RobMcCaffery

Really looking forward to this one so I can renew my support for the world-conquering eport2000.pl team. (How do I switch this irony app off?)

Hello Alan, sadly it proves the point that the best streaming links don't last - often because they are too good and that attracts the attention of the copyright holders. There was a case of a Kodi add-on that was carrying excellent HD streams of every Premier League football match in England and Wales. It lasted a couple of months. It tends to be the streamers offering low-quality, often-interrupted streams that tend to survive because they're not perceived as a threat. One of the greatest dangers in discussing streaming, (well in fact the best way to get them shut down is to discuss them at all) is in using the term "I can cancel my subscriptions now." That would alarm any pay-TV provider and quite rightly make them act. While streaming is a minor irritation it will survive. When it becomes a threat it is naturally acted upon. Often the best way to protect a good streaming source is to be selective about advertising its existence. Anyway, hope we have an enjoyable day's racing that will make us forget the unpleasant side of forums like these. When watching the Division 1 fixtures the best link is TVP Sport's own website. https://sport.tvp.pl/25015361/zuzel-nice-polska-liga-ksm-krosno-orzel-lodz This a legal stream, provided by TVP (the Polish BBC) but can be blocked from viewing outside Poland sometimes*. The match can often be watched on demand later on the website. Unofficial versions can also be found on You Tube, like the Elkstraliga, later in the week. I hope this helps to explain. Te match itself isn't too bad but most interest is in the closeness of the scores, rather than the racing so far. I think the best is yet to come. (*It's all down to which TVP channel it's shown on. The world of TV rights online is a minefield, as anyone following discussions about putting clips of British racing online will be painfully aware).

Diaper is not an English word. You must think you are talking to Americans. Anyway, you proved my point completely in that post. You belong in the playground with the other brats.

John, it's time to switch the pc off. Permanently.

A totally unacceptable post. Did you ever like speedway John, or were you unable to get anyone to employ you on other sports than stock cars or whatever the South London Press deigned to cast its hugely significant journalistic eye over? Right now, Carmarthen will be one of TWO teams, yes, count them, TWO teams operating without a home base at a level above the second half junior leagues. I do suspect that journalists with a contempt for the sport must have had dealings with you. Back in the mid-2000s I was lucky enough to work on some meetings at Iwade (it's beyond the 96 bus terminus) which featured Scunthorpe and Weymouth. In both cases this was well before the re-opening of both tracks but served as important developments in the battle to revive both. Okay, so other projects such as Boston, Southampton and Norwich failed but not for a want of effort. Before then I was part of the team that relaunched Rye House in 1999 as a 'nomadic' team. It worked and speedway returned to Hoddesdon the following season, but onl;y after a senior official at the BSPA had dismissed us as a 'bunch of gypsies'. Someone had to do something to break the then status quo otherwise Rye House could havew still been just a stock car track today. In speedway Wolverhampton and Cradley share a stadium. In football AC Milan and Inter Milan share a stadium. Does that make football a joke in the eyes of your fellow world-class journalists? You clearly can't stand speedway anymore so it would be a great help if you reconsidered postings like this before the final fragment of your surviving reputation as founding editor of the Speedway Star also disappears down the plughole. How are the Grand Prix Midgets doing? The very best of luck with the project guys. It can be done, despite the wafflings of an ex-hack. I see that one of the people 'liking' my post is Mr.Hyam himself. Are things getting a tad confused, John?

We've learned elsewhere to ignore the childish Polish troll. Nothing British is any good to the sad little racist. Re the coverage, Natalie Quiirk can be proud of that superb work tonight. I certainly can't remember a top score of only 10 over the basic 20 heat individual format. The replay is indeed currently blocked in the UK.

He/she/it is really clutching at straws Trees, it's pathetic. I wonder if characters like tr3..... realise the love and respect that British crowds had for Polish riders - and not just the points that they scored. Clearly he/she/it can only think in such terms, which is profoundly sad but seems to sum up the desperate Polish Speedway mentality. I remember friends with 'Solidarity' stickers on their programme boards back in the 80s. Of course, it was just because Zenon was scoring..... As I said earlier it's pathetic and it's an attitude that I have never met in Britain outside football, thank God, not even in Poole. I do hope that he/she/it is not typical of the Polish supporters but seeing the behaviour I do on TV I do wonder. I also wonder what he/she/it is trying to achieve? Are we supposed to worship Polish Speedway and treat him/her/it as some kind of superior being? Are we supposed to apologise for loving our sport and give up going? Is this how Zielona Gora fans behave with fellow Poles? If so, God help the country. British Speedway may be badly troubled but it's not mentally ill. Perhaps it's time for this thread to be restarted and return to just talking about the matches. I have tr3..... on ignore and only see their postings when people quote them in responses. Might it be an idea if everyone else treated him/her/it with equal disrespect and left them to mouth their childish taunts into thin air? It's my final comment, I promise. Like many I appreciate this part of the forum for the help in enjoying Polish matches. It's appalling that tr3.... should abuse it in this way and I apologise again for trying to deal with them. Clearly only a psychiatrist can. Now, what's happening again on Sunday?

Thank you. Glad somebody gets the point.

I've just taken a look at the SGP website and see that the link to streaming of the meetings has now been amended to a link to the You Tube channel. It clearly states '"Selected Countries" so it's clear that it will be selectively blocked if a country has a TV deal, like Britain, Sweden or Poland. It's easy for any website to spot your ip address and block your access if you are in one of those countries but there are ways to fake that address. So, I doubt very much if access is going to be as easy from the UK as some think.

Thanks for highlighting this - sums up the Premier League.

British Summer Time, like Greenwich Mean Time is a system for telling the time. Summertime is a day in August.........

Much has been made of the punishing schedule required to trace in Britain so I just took a look at Wolverhampton's fixture list. In most months it's five meetings per month, in one case it's six. In Poland or Sweden it's four or five meetings a month. Okay, the British fixtures are on varying days but it's hardly an overwhelming difference - unless you want it to be.

The problem is not riders moving up and down through the team - that went on for decades, highly successfully. The objection is that the the 'protected heat' formula has been kept. This formula distorts averages hugely and has already led to reserves starting the season protected completely from racing heat leaders finding themselves racing against them all the time. The format and allowing movement through the team are completely in conflict! Why 'protect' FTRs from heat leaders one moment then make them ride against them all the time just because they've been consistently beating fellow FTRs? I'm baffled that so many can't see this! Do they actually understand what's going on or does it not suit their agenda to understand?

It's a matter of principle, an alien concept these days to many. He's a British World Champion and could do so much for British Speedway by showing his true loyalty to it. I cannot see the Poles or Swedes tolerating a Swedish or Polish World Champion failing to ride in their leagues or national championships. The Aussies seem to tolerate it though. Could that be where Tai's 'inspiration' has come from? Tai's in an unusual situation where he had a choice of nation to represent internationally, British by birth, Australian by long-term residence. Choosing Britain gave him certain advantages - but it comes with a price. Loyalty, it's a two-way street.

That is enormously concerning. The sport has an opportunity to build a strong relationship with what is now a significant broadcaster in BT and can well do without it being soured before it's even begun. I do suspect that a reported change of advisor might be spoiling someone's judgement. Cutting the EL from his schedule could be argued for, although not his effective diktat to British Speedway to go to single night racing but the British Final withdrawal was unnecessary and inflammatory. Last time I looked Scunthorpe was still in Britain so Tai's British - but he's burning too many bridges to assume that the loyal support he's had so far in most quarters will continue. Personally, he can say he's professionally British as well as by birth - well, now prove it....

Like I suspect most people in this section of the forum I have a deep love and fascination for speedway which goes back over decades. My interest started with my local team the long-lost Rayleigh Rockets some 45 years ago and developed so much that I became an amateur journalist and broadcaster within the sport. I love speedway, but most of all league speedway - it's where my interest began, with the Rockets and I guess there it will die. Being able to watch Polish and Swedish Speedway in recent years has added greatly to that pleasure, helped immeasurably by several expert posters on here. I've seen Britain rule the world of speedway in international competition and run what was in its day the strongest league in the world. They are all happy memories, although I must admit the first international I attended, England 88, Poland 19 wasn't the best of matches. Now we have characters like tr3 (etc etc) who represent a world of speedway that I can't recognise - a spitting, snarling version of the sport I love, full of hate and scorn, trying to make childish taunts against British Speedway. Yes our Elite League is in crisis. You don't need to be an obnoxious Pole to know that - we say it all the time. Many of us are very sceptical of BSI's abilities and intentions. We are frustrated at the lack of British talent these days on the international stage, but we have been there, done it, shivered in the t-shirt. Our day will come again, and if not I have happy memories of riders like Peter Collins, Chris Morton and Mark Loram - true racers and respected by all. I also have extremely happy memories of the efforts of Zenon Plech at Hackney. I was privileged to see most of his appearances at Waterden Road. When I think of Polish Speedway I do prefer to think of heroes like him, Roman Jankowski and Edward Jancarz, not these 'fans' that have appeared here or the ruthless version of the sport they follow. My biggest pleasure in speedway now is to go to matches in our second and third tiers, the Premier League and National League. The pressure is off, some riders still have time to get involved with the clubs and their supporters. You can stand with rival fans, have a bit of verbal fun with the opposition fans but still share a drink afterwards. There's none of the stress and near-hatred that seems to be creeping into our Elite League and is clearly present in Poland, especially at Zielona Gora. Yes British Speedway's in a hole right now but you don't need to put our speedway fans in separate enclosures where they taunt the opposition like third-rate football thugs. Sadly that mentality is now being dragged into here by certain Polish posters. I find it fascinating to watch Polish Speedway but too many of the 'fans; including sadly certain British supporters who follow it closely and taunt British Speedway as some part of that 'support' simply disgust me. Thankfully with people like tr3.... I can just click and walk away. In Poland people have to share stadia with this kind of reptile. Now, we used to have a nice friendly section of the forum. I know I've played my part in spoiling matters by responding to the Poles but I just get so angry to see the sport I love treated like dirt by people with tiny brains and big mouths. I apologise but it's hard to stay silent. Having said this I will now try to before this destroys the love I still cherish.

Look, you seem to think this is some kind of football forum. Do you really think you're achieving anything with this childish drivel? British Speedway is having hard times but thank God we don't have 'supporters' like you. Get back in the playground.

It's not even necessary to use You Tube. It's streamed on the SGP website, but only to countries with no TV deal. A proxy soon resolves that. I can't imagine BT being too impressed if the You Tube feed isn't similarly geo-blocked. Just been to the site and see that full-length replays of last year's meetings are all listed and played fine here in the UK.

I take it Video Cassette Recorders, DVD Recorders, Hard Disk recorders, Sky+ a Tivo plus iPlayer all failed to make it to Suffolk

So, it might be rained-off. There's still two days. If it is rained-off then the next meeting will be the first - and so on. It's not that complex.

Poole will continue to win the title as long as they have the money and that team-building rules (FTR and Heat Leader lists) amazingly always work in their favour. The success is all off-track now - the actual racing in the EL is just a case of going through the motions.

Of course any promoter would strengthen their team if they were able to. The point is that a team already considerably stronger than any other team in the league has effectively been able to sign a fourth heat-leader when most of the rest of the league are struggling to track two. Yes the rules may allow it. It shows how appalling the rules are. I take it Poole fans will only be satisfied when every heat produces a 5-1 for them. Consider the bigger picture - you're killing this league.

Sadly many doing the job have no real training on microphone work, especially outside a studio or disco if they work as a D.J.I only learned the hard way. I was lucky to often have someone in the box working the volume control for me when I was out on the track. The interviewer will normally be louder - he's controlling the mic and is confident working with it, unlike his victim who is unlikely to be used to public speaking - or just speaking up! There's no point in having done what I did without being able to explain what it involves. I hope it helps. What always confused me was that if a lot of people in speedway thought the only way to get people to do what they wanted was just to shout and swear rather than just ask. It's one of the reasons I was glad to get out and go back to being a devoted fan, trying to forget much of what I'd seen.

A pre-meeting test can only really tell you whether the system's working or not. Once there's a crowd in the acoustics change greatly, even with our low crowds. Someone needs to tell the presenter during the meeting that there's a problem. You just cannot tell from track level. You also have the problem of balancing the sound. At one track where I worked people complained that they couldn't hear the announcements properly on the terraces so I turned up the levels. Next I had one of the bar staff bursting into the box effing and blinding over the sound level being too high in the bar. We rented the track and therefore the p.a. and the stadium landlords wouldn't do anything about the system which was held together with string at the best of times. Sadly, it's not always as easy as it seems, although King's Lynn should be able to deal with it being their own landlords. Sometimes though the presenter just has to remember that he has to normally hold the mic closer to interviewees than he would for him/herself. Ideally someone in the box would be riding the sound levels to compensate. It's just one of those many small details neglected by speedway that added up do mean so much.

Once again it shows the absurdity of the rules initially allowing a 40 year-old to replace an FTR rider until they were properly checked. This is a sport not a trade agreement. The rules should not be this unclear and difficult to interpret!