Sotonian

Those scrap metal trophies are only slightly more appealing than the xylophones from previous rounds. Whatever happened to proper trophies?

Wales, 1950.

You agreed with my rebuttal of your original point then proceeded to restate it! I cannot find any 'unquestionable' case of any football goal scored being worth double at the point it was scored.

Chalk and cheese frankly. Now, if a team could declare that the next goal scored will count as two then you'd have a point.

Those revivals wouldn't be so easy now though. They were possible due to a raft of suitable venues, either previously dormant or e.g existing greyhound stadia, being available.

Awful ploughed field of a track. The racing was good in spite of it, not because of it.

And the equally oft misused loose to lose.

James Shanes today won his third British Masters title in a row. Mark Cossar won the sidecar title.

Norden was the nadir of the old one-off finals. Watching that dross tonight one could be forgiven for thinking that the sport has not progressed one iota from then.

Watch it on the Youtube HD channel. No ad breaks or back to the studio tedium.

Yes, they make Nigel Pearson seem positively taciturn.

Thought it was the year before that.

For years, the complaint was that the best 16 riders were not in the final. The current system goes a long way to addressing that but you would rather select on entertainment than ability. For me, it has to be the best riders at the top table regardless of persona/gating ability/sponsor.

Thanks for the updates, a great win for James Shanes.

This is completely at odds with the oft-mooted move to a fixed race night though. Without the option to run NL matches what else would fill the void on away match weeks? Individual events and challenges are no longer attractive and/or cost-effective.

Umm, how about hefty subscriptions?

European Grasstrack Final Result and an all British podium of: 1. James Shanes (retained his title) 2. Andrew Appleton 3. Edward Kennett

When people ask me why I still bother watching speedway I'll show them that final. It was immense.

Golden showers for the Pirates

Wherever that is. Poole race at Wimborne Road.

It was Peter Shore and he was Labour not Tory. Bloody left-wing tree hugger! :-)

Didn't one of them get abandoned after the track was 'watered' with slurry? I think the bowser had been filled from a nearby river which, unbeknown to them, had been contaminated!

Would those stadiums accept disruption to their surfaces? Cardiff is palleted and easy to remove/replace. Are they? What evidence is there that Wembley would get 'a seriously decent crowd' ?

IoW was not purpose built for speedway, it was formerly a cricket ground.

I'd guess TV viewing figures would take a big hit.