go from here', 'something must be done' is all very well, but we've all known that for at least 20 years and it doesn't solve any problems. What it needs is an in-depth expose of how the sport is run, what the costs and revenues really like (i.e. how much are tracks losing), who is taking what out of the sport (if anything), and then what can the sport afford to do? Polling random suggestions from riders and fans will not get you any distance towards the answers because most of them don't understand the organisational and financial realities. Other questions like is the sport selling itself as well as it could to television and sponsors and should it be making money out of its premier events (as with other sports) also need to be asked. For example, all county cricket clubs lose money on their operations, but they're subsidised from the revenue generated by test matches and ODIs which goes to the governing body rather than some private American corporation. Okay, speedway is not cricket, but Philippe has not once questioned the cosy arrangement, and can only parrot that the SGP is good for the sport, despite the fact the organisation is quite clearly comical in many respects. I do accept that in such an incestuous industry like speedway it's not possible to be as critical or investigative as in other sectors (not least because some members of the BSPA were shareholders of the Spar's publishing company, and of course now there's a business relationship with the SGP), but for many years it was a symbiotic relationship in that the tracks needed publicity as much as the Spar needed to cooperate with the tracks, so I don't think it should have been completely impossible to have been a bit more hard hitting at times. Of course, with the advent of Internet, the sport is much less reliant on traditional forms of media, so the Spar probably has less potential to be influential these days. I don't currently live in Britain, and my nearest speedway track is probably several hundred miles away. However, I've spent enough time and money following the sport over the past 35 or so years to have an opinion, and as a subscriber to the Spar I think that qualifies me to comment on articles in the magazine. However, it's actually the people who no longer go to meetings that you should be asking - not those diehards that still do. The organisation of the sport has always been something of a joke, but the ongoing comedy aspect was partly why I used to continue to go. That said, it was a cheap form of entertainment and you generally knew there would be a meeting each week between mostly full-strength sides. The sport started going wrong when hobbyist promoters started to predominate, costs were allowed to increase above inflation and the ability of the sport to sustain them, and riders were allowed to ride in multiple competitions with conflicting fixture lists. I personally got sick and tired of paying 15 quid or whatever, to stand around on a terrace with a dodgy PA and indeterminable delays between every heat, and then have the incumbent promoter publicly insult the intelligence of the mugs who did turn up.

Philippe is stating the bleeding obvious really, and doesn't offer much in terms of a suggested way forward. Reduce the numbers of guest, well yes, but how? By reducing the number of riders per team - erm.. but then what happens when those riders get injured? North/South split, big yawn. Of course, whilst Philippe identifies that many choose to watch speedway on television, no questioning about whether British speedway is well served by the deal arranged by the current 'commercial rights holder', or mention of whether British speedway should get a cut of the SGP money.

That's why I could never take it very seriously. Years back, part-time longtrackers like Gundersen, Moran, Nielsen and (then) Tatum used to rock up and beat the regulars.

Always seem to have been lots of promises about Germany down the years - Berlin Olympic Stadium etc.., but you invariably end with Norden, Pocking or Gelsenkirchen. Teterow would seem to be a very basic stadium even by the standards of GP tracks in the middle of nowhere, and hardly seems to be any sort of step forward.

I think the discontent precedes the Warsaw debacle, as there appears to have been some in the Gorzow City Council that were outraged by how much they were paying for the GP, which is why the figures got leaked.

Yes, but if enough people are prepared to the exorbitant prices, then why should the Welsh Government really care. For that matter, why should BSI care? Interesting, BSI potentially embroiled in more legal action. One suspects it's also going to be up to you to get money out of the Finnish promoters rather than BSI.

The prize money is paid by the FIM, presumably from the GBP ~1.5 million per year it receives from BSI for the SGP rights fees. So that will effectively be covered from the television, sponsorship and staging fees that BSI negotiates. BSI apparently also makes some sort of up-front payment to the GP riders - I forget exactly how much, although it's not a substantial amount.

And what if they don't? 40,000 fans already represents more than the combined regular speedway going public, so what if even only 5 or 10K fans decided to opt for a Belle Vue rather than Cardiff GP? You also won't be able to charge anything like the ticket price for Belle Vue compared to Cardiff, so there's a substantial revenue drop as well. Then the Welsh Government starts questioning why fans are spending their money in Manchester when they could be spending it in Cardiff, after shelling out hundreds of thousands for the privilege of bringing the British GP to their city. There's too much to lose and not enough to gain. Poland is a different story because there's a bigger fanbase there, and local councils there were falling over themselves to pay daft money to BSI to bring GPs to their cities. Sweden is an interesting one as you'd have thought Malilla might potentially take fans away from the prestige round at Stockholm, but as I said, I seem to recall hearing a rumour this was down to some legal agreement. Why is there a need for another GP in Britain anyway? There are already too many GPs and running it as some sort of permanent full-time circus seems as far away as it ever did.

Who said it wouldn't be financially viable if it were just a case of Belle Vue or BSI running it, but why would BSI promote it themselves, with the attendant financial risks, if other cities in Poland and elsewhere are prepared to stump up thousands of euros for the privilege? Equally, what would Belle Vue have to gain by paying BSI for the privilege of taking the financial risk? I think Belle Vue will also only hold a few thousand. The extra capacity will require temporary stands which will obviously be extra cost. With respect to Malilla, I recall hearing some sort of rumour that GP was originally something to do with some sort of legal settlement. I'm sure Philippe can clarify though...

Or why not Swiss francs as the FIM is based in Switzerland, and I think the prize money for other competitions is stated in CHF? Which immediately indicates that Målilla has lower underlying costs. I thought Philippe once mentioned that the Målilla GP was jointly promoted by BSI and the local club?

I don't think you can make any comparisons without knowing the cost bases. A lot of Swedish tracks are leased from the local councils at a peppercorn rent, whereas Belle Vue and Coventry have to pay their way their way commercially. Maybe there's also a willing promoter at Malilla and not at Coventry, or maybe the Welsh Government specified an exclusive marketing agreement in return for its financial support.

Who would promote it, and would the local council or tourist board for Manchester be prepared to stump up several thousand in sweeteners as Cardiff does? As I said, if there was really a desire to have a second British GP down the years, then it could have been held at Coventry.

You could extend that to just about anything. Dodgy financial schemes, misadvertising, going to speedway, etc... A lot of people though, are stupid and/or weak and need protecting from themselves, which is why there are varying degrees of controls on drugs (legal and illegal). gambling and alcohol. I think there's a fair argument about whether cannabis should be legalised or not, but you don't hear many argue in favour of crystal meth. It's an insidious life destroying drug with no positive utility whatsoever, and whilst it's fortunately not hugely popular in the UK, it's a big problem in Australia. BFD was publicly unrepentent about what he did, despite the sob story at his trial, and previous laments about how Amy Winehouse had fallen to the scourge of crystal meth. Neither was he doing it for a 'few mates' or a 'few bucks to make ends meet' - piles of cash were found in his house. I never met the bloke and he might have been a personable chap for all I know. I won't deny I enjoyed bantering with on here, but that doesn't change what was behind the mask.

There have previously been reports on here of tickets at Cardiff being significantly discounted or given away. Agreed it's surprising if the smaller venues are relying on a high percentage of walk-ups.

BFD's sentence was a joke. He got off extremely lightly because his lawyer came up with some ridiculous sob story. The dealing in weed I don't care about, although he was obviously an industrial scale dealer if not actual producer of the stuff. Crystal meth is horrendous stuff that destroys lives though, and whilst he was living in a nice house in a nice neighbourhood, what about the those he was selling to?. We had some entertaining jousts on the BSF, but divine justice seems to have been fairer than temporal justice.

Quite a bit down on previous GPs there though. Would the weather really make that much difference with pre-sold tickets? Maybe there was a women's basketball match on nearby... ;-)

Of course there's no difference, and both tracks have regularly held GPs as well. I can follow the logic that if expensive 'prestige' stadia are rented, it's preferable they come with a roof to ensure the meeting can go ahead in inclement weather (although of course that's no guarantee with BSI running things either). However, it's not just about where you could actually hold a SGP/SWC, but what's in it for BSI and their mates. Cardiff is BSI's prestige round, and probably its cash cow as well, so I doubt it'll do anything that would potentially draw crowds or interest away. If they'd really wanted a second GP in Britain, then they could have used Coventry which is still better than some venues they currently use. I suppose it'll be seen whether Belle Vue ends up being used for the SWC, but would be surprised if it ever gets a GP. It's not big enough anyway.

And speaking of bad boys, surely Antonio Lindback is Sweden's Darcy Ward?

He's box office don't you know?

Mutual consent possibly? Both parties agree the track is crap, not conducive to a good GP, and crowds have not met expectations. Both sides cut their losses and walk away. Could also be certain get-out clauses in the contract.

Why on earth is it necessary to provide passport numbers to buy GP tickets? Ridiculous Soviet era bureaucrazy. If it's not made easy, I simply wouldn't bother.

The policy of taking the SGP to world cities... ;-)

Came over as a bit of a whinge, and frankly seems to be a bit a recurring theme (see Argentina). Maybe just saying stuff out of frustration, but the sport can't pay money it doesn't have, so not really sure what he's suggesting should be the solution.

They're not.

AFAIK, BSI pay each of the regular riders a one-off participation fee at the start of the season, but the actual GP prize money is paid by the FIM (out of the money paid by BSI for the rights).