Humphrey Appleby

It doesn't entirely work that way. Immigrants sometimes take jobs that would otherwise not be filled, or even created in the first place. They can also contribute to economic growth which in turn creates more jobs. If you eliminated the 22 work permit riders in British speedway, would you create 22 jobs for British riders, or make several teams less attractive to watch with the consequence that some may fold?

In Commonwealth countries you used to be able to claim citizenship on the basis of birth, or that of your father. Wasn't Loram's father serving in the military at the time anyway, so would have been British on that basis?

So you'd prefer Poles from Australia rather than Poland? What about Nigerians and Jamaicans?

There's been some good articles in recent times and which persuaded me to renew my online subscription. However, the unquestioning reporting of the BSPA party line really is a weak point, and not fitting of a supposedly independent journal.

Okay, well to balance out Muddlo's rambling, add some commentary about how the FIM disciplinary process works and the usual timescales for dealing with cases. One wonders how the world would be if Woodward and Bernstein had settled for no comment from Richard Nixon. Why do any publications bother to comment on politics, government performance or for that matter any subject of public interest then? Perhaps because comment from an established journal carries more weight than from the average member of the public? Even in sport, the corruption in FIFA, the IOC and IAAF has been roundly exposed in past years, and has (with the possible exception of FIFA) publicly shamed individuals and forced changes to be implemented. I'm not suggesting that BSPA officials should be publicly shamed, but I see nothing wrong in pointing what a fiasco they're presided over. That is an ideal topic for an editorial.

Yes, but it seems highly likely that Darcy Ward would have been nowhere near the limit for drink driving in the UK (at least before the Latvian GP!). The limit for sport is negligible or zero, and whilst I agree that standards for motor racing need to be substantially more stringent than for driving a car on the road, you cannot completely equate what may be a marginal failure against a zero limit with common drink driving. Yes, God knows why it takes so long, but then that's what happens when lawyers get involved. However, with your 50 years experience you should be aware that it's not unusual by FIM standards, and it's a distraction from the actual issue. Simply reporting the ramblings of Muddlo on the grounds of 'reporting all sides of the story', does not in this case provide a balanced story because obviously the FIM can't comment on a case in progress. That's why some editorial is needed to make the reader aware this is not an unusual or unduly lengthy procedure. More generally, I don't think it's beyond the bounds of possibility for a journalist of your standing to actually establish what the Darcy Ward argument is, and even publish it. An FIM tribunal is not a court of law, and it's hardly likely to prejudice his right to a fair trial. We saw the same things last week with the verbatim reporting of the laughable protestations of the BSPA over the visa issues. The bottom line is they're either very stupid or simply knew they were breaking the law and thought they could get away with it, but either way their ineptitude should have been roundly condemned by the "World's leading speedway magazine".

Would still reduce the competition to a farce, and would not be a true test of champions if some teams are having to replace their No.1 rider with R/R, a junior or whatever. Like I said, I think a franchise model along the lines of the Pro-12 or SuperRugby would be a better approach for speedway. Designate 4 teams from Britain, 4 from Poland, 4 from Sweden, a couple from Denmark and maybe one each from Germany and the Czech Republic, and run as a standalone competition with some sort of draft system or salary cap to ensure all the best riders don't end-up in the Polish teams.

Whilst Alan Hardaker (Secretary of the Football League) was a notorious xenophobe, there were probably some rationale concerns about participation in the early years. Travel was slower, less reliable, and (as as the Munich air disaster demonstrated) potentially dangerous, which meant squeezing European matches in-between regular league matches was much more of a logistical challenge. In addition, some teams in the competition in those days didn't have floodlits or preferred to play on weekends, which would have meant postponing league matches. Bear in mind that the first Football League match under lights was only played the same year as the introduction of the European Cup. Given that teams almost entirely relied on gate revenue in those days, and that postponed matches generally had to be played during midweek days which meant poor crowds, you can somewhat understand the reluctance of the Football League to disrupt a stable competition for something that was financially risk and uncertain.

A lot more. The European Cup was created in an era when travelling was more difficult and expensive, and there was little or no television and sponsorship money around. Plenty of sports, including amateur sports, have since introduced their own European competitions in a straightforward manner. The big 3 or 4 professional speedway leagues have also been running (in terms of being open competitions) for 25 years now, and the concept of a European competition in speedway was mentioned at least back in 1970s, so it's far more than 2% of the time. Yes, but I don't think you want those bad habits creeping into a European competition.

I find there's often more to these stories than meet the eye, because renewing your visa is not something that's easy to forget, especially if the consequences are so dire. In the case of Brian Crane, he seems to have 'forgotten' for the last two years, and given that he's been in the UK since 2000, why does he not have permanent residency or even citizenship by now? The public though, is getting what it wants - the government 'getting tough' on immigration. There's human stories behind most immigrants, so why should exceptions be made for former US sergeants and speedway riders. Where do you start drawing the line?

The tax rules appear to preclude exempting accommodation costs, but I think there's something of an unwritten rule that you can do it for a residence for up to two years if you argue that you're temporarily contracting. I'm not sure how it works if your 'main residence' is back in Australia though.

No doubt, but they're entitled to work in the UK whereas Australians are not unless they fulfil the qualification criteria and their employers follow the rules. It's not an argument for waiving the rules, especially considering how there's a sizeable section of the UK population clamouring to 'get tough' on immigration. Could be argued that the Australians are only loyal when they can't find a ride elsewhere, and as soon as they do, loyalty to the British leagues goes out the window. I'd agree that Australians are generally better value for money than riders from other climes, and the lack of the professional league in Australia does mean that the UK is where they'll naturally gravitate. However, to claim that finishing fourth in what are increasingly mickey mouse competitions equates to 'elite level', is seriously stretching credibility of the qualification criteria.

It's probably easier to get into NZ than Australia (at least for Brits), but there's still a qualification criteria and it will take 4 or 5 years of residency to get a Kiwi passport. You'd have to be pretty keen to do it that way.

Yes, but did the players at the time play for different teams in the same competition? The other point is that the success of the early European competitions was far from certain, not least because travel was more difficult and expensive for most teams. Plus the Fairs Cup had some pretty farcical rules early on, wasn't even organised by an official body, and some would even say the modern Europa Cup is a pointless waste of space nowadays. Any sort of European competition in speedway is doomed not to be taken seriously unless it's organised as a standalone thing where teams sign-up different riders for the competition to eliminate any nonsense about riders competing for more than one team. That would effectively negate any 'champions league' concept, so would have to organised more as a league of the richer teams. No real difference from the champions of the mighty Gibraltar League potentially coming up against the champions of Spain or Germany. The European Champions League has not been won by a team outside of the 'big four' leagues for over 10 years, and only two teams from 'smaller' leagues have broken the monopoly in the past 20 years. In fact, the Champions League has only been won by 12 different teams over the same period. I suppose there's 4 or 5 proper national leagues in speedway, plus the German and Czech leagues, and then maybe 4 or 5 other countries that have team competitions of some sort. So I suppose you could cobble together 12 teams of so, but it would be more sensible to run a franchised based system like Super Rugby in the Southern Hemisphere.

Is South Africa not in Africa?

And the composition of the following season's Football League(s) is known the day after the playoffs, almost without exception. You never know in speedway who'll be running at any level until December.

Of course it's about immigration. UKIP is fundamentally an anti-immigration party despite Farage never giving a straight answer as to what this actually means in practice, although he of course let slip last year that he wanted a 5-year ban on all immigration. No doubt certain (white) Commonwealth immigrants are more tolerable to UKIP supporters, but it's ironic that ethnic Greeks, Italians, Germans and Poles from Australia would be more welcome in their eyes than ethnic Greeks, Italians, Germans and Poles from Greece, Italy, Germany and Poland! At one time there was total freedom of movement around the Commonwealth - long before the EU was ever thought of. However, anti-immigration sentiments in all those countries tore that principle up, so it's hardly that the UK specifically legislated against Australians and Kiwis, and indeed has supported the principle of right of abode under patriality laws. Yes, I do agree there should be freedom of movement between the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, as well as the EU/EEA, but it has to be reciprocal and in the current climate I doubt is something any government wants to consider.

The Bill - that's a bit Eighties and well after speedway's 'golden era'. More like Dixon of Dock Green ...

That is *a* unique point of view...

Alka Seltzers in the fuel?

As with anything formulated by speedway, I doubt anyone has thought that far... Why stop with Texas - there's another 48 states that could have championships too. I'm sure the BSPA would like the criteria to be as liberal as possible though, and up until now it seems the authorities have obliged.

I thought Tasmania only runs sidecars. Not sure I can ever remember riders qualifying out of Tasmania for the Australian Final. This does raise an interesting question though. I seem to remember the US Nationals and maybe also the California State Championship weren't AMA sanctioned, so how would that affect the qualifying criteria? In any case, I find it ridiculous that Australia and US state championships should be considered an acceptable qualifying standard, especially as most of them are little more than glorified open meetings. And what are the New Zealand 'state championships' supposed to be?

The NFL approach sounds ridiculously puritanical, but typical of employers in the US who feel they have the right to dictate employee lifestyles. If someone fails drugs/alcohol tests in competition that's one thing, but frankly outrageous that an employer can dictate such things out-of-competition that are not performance enhancing, and I seriously hope that we never see such things in Europe. That Darcy Ward behaves like an idiot is not in much dispute, but unless his misdeeds happen in the sport, then it's really not any business of the sport, nor is the sport morally obliged to deal with them.

Phil Rising could quite easily have clarified the situation rather than allege libel on a technicality. However, I think it's fair to point that Darcy Ward was acquitted in that particular case, so he shouldn't really be described as even an 'alleged sexual assaulter'. Clearly trouble seems to follow the bloke around, probably because he likes a drink too many, but that doesn't automatically make someone guilty of everything they're accused of...

Whatever one thinks about Darcy Ward, it's not for a sporting body to impose draconian restrictions on one's lifestyle. He hasn't committed (in this particular case) a criminal offence.