chunky

Again, it goes back to what I keep saying; that we have been forced out of city centres (for various reasons), and just aren't as visible and accessible as we used to be.

Yup... Eriksen certainly wasn't the most popular visitor to Plough Lane in the 80's! Of course, a few years earlier we had a similar situation with Steve Bastable, when Rudy ended up in hospital. Even though he eventually came back, he was never the same.

Went there a few times in the 80's for stock cars (we had some hols up there). Narrow track, so it may take a bit of work. Of course, if they couldn't get it back when speedway was still "popular", I think it may be a struggle now... In response to old Bob's question, there have been quite a few tracks that have reopened after being out of action for a while. Unfortunately, most have since been flattened. The ones that spring to mind since the mid-60's are the London quartet (Hackney, Wembley, White City, and Wimbledon), Plymouth (Pennycross), and Birmingham (Perry Barr). Berwick (Shielfield Park), Newcastle (Brough Park), and Workington (Derwent Park) all reopened successfully, and although we don't know what will happen with the latter, it is still standing.

I'm sure Terry Mussett would agree...

Dunno what kind of fantasy world you're living in, Tony???

Sadly, Jimmy passed away on 18th June, 2011, at the age of 83.

Was that you yelling, "Can you hear me, mother?"

Well, he did threaten Mr Farndon's position as the best Englishman... Still, had he sung in a group, you'd have been a fan!

I enjoyed my visit to Coventry (except that Dugard won!), but the trip to Hackney wasn't great as we couldn't see sh!t...

Who isn't? Sometimes you have to take what you can get...

A lot of them are - it's just that some people are just a little more volatile at times!

Nail on the head, mate! That's exactly what I was getting at! As I said, on the face of it, I "prefer" World Finals because of me going to Wembley, but as a "speedway fan", I want to be open to ALL speedway. Sure, some meetings I watch are crap, and I will say it. However, PLEASE do me a favour and watch last year's Wroclaw GP. It had everything. For old people like me and norbold to say how incredible it was, that should tell you something.

Because he wasn't from Liverpool???

Sone GP's ARE boring. So were some World Finals. So was a lot of the other speedway we watched. Last year's Wroclaw GP was the best meeting I have ever seen. There have been some other fantastic GP's as well. Now you've hit on something else with that last paragraph, and it actually indicates the problem with speedway - both for speedway fans and non- speedway fans. As a speedway fan, I am happy to watch ANY speedway, regardless of the level, and regardless of big names. The trouble is that people will often find something boring because they WANT to find it boring. You say you find the GP's "are boring". Does that mean you find ALL GP's boring? Does that mean you find a speedway meeting boring BECAUSE it is a GP? Did you watch Wroclaw? If so, did you find it boring, and why? Some speedway fans are only interested in watching the top boys. I know you are not like that, but there is a lot more to speedway than half a dozen riders. Some find team racing boring. Some find individual racing boring. It doesn't matter who is racing, or who they are racing for, it's SPEEDWAY! Please don't think I'm having a dig at you, Tony, because I'm not, but I am just wondering why - if indeed you did - find Wroclaw (and other great GP's) boring. Finally, as I said, this also seems to afflict non-speedway people. They say speedway is boring because they WANT to find it boring, and/or have this pre-conceived notion that it is boring.

It was always Mauger and Olsen at Plough Lane, wasn't it?

I totally avoided mentioning Galvin! God, we had some moments with him, didn't we?

Should luck decide a World Champion? As a professional sportsman, I know my opinion... What I think is funny is that everybody hates playoffs in leagues, but the old World Final system was no different. When I look back, it's incredible how flawed and unfair the system was - the WHOLE system. We didn't complain because we didn't think about it. It was all we had, and it was all we knew. Thing is, our memories are very selective. You and I - and many others on here - knew how wonderful it was to attend a Wembley World Final. I never went to Ullevi for speedway, but I have walked the track, and I can imagine that was a great atmosphere. Not another Wembley, obviously, but fantastic all the same. Except for the rain, of course... We sit here and supposedly think of what's it's like to be at a World Final. WRONG! What we think of is what it WAS like to be at a World Final. I have been to a number of post-81 World Finals, and while I enjoyed them, NONE came anywhere close to Wembley. If we had World Finals now, everybody would sit here whining how crappy it is, how piss-poor the racing is, how Poland get preferential treatment when it should be us Brits, how the atmosphere is terrible, that it's b*llocks that so-and-so isn't in the final because of an e/f, how HE won because of luck, etc... Life moves on. Just because "we always did it that way" doesn't mean it was the right way. Then was then, now is now. Yes, I "preferred" the World Finals as an attendee, but I fully understand that the GP system is better, and fairer, to the riders. I love the fact that we have a bunch of meetings with virtually ALL the top riders in the world in action. The old system NEVER provided that, and it was never designed to. What I do agree with Ivan on is that having everything decided the year before takes away something. I can see the Top 8 qualifying from the previous year (that's fine), but I think that we could find a way to complete the field from a series of qualifiers at the start of the current season.

I think that is a little harsh on Mucha, Steve. While he never reached the heights (or the fame) of some of the other Poles, he had already established himself as one rider who wasn't out of his depth at World level. He was also unusual in the fact that he was quite at home on smaller British tracks. When you saw him, he already had two World Finals under his belt, with 7 points at Wembley in 1969 (including a defeat of Briggo), 6 points at Chorzow the following year (including a defeat of Olsen), and a top-scoring 6pts for Poland at Wembley in the 1970 WTC Final. Mucha was one of the steadiest and most consistent (and certainly under-rated) of that that batch of Poles in the late 60's and early 70's.

Ain't that the truth... To be honest, I noticed that at a number of places as far back as the 1980's.

I think you're reading WAY too much into the statement, Bob. What Grand Central is saying is that a lot of people remember Szczakiel for a first bend crash at Oxford (rather than for his achievements), but never mock any other riders for their crashes.

I don't think you could discount Knutson or Plechanov in the sixties...

Not as far as I know. Charles' grandfather was Jim Yacoby, though.

That's why I said what I did earlier. You can't blame any single time or event; it was a collection of events over a period of several years. While British speedway has constantly shot itself in the foot, and the authorities have failed to stop the bleeding, there are a number of factors that cannot be blamed on speedway itself. 1) The demise of greyhound racing. I'm not venturing any personal opinion on the sport, but we have relied on it, particularly where the GRA were the landlords. 2) The ever-increasing NIMBY population who have been largely responsible for driving a very visible and easy-accessible city-centre sport into the rural wilderness. 3) Tied in with number 2), the desire for redevelopment, which has had a detrimental impact on many sporting venues. 4) The fact that for whatever reason, speedway just isn't "cool" anymore...

I'd certainly agree with that era. Don't forget that was also when the British League ended (1990). There were several factors over a two or three year period that really didn't help.

From what I can find, Ernie retired - for the first time - during the 1958 season. He doesn't appear to have ridden again until 1960, when he had a very brief spell (not sure how many matches he rode) with Swindon again. In 1961, he turned out for Wolverhampton in the PL, only to retire again mid-season. EDIT In 1958, Ernie started out the season in some style, and his lowest score in the first four matches was 9 paid 11! He soon lost form, and retired. In 1960 he rode in four matches; three Britannia Shield and one league.