AlanF

I would have thought it was very positive news. If he is investing in infrastructure it suggests he is in it for the long haul.

This is the third thread you have started about Richard Hall and I think everybody has been sympathetic to his position. A poster on one of the other threads hinted that Hall had turned down an offer. I have a few questions for you. 1. Has Richard Hall been offered a deal from Buxton? 2. Has he accepted the offered deal? 3. Is the deal on hold because his average is too high?

I think they are 4a and 4b. Maybe they just pick whoever is going better at the time. Nicholls would probably score 4 or 5. King could score 10 or 0. For me, if you hope to win you need the 10 from King and hope you don't get the 0.

Woffinden, Lambert and Cook are obvious. 4th rider is Nicholls or King. Neither is really good enough for the World Cup really but at least with King there is a chance he could give another British Final type performance. I don't think Nicholls has that in him anymore. The reserve doesn't really matter. They will be out of their depth. It's a bit like arguing about who will be the third string quarterback on an NFL team. It doesn't matter because if you have to use them you are screwed anyway.

I'm sure that is the loophole in the rules as Worrall is also fast track so they probably don't count. Doesn't make them any less likely to miss meetings for one of their clubs though based on who they are contracted to, or who they signed for first, or who is riding on their regular race night or whatever the criteria is,

So Newcastle now have three double up/down riders but EL teams are only allowed two! I don't know how anybody manages to put together a legal team.Nothing against Newcastle, just more inconsistency.

I don't know if he should be allowed or not. However, you have to apply the rules consistently. If it is ok for Tony Atkin to ride then you can't stop him due to age. If Luke Bowen can ride on a converted average, then Richard Hall should be allowed to ride on a converted average. I don't know why Speedway needs to tie itself up in knots with overly complicated rules. Also, there should never, ever be an "in the best interests of British speedway" rule. The best interests of British speedway would be served by applying the rules consistently.

I am coming over to the UK for a week (July 23-30) to visit the family. Hardly any meetings on except for the World Cup. I looked for tickets for the race off on 29th, but it doesn't look like you can buy them. The only way that you can get them is as part of a package with the final and I will be on a plane back to the US on the 30th. Are there any plans to sell tickets for this event individually. Of course, I could just be missing something on the website.

1. Leicester is the best track in the country.2. This Lions team is capable of making the playoffs. Both comments made in front of witnesses so can't be denied.

Yes, 100%. I have commented before that having moved to the US, there is absolutely no way for British Speedway to monetize my interest, other than my online Speedway Star subscription. They simply have to generate revenue streams that don't rely on people coming into the stadium.

I don't see a problem as long as its just the rider and not his family, friends and anybody else who happens to know him.

Obviously the NFL is a multi billion dollar industry and the Comnissioner is paid accordingly. My wife is the CEO of her company. Doesn't mean she earns what the Apple CEO earns. If they were paid 100k that is 3k per team. I don't think that is unreasonable.

I think it needs to be defined what "independent" means. Even the Commissioner of the NFL only serves at the pleasure of the 32 owners and enforces the rules that the owners have agreed upon. In Speedway terms, it will always be the promoters who set the rules at their AGM. I think there is definitely a role for an independent person/committee to ensure that the agreed upon rules are consistently and impartially applied.

This is yet another foreseeable mess. Plenty of people on here could see during the winter that giving out work permits for a good performance in an awful standard state championship was not a good idea.

Probably a dumb question but why couldn't they just build the houses where they are proposing to build the stadium and just leave the stadium where it is?

Age. Everything seems more intense and more important when you are younger. Consequently, everything is not as good as it used to be. When you are a kid and your football team loses it is the end of the world. By the time you are in your thirties you shrug your shoulders and get on with your day, Difficulty to attract a younger crowd because in 2016 you need more glitz and glamour to stand out in the overcrowded entertainment market.

On the other hand, having three providers interested in televising the sport should in theory create an opportunity to increase the value of the rights and bring more money into the sport.

I don't think the problem is really Periscope. I think that people are frustrated that they cannot access matches online, even if they are prepared to pay. Signing the rights away to Sky and then Sky not using them is surely a problem. Of course they will. Whatever is for sale, some people will try and get for free. Surely better though to have 500 people paying and 50 people finding a way to get it for free, rather than have zero people paying for it.

I live in the US and would love the opportunity to pay and watch. Are the rights they have sold to Sky worldwide rights or just UK rights?

I can't see how the PL is being screwed by the EL. Newcastle chose to borrow several riders from EL clubs. Surely they have screwed themselves.

My comments make no mention of what the flag may have been originally intended to represent, but what it means to people today. Having said that, William T. Thompson the designer of the flag commented: “As a people we are fighting to maintain the heavenly ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause. Such a flag would be a suitable emblem of our young confederacy, and sustained by the brave hearts and strong arms of the south, it would soon take rank among the proudest ensigns of the nations, and be hailed by the civilized world as THE WHITE MAN’S FLAG.” I have lived in Atlanta for the last 16 years and been married to a black woman for the last 14 years, so I believe I have some insight into what it means to a very significant portion of the population. The state of Georgia, where I live, incorporated the Confederate flag into it's state flag in 1956. It did this in protest at Brown v. Board of Education which ended segregation in schools. A very popular Governor, Roy Barnes removed the emblem from the Georgia flag in 2001. Needless to say he did not get reelected in 2002. Having said that, my post also says that it is nothing to do with Somerset.

Given that the heat leader list goes away with the first set of averages, you have to wonder if some of the remaining heat leaders have already got positions lined up elsewhere. Wouldn't surprise me if the likes of Bjerre already have a place lined up at a team that already has three heat leaders. No information, just a hunch.

Who would they be guesting for?

Always been divisive. The recent troubles simply brought it to international attention. Again though, whether it matters that a speedway team in a country 3000 miles away uses it is not for me to say.

I live in the southern United States. If you are white it is a symbol of Southern heritage and something to be treasured. If you are black it is a symbol of racism and very provocative seeing it in use today. If is a very divisive symbol. Whether or not that is relevant to a speedway team in England I don't know.