RobMcCaffery

Thanks, Phil, just the kind of information that we need.

It IS possible to like more than one sport you know. Are you sure you're in the right section? We normally only see such yobbishness in the British sections of BSF.

I said it once when it was relevant and accurate. You say it endlessly when it is totally irrelevant and inaccurate. By the way I have never met or knowingly contacted Nigel Pearson. He does a good job but he is not my 'mate'.Carter does not do even do a job that approaches acceptability. It's that simple. If I were to repeat my criticism of Carter hundreds of times in a worryingly obsessive manner I would just about begin to consider your criticism valid. I haven't and don't. Your suggestion that one can only defend a 'mate' is beneath contempt. Get back in the playground before you bore yet more people with your stupidity.. For one who presumes to use logic, albeit a rather twisted form, you're pretty appalling at actually applying it. And all I am saying is there are very good reasons why it is unlikely to be possible. I was only trying to inform you based on my experience. Clearly I was wasting my time. My contributions to the debate over the televising of speedway in this and other threads has been intended to try to help people to understand what has been going on. To be honest it's one aspect of the sport where I do have some professional experience, albeit many years ago, to fall back on. I offer this to help people and yet the old forum curse seems impossible to avoid. I read this forum to get information and some insight into what's going on, although you have to sift through a hell of a lot of rubbish to get to the real information. In return I try to make a hopefully valid contribution. Sadly others only see this as a place to further their obsessive points of view or to just have a good old fight. They win, it's back to 'read only' on my part. I've done my bit, and as usual it just gets thrown back in my face.

Anyway, thanks to Dave Goddard for another very professional evening's work and thanks also to Ghostwalker for the information. I have so many fond memories of my trips to Sweden - not as much as one of our cameramen at Vargana's Norrkopping track when as the meeting ended a gorgeous blonde ran up the grass bank to plant a smacker on him. Tragically it was a one-off.

Compared to ours they're superb. I know there are problems over there, as Smederna fans are all-too aware but compared to here...

Seeing these Swedish matches with the world's best riding in front of healthy crowds really does make you realise how much we have lost in the UK - and they can still afford proper tactical substitutions too!

I do expect that Dave is totally on his own. Bear in mind it's not just Premier Sports taking that feed - Orange Sport in Poland get the same pictures. Unfortunately what should happen and what can happen are often a good way apart, Ultimately it's probably all a matter of money. Dave clearly uses his research well to cover the gap. If only I'd had the internet in the 80s!

Talking of yanks racing in Sweden I remember at the 1982 Intercontinental Final at Vetlanda (where I got the story about Njud) that the much-missed Kelly Moran was accidentally referred throughout the meeting as 'Kelly Moron'. Makes you realise how brave Greg Hancock was to set up home over there....

I do hope Ghostwalker was telling the truth there about Dackarna Mr Goddard ;-) Interactive speedway! Always enjoy these Swedish meetings and it can't be easy filling in the gaps where the international feed shows a static long shot while the Swedes cut to their own presenters for comment and interviews. Not an easy job but very well done.

It was delightful to introduce the Hammarby meeting as 'welcome to the Gubbangens Idrottsplats' (apologies for spelling) - it had my director stifling a giggle - badly. Seems that Hammarby are in a neighbouring arena. As for Rospiggarna, I'm in fact a touch disappointed they're not 'red pigs' - well I didn't pick up much Swedish on my trips sadly....

Thanks, there seems to have been a move towards geographical names rather than nicknames in recent times. I covered a meeting at Hammarby in '85 - trying to remember the then team's name - suspect it might have been Gamarna,

Ah, thank you. I was previously misled. Back in the eighties when I was occasionally working with Swedish speedway Vetlanda were racing as 'Njudungarna' which a local journalist translated as 'followers of Njud'. Thanks for clarifying. It would be interesting to have a list of translations of the Swedish team names.

Quick message to Dave Goddard - I believe Dackarna means 'Tyres' not 'stars' - that's just the logo on the race jacket. Great work Dave.

The question "Where are the pictures going to come from?" was a very reasonable point and not deserving of such an insulting reply. It's been explained on here before that with the exception of Cardiff, Eurosport (it's only called British Eurosport in Britain - we get a different schedule due to programming rights) aren't at the meetings at all. BSI are in charge of the meeting coverage which is carried by several broadcasters across the world, notably Australia. In the past Sky would use most of this 'feed' and cutting back to their studio when there were gaps. Eurosport instead carry more of the 'feed' just adding a very poor voiced-over summary after each four heats, presumably from a broom cupboard somewhere in the UK. If there is a spare camera at the track it's not Eurosport's to control. Of course they could spend cash and send a cameraman but I doubt they'd find it economically worthwhile. As ever, it's almost certainly all about money. Well, they're surely not paying out much to hire the babbling Carter. Apologies if I also sound like some disliked authority figure, I'm just someone trying to pass on a bit of his experience.

[/ A truly idiotic comment. If some people find your grossly over-promoted forms useful fine, but there is more to life you know. Maybe you should stop occasionally and think before you flood this forum with your incessant chattering? Sometimes (much) less is far more. I wouldn't have said anything about it out of basic respect but since you showed me none you get none in return. It was a pretty good meeting, all the better after I closed this window and left you to hijack the discussion as usual. I was silent on this forum for months. Thank you for reminding me why.

Is anybody interested because I'm certainly not? Not touchy, just finding myself with a very low tolerance threshold for idiots as I get older, especially those that don't know when to shut up. Anyway, here's a speedway-related comment. Goodbye, Tomasz and thanks for the memories. Emil, Tai, looking forward to the memories you will be giving me in the future. (Paul, in my time I commentated on 200-300 meetings, about half of which were transmitted on a station now part of Eurosport. It's a professional interest - what's your excuse? As for scorecards, I wouldn't know - I just knock mine up on Excel in a few minutes)

I comment on what I choose to comment, you post on what you choose to. At least I'm qualified to make my comments. I'll leave bitching about referees to those suited to it. I' enjoying the racing, as ever thrilling at Emil Sayfutdinov's natural racing ability and also commenting on something I know about. Given your ability to argue the hind leg off a donkey over such vital matters as scorecards I think it's very ironic you choose to have a go at MY contributions.

It's such a shame given the quality of the main BSI production, and Eurosport's own impressive work at Cardiff. It's rather like putting furry dice in a Ferrari....

Another embarrassing performance by the Eurosport voice-over presenter after the break - like listening to a 6th form project. Ridiculously over-enthusiastic and clearly understood very little of what he'd seen. We heard eye-versen in the intro too. Nothing's been learned - quite embarrassing and in total contrast to the main BSI product.

As someone who has tried to do this I can only agree but it is a real problem to find music that can appeal to the wide age-range of supporters. I once suggested a particularly racy and powerful piece of melodic rock (NOT heavy metal) on here and got the response "We're not all head bangers". After a while you just walk away.

This analogy is fundamentally flawed. When we pay to watch a musician perform we want to see those performers who entertain us the most. This can be a superstar in an arena or, sometimes, just a band in the local pub. For one we'll pay £50-£100, for the other maybe a fiver. I enjoy both, and if anything the £5 band can often be better value for money. I remember paying £50 for a diabolical performance by one 'superstar' at the NEC. When I go to see a musician I go to see him perform, not to compete with others though. I can enjoy his performance without comparing it to others on the same stage. In speedway we can appreciate a rider's performance on a bike and many of us do pay happily to watch a rider tackle a track to the best of his ability and bring the best out of his machine even if he's half a lap in front.. Some of us want to watch racing, however. Musicians perform in a creative environment, speedway riders in a competitive one. I can enjoy a competitive race between riders who aren't the best riders, who don't get the most out of their equipment far more easily than I can watch lowly-talented musicians since the environments are totally different. I went through a couple of years of unemployment and the last thing I could afford was to go and see Bruce Springsteen. I had to live within my means and occasionally watch the band in my local pub. Perhaps it's time for speedway to do the same? Of course we can just plough on as we are and simply ridicule those who are trying to suggest an alternative to financial disaster. Perhaps it's best if we do just carry on until the reality strikes and we have no choice except to rebuild with sane outgoings, after all time has moved on, we can't turn back the clock and we must search for other other lame platitudes? Perhaps the easiest thing is to buy a large incinerator and ask promoters to cut out the middle-man and throw their money in directly?

It is part of Spain, part of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands within the Spanish state and has been since it fell to the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War..

Run by Ian Hoskins and Reg Luckhurst and based on a bullring just outside Palma di Mallorca. You can still see the stadium from the vintage electric train from Palma to Soller.

It was probably my second suggestion - the script was written for him, not by him. As for not hearing sound, I don't know if it's changed these days but on the odd occasion I would have to do such kind of work you would be playing with the tape, forwards and backwards, freezing and running slow-mo so having the audio running wasn't exactly an option. Ultimately who knows. I'm just offering possibilities based on my own experience, but it was all a long time ago. Just remember that in TV work it's not always as straightforward as you think and I expect the presenter/voice-over artist isn't just sitting there taking notes off the broadcast feed and watching it like a viewer. I once presented a series of training videos for the then British Rail which covered Automatic Train Protection, then being installed on the lines out of London Paddington. I was mildly warned-off going to Paddington in case crews thought I actually knew what I was talking about. I did check the scripts I was given for pronunciations though.... One small point though, the pronunciations used by the commentators don't always coincide with the actuals - as you can check for yourselves when you get those irritating graphics where the riders say their names, such as Pe-aydersen, or Zaggar rather than Zaygar. Ultimately as long as someone knows what you mean it's okay but just to give in and not even read the names is poor, putting it politely.. (after three rewrites as well).

I'd suggest he either prepared his pieces himself by just watching the video feed without the sound or was just reading out a script written for him without him having watched anything. Either way the chances are he simply wasn't listening to the commentary. That's excusable during the bustle of live TV but he should have prepared at the very least by watching the previous GP. It does suggest Eurosport's budget for their own audio contribution to the programme is extremely low. It is inexcusable.