The Pedaler

All these points are making the case for a weekly summary show and NOT "live" speedway. Those who "can't" go for whatever reason will get their fix, and it can still be repeated whenever the broadcaster has a loose moment. Those who don't want all the faffing around will get speedway in a "concentrated format". Loads of sports do well without live coverage. I think that an edited summary show will show the sport in a far better light. It won't stop the fans from going to the stadiums and those fans that do go won't be messed around waiting in a cold wind for Sky's advert breaks to end. Anyone who's been to a play-off will also know that being on the terraces in one of those meetings is an endurance not an enjoyment. Some people I brought along to Birmingham last year won't ever come back to speedway again after what they had to go through to see 15 minutes of racing just to appease the SkySports programme makers. More a case of kiddies thinking that their toys are being taken away from them and having a big blub about it.

You can see where the next few pages of posts are going on this can't you? SS - You're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll everyone else - No you're the biggest troll SS - No you're the biggest troll etc etc. Give it a rest guys. If you want to compare the sizes of your trollises, please do so on a thread of your own.

Yeah, why not free tickets? Give it some free live radio coverage, and put it on Eurosport for free too...not forgetting the free links to streaming channels on the internet... Who needs money? BSF speedway followers might even be happy with that arrangement. The answer to getting people out of their armchairs by wowing them with "big crowds" and "atmosphere" that have to be "checked out" is very simple...and one that the BSPA through their cohorts at GoSpeed International have the power implement...namely showing Polish speedway on television. So you have to ask yourself, why don't they do that? Why have GoSpeed bought the international media rights for the Extraliga only to NOT show it on television? Showing "big crowds" and "atmospheres" are obviously not the way that they want speedway to be portrayed. Can't show big Polish crowds on Sundays and then the EL equivalent of one man and his dog on a Monday night can they? Granted, as someone said, the problems with speedway are closer to home. Let's face it the British speedway product stinks..but that has to be remedied before it gets televised. Carrying on showing a rotting corpse on live tv will do nothing at all to turn it's fortunes around. Didn't those powers of persuasion also involve hundreds of millions of £££,£££'s ? Weren't clubs compensated for reduced attendances and those clubs shown on television paid extra? So where's the similarity with what's being proposed by SkySports now where they simply won't charge for being there, and add nothing to the pot to compensate for reduced attendances? What's in it other than vanity for speedway now under this Sky proposal?

The PL Pairs meeting at Somerset is a fantastic event. Long may the idea of team riding pairs of speedway professionals prosper. I'm looking forward to the SBP. Just a shame that the event dates are too close to other trips already booked. Maybe a lesson for OneSport for next year...announce your calendar of events SOONER please!

I think that guests and R/R will be such a common feature in 2014 across all teams. Two NL reserves that double or even treble up, plus two PL double uppers, not to mention foreign nationals who have a first duty to their parent country...it's almost an inevitability that one or more won't be able to be in the team more meetings than not. Makes supporting an EL team such an attractive proposition doesn't it?

Wrong! Coventry won the Wooden Spoon.

You have to survive today before you think forward to tomorrow.

Here's the news! Speedway ISN'T a successful sport in the UK, and it isn't big either. Team GB is crap and all the clubs are losing money, big style. Before it wants to join the ranks of the big and the successful, the sport first has to survive, and then grow and succeed. Pretending to be a serious sport in this country hasn't done speedway any good at all in the last however many years since Sky were involved. I'm sure that you'd love to carry on watching live speedway on television and you won't care a jot if the loss of revenue caused in the name of providing you with your entertainment causes clubs to go under. What would you care? You'll just start watching Swedish or Polish speedway on television instead.

Only marginally more than 16 riders and 2 reserves for a very boring individual or testimonial meeting...Surely a TEAM meeting and an international all star team meeting at that will attract a bumper crowd, big sponsorship, television coverage, merchandise sales etc etc that would make it all VERY worthwhile...in anywhere other than a territory ruled over by the BSPA.

Do I want LIVE Monday night speedway to happen? NO! Sky won't be paying anything for it so clubs will lose revenue through diminished attendances, not to mention people's regular race night getting buggered about. Would I like a once a week hourly summary show, kind of a "match(es) of the week" kind of thing, then yes. I think that would be far more beneficial for the sport and be in the best interests of its long term health. Live TV and Live Radio won't do anything other than pander to the stay-at-home armchair fans who want everything for free. Clubs need fans to pay at the turnstiles, to be in the stadiums, and sponsors need to have them in the stadiums too to be exposed to their brands and products, and so a move away from live TV (where sponsors logos etc only get a bit part airing) will be a good thing.

That was the 16th January and now it's the 24th...which "next" week will it be? Are you just stringing everyone along for a laugh? Is that what the BSPA have told you to do?

Emil is at Torun now, so that's a problem halved.

Yep! Four faults. I'll take that one on the chin!

What "loads of money" deal, precisely? IF any deal is announced, it will be for providing coverage, NOT sponsorship money. Now take away the loss of revenue that Sky nights create and you have to wonder who will actually want Sky on their patch messing the fans and the fixtures list around.

Lets face it, this Best Pairs event is tailor made for the Turbo Twins. IF Darcy Ward wants to place money and country before Poole Pirates then there would be no "facility" for him, in the same was as there was no facility for Hans Andersen in 2013 when he went to ride in the Euros instead of for Swindon. Poole will have to find a National League guest, and Ward would get a ban of some sorts. So you can imagine Ford now wanting to persuade Cook to postpone the fixture in light of a lack of star attractions and poor value for money for the fans (he does like that one doesn't he?) and you can imagine that Cook will want to take advantage of the best chance of getting a 3-point win over the Pirates for a long time.

As I suspected, to represent the nation, and to be called "Great Britain", the BSPA have to grant approval. They haven't. So no British riders can represent their country in that event, despite at least the first round not conflicting with any EL fixtures. Any foreign rider contracted to a British team can't be stopped though. I doubt if the team that they are riding for will be granted more than an NL guest as a replacement if they have a rider that is caught up in a fixture clash, and no doubt the club or the BSPA may impose a ban on that rider, in the way that Swindon did with Hans Andersen last year when his SEC commitments "took priority". Does anyone think that isolationism will do British Speedway any good? Do you think that the likes of Tai Woffinden will be pleased at not being able to earn what he is worth on the global stage as World Champion? Is this a way to encourage the top riders to (continue to) take part in our leagues and thereby improving the product for British fans? Thank you BSPA for burying your heads in the sand and further diluting the product even further.

Will the meeting reserves be from the National League draft?

Sounds like a shaggy dog story to me.

Anyone noticed the lack of sponsorship deals being announced? It wasn't like this last year when they had a hard working commercial manager pulling the money and the crowds in.

Maybe the twopenny league sponsorship with a second hand car dealership was put on ice and all announcements put on hold when it emerged from Nigel Pearson's own back yard that Zoopla may have £3m to spend on some sponsorship deal or another, now that they have pulled out of the West Bromwich Albion deal? Just be careful with how you salute your heat wins!

Why am I not surprised? Says it all doesn't it? He says exactly what everyone on BSF says regularly. The only people who are unaware of that home truth are the BSPA themselves. The stupid thing is...if Poole or Swindon (etc) wanted to run a "Best Pairs" event to fill a gap in their fixture list, there wouldn't be a problem in riders being allowed to "earn a living" by accepting a booking. But earning a comfortable living on Polish big money, against quality opposition, that's a big no-no. Work it out. No-one yet knows what the format of the "Elite Riders Championships" will be, but if the BSPA now harbour any ideas of adding to the talent pool, riders contracted to Polish clubs not riding in the UK, you can guess what the outcome might well be...then again, could the Poles really be as small and as petty minded as the BSPA and seek this kind of retaliation?

Especially in the town that is home to that famous Welsh football team - Total Network Solutions FC

Here's the party line. Let's all tow it together...a one...a two...a three ... HEAVE!!!

Poole will win the league. It will be arranged if it doesn't work out naturally...perhaps on a wet Monday night again, in front of the television cameras again, just so that they can get enough of a points lead before the meeting gets abandoned to sneak them into the play-offs again.

The answer lies with the live streams on t'internet and speedway fans reluctance to pay a penny more than they have to, to watch anything.