RobMcCaffery

Just a quick follow-up with some facts. The BARB audience share figures for certain stations were as follows in September. Eurosport 1&2 combined 0.17 BT Sport 1-3+ESPN 0.58 - despite being premium channels they attract nearly four times as many viewers as the cheaper Eurosport. It is only when Discovery's Freeview channels are involved that the switch looks in any way attractive: Quest 0.91 DMAX 0.37 All are penny numbers in the overall TV market. For comparison here are the shares for the top public sector channels: BBC 1 20.37 BBC 2 5.48 ITV 16.98 C4 6.00 C5 3.94 So even Quest fails to reach 99.09% of viewers. DMAX 99.63%, Eurosport fails to reach 99.83% of viewers. BT Sport fails to reach 99.42 %. Just to put this all hopefully into perspective. We'rev looking at tiny audiences even if small amount now ,may watch the sport for free on Freeview whenever it is used by Discovery.

"Marry in haste, repent at leisure" Well, five years anyway. ;-) Time will tell. I hope it works but 30 years' experience of this network suggests otherwise. Oh and by the way Quest and DMAX are indeed on Freeview. They are not dedicated sport channels and will probably only be used for overspill when the Eurosport channels are full of their priority sports. They're minor players, as the EFL is finding out with their highlights package even if they are available to more homes than Eurosport. I suspect only the diehard fans will go looking for speedway there or stumble across without switching channels because the viewer is on Quest or DMAX for their normal non-sports programming. But then, what would I know eh? Experience in the industry plus study of it for fifty years counts nothing against loudmouthed speedway fans out to make cheap shots ;-)

So, presented with a totally unacceptable situation, we're supposed to meekly change channels and keep quiet? No. It doesn't work that way. Anyway, this isn't about the TV audience, it's about those who were relieved of nearly £20 on the night to watch a fiasco. When something is deeply wrong you do the sport a disservice by simply ignoring it. Those responsible have to be told quite firmly that this is NOT acceptable. We've had too many people either 'switching off' - for good or giving up attending live matches while those who are driving them away go unchallenged. There are 22 days left in the speedway season. Plenty of time to run four meetings without imposing last night's rip-off on increasingly disillusioned customers. If you spend a whjole season hyping up the play-offs to the detriment of the main season you HAVE to deliver, even if it takes six postponements before you get a usable track. I've seen 49 speedway Octobers so far and while you do get the odd run of bad weather I've seen plenty of clear months. I've even happily paid my money to watch speedway in November, once even for a challenge match! Forcing a farce through for TV is far more damaging than calling it off. We have people constantly banging on about the sport being ruined by bad decision making yet we're supposed to just shrug our shoulders and turn away from last night? Forcing meetings through on unfit tracks was all very well when speedway was cheap. It isn't now.

So, all season long we're told to wait for the play-offs, it's all about qualifying for the play-offs, get your fixtures finished in time fpr the play-offs, risk your track's season finishing ridiculously early if you don't qualify for the play-offs, the play-offs are all, they're wonderful - and they're coming soon! Only two weeks to the play-offs. You change the team round, find new riders, and.....qualify for the PLAY-OFFS! Then you get tonight. And they expect you to pay nearly £20.......

My comment was only appropriate if an SEC win WAS to become a route to SGP qualification. Until that happens, if ever, European riders have one route, like anybody else.

Anyway, back to the speedway. I've just caught up with the relegation play-off. Given the huge difference in team-building standards between the top and middle tiers there was little chance of getting a competitive match. Despite this Klindt and Walasek made it interesting to see what points they could take off the mighty Gorzow. It does show what a great season Klindt has had. It was disappointing to see Sam Masters so far off the Ekstraliga pace. The fact that Poland have this fixture shows they don't always get it right over there, although the closer standards between middle and lower tiers do make their relegation play-offs rather more competitive. Still, it gave the Gorzow fans there a chance to welcome home their new World Champion. I've seen worse speedway meetings (*cough* One Sport Best Pairs *cough*)

No, you've had your opinion opposed by expert opinion. It happens. Just avoid watching Polish racing and leave the rest of us to enjoy it. Why spoil it for others? Yes, you have the right to an opinion but using that allows others to use their equal right to oppose you. R&R does exceptional work to keep this group fully informed on what is coming up in Poland, what matches are on TV and where and how to watch them. His efforts do not deserve your childish, petulant sarcasm. There is no requirement to TOE any party line and it is deeply insulting to suggest that we are so feeble in character not to have our own points of view. You have yours. We have the right to find it foolish and ill-informed. Given the quality of your opinion and response to criticism it might be best all round if you just kept it to yourself. Why try to spoil the enjoyment of others? Does it make you feel clever or important?

By entering two routes to qualification - an option open to all European riders.

They've got some up and coming riders, but not many. Oliver Berntzon and Phillip Hellstrom-Bangs are worth keeping an eye on though I'm not sure how young the former is. With Andreas Jonsson retired there's not much depth. With the exodus of expensive foreign talent seemingly set to grow next year it could give young talent some space to develop. Too many teams over there are crowded out by Poles, many of whom simply don't deliver in Sweden.

It was remarkable how he woke up in that final ride, as if he had only just realised the peril he was in - and then how, having set a target, his rivals all failed to better it in their final rides. His form in Poland and Sweden has been poor of late so there's obviously something wrong.

Thanks. Interesting to see Drabik as third-ranked Pole in Sweden as well as in his home country with CMAs of 7.88 and 8.54 in each. Obviously riding as a junior in Poland and getting a soft heat in 2 in most matches helped his domestic average but it does illustrate his progress, finishing well above Dudek in both cases. It does make you wonder if Dudek hadn't secured a place in the top 8 in his final ride in Torun whether he might have lost out to Drabik for the third Pole wildcard? I agree with the surprise about Lindback but perhaps it was inevitable that BSI would want a second (spare?) Swede in the lineup. Mind you, they're happy enough to have one Brit. So much for the Poles' allegations of BSI favouring British interests..... Hancock qualified comfortably for the 2019 series. Allowing him to delay a year while he helped his wife battle breast cancer is basic human decency, even if the obsessed may have some problem with it.

Maybe ;-)

You and The Weasel really need to keep up with your medication. A cheap shot but about what people expect from you. Sad really. I've done my bit for the sport - what have YOU done apart from be a prat on a forum? Does it compensate for being such an unpleasant moron? My goodness, I knew you were an idiot but not that your insults were THAT lame. Still, it makes me feel young - like being back in the school playground, on a day when they'd the kids visit from the local 'special school'. Try harder. Give it a few years and you might be able to crawl up to stupid. Good luck, but I'd prepare yourself for disappointment. Weasel, I see he made you laugh. I seem to remember having to deal with your stupidity a while back. I'm annoyed with myself for wasting my time on you. Won't happen again. Avoiding reptiles like this makes not being involved in the sport anymore a lot easier. Thank you both. Back on topic. Big decisions in November. Make your postings as simplev as possible so Debbs and The Weasel can understand them without their lips and fingers getting tired. Time to open a window......

I'm waiting for someone to ask Jason Doyle why he chose his racing number.

Even if the BL sides hadn't dropped down and even if there was a surplus of riders I severely doubt that Barrow's budget was anywhere near adequate to sign any of them. Scunthorpe's problems were financial rather than due to rider availability. They really shouldn't have started the season. Yes both needed a third division. The effect of the BL migration wouldn't have hit quite that quickly but a league with Poole, Wimbledon and Barrow and Scunthorpe in it was inevitably going to have strains. This sad story had one personal aspect. I was NL Press Officer that year and had the novel experience of seeing my report on the withdrawals, forced or voluntary, on screen on Oracle within seconds of dictating it over the phone.

Not surprised. After 35 years of inflation our budget would now be just over £3k, less than 1/7 of today's BT budget and isn't that supposed to be a bargain example? Mind you, I once fell asleep on our caption generator during editing of an ice racing meeting. We were in the middle of France on an autoroute travelling from the ice track in Eindhovento the Costa del Sol for a bowls tournament. I hadn't slept since the recording. A few years later I was doing non-speedway work in a studio when I recognised my old pillow had been bought by them. It was seat of the pants stuff. I will write about it properly one day, once the lawyers can tell me what I can leave in. That could take time. Anyway, enough reminiscence, back to this year's AGM. Will any lessons have been learned from the past? The holding of breath is not advised....

A sport that only looks after the successful soon ends up with the successful only having themselves to play with, as nearly happened with the Premiership this year. What about supporters losing weeks of their season just because their team didn't win enough?

Sane would've good start....

BSPA write certain rules which the SCB incorporate in their rule book. You don't like humour, do you? Been around the sport since 1971 so perfectly aware how it's governed. You?

While not quite reaching 22, both leagues had run with 18 teams or more at various over the previous twenty years. Barrow & Scunthorpe would have folded in a league of 8 teams. EDIT: NL had 20 teams in 1975, 1978 and 1980.

I had Chris Roynon as a studio guest before the decision to expel Barrow and Scunthorpe. In this he made it clear that he had not wanted to run in the NL and had only wanted to run on an open licence basis but had been told it was NL or nothing. The Barrow team was very understrength and would have struggled whether or not we had the BL teams dropping down. There were team strength and financial problems at Scunthorpe before the influx, if I remember correctly. The fate of the NL was not determined by the 1985 influx but the later merger with the BL which ultimate;y led to the disastrous single Premier League, based on BL costs and team strengths, unlike more recent proposals. Longer-term fans may recall the reasoning for the initial one league two division merger and single administration was based on "The Stewkesbury Plan", in which the then Poole promoter outlined the future. It was felt at the time that it was a mechanism for Poole to progress, having reached their limit in the NL. Some would argue it might have been wiser for them just to join the BL....... Oh yes, one poster seems to have been confused by my earlier posting. No, I was not proposing ac return to the 1980s NL. Time has moved on. I was merely giving a little depth to how and why we got by with what seem like enormous leagues to the more recent supporters. And, no, I was NOT suggesting that TV coverage should be recorded. That was a necessity, not a choice. The budget for those pioneering days was quite appalling but we were trying to build for the future and rise with cable & satellite TV to get proper budgets after a few years' investment. In any case, we wanted to get league speedway on the TV. 35 years on I think it's safe to quote the budget. £1000 per hour. Now, while modern TV professionals like flagrag wipe the coffee of their screen and keyboard that paid for a three camera, vision-mixed production, so we needed the following crew: 1xProducer/cameraman 1xDirector/equipment and truck owner-cum engineer 2xextra cameramen 1xvision mixer 1xcommentator 1xgofer - usually a kid working for nothing - although Andrew Skeels (now of the Speedway Star) used to help occasionally. My cut was £60. No expenses. You can see why the recorded programmes lasted two hours - and why we couldn't afford live links. We were a bunch of speedway fans wanting to help our sport. Yes there were limitations to our coverage but wse got it all on air................ Back on topic, the NL in the 80s was a great place to be. I don't think we could ever get it back but perhaps we should learn lessons from how we lost it.

I'm still waiting for the BSPA to repeal the laws of gravity.....

I wouldn't put it past One (Let's Make [third rate] Speedway) Sport. ;-)

I worked damn hard for it, having played a leading role in getting it televised from 1984. Having effectively two BSPAs at the time helped the situation. The British League couldn't accept an offer from Screen Sport to cover their league matches because they felt it would conflict with their deal for ITV's coverage of international events,. I lobbied hard for us to go for the NL instead and it paid off. Luckily our boss was Chris Fear, formerly with Westward TV, the ITV station for the south west who used to televise the odd event from Exeter. He knew that NL racing was just as watchable as the BL and as for lack of names our audience probably didn't know any names anyway. We went to the NL management committee and understandably they leapt at the chance. There was one technicality. The deal with ITV specified they were broadcast rights. We argued that at that dawn of cable and satellite (five years before the Sky multichannel service launched) we were not broadcasting but 'narrowcasting'. That won the day and we commenced weekly recorded match coverage plus open events recorded during the year to fill the close season until the ice racing coverage started in February. 52 weeks a year speedway was the result. I know strange things can happen in speedway. First you have to try. Within a year BL tracks were queueing up to join the NL, tempted by lower costs, a still high quality of racing and regular TV coverage. It grieves me to see today's speedway with pathetically short seasons for many. Back then if a track closed in September you knew they were in serious trouble and were likely to be goners. It was fun. It isn't now. How do we get back to enjoying ourselves? That 21 team NL meant that apart from the KO Cup and 4TT there were 20 losers. Now winning is all and anything that doesn't contribute to a possible league title is written off as meaningless. The fun's gone. Winning is far too important and if you try to make a meeting fun you'll probably get hit with a hefty misconduct fine from the BSPA/SCB for improper comment that would write off an entire season's fees or worse if you were doing it for free. At times it's hard not to despair. How DID we let that all go? Speedway - a great idea ruined.

The National League in the 80s reached 21 teams at one point. Goodness knows how we coped! (Well, we enjoyed every minute.....20 league matches plus KO Cup ties, 4TT qualifiers and a load of support meetings now cynically dismissed as 'meaningless') We were far too busy enjoying what we had. Tracks like Hackney used to stage over 30 meetings a season. Goodness knows how today's "Less is more" snowflakes would cope ;-)