JamesHarris

One League - Future of British speedway. This subject will never go away. In my honest opinion like I've said before, Speedway in the UK in it's current form is falling flat on its arse. The people who run it are still living in the past and the whole structure is completely mismanaged. One league would be a benefit as it would mean an end to riders doubling up which has made the sport a joke. Admission prices are also a major factor. I don't believe that the punters are getting value for money. The quality or racing now in the British league is nothing like it was 25 years ago.

Wasn't on Eurosport. It was shown live on a German Sports channel was was available in the UK on the old Astra satellite.DSF rings a bell. Egon Muller was doing the commentary. It was certainly not shown live on any of the UK sports channels. I don't recall it being shown on the BBC. Maybe they would have shown a short 10 minute feature on their Wednesday night sports highlights show? The beeb did show highlights though of the British Grand Prix at Hackney the year Jason Crump won.

Well done Sir, Very well done. I take my hat off to you for finding that one. I bet you got a little stiffie when you came across that page and had to sneak into the kitchen for a crafty pocket shuffle. £2 a year - what was I thinking??

Hmmm! Unless I've been suffering from dementia for the last 10 years I seem to recall that the Mercia Vikings were in fact the Coventry "Mercia Vikings" hence they were Coventry's junior/MDL team so I'm not sure where you get the ghost team idea from? This may help you ... http://www.coventry-speedway.com/news_mdl.php?cat.5

I have not been to a speedway meeting since 2014 so I can't really comment on the current standard of the MDL but as a marker when I ran the league between 2011-13 the standard of the average rider then was between NL reserve and Open (A) class riders from the Scunthorpe amateur meetings.

I understand where your'e coming from but "mature riders" are nothing new in the MDL. If you go back to the first couple of editions of the MDL a good number of the riders were over 30 but thankfully league developed into what it was intended and the majority of riders are now under 20. Sadly though with the league now combined with the southern tracks, teams may have to rely move heavily on the over 30's to travel down to the likes of Eastbourne, Isle of White and Plymouth as midland and northern based youngsters will struggle to do the journey in the week if their dads can't get time off. Lets not forget they are not paid travel expenses, etc at this level. Someone has pointed out on another thread that it won't be a problem as lads want to race regardless of where in the country it is. True, but its not the kids that are having to take the time off work and drive them around. I do hope the S+MDL works but I do fear it will put too much on the Midland/Northern based riders. Hopefully this is just for one season and next year more tracks will come back into the fold so the leagues can be regionalised again.

Whilst I'm pleased that development league speedway will continue, Is it not a little unfair to expect lads (and most likely their dads) from the Midlands and the North to travel all the way down to the Isle of White and Plymouth at their own expense? Will their be sufficient sponsorship to cover their costs?

Just watched the highlights of the Kazakhstan round of the Grand Prix and must admit I was very impressed with the quality of the racing. I've never paid much attention to Ice Racing before as I've always thought of it as a Russian dominated procession where first out the traps always wins but I will be watching more from now on

Dick Barrie (press officer at Berwick?) may be your best bet. I'm sure he was the one running it from 2010 - 2012. After that Jamie Swales took it over for a bit.

Thanks Mike, The 2011 edition was known as the Midland League but came to be known as the MDL half way through. It was an unofficial league as the MDL was not sanctioned by the BSPA until 2012 so I doubt any results for 2011 would be listed in their archives. For the record 5 teams took part - Halifax, Long Eaton, Scunthorpe, Sheffield and Team Viking Academy (based at Sheffield). Long Eaton and Viking Academy then raced in a 2 leg Grand Final. Unfortunately I dont have the scores anymore as my laptop from that time has died. I will do my best to dig any info I can out though. I would have a good bet on Connor Dwyer being up there. In the meantime this may help http://www.spensites.co.uk/mdlinfo11.html

Hi Mike, Just out of interest do you know who is the all time leading points scorer to date in the MDL since its debut in 2011? Cheers

I wonder if the embarrassment still lingers from that "Goodbye to the Abbey" meeting a few year ago.

The reality is who in their right mind would want to invest thousands of pounds into a business that is probably not going to make any profit? It would be risky enough buying an existing team/promotion but having to start from scratch with having to pay for a new track to be laid and renovating a stadium that has not been used for years is financial suicide especially when the future of Speedway in this country as we know it is starting to decline before our very eyes. I've seen a similar thread on here about the future of Coventry stadium. One must admire the enthusiasm of these people but I'm sorry to say it is just fantasy. Unless you have got endless pockets of cash to spare why would you take such a huge risk?

Some good views on here. I really do like the idea of a Euro Super League. Could it work? In current circumstances probably not. But maybe, just maybe. It would have to be franchised and administered and marketed by an independent body affiliated to the FIM. The BSPA or other national bodies would never be allowed to run it. I like some of the comparisons to Rugby League which now has French and Canadian teams involved. Before Super League and Sky Sports investment, RL was a rough n' ready northern sport played in the middle of winter and followed by a die-hard fan base. Pretty much could be said for speedway these days. However since Super League was launched, it's franchising and marketing has brought a whole new fan base to the sport and also enjoys huge media exposure. So how about if for Speedway? Such a competition could still run alongside the domestic leagues and most importantly the Grand Prix series. There would have to be brand new teams (or in this case franchises) set up to successfully market such a competition to a wider audience. 8 teams - say 2 from UK, 2 from Poland, 2 from Sweden and 2 from Denmark. You could possibly make it 9 by inviting a franchise from one of the other main speedway nations on a yearly basis providing they meet strict entry and financial criteria. So that would be 8 home meetings over the year and of cause probably 1 more depending on a Grand Final play-off series. As someone has rightly pointed out I don't think fans would mind spending £20 admission to see 15 action packed heats featuring the best riders in the world (I love the idea of Woffinden, Cook and Lambert as the heat leaders). It would also have to do away with stupid team points limits. Some will say what about the away fixtures? - Nobody will want to travel over? Wrong. Not every meeting no, but some fans would want to travel over to say Poland or Denmark and make a long weekend out of it. I remember going over to Perpignan in France a few years ago and the city was rammed with 3000 Leeds Rhino fans there to see their team take on the Catalan Dragons. Broadcasting rights and big sponsorship deals would be key for such a competition to work but if left in the hands of the right management this could be done. Maybe such an idea is just a fart in the wind, but if Speedway is to generate a new fan base with a new exciting future could such a competition be the cure? Cheers

A random thought I had the other night was if I was a serious promoter with a business brain would I consider purchasing a track/franchise and by-pass the British league and instead enter a team in the Polish League? The BSPA wouldn't like it or probably do their best to block it but would the benefits be for the long term good of the sport in this country? Think about it. Sunday fixtures, Television exposure and having quality riders at every meeting providing the paying public value for money. There would be the logistical problem to deal with but what about striking up a commercial partnership with a low budget airline like Wizz. Probably a crap idea but I must admit if I was a speedway enthusiast with a business brain and a few grand to invest I would be looking at the option.

Hello Simon

I don't know about the original St Austell at Par as that was way before my time but the Eden Project is not situated in the quarry where the speedway track was situated in the late 90's early 00's. The Eden project is very close to it but opened in 2001 whereas the speedway closed in 2003. But saying that they may have extended it. I went to the 90's St Austell whilst on holiday in 2000 and I will fondly remember it. Good racing in what has to be one of the strangest places ever to host a speedway oval. It was like being on the moon. The funniest memory is my mother wouldn't go to the toilet as I told her the toilets were over the lagoon and you had to hold on to a rope to squat over it!

I may have been away from speedway for a few years now but still keep track of the news and results. One thing that always keeps being mentioned is the declining attendances and tracks closing, most notably my local track at Coventry. The question has to be asked - in 2018 is speedway in the UK still a viable spectator sport? There will always be the "die-hards" who attend their local track but these are becoming few and far between. They are passionate about their sport and will preach it to others like a missionary spreading the word of God to a newly discovered Amazon tribe. The majority of these die-hards though are now in their sunset years and to be brutally honest will soon start dropping off. Are the younger "Nando's" generation going to replace them? I think one of the biggest problems Speedway in the UK has now is that it is overpriced for the spectator when there is so much better entertainment on offer to spend one's cash on. What are you getting for your hard earned cash? Are you seeing the worlds best riders every week -errmm NO! What you get is a watered down product dressed up as a Premiership. In fact what is the difference between the Premiership and the Championship? Isn't it just the same riders in different race jackets depending on what night of the week it is? My Step-Father who introduced me to speedway back in the early 90's has often spoken about when he went to Coventry in the 1950's and would see the likes of Ronnie Moore, Slit Waterman, Barry Briggs ect on a weekly basis and the terraces being packed to capacity. Different times yes, but can we go to speedway here now and see Tai Woffinden, Greg Hancock, Nicki Pedersen and so on on a weekly basis? Of cause not. They gave the British league the elbow and probably for good reason too. I personally think the seeds for the decline of British speedway were sowed way back in 1995 with the introduction of the Grand Prix. It was only 6 rounds then compared to the 11 or so we have now but what the Grand Prix has done is effectively wiped out top flight Speedway on a Saturday night and with it the Worlds best riders. Weekends are prime time for entertainment and people like to spend their disposable income but want value for money at the same time. Monday and Wednesday nights? your'e having a laugh! OK a few tracks have operated on these race nights for years and have attracted the aforementioned "die-hards" but in future will they attract the Nando's generation who are conscious about going out on a "school night"? We have all seen what switching race nights from a weekend to a weekday has done to Rye House. Possibly another impact facing speedway now is the value of land for development. I work in the housing sector so I know how land is needed for housing. Brandon will soon be a housing estate - its only a matter of time. If you are the owner of a motor sport oval that is at a loss and you are suddenly offered millions of pounds from a housing developer for your land what would you do? Stick it out and hope that a bunch of regulars will just about cover the costs of your race night or enjoy your retirement on a sun soaked beach in Barbados? I know which one I'd rather do. Based on this along with the rising costs for its riders I can only see speedway becoming a semi-professional sport in the UK within 10 years. The National League or whatever it will be called will thrive just as it has done since 1994 providing the tracks are in country backwaters away from town and city centres. So just how could the rot be stopped? Well abolish the BSPA for one and let the sport be run by a professional independent governing body. Stop the practice of the points limit every year. If a club can afford the best riders then so bit it. British speedway has to be one of the rare examples where a team is punished for being successful. Could you imagine a situation where Manchester City won the league and cup one season and were told the next - well done but i'm afraid you have been too good this season so you are going to have to get rid of a couple of your best players and replace them with a couple from League 2. It would never happen and would never be accepted so why should it be accepted in British speedway. It all goes back to the punter wanting value for money and offering a quality product is part and parcel to that. If you had a bad meal at a pub that an enthusiastic regular had been raving on about would you go back to that pub? I think the practice of doubling up has also killed British speedway. As I have already pointed out above - is it not the same riders in a different race jacket every night? If we are going to carry on stats que then lets jazz it up a bit and give value for money. If they said to me what would you do different then it would be this - In every meeting lets have 3 "Booster Heats" over the 15 races. The numbering of the 3 heats would be drawn at random before the meeting and the only person to know would be the referee. They would be run with a "pairs" point scoring system 4-3-2-0 (I think that's how it works) and would only be announced to the crowd and the riders within 2 minutes of the race so no tactical substitutions could be done. This would encourage team riding in these heats and would do away with the stupid double points joker. Just a thought. Anyway thanks for reading my post. I hope speedway can once again be a big spectator sport in this country but it has got to change and change fast.

Well I hope people are still interested. Myself, Nigel Hinchliffe and Laurence Rogers put a lot of hard work into this project and although I'm no longer involved in speedway I'm pleased to see that it is still running. My only gripe is that I now see the league and the SDL as being infiltrated by fantasists running ghost teams of whom there is very little chance of them ever getting land for a track. Some call themselves promoters but would not dare put their money where their mouth is. On one side of the coin the ghost teams are giving young riders an opportunity but unfortunately on the other side all they serve as is an ego trip for the fantasists who run them.