RobMcCaffery

Sadly I have confirmation from Stay Live/ESS in Sweden that their showing of Polish Speedway is confined to Sweden only. They're deferring my subscription until the Swedish season starts.

551 is Premier Sports 1 and it costs an additional £9.99 a month to get it, along with Premier Sports 2 and La Liga TV (Spanish football). They're showing all four matches for the first two weeks then 2 per weekend afterwards so in a typical month you'll get eight matches for a penny under £10.

I don't think they expect to get many customers outside Sweden. I got the same email, signed up, went to the ESS page and all the previews were blocked. I tried using VPN but it doesn't include Sweden. All of my available counties were blocked. I've emailed them to ask that my payments be deferred until August if they can'r supply me with the Polish League. In the blurb it does say "watch anywhere within our borders" but so much gets lost in translation. Will report back as soon as they reply. I've had confirmation of receipt of the query and a ticket number. They are typically efficient with customer service so it hopefully won't take long. I could expect complications if both ESS and Premier Sports were both offering the matches on subscription to Britain, but we'll see. It might not be an exclusive deal.

Polish matches appear to not be available outside Sweden. The previews are geoblocked which suggests the match coverage will be as well. :-(

The first thing I learnt was "drugie postizie" (apologies for spelling) meant "second place" not "about to be banned".....:-)

Apologies. Maybe it just seems that way to me. I usually watch recordings to avoid a divorce so maybe I don't get the true picture. . The heats 7 and 10 gaps did seem rather long though. I take your point.

Just an extra point. Don't forget that the role of white and yellow helmet colours are reversed in Poland. Yellow is worn by the heat leader/senior rider with the white for the secondary rider.

They seem to take the American approach that the away team takes top billing. I suppose the logic is that everyone knows who's at home and the 'sell' for the match/meeting is who is visiting this time. Re match grading break, do prepare for some lengthy gaps, not quite as long as Swedish intervals but you may need a fair amount of 'filler' Polish matches can often be quite leisurely-paced, well, between racing ;-) I've found listening to Polish commentary VERY revealing regarding pronunciation which is often far easier than it looks like on screen or on paper, but I'm sure you're aware of that. Bear in mind a lot of letters have modifcations which completely change their sound, which is why Lech Walesa was pronounced Vawensa.... Of course if you come up with something accurate in Polish but different to the established Anglicsed version you can have problems. Been there. Looking forward to hearing you.

FFS! Rye House is under direct threat and all you idiots in the BSF is to pick on details. I said that to influence the karts not set up a row with pedants in the BSF. Of course Sittingbourne IS in the south east. What would you have me say to Musk "This i the last track in London & the South East apart from a track in Kent, oh and two other training tracks." The story is confirmed as being true by a primary source. Still, the fact that Kent is in the south east is FAR, FAR more important. Are you sure I put all the commas in the right place? Did I use the right font? There are times when the BSF's sick priorities make you despair. Is it because the bigger story is too hard for you to understand? I was going to try to help get a Save Rye House campaign but to be honest I'm sick of people like you and others like you in the BSF. Let someone else do the work. Congratulations to you and all the other BSF loudmouths. You win. Speedway loses but as long as you are right who cares?

Just to follow-up my posting to Old Bob It's Not Worth Doing Anything Ever from Herne Bay, The story is true. I was up for the battle to fight it but coming in here and just seeing relentless negativity you just get sickened by it all. Let's not do anything, try anything because it's never worth trying. It's like giving up on a match when you lose a 5-1 in the first heat, but hey that's modern speedway. Not worth helping anyone. Just let it all die. I have better things to do than have to fight with people here even before the main fight starts. I came in here to inform but of course the BSF prefer gossip and negativity to facts. Don't ever complain why speedway supporters don't get told what's going on when you have to go through this crap when you do.

It's fine Bob, we just sit on our hands and forget it. Why bother trying, eh? The story is confirmed as true from a primary source. I will bow to your wishes and the other relentless negative posters on here. It's not worth trying anything is it. Thanks, it's much easier to be a useless cynic.

Four years on people are still fighting to save Coventry. It's 13 years in the case of Oxford. Sadly now it may well be our turn. It'll be very easy to just give up and say it was inevitable. Don''t the Rockets deserve being fought for or do we just subscribe to the depressing (literally) attitude of the BSF that nothing is ever worth trying, nothing will ever work and everything is doomed to fail? I'm not sure if my current health will allow me to go too far but hopefully I can make useful suggestions. There are four bodies that need to be lobbied: 1 - The Musk family that own the karts. The angles should be (a) That the track was in a short-term downward cycle under poor management and can still be worthwhile. (b) There's over 80 years of sporting history here. This isn't some skateboard park or laser arena. (c) The enormous cachment area for speedway, including the whole of London and an excellent rail link giving opportunities to exceed even the pre-BMR gates. 2 - Broxbourne Council - Is there sufficient change of use to require fresh planning permission? 3- Lee Valley Park Authority - These people OWN Rye House. Musk only has a lease. The well-quoted covenant that it must be allowed to stage speedway racing may not be valid, but it must be thought through. The Musks are proposing to offer facilities that exist elsewhere. This the only speedway track for a considerable distance. 4-The press. I'm out of touch with the local media but we must have contacts at the local papers or BBC Three Counties? Of course we could just give up and content ourselves with b"Well I knew it would never come back, aren't I a genius? Do people want the Rockets back? If the news is right they'll need to take a saner attitude. Or maybe we just hope the news is wrong? Maybe? Anyway, it will take better than me to take this up. I wish them well.

'Rayleigh' has opened a thread in the main news section of the forum. Since that will attract more vital attention I suggest we transfer the discussion there. I've just posted this in there. Any further comment from me will be in that thread. "I've made a start by posting this on their Facebook page. Obviously it is only an opening shot. "A story is circulating in speedway forums that despite encouragement to believe that speedway had a future at Rye House that that is no longer the case. Is it possible to issue a statement to confirm or deny this story please? I am one of many who have been following speedway for nearly half a century at Rye House and are dismayed that one failed promoting company could spell the death of London and the South East's last remaining speedway track. If so, imagine how you would feel if the situation was reversed?"

I've made a start by posting this on their Facebook page. Obviously it is only an opening shot. "A story is circulating in speedway forums that despite encouragement to believe that speedway had a future at Rye House that that is no longer the case. Is it possible to issue a statement to confirm or deny this story please? I am one of many who have been following speedway for nearly half a century at Rye House and are dismayed that one failed promoting company could spell the death of London and the South East's last remaining speedway track. If so, imagine how you would feel if the situation was reversed?"

Here we go again :-( One bad promotion and over 80 years of history swept away on a whim. How would the kart people feel if the situation was reversed? Yes, there's no sentiment in business, but karting and speedway are meant to be sports... At least with Eddie Lesley the track was still there, albeit under tarmac. With the Musks having had to endure BMR even after the takeover I suppose it's inevitable that they have no respect for speedway. Hard to begin a fight with the pandemic taking priority. Our sport can be so fragile. One bad promotion and extinction, as at Coventry and Oxford.

My goodness, the weather in Ipswich has a time machine?

Sadly once repeated errors can quickly grow into myths. The stadium is well to the south of the old track and as BomberHammer says the BT Sport studios are on the site of the track. The studios were formerly the Olympic Media Centre. We have a similar if lesser problem with Rayleigh. The Sainsbury's often quoted as being over the site of the track lies well to the west, by the stadium approach road and car park. The actual stadium site is covered by the industrial estate to the east. I occasionally use a shop there and I'd say it sits between the entrance and main stand, on the fourth bend.....but then it's been 47 years....

The conversion of the stand to a gym was a concern. Sold down the river, almost literally. Seems they were playing us along to buy time, eh?

It does vary from country to country between 1m and 2m. Canada and Spain also use 2m while the World Health Organisation recommends just 1 m. If only we followed that it would make reopening the sport and leasure here so very much easier, not to mention transport.

Funny then how football and rugby are able to run right through the winter if it's the cold and damp that matters. Of course their playing surfaces aren't so affected by the weather but I am hearing here is several people complaining that November will be too cold which doesn't seem to affect the followers of other sports. Maybe speedway fans are more delicate? It's not as if it's proposed as a regular thing, just one way to compromise in a difficult situation. I just feel for the Glasgow supporters who are now facing over an 18 month break in racing.

How arrogant to think that your negativity is automatically 'realistic'. That's an easy cop-out. Yes people's lives are essential but that's no justification for trying to destroy the efforts of those trying to save their businesses and sport by fighting to the last chance is extinguished. Reality hurts, but nothing damages more than people trying to be clever by saying nothiong's possible and we should all give up. The right path is to monitor government guidelines and respond accordingly. What damages is just sitting on your hands, decrying the efforts of others and claiming the 'realism' moral high ground, but then that's far easier isn't it and if you're wrong people will be too delighted to think of your comments. I don't know whether we'll get any speedway this year and given the speed now with how matters are changing it would be damaging and stupid just to give up and say how 'realistic' you are. If the efforts don't work, fine, but at least they TRIED.

The situation is truly over-complex and there is no way to get it over to the general public. Sky used this as a major part of their marketing during the digital switchover period, effectively saying, "Confused? Pay us money and we'll deal with it all for you". The best way is to go to the Freeview website https://www.freeview.co.uk/ , enter your postcode and see what the engineers think you'll receive. Whether you're on a main transmitter or a relay doesn't even depend on how remote you are. You could be in the middle of nowhere and have direct line of sight of a main transmitter, while someone in a major city could have hills blocking the signal, causing a local relay to be needed - and the result is Freeview Light. This does have relevance to speedway. The recent TV deal with Eurosport made claims about highlights being available to all on free channels. It's not true - some of their free stations are not available to over 25% of Freeview users.

Distribution is where the digital subscription wins. I get my copy of the Star at midnight every Wednesday without fail. I have a decent-sized pc screen so it's actually easier for these ageing eyes to read it than the print version. Each to their own of course but there are ways to avoid the Royal Mail's problems.

There is a technical difference between 'Free to Air' (FTA) and 'Free to View'. (FTV). FTA means the programme or channel is available to all without any paid for subscription and are shown without any encryption. FTV still carries no cost but is encrypted so you would need to have a pay TV subscription box, either Sky, Virgin or BT even if the programme or channel itself doesn't have to be paid for. So with FTV you have to be paying someone a subscription for other services. FTA is completely free. Freeview and Freesat are mainly FTA. The added complication with Freeview is that certain channels are not carried on all transmitters and some can only be watched if you have an HD receiver even if the channel itself is not HD! Yes, it's that simple! If you live in a place served by a relay TV transmitter rather than a main regional mast and do not or cannot have satellite or cable you will miss out on many channels unless you find them on the internet so I'm afraid 'scoobydoo' is right. Not all free matches will be necessarily available to all. The only way to ensure universal access is carriage by the BBC, ITV , Channel or 5. Channels like Quest and Pick only are available to 74% of Freeview Viewers, Sky One to 0.

Well said James. We've crossed swords occasionally but I sympathise with you totally in this situation. Clearly you are doing your best. Your business and Sharings are rather different. You don't have a large fleet of coaches and a chain of hotels to run. I do hope that this will carry out through, as I do with all businesses involved with speedway at this awful time. Real people are getting hurt, apart from the tragic loss of life.