Ben91

Nothing like learning from history is there...

This goes to show that short sighted thinking is a sport wide issue and not just a British Speedway thing. If Poland want to monopolise the sport, before long it will become a Polish only club and there won’t be a “World Championship” as such because the only people to the standard will be Poles. I could see advantages to riders only having one club if the other top leagues were strong as a Champions League style deal could happen. This hurts everyone long term though, even the Polish.

No, they’re kicking the can down the road by hoping that we will be able to just run the planned 2020 season in 2021 just like they hoped we would have a full season this year until July/August when they finally admitted it wouldn’t happen. I don’t think you understand the point I’m making, to manage expectation levels in life it is best to plan for the worst case scenario and hope things are better. If they do it is easier to adjust. You’re suggesting planning for the absolute best scenario, and that is unlikely to happen sadly. Why do Speedway circuits have safety fences? Why do the riders wear body armour and crash helmets? In case they crash, worst case scenario. Best case scenario is they don’t and nobody gets hurt which as fans we all hope is the case. Plan for the worst, hope for the best. If anyone at the BSPA is reading my posts and feeling demoralised then they are in the wrong job and perhaps they should ask themselves why fans aren’t happy with the product they serve up on the whole. Realistic expectations and negativity are very different things. I’m in the former camp. I’m a Speedway fan, why would I want the sport to fail? I have no issue with debating with you despite us having differing opinions, please don’t descend into personal abuse by calling me sad just because we aren’t in agreement.

Plan for the worst, hope for the best. As far as the comments about planning for British riders only are concerned I’m talking about travel restrictions potentially not allowing riders in and out of the country to race on a weekly basis, which would mean riders would have to stay in one place predominantly as happened in Poland this year. Travel restrictions will hit us more than the Danes, Swedes and Poles because you have to fly here from those countries whereas you can drive between the others should you have the inclination. Jason Doyle’s comments are second hand from Rosco and if Poland run their league in a bubble again he’ll go there for the money and not race for Swindon, let’s not kid ourselves. You may have been to watch Speedway this year, but if you hadn’t noticed, the government (who have slightly more power than the BSPA) have banned fans from sporting events for the second time since March. The only meetings that were run with fans were “amateur.” Blind optimism is helping nobody in this situation. Realism, contingency planning and managing expectation levels has to be the way forward with hopes for the best.

I think it needs to be seriously considered that if we do have a season we will potentially have to use British riders only and/or those who will be based solely in the UK. It would be prudent for the people running the sport to make a plan to go next season using British riders only and with the potential that there could be no fans allowed in to tracks to watch the racing.

When it comes to payment it should be down to supply and demand. This is why footballers earn more exorbitant sums of money for example. Now I’m making some reasoned assumptions here but most clubs seem to struggle to make ends meet, of course there are costs other than rider wages but this suggests the demand for speedway isn’t there sadly. Something has to change, to stop clubs haemorrhaging money and to improve the product for fans. For me that starts with the sport going part-time. Some riders may walk away but not as many as we worry will. A lot will of course try and call the authorities bluff because they won’t want to get a real job or try and secure a ride abroad but if they love riding a Speedway bike they’ll have to get on with it. That of course means a watering down of the product but let’s be honest, the standard now isn’t that great anyway. A lot of the core fan base these days are those who will attend week in, week out regardless of who is riding. It’s a step backwards to move forwards in the mid to long term. If something doesn’t change soon the sport will die. Regardless of the pandemic clubs are falling by the wayside at an alarming rate and it is notoriously difficult to get the necessary permission to open a new track these days. Of course the fact that Speedway is a poor relation these days doesn’t help.

No, it isn’t. It’s logical to plan for the worst and hope for the best. To plan a full season that won’t happen (again) would be foolish and incur more needless expense. The state of the sport here it won’t be hard to pull a season together if we need to come spring. Fixtures are never released until late in the day anyway. This is a forum for opinion, that is why we’re here. Not to blindly just go “Speedway is great isn’t it,” like automatons. Sadly the opinion of most Speedway fans (the most important people), is seemingly that the people running the sport have used up their credit of goodwill and need to pull their finger out and do something positive. And that is regardless of the fact that there is a pandemic going on.

What’s the point in holding it at all, just carry on with the dross we were due to be served as a 2020 season.

This is part of the problem. The sport is bigger than the riders, yet there seems to be the thought process that they are owed a living so can have two teams so they don’t have to get a proper job and race as a hobby. It’s time to put the fans first.

If the plan is to run 2021 as 2020 then a huge opportunity to restructure the sport in a positive way has been missed.

In his book Mike Tyson mentions a wizzer. A fake penis filled with “clean” urine for athletes to use when providing samples. Where there’s a will to cheat there’s a way.

Scumbag.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst. April seems like pie in the sky in my opinion but I sincerely hope I’m wrong.

Kemp shows the right attitude now and with all the respect in the world to Lawson, the Worralls, Kerr etc. he wouldn’t have done any worse than they would. The same can be said for Brennan, Rowe, Palin or any other young prospect we have right now. The difference is their potential ceiling is much higher than that of the riders who have been on the scene and flattered to deceive for years now. Those riders have had years to chase experience in Europe but have mainly spent them doubling up here instead. The right decision was made in my opinion, if there is no chance of winning then use these events to help our chances of winning in future. The second Tai (or Rob Lambert) is unavailable we have no hope in the SON.

Scrap doubling up. Improve the standard of our riders by putting them out of their comfort zone and improve the quality of the product here by not having riders with more clubs than Tiger Woods. I like it.

If this is rained off after 14 they’re going to pack their bikes up and drive the four hours to Torun to complete the remaining heats this evening.

I don’t know why nobody on this thread has suggested moving the event to Torun. The weather there is good all weekend apparently and it’s only a four hour drive away...

I think I’d prefer semi’s and a B and A final personally. If you’re outside the top eight then your night is over.

The virus only comes out after 10pm in the UK, it’ll only strike if you’re in a group of over six too. Nice of it to tell us in advance that it’s going to be in Lublin from Saturday too but not on Friday night.

That doesn’t make the system flawed, it’s just an example of teams that aren’t evenly matched. That is always going to happen in international meetings.

Team riding is dead in fairness. But the thought process is that not finishing last is more important than finishing first in pairs racing and that makes perfect sense.

Again, to an extent. It’s not the perfect analogy granted. Teams qualify for the World Cup final through 90 minute games and the final is a 90 minute game, not a penalty shoot out. As Iainb said there can be unpredictable elements to a final heat which can leave it as a damp squib. It is no guarantee of excitement and we have to remember this is a sporting event, the best team should win as opposed to the one who wins a final heat. That’s my opinion of all championship play offs, final heats in individual meetings etc. Ultimately of course the rules are what they are and every competitor knows that going in. The playing field is the same for everyone.

Not claiming to be an expert but considering what AFC have been through a little more sensitivity wouldn’t have gone amiss. Lost a lot of respect for the club when I read an article about what has seemingly happened a year or so back.

Pairs racing should use the 4-3-2-0 points format as this encourages team riding. Why it isn’t used in the SON is beyond me. The whole two day event coming down to a single final heat is also farcical but the rules are the same for every team entering. Imagine the football World Cup final going to a penalty shoot out every time regardless of the final score of the match though. Stupid right? That’s Speedway.

How about the heartache of the Kingstonian fans who appear to have had their ground sold from under them?