Barney Rabbit

Whether or not modern music will bring people into speedway (although, once I see the bikes lining up at the tapes for the next heat I've forgotten what was being played anyway) I'll get into the spirit of the thread. When a rider is put out of a match in an incident for which an opponent is exqualified/discluded/whatever the current term is, his rides (including any re-run of the original incident) can be covered by rider replacement. It is so unfair if a team's #1 (for example) is skittled out of a match by an opponent to only allow reserves to cover his rides.

Why's that then?

Away goals don't 'count double' and it's not a contrived way to keep a match close. I'm currently watching Swansea v Malmo. Swansea are 3-0 up but no Malmo player is going to put a different colour shirt on and, should they score, no Malmo goal will count any more than Swansea's Then, after two legs, should the teams be level, the team that has scored the higher number of goals at their opponents' ground goes through. Simple as that - not there to keep a tie close merely a tie-break should one be needed since there's hardly time to play another couple of matches in the week or so before the next round. Make that 4-0 now and still no joker. Edit to include the 4th goal.

I went to speedway as often as I could, to Oz, USA, many GP venues, every track in GB open as of pre-WOD whilst employed and for the first few years of retirement. During that time I lived in various parts of the country before returning home to Peterborough on retiring. I took quite a few people with me to speedway meetings at various tracks but none of them took to the sport, not even my kids once they grew up and made their own decisions. Obviously I always asked why and, although most just shrugged and said they couldn't take to the stop/start nature of the sport some did cite the rules as a contributary factor. Surprisingly, none gave the state of the stadia as a reason, many saying that a good sporting spectacle would override the state of the place it was taking place in (and, having seen football in Donny Rovers' (then) Belle Vue stadium with them, I know what they mean). I gave up going after November 2010 and I've posted why on relevant threads in the past but it wasn't any particular rule. There were/are some I don't agree with (and I don't agree with tac rides) but they weren't the reason I stopped going. I have, however, taken the opportunity on some of the sunny Sundays we've had recently to take the lid off the MG and drive down to Mildenhall to watch some speedway there. I'll probably carry on doing that but, at the moment, I have no desire to attend the sport at PL or EL level. This may well change, we shall see.

I would certainly say the old tac sub (anybody in when 6 points down) was unfair. I remember being at Brandon one day watching Panthers pulling away from the home side when up came heat 8. Bees made a double tac sub bringing in Hancock and Hamilll for their #2 and #7 against a visiting reserve and second string. Result, an easy 5 - 1 from which Coventry never looked back. Why were they allowed to do it, oh yes, they'd fallen 7 or 8 points behind, at home, in the first 7 heats! No way could that be described as fair. I'm sure most of us following the sport back then could come up with a similar legitimate injustice but, for me, that was the occasion that showed just how unfair that rule was.

Entertaining meeting (falls aside) on a difficult to work on track which dried out as soon as water was put down. Some great rides, especially Dan Halsey's heat 12 effort against the Coventry pairing and well ridden Luke Priest in heat 18 - I doubt many saw that win coming against the home club pairing. Keep serving up entertainment like that and you'll have at least two more regulars at West Row - not that this was our fist time this year though. According to the programme, Craig Ackroyd was the referee. Had he made it back from Copenhagen or was there a guest in his place?

One can but D-ream

Certainly, whilst I was employed many people I worked with had heard of speedway because I told them and because they sat somewhere where myself and possibly one other chatted about it now and again and they couldn't miss me leaving work wearing Panthers' colours if I was heading for an away match. However, most had no interest in going, watching on tv or even joining in the conversation. That's the difference, knowing about it means nowt, it's the interest that matters. And I worked in places with far more than seven employees, covered all age groups, had Sky and most liked sport of some kind. There were even those that followed road-racing but couldn't abide speedway

I worked in Leicestershire, Suffolk, Lincolnshire and, finally, Yorkshire before retiring. All areas had speedway teams but if I asked the question 'what does Belle Vue mean to you', the answer was usually 'Doncaster Rovers' home ground'. And Belle Vue are, historically, the top team in British speedway. As you post, it really is a minority sport.

I gave that example in answer to your 'how can people not know about speedway' type comment. But since you mention youngsters, I've got a couple of kids, both in their thirties who know about speedway because their parents went. I moved several times during my career, and my kids made friends with kids who didn't know about speedway - some obviously did, but some didn't and they all lived in the same area. If people are interested, they'll look. If they're not, well.... But just think on this...Why do you like speedway? I was asked that several times. I told them I liked the unique smell, the noise, the dust....They're not everybody's cup of tea, are they?

I live on a development of seven dwellings. Only one other has Sky, and neither of us has SkySports. None of us bothers with the now weekly local paper, favouring broadsheet dailies. I have a season ticket for Posh and two others support them, going fairly regularly but choosing their matches. We're all retired. When I first arrived and we were going to Alwalton, decked out in Panthers' jackets, they all, at some time, asked us where we were going since it wasn't football season. I told them, and, all but one, had no idea what or where it was. Why should they? They had no interest in motorcycles and had other interests - none of us sit and mope in our homes, certainly not me even now I've stopped going! OK, you're interested in speedway, not everybody else is!

When still working, if I mentioned speedway to colleagues it was usually 'I went once or twice to Donny, Sheffield, Hull, Scunny (all fairly local). Might as well stop it after ten yards, first to the corner won. Bored to tears'. I could cite cases where that wasn't the case but, let's be honest, it is very often! Ok, if you're hooked by the smell, the noise, whatever it is you go for then that's something you live with but for a newcomer...... Many of my sports-orientated colleagues watched it on Sky in preference to Emmernation St, Eastenders, or bog-snorkling on the other Sky Sports channels but not if football, cricket or a rugby code was on.

Exactly. The point of the item on Panthers' website was to inform that Peterborough would not be riding against Wolves in a televised encounter the following Monday and the word 'cancelled' puts that across in a concise fashion all understand.

We'll see. Patchett can't let that go unanswered if it is untrue and it could prove expensive for Ric. Somehow, though, I don't think it will be.

In the recently quoted piece (http://www1.skysport.../12268/8559291/) Ms Mahoney says all that we can do is wait to see if the team declaration is approved. That tells me that, as of a day or two ago, it wasn't approved as she'd be told quickly enough if it was because of the paperwork that needs to be completed (by both sides) before a rider can actually ride.

Don't know whether or not VB's got evidence but I can't help noticing that Patchett seems to be getting messages about the situation (like the other day) from MC members and he did say some time ago that he'd been 'told' about the March 1st rule rather than he knew about it.

Patchett has been told this by an MC member, Patchett has been told that by an MC member, Patchett has been informed.... That's what's wrong with this shambles of a 'sport'. The sport's ruling body should not be made up of mates, acquaintances and back-scratching associates making 'promises' to one side or the other whilst a matter is still on-going nor should they be open to approach over matters still to be decided. Patchett should not have been told anything more than Peterborough have been, officially or not.

You may not have seen the tweet but many on here did. What might matter though is whether any other promoter did. The MC decision was made public by one of the promoters concerned.

Quite. If you don't ratify Batch on loan..........

So is it now a done deal or are we still waiting for MC approval?

I'm not disputing your point that rules regarding assets need changing but the time to do that is at an AGM with all interested parties present or represented not mid-stream once team-building has begun. Since they weren't altered last November then those that remain in place should be followed by all teams and if they state circumstances in which riders should be purchased rather than loaned then so be it. Since I can't recall any promoter complaining about these rules per se, I can't imagine a change being high on the agenda at forthcoming meetings. This is a complex issue, I believe, and goes back further than last September or whenever it was Swindon had a chat with Batch re next season. Peterborough are on record as saying they wanted Batch last year but he never answered their calls. Why was that, I (and possibly the MC) wonder? And to answer another poster's point, yes, they did put a team together quickly but how many times do you see your calls being cut off or going immediately to voice-mail before you realise the intended recipient has no wish to talk to you?

So what do we do? Sting the fairy godfather because he's prepared to put some cash into the sport but let the supposedly cash-strapped off with cut-price deals? Whether we agree with them or not there are rules in place and, to my mind, everybody gets treated equally. If one is made to purchase, the other should be too.

Make that three sets of fans. He was well respected and made lots of friends among the red and black faithful in his stints at the Showground. I'd say he is still the most popular visiting rider there now.

I thought Harkess had already kept his word. As far as I can recall, he said he expected Swindon would get (talking about Hans and Batch) one on loan and would have to buy the other. That's the situation now.

No, the hold-up was a non-asset.