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You can guarantee that if a Brit was stupid enough to be in the same position, the Australian authorities would laugh at any visa application. It's to be hoped that the UK authorities adopt a similar stance.

More worrying than the exploits of the drunken drugged thug is the attitude displayed by the quote from his Team Manager with whom he stays.

I take it that you'll be retaking the English Language part of your Immigration Test.

Don't pin it on her - it'll give her a slow puncture…

Absolutely spot on. Should the Speedway Star contemplate a font change, I hope their costings include a contribution to the bandwidth bill of this site.

Good point, well made. Excellent contribution. It still comes down to "so what?" Sky didn't mention the NBA season when it started. Deal done, all of a sudden it's in every sports news bulletin. The fact that its not in next month's adverts simply means there isn't a deal done yet. There aren't any adverts for it on any other channel - but BSI will certainly flog it out to someone, even if its for peanuts with a few days to spare. If it was Sky Sports, Christ knows that there's enough slack in their schedule of Fox Sports subsidies to squeeze it in - if there isn't, they'll stock it on the Red Button.

Good God. There's nothing like Elsie & Albert's 40th Wedding Anniversary request to get the place a'rockin'.

Excellent idea. Then all that's needed is a MiniMax spreadsheet to draw together all the info and publish a weekly Anorak Top Ten. I'm sure the sponsorship seeking gurus at GoSpeed would land a national company to sponsor it. Wulfsport or Brentford Nylons.

Typical attitude that riddles throughout speedway. If clubs made more of an effort, including bringing in DJs etc., they'd ensure the sound system would be upgraded. It's not necessarily the age of the music being played that matters - as long as it's not crap. Try any number of sporting events and its easy to hear music that adds to the atmosphere (try a T20 cricket match for starters) as opposed to the usual guff served up at tracks from a few compilation CDs or, God forbid, a laptop & YouTube for "spontaneous humour" which, seemingly without fail is neither.

So what? There wasn't any mention of American Football on Sky until a couple of days before the first match was due to be shown. A deal done, then coverage started. I'm sure BSI will make sure thy're shown. Whether it's on Sky or somewhere else, it doesn't matter - the pictures of the racing will be the same. Doing that without screaming & orgasms however, might let the genie out of the bottle. The insightful analysis of Keith Huewen migh be replaced by camera feeds of tractor racing - which will be good.

Having always thought that £12 was being overly ambitious, that makes sense, and the presentation changes are all positive which should enhance the Saturday night out. I can't think of another promotion that has done as much in the last few years to improve every single aspect of "going to the speedway".

And Mike & Bernie Winters had a popular "comedy" programme at the time. No one should have to suffer an old dog these days though.

Maybe. Sounds like most track shop maitre d' s

Given Motors TV history of broadcasting just about anything they're given, I wouldn't compare it to, we'll, any other broadcaster - apart from maybe an open access community facility.

Dam write. Watt u sed.

An excellently illustrative demonstration of the sheer communicative power of the written word, and why you're such a proponent of the medium. I hope it's prepared with a propped duplicating machine - speedway needs more purple fuzzy printing & vaguely smelling publications. It's the way forward for speedway!

That being the case, and I'm not arguing with you (regrettably), then when there's insufficient income to continue one factor will be the 1973-style smutty, innuendo-ridden slightly bigoted presentation. As for being "keen on the club" - who wouldn't be if they got paid to attend - and to quote an earlier post by someone else "passionate about speedway": it's easy to spot one at every track. Anorak, bobble hat, multiple pens, notebook, reference book, you wouldn't want to stand by them, you wouldn't want to listen to them & you certainly wouldn't want to give them a microphone.

For something that's finished, with nothing left to see, so it's time to move on, you do like to keep coming back and going on. Isn't there some slapper hanging around waiting to be degraded in the name of making you a few quid?

i thought that was what I said & have been accused of having a vested interest - welcome, partner!

And THAT is EXACTLY why there are fewer and fewer people paying to attend each year. No bike parade, because "the fans want to see the riders" - huddled like refugees on the back of a pick up, presumably. it's not just at Berwick, but perhaps more noticeable there than most, given the huge strides in almost every other aspect involving the sport. Quite literally from the track to the lights, the team to the marketing everything has moved on hugely in the last few years - until 7pm on a Saturday, when it's 1973 all over again. Fans saying "just ignore him" simply haven't got a clue. All the initiatives & cut price deals in the world will do no good at all if the recipients don't come back & pay full price - and these are the people who'll take one look and run.

To do that would be to play into the "parasite" shouters' hands (not that Ashworth, Tully, Doolan, Bunyan, Haines & Worrall would agree with that term). Is it a coincidence (maybe, I don't know - nor do I know the other four tracks they were talking too) that in Leicester & Rye House at least, they wouldn't be renting from the GRA or anyone else. They'd be hiring the venue from the owner of Leicester & Rye House. That's not parasitically taking money out of speedway. It's putting money into the staging clubs & putting money into the riders for their benefit therefore indirectly the benefit of their clubs.

If the crowds would supposedly go up without tv exposure, why not go further & stop advertising, publications, newspaper reports & websites. After all, Freemasonry attracts decent numbers. Saying that TV detracts from attendance is reminiscent of the pork butchers & builders that used to own football clubs in this country. Sixty years out of date - like the stadiums. THAT'S where the problem lies. The fact is that in 2013, no one is going to spend money travelling & paying admission to a hole in the ground. Some dog tracks are just about okay - because they've had money spent on them. One or two other stadiums are okay too but there's a hell of a lot that you wouldn't venture into wearing a decent pair of shoes. Showing them on television is where television damages attendances.

9+ is a good average. Neither I, nor anyone else that I recall, have disputed that. It's just not "cleaning up" now, is it? Did Ben Barker "clean up" last year? No. How about Joe Screen? Maybe Charlie Gjedde? Maybe Jason Doyle? They all had 9+ averages - but didn't "clean up". Why not? Because its a bloody hard league to ride in, that's why. In fact it's a harder league than when Stead was last in it at Workington when along with Stoney it could be said he more or less cleaned up. Screen, Howe, Robson, Parker & a few in between. They've all dropped down & found it harder than anticipated. As for your comments about negativity regarding Sheffield simply demonstrate your inability to read & retain information. There's any number of posts where I'm supportive of Sheffield, the promotion, what they're attempting to achieve and what (most of) the riders selected have achieved along the way. But feel free to continue with your (slightly disturbing) Santa fixation.

Wind yer neck in, Gladys. If Dyson made a Hoover that picked up three quarters of the muck on offer, there'd still be more muck then on a Rye House race day! Nine & a bit out of twelve ISN'T "cleaning up". Stead MIGHT finish in the top five come the end of he season. If he's lucky. Like the others that have dropped down before him, he'll find it's not as easy as he thinks it is.

So that's a nine & a bit average. Out of twelve. Hardly cleaning up - I think your wife needs a new hoover.