uk_martin

Maybe you can see whether in the terms and conditions of the license the FIM reserves the right at their discretion to revoke the license at any time... (or words to that effect) The FIM seems to keep that sort of documentation in a private section of its web site, where you have to log in to access the information, which is why I can't get in.

This ruling has nothing to do with UK law. Other countries are at liberty to do things their way. This is the verdict that the FIM have come up with. Retrospective or not, either Darcy agrees to it or he appeals against it. If he agrees, then he will have to repay his points money that he earned during the "time of the ban". (my guess will be £15,000 to £20,000 if you believe what people say about what top riders get paid in Poland) Hypothetically, if you apply UK legal principles and apply the ban from the date of conviction, then Darcy can write the rest of the season off as his 10 months will only just have begun. Can't have it both ways.

Will that include Matt Ford and Dave Hemmesley asking for their points money back under the terms of the " including forfeiture of any points and prizes." clause of the verdict? Torun could do with a cash injection too, maybe the 24 points he was paid for in Poland during the relevant time should be refunded to them too?

OK, from the beginning then, what did it say?

I think a link to that thread is needed...assuming it's still in the archive somewhere?

What's the World Record for the length of a BSF thread?

Maybe they should then try to lure Richard Sweetman out of retirement??? :rofl:

I remember the buzz when little Olching from Germany came to England in 1973 and took on the Birmingham Brummies amongst others...you don't need the mighty Super Powers to generate excitement. On the subject of Super Powers though,..there's always the USA Dream Team.

Will that be the GB U31 team then? Kind of misses the point a bit though doesn't it?

Let's guess at which of the countries that fancies itself as a major international speedway "power" is missing...??? Hands up in the air if you think you know the answer....keep your hands up whilst I count... March 26 in Gorzow - Poland U21 v Sweden U21 v Denmark U19 March 27 in Zielona Gora: - Poland U19 v Sweden U21v Denmark U19 28 March in Leszno - Poland U19 v Sweden U21 v Denmark U19 March 29 in Bydgoszcz - Poland U21 v Sweden U21 v Denmark U19 April 25 Silkeborg - Denmark U19 v Sweden U19 v Poland U18 April 25 in Silkeborg - Denmark U21 v Sweden U21 v Poland U20 May 12 Gislaved - Sweden U19 v Poland U19 May 13 in Malmo - Sweden U19 v Poland U19 October 10 Munkebo - Denmark U19 v U19 Sweden U19 v Poland U19 Source - http://www.polskizuzel.pl/juniorzy-pojada-z-dunczykami-szwedami/ Only shame is that the USA "Dream Team" couldn't have been fitted in if they were around, to make a 3TT into a 4TT or something. So shall we guess at whose youngsters are given some scope and opportunities to develop, and which aren't? No doubt that taking part in "Mickey Mouse" meetings like this wouldn't be in the best interests of British Speedway, would it?

Which is a bit like asking an Arsenal fan not to watch his team but to go to see Spurs v Chelski instead... lol :-) Anyway, on to the main event...for which this year there is only one rider with ties to two participating teams - Bartosz Zmarzlik, who'll be riding for Stal Gorzow in this event...what do we have? Well how about this... 4 National Champions Teams: Stal Gorzow Elit Vetlanda Poole Pirates Holsted ...containing... 3 Past World Champions: Tai Woffinden Nicki Pedersen Chris Holder SGP Winners Krzysztof Kasprzak Bartosz Zmarzlik Matej Zagar Neils Kristian Iversen Jaroslaw Hampel Other SGP Riders Past & Present Thomas H Jonasson Maciej Janowski Davey Watt Peter Ljung SWC Riders Past & Present Nicolai Klindt Damian Baliński Andzejs Lebedevs Josef Franc ...not bad for an "irrelevant" "Mickey Mouse" "waste of time" meeting, is it?

Not sure what a CLF is. Announcement from Gorzow due later today about the WSL though. I also heard from Germany that there is news there that Gorzow will be picking up the pieces that Poole had left scattered around...and good on Gorzow for doing so. Should be a good weekend then on 25-26 April with the WSL at Gorzow on the Saturday and a little drive up the road for Grudziadz v Stal Gorzow on the Sunday.

When the terraces resemble the Derby & Joan Club's night out, are you really surprised? Young people want to hang out with people of their own generation. One other thing about having people of the "old dogs and new tricks" generation supporting the sport, and that's that these are the people most resistant to change. Whilst the rest of the world is changing around us, ask yourself how much different the speedway experience is today to what it was in the 70's (or '60's or '50's) if changes are needed to bring the sport into the modern era, what chance will there be for as long as the people supporting it resist that change? And that's the supreme irony. People, especially on BSF bemoan the plight of the sport but ask them to accept a change to improve it, and all you get is a headlong charge into a brick wall. Check out the other thread about the Speedway Champions League, as an example.

Justice runs slowly at times. Look at the number of people who have been on Death Row in the USA for 20 odd years - that's like a life sentence and a death sentence all rolled into one...these things happen. Quite honestly, if it takes 44 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes to come up with the verdict for Darcy Ward, I still won't shed a tear.

To which Neil Fiddlesnitch tells the world to expect an answer within a week.

Did anyone other than Neil Diddleswitch (and/or his minions) mention the 7 day thing? Are we all blaming the FIM for not playing to Muddlo's timescale now? C'mon...you've all fallen for his trap...hook line and sinker. Yeah, Ackroyd will send you down to listen nicely to Nicki Pedersen calmly telling you why crashing into the air fence with another rider wasn't his fault.

Excellent - Stal Torun, Stal Rzezow and Stal Gorzow. Mickey Mouse Zielona Gora must be feeling outnumbered. Maybe we need more Disney characters to balance things up...how about "Donald Duck Leszno"? "Goofy Tarnow"? or "Pluto Wroclaw"? lol Mind you, I've only seen "KS Torun" mentioned....Does "KS" stand for "Klub Stal" then?

I would have thought that the "why" bit was obvious. FINANCIAL SURVIVAL Mind you look at the poll results, and the reaction to my post. Over 40's reacting badly to the idea of making speedway accessible to the late teens and early 20's. Don't suppose you can really ask turkeys to vote for Christmas can you? Let's be blunt about the major problem with trying to make this an old people's sport - and that's that the fans that a team needs to turn up regularly are the same ones who are at the ages when they become ill, disabled and die (but not necessarily each to every one). There you go. And then where will the clubs be when their fan base can't attend any more? Just from those whose names are friends (or friends of friends) on Facebook, I know of about a dozen people from the Birmingham regulars who have died in recent months. Sadly, it's what happens in later life. No getting around it. And Birmingham for one, has a particularly old fan base and can't afford to lose any fans.

Seems to me that people who don't like the notion of the World Speedway League have objected to it primarily on the grounds of it will feature teams for whom the same riders ride for. Now that the FIM are doing something about the riders issue, the same people are objecting to the FIM proposal, just because it eliminates their arguement against the World Speedway League, Well, hard luck. Despite the fact that the World Speedway League wasn't invented here, and despite the fact that it will show British Speedway to be the poor relation (again) it's going to happen. Get used to it, and cut your cloth accordingly. In the long term it will be the competition that teams will aspire to, in the same way as the Champions Leage is for football.

With all due respect, 10 year olds aren't the answer. Or at least not the imperative answer. What the sport needs is the people in their mid to late teens and in their 20's. These are the people who either pay full fare or are only a year or two away from paying full fare. These are the people who the sport needs to provide the revenue that will enable it to survive long enough to still be around for your 10 year olds to enjoy in the future. Poland has managed to get this demographic on board so it can be done.

Not to mention "dehydrated" from drinking as much Monster Energy Drink as he can can handle, free of charge from one of his main sponsors...

Stal Gorzow have been raising the subject on Social Media...maybe if Poole can't get their act together, Stal will host the event? Just wish Poole would put as much effort into organising this meeting as they spend on sticking up for Darcy Ward. We'd have a firm fixture in the calendar if they did. EDIT 1 It seems that the FIM may be acting to solve one of the biggest objections to the WSL / SCL that has been voiced on here. Has this been reported in any British publication / web site, so as a proper English version of events (as opposed to Google's electro-mechanical translation) can be read? http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/499881/lwim-pazurem-25-wielkie-tak-dla-zuzlowej-ligi-mistrzow-koniec-z-cyrkiem-objazdow EDIT 2 Well good on Stal Gorzow for doing the honourable thing. Sadly, SHAME ON POOLE for their portrayal of British Speedway's inability to orgainise a pi$$-up in a brewery. This I suspect won't feature in any British publication or web site. http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/499912/stal-gorzow-rozwaza-organizacje-ligi-mistrzow

I think that Darcy would have passed his breathe test...else he wouldn't have had the ability to take and fail a breath test...

Yes...sort of...You cited my comment about my observations about males being over 40...well my other observation is that 40%-50% of fans are female, and that isn't represented here. Ony 10 women from the entire nation have voted. There are more speedway teams than female voters. Ths is where the salt is needed, because you have to pinch an awful lot of it to be bold enough to draw conclusions from a poll of a third of a female fan per team in Great Britain. You'd get better results with people armed with clip boards pens and questionnaires, getting actual data off fans who are really on the terraces and not behind keyboards.

First question is whether users of BSF are a representitive sample of the cross section of speedway fans who attend meetings. That is something I severely doubt. Second question is whether those voting on this thread are a representitive sample of all users of BSF. No reason to suspect one way or the other really. I have grave reservations about the split between male and female fans in these results. HOWEVER, the fact that 78.5% of males who voted are over 40 years old, although having to be taken with a pinch of salt, does seem to ring true from what I've observed. Assuming that there are good reasons why females do not take part in this poll, my suspicion is that if the same number of females as males were to vote the age differential would still hold true. What it does show is just how old the average age off speedway fans is. That has impacts on the future of the attendances on the terraces, it has an impact on how hard it will be to attract younger supporters to an "old peoples sport" and it will have an impact on potential sponsors who will look to see if the elderly are the ones who they can market their products to. Saga Holidays may be very interested, Club 18-30 may be less so. The biggest question is...who's going to take any notice anyway?