arnieg

There is already a thread going in the British section (speedway general) about UK attendances - but nobody really knows what they are. However in the other major speedway nations crowd figures are published. I'm sure some of our contributors from these countries can flesh out the data with more background The data here is taken from: Sweden - SVEMO Denmark - Danske Speedway League Poland - Sportowefakty (these are estimates and the least reliable of the three) Polish and Swedish figures include play-offs Average Crowds 2015 2014 change Poland - Extraliga 8951 9518 -6% Sweden - Elitserien 2667 2840 -6% Denmark - DSL 1337 1556 -14% Poland Gorzow attracted the largest crowds in Poland (average 11,729) but still down 10% on 2014. This can be attributed to their on track decline, from reigning champions to sixth place. The next largest crowds were at Zielona Gora and Leszno (11,643 and 11,388) - both of these tracks saw significant increases, 10 and 11 percent respectively. Zielona Gora's rise came despite a less successful season on track; the team failed to make the play-offs this year. The largest fallers were Torun (down 17%) and Tarnow (down 16%). In Poland's lower divisions crowds were steady: League One average 4292 (up 1%) and League Two 2660 (up 2%). Rybnik (6914) and Latvian club Daugavpils (5375) are the big draws in Division One. The division two figure would be higher but for Rawicz who survive on a crowd of 275. (note: the ENEA Extraliga site carries its own figures, these show similar numbers for most tracks, but significantly lower reported crowds at Rzeszow and Grudziadz. Overall the ENEA site shows an average attendance of 8717, a 5% decline from 9195 in 2014) Sweden In Sweden Mallila (Dackarna) was the only Elitserien track to see an increase in attendances (up 10% to 3072); this made them the second best attended track behind Kumla (Indianerna) (3076 average crowd) [nb There are no crowd figures available for one meeting at Kumla, so it is likely that Dackarna got better attendances than Indianerna if this omission were rectified]. Halstavik (Rospiggarna) the best attended track in 2014 saw a 25% drop in attendance while Eskilstuna (Smederna) also saw a large fall (down 16%). Rospiggarna dropped from 3rd (of 8) to 6th (of 7) in the league standings. Note Dackarna and Indianerna's crowds would put them just below the Polish League One average, ahead of once mighty Bydgoszcz whose crowds saw a modest upturn but were still below 3,000. Denmark The drop in Danish Crowds was entirely attributable to large drops at the three best attended tracks. Esbjerg (1816, down 38%), Holsted (1659, down 16%) and Holstebro (1485, down 25%). A poor season on track probably explains the fall at Holsted, but the other two clubs performed similarly in both years. New league champions Munkebo witnessed an 11% increase in crowds, but more unexpectedly Outrup's (Region Varde) attendances went up by 30% - but they remain the worst attended DSL team. Britain Assuming (and it is a very shaky guess) Poole average between 1900 and 2200 that would make them the 25th best attended track in the major leagues (behind 18 Polish and 6 Swedish clubs). Esbjerg would be at number 26. So overall a clear downward pattern with the UK not even in the picture.

Another disingenuous statement that should set alarm bells ringing. What have the developers been doing since planning permission was received? The article claims delays are due to planning issues and seeks to portray it as council bureacracy, but the delay is that the developers haven't sorted these matters out in the four years since planning permission was given. If CO intended to build the stadium on schedule any decent project manager would have ensured these matters were resolved months ago. I hope I am wrong, but I fear that this will all end like Reading.

Had to wait a few minutes, but I eventually got onto the track and got my Swindon shale.

Plenty of contact and an easy decision for the ref to exclude Jensen.

Here are the facts: Guests used at king's Lynn in 2015: 30 17 for Lynn riders 13 for visitors Reasons for guests: Injury: 22 (13 H, 9 A) Riding abroad: 5 (2 H, 3 A) Witholding Services 2 (Milik) Double up 1 (Ashley Birks for Lakeside)

Wolves beating Poole 47-46 - a totally unexpected comeback Peterboro 46 Plymouth 44 in the KO Cup with some cracking racing and Birmingham 46 Eastbourne 43 - the result in doubt throughout the match would be my top three. Other noteworthy matches I've seen this year include: Swindon v Cov SKY match - great racing, close match and a good atmosphere Cov v Poole - play-off Semi first leg ending in a draw Somerset : PL Pairs - always a good occasion Somerset v Edinburgh - Cup Final every point fought for Somerset v Glasgow - play-off Semi again every point mattered.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/READING-Racers-British-League-CHAMPIONS-1980-SPEEDWAY-Scarf-/201445817095?hash=item2ee71b3b07#viTabs_0 Described as "pre-worn"

Jason Doyle interviewed on mike at Somerset last night. He said: - will be riding in Britain next season - had several offers - very positive about time at Leicester - could well stay there ("hope we can work something out") - doesn't enjoy riding against Nikki Pedersen - can't take his drink

Judging by the number of times I've experienced programme sell outs this year it must have been a bumper year for attendances. Or maybe promoters are just printing fewer?

A cracking meeting, great atmosphere, every point was fought for. Paul Starke was very impressive, and I always enjoy watching Josh Grajczonek. Charles Wright pulled off a couple of heroic moves. The Jensen exclusion seemed pretty straight forward, no 50/50 about it. I didn't see anything from Sarjeant that was worse than Worrall's heat 9 start. Critical race was heat 8 which looked like a Rebels heat advantage on paper and went the other way thanks to one of those Sarjeant starts. PS Thank you to the lady who procured a programme for me after they'd sold out PPS note to Garry May - why not put Jensen at 7 and save us all that writing.

But the British expected Swedes and Polish teams to last an entire season without their local riders because they had a UK team berth.

I would imagine Spiller's journey is easier than that of say Chris Julian who lived in Cornwall and rode for Glasgow (in 1964 I think)

He is currently no 11 in Dolgin's rankings. Of the ten riders above him only Janowski is active in the EL. (Iversen 13, Zagar 14 and Doyle 15 are the top EL competitors after Janowski.)

I would disagree. The alternative is you would get teams threatening to withdraw if they don't get their way over some important issue - and that is hardly a recipe for stability or sensible decision making. (Or maybe we should have more close seasons like 2010-11?)

What an absurd suggestion. When Britain had the best league in the world it never made any accommodation for foreign leagues, so why expect anything different now the boot is on the their foot. The problem is not Poland, it is that British speedway is full of people who can't recognise that the world has changed, and are therefore unable to adapt to our reduced circumstances.

A bit like when Glasgow used Covatti as a guest for Sarjeant. All teams will used the best guests available and exploit situations where they can have a guest on a false average.

I've seen 85cc racing in Sweden and Australia on tracks like the Swindon centre green track and think it works better than Peterborough where the riders get very spread out and they don't get to test their racing skills.

Good to see speedway racing back at Iwade. Meeting starts 1pm

Because the financial reality is that some teams operate at different economic levels to others and fans can appreciate that. How many Mildenhall fans want to return to the PL? I'm sure there are Oxford fans who would have preferred a return to the PL and survival over going bust as an EL team in 2007. That said Leicester are better equipped than most tracks to survive in the EL.

"They're not racing for lampshades" Did I really hear that?

Go to monarchs chatzone live updates

BSPA site says Porsing unavailable due to Polish playoff on Sunday. I thought Polish playoffs finished last Sunday. Can anyone enlighten me?

A useful precedent. However 15.10 states: "The result of a Meeting can only be amended if: a) the Referee has made an error in the recording of a Heat or the Meeting Results or that an absent Rider, having been given a Facility is found to have ridden elsewhere in contravention to the Facility so given" But interestingly that rule was also in the 2011 rulebook! Me thinks somebody is making it up as they go along

Well it's still in the fixture list, anyone got any idea whether it is on and who will be riding?

Agreed I think the Danish system is interesting, where the playoffs are a mini league (in the case of the top division a single meeting grand final) with match points carried into finals: 4 for league leaders, 2 for runners-up and one for third). BTW the top five divisions (three 500cc and two 85cc) in Danish speedway have five different play-off formats!