BWitcher

Yawn. Meanwhile back on Planet Earth, the SCB had announced they had substantial evidence... and it was only AFTER this that the Belle Vue 'apology' surfaced.

SCB, its pointless engaging with this guy, he really has 'dropped a few cogs'. He's been exposed on numerous threads where having been shown to be wrong, rather than manning up and admitting it he continues to dig. I think he either thinks he is being amusing or does it for kicks because he believes he is winding people up.

Great ride from Emil in the final.... but.. Holder did give it him. As he did in the earlier race they had. All Holder had to do was keep it out wide (which he was doing) and Emil had no way by.. Stupidly Holder rode round the middle of the track in 1 & 2 on lap 4 and left the door wide open for Emil to sail by! Great entertainment in the latter stages of the meeting though.

Whether its a 'minority' sport, or the biggest 'sport' in the world is irrelevant in this context. All that matters is it is a sport that follows rules. Belle Vue through their actions effectively forfeited the meeting.

That's why I said the 'majority'

It was a speedway meeting where one side dished out a beating to another. That's not 'ripping the fans off'. What are you suggesting, it should be staged so it's more exciting? Its a sport, big wins happen. I fail to see how it can have any relevance to the stunt Belle Vue pulled. It would open up a whole heap of trouble and be open to abuse.

Sorry, but its a ridiculous argument.. apart from maybe KK. This is sport, big wins take place. Was the 7-0 Bayern demolotion of Barcelona over 2 legs a rip off also? Yes they would. I've seen Wolves do it on a number of occasions before, including the one I have already mentioned earlier on the thread where they had to track FOUR junior riders. Not PL riders with an average of up to 6, but 4 junior riders, 2nd half junior riders. There is absolutely no comparision between cricket and speedway. A 2nd XI player can come into the 1st XI in cricket and outperform an established player, even a Swann, Broad, Lumb. It happens on a regular basis. A 3pt junior rider will NEVER come into an EL team and outperform a no 1 heat leader.

Eh?? I don't think the majority of the crowd at Coventry will say they were ripped off on Monday... Agree with your views though, you can't compare speedway to other sports because the gap between top riders and replacements is massive. It doesn't excuse Belle Vue's actions though.

Only if they hadn't informed anyone of the situation.

Precisely E I. I totally understand the situation Belle Vue found themselves in, but they weren't the first and won't be the last and as you say it could open the door to even more chicanery. I remember a situation back in 1993 when Wolverhampton had a series of injuries in the space of a week, this in a season where guests were only allowed for your No 1 rider.. They were without Ronnie Correy, Dukie Ermolenko, Graham Jones, Phil Ashcroft. It was in the days of 8 man teams, Wolves requested a postponement to Ipswich to give them time to sign replacements.. Ipswich declined. Wolves had to track a team of Sam Ermolenko, Peter Karlsson, Neil Evitts (who was awful that year), R/R and 4 juniors. They lost by 1pt on the night. That match effectively cost them the league title. Shane Parker became infamous with Wolves fans on that night, performing a series of gloating wheelies after he had beaten junior riders. Belle Vue would have been far better placed to have been honest up front in this situation. Requested to Poole the meeting be called off. Had Poole declined, which they would have been within their rights to do, then Belle Vue could have held the 'moral high ground' and would no doubt have had sympathy. As it is, they chose not to do this and went down another route. What made it worse was after it became apparent they were rumbled, they continued to put out press releases citing 'riders safety' etc...

It seems like they're trying to find a way out of it, without actually saying we made it all up.

With the greatest respect Rod, the Belle Vue promotion have already issued a statement confirming they were wrong and the meeting should not have been called off. They have pleaded guilty effectively. Time to remove the blinkers!

So just what is this 'decision' that was made in the heat of the moment.. Did they 'in the heat of the moment' mistakenly believe they had a burst water mains/pipe that had flooded the track rendering it unfit to race on.. or Did they 'in the heat of the moment' concoct a scheme/excuse to call the meeting off.

So it appears Belle Vue are already running for cover and accepting their fate.

Interesting Phil, I'm just going off posts on the Belle Vue facebook forum where they say its an old photo due to a building in the background not being there anymore? Perhaps they are just clutching at straws in their blind defence. Skidder, I wasn't having a go at Poole, simply saying that the SCB didn't take their action based on Holders tweets.. as I said, some other riders/officials WERE there, and clearly if Tungate was I am sure he can provide evidence.

Chris Holder didn't take the photo that he posted on twitter. I don't believe he ever made it to the track. The photo was forwarded to him by someone else on twitter and he retweeted it I believe. I'm also led to believe that the photo is actually a few years old? However, this isn't why the SCB are holding an investigation. It seems there are other riders/officials who DID see the track and felt it was fine to race on. This is why the SCB despatched a local referee to the stadium to investigate. Now, surely, if the burst water pipe had caused enough damage for the meeting to be postponed, that would still have been evident at 5pm when the local referee arrived. Following that visit the SCB has deemed it approprate to investigate further with a view to a disciplinary hearing.. IF the track was flooded as is claimed, surely the referee would have confirmed it and the matter would have been closed?

Posting on the BSF #onthebeachinAustralia

Some people seem to be forgetting here.. the SCB sent a local referee along to the track to check it. Following that visit they have decided a full scale enquiry will take place with a view to holding an SCB disciplinary tribunal in the very near future. Now, surely, if the problem was indeed a burst water main and the track indeed was flooded, surely the referee would have confirmed it and that would have been that??

Let's see how the sychophants defend the Belle Vue promotion now.

Not seen any that the Poole team took. I don't think Holder ever got there. Even Belle Vue aren't that dumb. They'd call it of before they arrived to cover their tracks. I notice on the intial press release, it was postponed due to waterlogged track.. it was only after the outcry regarding the missing riders that it suddenly changed to a 'burst pipe' and this picture surfaced.

So we have a puddle right on the inside of a wide bend, hardly 'flooded'. Where is the wider shot of the bend so we can judge? Shambles.

Eh? I guess Football, Cricket, Rugby, NFL, MLB, NBA etc will never be more than a minority sport as most of their commentators and coverage could be deemed as 'jobs for the boys'.

As I said earlier, I don't even see it being outrage. You don't know Darcy Ward.. you say he hasn't a drink problem. Matt Ford DOES know Darcy Ward, he says he HAS a problem. This is the key here, many youngsters go out get drunk, have a good time as you quite rightly say. However 99.9% of them don't end up in the unsavory drink fuelled incidents Ward has been involved in. This one, I grant you, is fairly tame, but the point is he has put himself into the situation again. It could quite easily have turned into another major incident. You would think he would have learned a lesson, as most would, from his previous. Clearly not. However, it is his life, he can choose to lead it as he sees fit as you quite rightly say SCB.

Yes and kids go around saying such things don't they. Dear me. Just like they tell their parents when they have their first cigarette (if they do) or other 'firsts'. Its not something you 'announce', its just natural. Kids want to be and do what their heroes do.

No it isn't. If a kid wants to look up to someone, they will. Period. If you read what I said, I have said I don't believe Ward should 'have to' act like a role model, its his life. But the reality is, some kids will look up to him. Again as I said.. not many though! Some are asking "Why Darcy".. the reason is because he's been involved in high profile incidents, so he's made his bed so to speak. I don't think he's even been slated that much (maybe by a few), just most folk saying he hasn't learnt his lesson yet.