foamfence

I remember Tai saying that he needed to cut down and he decided to stop riding here because he had more accidents here. I think this obsession with Poland and to a lesser extent Sweden, is ruining things here. We can't alter most tracks and we can't afford big wage bills, the only answer is to leave them to it and go our own way, personally I have no interests in foreign leagues and if riders want to ride over there to the exclusion of riding here, then that's fair enough. What isn't fair enough is riders who can't be bothered riding in their own national championship or representing their country in internationals and that applies to all three (that I'm aware of) who refused to represent us in the SWC in recent years.

I've read elsewhere that there wont be any TV money after this year.

We aren't talking about Cricket and they don't do that at the same time.

It makes the sport look ridiculous, it's bad enough when it comes on the telly and the fans are corralled into one little section to make it look full. Then Nigel gleefully tells the world that most of these riders are in two or even three teams! And that's before he gets to mentioning their overseas commitments. You can understand it more if it's an up and coming rider getting a chance at a higher level but that isn't usually the case.

As the difference between the two leagues has been greatly narrowed, I imagine quite a few would consider the Premiership, particularly if the other options were the NL or closure. The old excuse about it being too expensive, no longer applies.

Totally agree but the question was whether you prefer the old tac sub or the current double points, if the option had been 'neither' I would have gone for that.

That wouldn't be possible but if you brought in a few from overseas who might want to ride here and a few NL riders with higher league experience, you could do it. There has also been suggestions of six man teams, I remember that being tried before, a few decades back. It wouldn't be impossible to have one big league and if rumours about the viability of some clubs are true, then it would be even easier.

Definitely old.

I think a lot of fans want their own team, not one made up of riders from various others, the fact that some riders compete abroad makes much less difference to fans, than seeing the same blokes in two or even three teams here.

Originally the idea of fixed race nights was to make it possible for more overseas stars to ride here, as they are mostly out of our price range and Poland is considering even more restrictions on their freedom to ride, that side of it seems to be dead in the water. Personally I'd prefer to see one big league, even with the conditions that would impose on rider strength.

The promoters have pre-meetings before the annual conference, maybe some Championship clubs have indicated that they'll be non-runners or NL next year? Today the Scunthorpe boss has again cast doubt on next season and I gather that the stockcars actually make the money there. As Paulco indicated, there are a few Championship clubs with very small crowd levels. We wait and see, we don't want closures but wishfull thinking doesn't pay the bills.

While that is true, surely the purpose of the championship should be to provide a stepping stone between the NL and the Premiership. That hasn't worked as it should for a long time and we even had the situation where Draft riders went straight into the Elite, because the second division had been allowed to become it's own little empire and declined to take them. We now approach rumour time and hopefully the leagues will become one or the Championship will continue it's intended purpose and supply riders to above, while accommodating riders from below. With such small differences between the leagues currently, I'd go with amalgamation.

Possibly not, according to Philip Rising the latest idea is to increase the Premiership to twelve clubs by inviting Championship sides in, there was no mention as to what would happen to the remaining six Championship sides though.

You still have to be able to afford those names, otherwise it's pointless.

Beggars can't be choosers.

Nothing wrong with 'foreign talent' as long as it is available for the majority of fixtures, if it cuts down doubling-up- fine, if it increases the need for guests- not fine. It is greatly frustrating to fans when they buy a season ticket and discover that their promoter knew from the start that his foreign signing was going to miss x number of fixtures. A league full of lower grade but more available riders would be preferable to some.

Muddlo is Poole's biggest problem.

Pay day.

That's the one!

Even on borrowed bikes he'd be better than nothing.

Yes, he did have a fall and a retirement but finished with a second, maybe he's caught this 24hr injury bug that seems to be going the rounds (last seen at KL)?

Do you mean that the 'four' actually swap with current Premiership clubs, or do you mean that the Championship would be reduced to six clubs? Redcar is another 'Thursday' club. While this might partly address the problems associated with doubling-up (apart from rain-offs and other rearranged fixtures). Another problem is that Poland and Sweden seem to be having more meetings away from their usual days, while we can't do anything about that, it might still promote the need for absences and guests. The time when riders probably don't 'make enough money to make Speedway worthwhile' is probably here and to my mind the 'balancing act' you mention, is actually between clubs going under and riders accepting that they might need a second job (some already have one anyway). It may become inevitable that British Speedway is forced to dump it's delusions of grandeur and go for one big league with mostly part-time riders, unless a huge form of new funding is discovered.

I prefer the 13 heat format, if you added a nominated riders race at the end (making 14 heats) I think that would be OK.

I hate it, especially when they get off the bike. I'd prefer it if they had to assemble on a back line and then when the start marshal signals, they should ride straight into position and be under starters orders, no gardening or trying out various different grooves. In the 'good old days' some tracks had concrete starting grids.

You don't have to pay them double, they accept the terms or they don't, there are already some riders who work and some who keep going with one league.