RobMcCaffery

The more people mention alternatives to paying for sports TV the greater the inevitability that they will be found and closed down. Yes others will pop up in the same way that The Pirate Bay still is out there. Ultimately I'd rather pay a fair price and get a stable HD picture that doesn't keep buffering or falling out completely. It's Sky's greed that's fuelled this piracy, along with that of the film and music industry in the case of illegal downloads. Obviously there will always be some that want something for nothing but when you look at the obscene money corrupting football just remember it comes out of the pockets of the ordinary TV sports fan. Inevitably there will be undercutting of the market - at least now it's coming legally from BT. I just wish the BSPA hadn't signed a five year deal with Sky....

Nobody's expecting perfection, just a reasonable level of behaviour.

That really reminds me of the setup that was intended on the MX side at Avonmouth. I wonder if it's the same people?

And why we vitally need the Star to tell them!

Because it would have involved the impossibly embarrassing scenario of amending the result of the play-off final after the second leg event and in all probability having to stage a replay? "Hello, is that Sky? Now about that match you broadcast showing Poole winning the league? Well, we've got a problem......." Action should have been taken immediately after the match and before the second leg. There was plenty of video evidence and the BSPA could have solved it all with a simple conference call on the Tuesday. The starting marshal and referee should both be under investigation. It was totally unacceptable for this to be swept under the carpet in such a major event but sums up the deplorable level to which the sport has sunk. Newman was not eligible for heat 12 at Belle Vue and his points should have been removed. It is so very simple. Whether or not Poole were involved is academic, if not perhaps sadly inevitable. This was an emergency situation seriously affecting the sport's dwindling credibility. If Buster can pull the sport up from this particular sewer then he'll have my true respect, for what little that's worth, although I just do not take the two race nights a week concept. (Poole fans - this isn't an anti-Poole post, it's an anti-stupidity post.)

You mean well ;-)

It was to have been a multi-sport motorcycling complex including moto-cross. Agree that it would have been a perfect location.

The more commonplace that knowledge becomes the greater the likelihood that BSI and those they have sold rights to will get it stopped. I'm amazed it's survived this long. No matter what the bitching over money and access the sport is getting coverage from a broadcaster that has a record for producing excellent, intelligent coverage, except amongst those who have become accustomed to Sky's trivial, sensationalist approach where it's all about opinion and broadcast gimmicks, not the actual sport. There is a market for that though and I wonder if speedway only belongs at that level. The change could be just what the sport needs, but does it deserve it and will it respect the fact? History doesn't encourage you. Eurosport 'dropped the ball' far too many times this year and their handling of the Swedish coverage was shambolic beyond words. I'm relieved they're gone.

Thank you very much. Bristol is a city with a vital speedway past, and like Norwich and Southampton, and I would say umpteen London tracks plus of course Cradley, our sport is impoverished by its and their absence.

I really don't expect informed political comment on a speedway forum - it's hard enough to find informed speedway comment here but this really has no place here. It may be a standard right wing fall-back position that Labour can't be trusted to manage the economy but there is a very strong school of thought that accepts that that the speculator-based economic bubble that burst in 2008 was a worldwide problem, not confined to the UK, and that the then government used classic pre-Thatcherite Keynesian economic theory to 'pump prime' the economy by increasing public spending to combat the recession, rather in the same way that Rooseveldt overcame the Great Depression in 1930s America. Now, although I do have a degree in such matters I do not consider myself an expert but I do know enough to judge that not everything newspapers like the Daily Mail tell is fact. There are two sides to every story and unless people are prepared to use a little thought, maybe even study a subject even briefly and not rely on political prejudices it might be best if they stuck to speedway. In your case I respect your speedway views but really have no interest in your politics. Thank goodness for posters like Arthur Cross who consistently enlighten us with insight and analysis of key aspects of the sport. I come to this forum, sifting through the rubbish to find gems like his postings. I immerse myself in sport to get away from politics....

Isn't Darren Fletcher a speedway man? The SEC deal is with Eurosport Poland - quelle surprise ;-) If that stays the same it should get pan-European coverage again unlike the SGP/SWC. Stepping aside from the rather ill-informed debate about paying for services (apart from saying if Sky hadn't overpriced their service to rip off football fans it wouldn't be that much of a problem to pay the price of a league match a month to watch the SGP/SWC), the arrival of BT Sport in speedway could be a very important day for the sport. The approach is far more laid-back and intelligent than Sky's rather formal, US style (bland presenters, sharp suits, stare at the camera while making your point very directly to make sure the stupid punters understand) and could do a hell of a lot to raise the sport's profile out of the relentless hype that we have seen up to now. Some of their work in football - the European coverage in particular is very BBC in style. On the other hand, would quality coverage suit a downmarket, often squalid sport like ours?

The SEC was covered by a deal with Eurosport Poland in which it was shown across all Eurosport channewls across Europe. The SGP/SWC deal was entirely separate and related only to British Eurosport.

It's probably for the best if the sport makes this change, if only to finally lay the myth that it's going to be the sport's saviour in Britain. I hope enough tracks survive until the time when it's abandoned. Yes, restricting the times the few remaining fans can see the sport - brilliant thinking!

Since Freeview is the basic, default, free TV system it would be foolish not to have it, even if only as a back-up. There are of course ways to watch TV from all around the world using a PC, some of them legal.

The sport's problem is actually quite simple. Not enough people believe that it represents good value for money - probably because it hasn't been for years, hence the slump. You either repackage the product and hope that the public like the 'shiny shiny', or you actually do the hard work and actually make it good value for money.

Just to clarify an earlier point, I believe that the freehold is indeed owned by The Lea Valley Park Authority. I remember in the eighties they were trying to put pressure on over a vital aspect of the stadium - the office was painted yellow and blue and they wanted it repainted in park colours of green and white... The leaseholder would appear to have been Carter & Bailey who ran the greyhounds and sub-let the stadium to speedway and briefly stock car promoters (and employed the character who kept bursting into the officials' box threatening to stop the meeting if people didn't stop leaning on a fence or sat over the lines painted on the floor of the 'stand' - it wasn't easy dealing with this kind of behind the scenes idiocy, especially while trying to keep a worn-out pa amplifier from shorting-out every time your voice rose above a whisper). I expect that is the company that Eddie Leslie bought and then subsequently sold to Len Silver.

It does not exist. There is no such rule, just one covering unsatisfactory starts. Perhaps people ought to actually read the rules before commenting on them? Tapp's fine for an Aussie audience but I find that kind of Aussie 'ocker' style tedious. I steer clear of Aussie sports generally because of that kind of commentary, despite enjoying Rugby League. Some people like it but I just find it crass. Crump was superb - the best 'colour man' in the sport by a long way.

Planet hype. He was overselling the meeting all the way through - and gets praise from those who object to Pearson!

Tapp used to run a prominent speedway series around Australia for a few years and presented the meetings themselves so he has a good background.

The opposite to the last time he sold Rye House.... Those who know the truth of what happened at the track in the eighties won't shed many tears.

Especially if they have inside knowledge not available to others.....

Only one measure is required and that's something there isn't enough of. Money.

British Eurosport 2 08.45 - 12.00 on Saturday.

There's a hell of a difference between an amateur darts match and a professional, far, far more so than comparing say, an NL race with EL. Speedway isn't darts, thank God. There is this constant, stupid assumption amongst too many speedway supporters that you can only get a good race between the best riders. You may get the best riding but riding and racing are completely different things! The public are completely bombarded by journalists and publicists constantly trying to convince them that something is important. The chief weapon is to promote 'personalities'. I've had to do it. Reading this forum you can see how gullible their readers are.

Isn't that a bit drastic just to get away from BSI?