RobMcCaffery

Well it's certainly not on their schedule for Sunday April 8th. They have ice hockey and junior rugby league showing. https://www.freesports.tv/ I mainly use the online guide Digiguide which shows football and ice hockey in the schedule. so if what you claim is correct they need to get those listings changed. They do have a history of last-minute schedule changes so you may be correct. Premier Sports are listing ice hockey and Nascar racing with the Polish speedway slotted in at 00.30 as I mentioned earlier. That schedule is supported by their website and the Virgin Media epg as well, as Digiguide. What is your source teaboy? If it's someone involved the deal I think they need to talk to Freesports/Premier.

It's a heck of a long time ago but at Rayleigh in the early 60s the Rockets had to finish on time to let the greyhound racing take over, so they do have 'previous; ;-) One major change in British society in my lifetime is that we are no longer a nation of non-complainers, at least publicly to bad service providers. Instead of just moaning in private or just putting up with rubbish part of the slow Americanisation of our society is the willingness to complain and to expect good service. Sadly few in speedway have woken up to this and believe they can just do what they want, offer what they want and the customer will just take it. Times have changed, expectations have changed and you can't get away with that anymore. Back in the days when meetings abandoned after heat 6 saw no refunds at all and so with just 6 heats to pay for it could be rather rewarding for promoters, I remember one of the 'old lags' of speedway talking in the old caravan office at Rye House. "Old 'so and so' had a result last night - called off after six." Our much vilified promoter of the day, now happily curating the track at Swindon rebuked him pretty directly, "And what about those who won't come back next week?" Sometimes the ones who are alert to the needs of the public are the 'villains' while those who put together winning teams but don't give a damn about the fans are the 'heroes'. I do hope the new promotion do show genuine regard for the fans. An old friend of mine did complain about the stadium work being dangerously incomplete and was banned for it but I do hope that was just a stupid mistake that has been learned from. GWC quite rightly pointed out that with 30 tracks running we are in terms of numbers better off than 1958 but in those days promoters expected to make money from the sport. Now many are fans who are prepared to make losses. So, while I am concerned about the lack of understanding of customer care or respect you do have to appreciate their determination to keep going. Of course we knew there was a crisis the year before, 1957, when the previous three leagues finally collapsed into one and a certain team spent their only year in the top flight - Rayleigh Rockets. That put them out of business for a few years until the arrival of the Provincial League. I do hope the Rye House version of the Rockets fares better.

They only list delayed coverage at 00.30 until 03.00 on Sunday night/Monday morning. I'd be wary of relying on their publicity.

Thanks r&r, that's an interesting move upmarket to the Polish national broadcaster, albeit the local station, for the Polish third tier. It'll be interesting to see if we still have the Lublin and Krosno coverage on their minor local channels again this year.

Not really. Many tracks run at the lower levels weekly, and often twice-weekly during high summer. These tend to be the Spedeworth tracks in the south and other, lesser promoting groups. It's much less cohesive than speedway. The monthly meetings tend to be BriSCA events where there is a national travelling circus of drivers, backed up by local racers. Taking Coventry, a good 50% of drivers at Brandon on a Saturday would be seen at Northampton the next day and the fixtures were arranged so that there were few fixture clashes at F1 level, which Coventry mainly operated at. So to the fans the racing was 2-3 times a week, within a fairly tightly-spaced area with the northernmost track being in County Durham and the southernmost being Northampton. So, most supporters would have a wide choice of meetings and not just a monthly event at their local track. Fans would follow their heroes around the various tracks, just like we would follow our teams. There is also a greater tradition of monthly racing at individual tracks, dating back over six decades. By contrast speedway's successful years were always based on regular weekly speedway. The professional promoters of the past knew this and made sure that the fixture gaps were kept well under control. Len Silver for example would even go so far at Hackney to arrange a top-class individual meeting, Superama, at Waterden Road when the Hawks were away to a Friday track like Wolverhampton, Newport or Glasgow. Continuity was the key. 'Make it a date, Friday at 8' was more than just a throwaway marketing line, nor was the Rayleigh equivalent of Saturday at 8. Sadly "Make it a date, Sunday at 4.30" wouldn't have quite sounded right at Rye House. For several peak months of the year we are now witnessing almost monthly speedway. It doesn't seem to be doing much to raise crowds does it? Returning to Rye House, it's been commented on how the track had good crowds early season last year but they tailed-off later. Perhaps this is because the early season saw regular Saturday night racing before the fragmented midweek schedule came along once the full SGP and Polish seasons became a more lucrative distraction for riders? I worry that a full season like that, of irregular Mondays and Wednesdays could be damaging for the track. We can only wait and see. I do hope it works but I can't help feeling that BMR's lack of understanding of speedway that has see the move to the top level could prove to be costly for a track with decades of weekend racing.

I used to commentate on Banger Caravan racing back in the 1980s. It was a bit of fun, designed as an 'extra' to regular banger racing. There were various forms. One saw two teams , one car from each towing a caravan with about three cars defending the caravan and another three attacking the other. There was another where the aim was to drive a car up into the opponent's caravan at high speed, park in it for a few laps then reverse back out of it. I got into TV commentary to cover speedway but it was soon decided that we needed another sport and since we knew our way round many of the same stadia I found myself covering stock car racing, which to be honest I'd had little interest in before 1984. We mainly covered the serious BriSCA series with rather expensive if brutal cars, but often also covered the less formal, cheaper and fun formulae. It was frustrating to constantly visit speedway tracks to cover stox to find the crowds much higher than for our sport. Places like Coventry, Belle Vue, Long Eaton and Sheffield were close to capacity whenever we visited while former speedway tracks like Brafield, now called Northampton would also have very healthy gates. Perhaps the general public relate more to cars than bikes, or perhaps people were entertained, saw action they liked and wanted more? I certainly remember how well organised most meetings were and how few delays there were, despite the carnage after races. They just got on with matters. Whether you like or respect that sport or not perhaps instead of sneering at it all, like so many speedway fans seem to do, it might be an idea to learn from it? They give the public what it wants. We used to. What happened? I'd suggest we took our eye off the ball. We've been wasting years of time and effort fretting over team compositions, averages and starting regulations instead of just giving people the formula that works - good quality racing, meaningful teams that the public can identify with and a regular supply of entertaining meetings that make people find ways to watch, not, as seems to be the way now, to find reasons not to. Now, back to Rye House Rockets?

I only managed to see a few meetings at The Shay but certainly remember the very high banking at both ends, rather like Coatbridge. I don't remember it for having a huge amount of close racing but when you did get a race it was worth waiting for - a high speed duel around those very fast bends. I wouldn't compare it quite so much with Exeter. Without a dog track on the inside it wasn't so long and the bends quite so sweeping but crucially it was a lot flatter and smoother than the Devon track which could be quite a 'roller coaster". Of course more regular viewers might well differ. It was fast racing but often very strung out. Nonetheless it is missed greatly like all of the other lost tracks, even Crayford........

Well, at Swindon if the meeting is called-off up to one hour before start time you get an instant full refund to your card. After that it's the standard terms, but enough to make it very worthwhile, especially since there's no booking fee and you get a free programme worth £3. It can be done fairly and in a way that supporters can trust the promotion. If they can do it.......

The April 15th schedule shows live Polish Speedway on Freesports at 6 pm. but nothing else in April at least. So it looks like it's going to be a mix between the two channels. We've still over a month before we see the the Swedish pattern. The fact that they are repeating the claim that they will be showing Swedish Speedway does suggest that, unsurprisingly, they have inside information regarding the situation over there regarding TV ahead of the expected April 2nd announcement.

So you have a decent holiday crowd in who have paid full price to watch 15 heats of speedway. "Okay, folks, the weather's beaten us. Hope you didn't mind the riders' problems in staying on their bikes. Don't worry, if you're new to speedway the racing's usually far better. No, you don't get any money back, but hey, we GOT A RESULT!" See you next week!" Too many people believe getting to heat 10 makes it all worthwhile. You get the points and the cash, but what about next time? Isn't it time that giving the paying public value for money counts more than getting a result while we still have a paying public left?

It is probably due to concerns by the FIM regarding the activities of One Sport and FIM Europe. Those minor events are probably believed not to be worth pursuing especially since there's a difference between minor local events in Germany and events that are televised across Europe. Regarding linking the pairs to actual teams, Zielona Gora and Leszno's sponsors are both involved. LInk Trans MF to Smolinski's German club and you're halfway there. There's more money in using sponsors' names of course. #Let's make money and pretend we're helping a sport!

Unless Polish law is particularly unusual (the deal was between One Sport and Eurosport Poland so presumably Polish law applies) I'd expect that the contract would be easily voidable if the circumstances had been changed by a third party.

Bear in mind while Craig will be facing the best in the GPs his Polish club, Rybnik, were relegated from the Ekstraliga last year so he will be racing in their second tier, League 1. Steve Worrall's Polish club, Rawicz race in the third tier, League 2 by the way.

Thanks, I'm fully aware of the background to the change. However I fail to see why it had to continue, beyond One Sport's own business needs. It's scarcely for the benefit of the sport overall to stage three more meetings of questionable relevance in an already busy international season. Yes we had a moderately entertaining speedway meeting on Sunday but was it really worthwhile beyond the needs of One Sport, the sponsors and a run out for the riders? The attendance figure tells it all and the TV audience figures will have been surely inflated by the long winter break. If it's on I'll watch it because I love speedway and would watch every meeting worldwide if it was humanly possible. I just am very suspicious of why these One Sport events exist, beyond the chance to make a a bit of cash, which after all is the aim of business, but is it the aim of sport?

Hmmm - a little too Zielona Gora-flavoured for my taste. My loyalties are now up for grabs. I can't see there being a queue. It was a reasonably interesting meeting but not a classic by Torun standards. Like many I find the whole sponsored team format questionable and wonder if once Onesport were prevented from using international 'teams' that it might have been wiser to simply close down the pairs. Still, it was a couple of hours' speedway and to me that's a better way to spend a couple of hours, even if the result is pretty irrelevant, but then we live in an era when even league matches are dismissed as 'meaningless' by some elements of the BSF. It was enjoyable but I am still very wary of Onesport, even if the conflict with Britain has been eased by the BSPA agreeing to be corralled into a two night week for their top league. I suspect they won't be happy until they have the SGP contract, at which point I doubt we'll see any more of these events or the SEC.

Bear in mind it used to be Setanta Sports and now broadcasts in Ireland as eir sports where they have a second channel. Currently there is speculation within the industry whether they will focus on Freesports in future.

Not the same without team eport 200.pl (sniff). Congratulations to Onesport for not crashing into the Motocross by three minutes.

Precisely.

Here we go again. New 'name'. same old tired, obsessive argument.... The late Dave Lanning once commented on his lively style that he would get messages in his earpiece from his director "Rave Dave, RAVE!". There seems to be an attitude amongst motor sport producers and directors that the commentators have to snarl like the engines and be extremely over the top, in the style of Murray Walker. If people think that commentators have a free choice then they are deluded. Nigel Pearson has worked extensively for both Sky and Talksport which are associated and both look for the controversial and sensational in the same way a 'red top' tabloid newspaper would. There's a market for it and while it may irritate those who know something about the subject the commentary team is normally focussing on the casual viewer who in a TV broadcast are probably in the majority. Nigel often says "It's all about opinions". Well, I wouldn't agree but then I favour a different form of journalism. It doesn't make him wrong and me right. It's just that different people have different needs. I was rightly criticised for my commentaries that they weren't lively enough, but then I made the mistake of pitching what I said to those who loved and understood the sport instead of simply trying to sensationalise, which to be honest is what most sports commentary tends to be these days outside the BBC. It didn't help in my case that I never got to see or hear my own work. I couldn't receive the channel and everyone was far too busy to let me have copies. Now I realise how I could and should have changed. Returning to the present, the stupid trend to make everything totally black or totally white shows up in the backward majesty's inane claim that Pearson and Tatum just gibber and shout incoherently and is disturbingly familiar and echos the same endless repetition by contributors who seemed to disappear just before another new name took up the 'divine cause'. It's ironic that they all claim that the commentators blabber on incoherently. I'd suggest they look in the mirror. I suspect also it will be one face and one mirror. Endless repetition of attempts to bludgeon their twisted views into others do little for their argument and cause you to be concerned about their mental health. Pearson and Tatum get it wrong sometimes, as did Dave Lanning, as did anyone who dared to try to commentate on speedway. Humans make mistakes. The trick is not to make it your life's cause to keep on repeating it in the stupid hope that others will be browbeaten into joining the divine cause and the loony's tantrum eventually gets his childish way. It's not going to happen.

With a sign on the gate in the electrified fence reading "Beware of the Leopard"?

Virgin Media have updated their epg and show it running from 2-4. Let's hope that there are no delays.

"The anti-Poole mob" translates as "Speedway lovers sick of seeing rules being stretched to the limit by one club in particular and the spirit of them being tramp[led upon". There is a difference between being insightful and being one step ahead and acting on or influencing information or decisions which others are unaware of using inside information. That is the concern of the "Anit-Poole mob". It is a concern and a suspicion, not a fact. Of course the simple-minded will try to dress it up as being "In the best interests of the sport", or "all fair in love or war". Others see it as pettiness and sheer over-loyal ignorance. As long as you win who cares how, eh? Now, I'm pretty careful not to belong to a 'mob' which is a pretty pathetic term to use but rather to be expected from you. There is a rotten smell of corruption which while certainly not proved hangs over Wimborne Road. A stronger sport with integrity would have clamped down years ago. I still remember the remarkable coincidence of Poole riders suffering endless engine failures at Swindon many years back, just when Poole needed to get their riders' averages down. Even Leigh Adams commented on how suspicious it was. That was the start and it's been going on far, far too long.

It may only be the first week, but this surely qualifies as 'post of the season'.

And conflicting. One of the best decisions I ever made was to let others worry about the rules, especially those regarding averages and team building, just know what to look for and try to just enjoy the matches. There was a time when I pored over every rule. One day I sat there trying to see how two rules, either side of a page could possibly co-exist. Any fool could see that they were in direct conflict. I realised it was pointless to try to understand something that was literally 'designed by committee' and was just a series of hole-plugging, knee-jerk reactions. It's a good job team managers have so little to do tactically when just understanding the rule book is more than enough to occupy them. Rather than give the job to ex-riders I'd be hiring a lawyer.... Giving up really helped me enjoy the sport so much more, and there's a few in here who could with learning the same lesson.

Yes it was one of those meetings where the scoring was more interesting than the racing. A highlight for me as a neutral was seeing Mitchell Davey's progress. To see a rider who at one time seemed unable to make the break-through into reliable scoring and had seemed lost to the sport emerging as a real talent, albeit at 28, is a tribute to his determination. I am sure success now tastes very sweet for him. His seven points could be argued to have swung the tie with Swindon scoring 3 more than their target of 49. Of course all played their part in a solid display and I suspect the Robins will not find the loss of Doyle as destructive as they might have feared. Belle Vue's mid-meeting slump was alarming and it was hard not to agree with those Aces fans who think Drozdz and Worrall should swap places. Damian is not an established star in Poland and has no heat-leader experience at the top level. There wasn't enough racing though and the outsidew line, except at the start, was totally useless to riders. It's one of the most frustrating aspects of modern speedway to see riders bravely opening the throttle, going for the outside and just falling further back. Instead the little passing we had beyond the second bend was experienced riders slipping through on the inside of the less experienced. With the recent weather though you have to be grateful that the Robins' track team produced a very suitable circuit for riding, if not racing. Their hard work at least gave us a meeting. Better times will come but if that new stadium ever does get built I do hope it will produce closer racing. I've been very disappointed by the racing at Blunsdon for some time. Putting that all aside, this was the first time I'd been able to get the Abbey, or indeed anywhere other than a one-off at Scunthorpe last year, for a couple of seasons. Thankfully I can now start watching regularly at last and I was just overjoyed to finally get back to watching the sport I love live. As for 'starting in winter', well I've known wintry Marches and superb Marches. Spring starts a few days after the official season start date and we have to get as many meetings in as possible before the May-August 'low season' when we can only run irregular meetings due to international demands and the attraction of other sports ;-) Yet again most tracks are running weekly until the end of April then it's back to the usual mess. Sometimes, you don't really know what you have until it's gone though. Well, when you get it back you realise even more!