Spl77

Well the events at Ipswich tonight just goes to show that this sport is too controlled by the riders and is surely gonna die!

When I first went to Ipswich they had a 16 heat national league match a second half of junior league racing plus the likes of Ben Howe who was 14 or 15 at the time practicing afterwards along with the juniors hoping to get into the junior team. Sometimes 22 or more heats plus practice and All before the curfew of 10pm. Now from what I understand sometimes they struggle to get 15 heats in before 10pm. Certainly when I stopped attending on a regular basis we only got served up 15 heats. Far better value for money back in 89/90 plus no doubling up guests. Seemed far more professional to even though most of the riders had jobs to support themselves.

Totally agree.

Disagree with the fall in standard causing the mass loss of support. Sure some have walked away because of the fall in standard but far more myself including myself have walked away because of micky mouse rules and shambolic way the sport is run. The old British League Was on its knees and down to 9 clubs in 1990 and all the top guys were still riding in the UK. The formation of one big league in 1995 again because of the top flight failing still saw the vast majority of top guys still here. Its probably only in the last 15 years that the majority of big names haven't competed here. At that point the crowds were far less than the late eighties. The decline has been in progress since the mid eighties long before the big boys left.

Swindon have one on a knacked old coffee table painted red. From the many positives that could be taken from Poland the only thing the BSPA have ever adopted is numbering the home side 8 to 14 several years Ago. The stats that the commutator comes out with like number of race wins and average points scored per race is interesting though.

That worked in the old NL of the late 80s and that league was doing well until it got broken up to save the 9 team top flight. The argument that no guest for a missing number one will reduce the attendance doesn't really stack up when you're almost down to one man and his dog anyway. The doubling up amd guest situation has forced thousands away over the years I'm one of them!

That's the example I was going to use. So a friend watches Swindon v Leicester on tv and decides to pop along with his mate to ipswich. Ipswich line up with Scott Nicholls at 1 and the newbie says to his friend that guy rides for Leicester I saw him on the tv. Yes he does comes the reply but he is guesting for us tonight because of injury to our top rider. So Leicester own him.? No he is owned by Peterborough and will be riding for them against us on Sunday. The newbie is now totally confused! The explanation is that Peterbrough own him but he is free to sign a contract with any club he likes in another division. And if he has contracts with clubs in both divisions he is then free to pretty much ride for any UK team as a guest. That makes no sense says the newbie..... The reply ahh this speedway! If that looks like a sport that can survive can I have your rose tinted specs?

But loan players don't play for more than one club at a time do they? As for the champions league I kind of agree with you.

Both doubling up and guests massively discredit the sport. Both have been aloud to become the norm however neither are needed but are the easy option.

Please tell me that you're joking? With comments with that are you sure that you're not a member of the BSPA? Credibility is what speedway needs before it can even think about trying to reinvent its self and stop the alarming slide in fan base.

Interesting that you failed to reply to the doubling up point I made this has possibly become more of an issue in harming the credibility than guests however the two combined are a death sentence. I was just reading an article on Simon Cross. In that he mention that he should have quit when Cradley closed as that was his club and the riders fans and management were one big family. With the doubling up and guest fest of today that feeling can't apply to any club. It certainly doesn't at Ipswich which is why I haven't been for many years.

I want to see is my team v their team with the contracted riders and not a whole host guests and doubling up etc. Until they can get rid of doubling up and and guests no one can take it as a serious team sport. Its impossible to build up rivalry either between teams or individual riders if the following week some of this weeks visitors are riding for you. The blame for the chas that doubling has brought and the resulting lack of riders can only be placed firmly at the door of the BSPA. Before I get shot down and the 'guests are part of speedway and can't be helped' line comes out remember if you can the National League of the mid to late 1980s. That league ran for number of seasons with out guests and injuries were covered either with a member of the junior team stepping on or with rider replacement and a number 8 being named. So it could be done however the policy changes brought in over the years by the BSPA saw that system removed and changed to the shambles that we see today.

Speedway star 28th July had a couple of fabulous quotes from Rob Godfrey. "you can't have 99% of the league clubs all racing on the same night, it's ludicrous. Followed by" people can slag me off but it's BSPA protocol that's needs to be adhered to." Now two points if the BSPA hadn't made the sport so reliant on guests you could have most teams running on the same day the guest rule in itself is ludicrous. Second BSPA protocol? Didn't realise that such a thing existed!

That's a fantastic idea. I've never worked out why the promotion here in Ipswich don't do more with the cycle speedway club. When I was a kid I wanted to be a speedway rider but never had the opportunity however I found out about cycle speedway and I did that. They could have a rider at the club in Whitton every week and then open up the Foxhall track once a month to the any kids who want to come along and use pedal power. Hats of to ipswich thou on the tie up with the football club that is great promoting.

When does Drew Kemp make his home debut?

And stop guest riders.

The whole set just seems so professional compared to the UK.

As I said it wasn't down to big names being present but the overall presentation. But yes the racing waa better.

Last night I watched the TV meeting from Lynn followed by Zielona Gora v Leszno no contest in which was better. Polish league any day not just because of the bi names but for the simple reasons that you could feel the atmosphere coming over though the TV fans chanting making noise. I think that there was more noise coming from the field over the road than in the stadium at Lynn. The whole polish set up just looks so professional from the way the whole thing is presented. As a side note the it was also interesting to hear how many heat wins the riders have had individually during the season.

Compare that to zielona Gora vs Leszno shown on free sports no contest Polish league any day!

Imagine if the eggs were not available because they were doubling up in the cafe over the road so beans were brought in as a guest meanwhile chips were forced to appear at mcdonalds to be rearranged as French fries so chip replacement was used..... You'd end up with a plate of beans instead of egg and chips. Surely this is British speedway all over?

I very much doubt that an independent body would have allowed doubling up and down the golden double and the constant rule changes every winter and sometimes mid season for the benefit of one or two clubs let alone what appears to be change of heart on averages every other month. They would however form a league structure and a rule book that wouldn't change every year. This wouldn't allow total autonomy for someone like Guy Nicholls but would at least allow for a 4 5 or even 10 year business plan to be put in place at those tracks that wished to run their business that way.

That's what I was getting at the BSPA need to wake up and accept that they can no longer run the sport and that an independent body is required to control the sport. That way you may be people like Guy Nicholls would look at being more involved knowing the framework wouldn't change each year due to self interest. I know the argument that the promoter's put the money up and so they should control it to protect their investment. However we are now at the point that if the bsap carry on the sport will be dead money so their money is lost. Let an independent body take over best case they turn the sport around there by the promoter's still have a business to run worse case? Well they can't save it the sport dies and the promoter's no longer have a business.... We'll they are well on the road to that anyway seems they have nothing to loose.

The most annoying aspect of all is clearly there are people out there who are happy and want to be involved in the sport so they must see a future. We have Guy Nicholls who is very successful in his field at Ipswich as a sponsor aswell as supporting a host of riders. Love him or hate Ford at Poole BT sport who made that cracking true grit documentary and the guy interviewed in the speedway star who was involved with Olympics sorry his name escapes me. The point is surely there are enough people with the desire because they are fans of the sport to rescue it. I think this winter will truly be last chance salon.

There used to be plenty of inter team rivalry and riders having fisty cuffs however that difficult for that to happen when the following night those riders could be in the same team. For that to happen you need to return to 7 riders 1 team end of.