Humphrey Appleby

It's because it's actually difficult to do realistically and properly with all the different meeting types and formats, the sport does not especially lend itself to graphical representation, and there's virtually no hope of making a commercial return on such a small market. It has to be a labour of love, and few can make the necessary investment in time.

What exactly are these oft-mentioned powers we must have back? Does anyone actually know?

And it still isn't!

Certainly can't be accused of being a bland politician.

Still can't spell it, by the looks of things...

GP? Getting to Poland for the Polish leagues?

In an ideal world, there would be one European competition involving the top teams from Britain, Poland and Sweden, plus possibly Denmark and maybe other countries. Teams would only ride in that competition, and riders would only ride for one team, except maybe lower order riders who could double-down to national leagues. It would then allow the remaining teams to ride in more cost-effective national leagues. The key point is 'ideal world' though.

Of course not. Expecting critical analysis of any issues facing the sport is a forlorn hope. The situation in Poland and Sweden is generally well known to informed followers of international speedway, but it probably doesn't help to make comparison as the situation in Britain is largely different - not least with respect to dogs/stocks, pressure on land for development, and other economics. When I looked at it a few years ago, I think it was possible to run the Elite League on a couple of days a week, but that's not the whole story. I think one of the options was Monday and Wednesday, but that wouldn't help because the Swedish Elite League is on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursdays was maybe another option, but that still caused issues with the SGP practice, even assuming it was economical for some tracks (e.g. Eastbourne) to run on those days. Then you have to consider how guesting would work, because if every team is riding on the same day, or even on just two days, the availability of suitable guests would be problematic.

It's primarily used for Aussie Rules, although even its 53,000 capacity is dwarfed by the nearby MCG. Not a bad choice and the capacity won't be a problem as no GP pulls anything like that. The big question is what speedway tradition has Melbourne had in recent times, and is there sufficient latent interest in Australia as a whole to justify such a large venue?

How would it really improve anything if the Swedish Elite League is Tuesday? Riders would still potentially be flying in-and-out of the country twice a week.

I didn't suggest bending over backwards for the riders. The British leagues should be run how they need to be run - which is regular speedway with the same riders from week-to-week - and riders make their choices accordingly. I'm sure the Poles and Swedes train plenty of riders of their own, especially from Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Russia. The simple fact of the matter though, is that Britain isn't economically advantageous enough to keep the top riders, and why should they ride indefinitely for lower rates because they might have started their professional careers there? Would you continue to work for apprentice rates out of gratitude to your original employer? That's even assuming the British teams are actually 'training' these foreign and Commonwealth riders anyway. In many cases they'll already be reasonably accomplished riders who are maybe refined by their host teams, but equally are providing their labour to fill their sides. There should be a European-wide scheme for compensating tracks that genuinely train or bring-on riders, financed by all the professional leagues and the SGP, but that's another story.

Because it's totally immoral, and probably a restraint-of-trade issue. Not wanting to ride in Britain comes down to not being paid enough, and you can hardly force a rider to accept minimum wage because you happen to have issued them a licence. Enforcing such a rule would simply mean riders crying off meetings on spurious grounds, or them taking out a foreign licence and then being unable to represent the country. I might disagree with riders wanting to change the BEL to suit their own circumstances, but I'd certainly support their right to earn a living how and where they like.

How would you plan an EL campaign with all the expenditure that goes with it, if you didn't even know whether you'd be riding in the competition until halfway through the season? Moreover, on-track success has very little to do with the economics of running a top-flight team, otherwise numerous PL teams would have moved up. Even the concept of running in a 'super league' and lower level league in parallel is a total non-starter. You're immediately distinguishing one of your products as being lower quality, and you have virtually no chance of building up fan loyalty to a team or its riders if you're putting out different sides all the time. There might be a case for fewer fixtures on less days, but basically each of the British leagues need to decide what economic level they can afford to run, what riders are available who can in principle fulfil all the fixtures, and then build a product around that. They should not be prostituting themselves to a relative handful of riders who want to cherry pick where and when they ride, but who do not justify the money they're paid (in terms of extra revenue they bring in) when they do ride.

It don't think it helps to compare speedway with cricket. Whilst T20 helps counties to not play in completely deserted grounds, most/all counties live off the largesse generated from international fixtures, which is surely a lesson for the authorities who allow the SGP to skim off what little cream there is. For most sports, it would be utter madness to play inconclusive matches in the middle of the day in the middle of the week, but cricket is fortunately one of those sports you can play every day, and if you're employing the players during the season anyway, you might as well open up the ground and get make a few quid from the old men and dogs. Cricket grounds also have the benefit of (usually) being quite attractive places to go and have a beer or two, so can tap into the higher class corporate market. Speedway remains wedded to the used car salesman, sign writing and local plumbing-business-done-good type of corporate sponsorship, and therein lies the difference.

Been to Prague many times and never had any issues. As with anywhere it pays to guard your valuables and not look too obviously like a tourist, but never really felt unsafe even outside of the centre.

And what happens during GP weeks...?

Yes, but the average local shop is unlikely to stock champagne and caviar because it's too expensive for most of the clientele.

Simple maths? And what if British teams are expected to pay weekly rent at a rate much higher than what Swedish teams pay, because the stadiums have commercial landlords rather than owned by the local council? Are they? And how economically successful was British speedway when they were all riding in Britain?

Riders have been wittering on about this issue as long as I can remember, and it's entirely about what suits them. If the BEL paid as much as the Polish Elite League, you'd miraculously find the commuting and tiredness of the riders would no longer be an issue. The simple fact of the matter is that even when all or most of the top riders rode in Britain in latter years, they didn't draw sufficient crowds to justify their wages. They might put a few extra fans on the gate, but if teams are still losing money then it's a pointless exercise. It doesn't matter whether it's a 'Super League' or a run of the mill league.

Poland and Sweden have been a priority for a long time, and that isn't going to change by going to a single race night. A few years ago, I worked out that the Elite League tracks could run on a couple of race nights given existing alternate nights, but they'd have to be on adjacent days for it to be worthwhile. British speedway can't afford the top riders anyway.

Well cheerio then. British speedway has to be run in a way that's best for British speedway rather than the top riders.

Even The Fall managed 50,000 fans...

Athletics and rectangular sports don't fit well together, and athletics just won't draw the crowds other than for the Olympics and World Championships that you might get once every 25 years if you're lucky. The currency of speedway has fallen so low that it's not even going to come into consideration when planning such things. The roof is clearly the main issue for speedway anyway, even though it didn't prevent a 'rain-off' at Gelsenkirchen a few years ago.

Of course we don't know what his terms were, or how much investment the BSPA were expected to put in. I think few would disagree there was a lot of short-sightedness with respect to rider development in the past, but Britain has had development competitions in place for some years now, and yet is still hardly over-whelmned with talent at the higher echelons.

Maybe, but the economic and social conditions are different in Britain. Land is under much more development pressure in Britain, stadiums are mostly if not entirely multipurpose and privately owned, and local councils seem to be much less willing to support these sorts of facilities. This all leads to high rents before you've even considered anything else.