fatface

Me. I had a cheeky tenner on Keely Hodgkinson at 10-1 earlier in the summer. 😉

Yep. All makes sense. I went pretty much every year until about four years ago. It’s a great place to spend the weekend, brilliant stadium and great atmosphere around town. I’m just one of those that has drifted away. It’s very very difficult to imagine it getting back to 40k crowds. Multiple reasons for that, but the biggest for me is that British Speedway’s continued shrinkage, tracks closing and new audiences not being attracted to replace the ‘old farts’. The harsh reality is that a fair chunk of those 40k that used to go are now either dead or too elderly to manage a full day visit like that anymore. A feature of the day was meeting and chatting to loads of fans who followed the sport closely in the 60s and 70s…the reality is they are passing on. And there just isn’t enough younger people interested enough to fill their shoes. I used to go with my folks and one is too grumpy to go now (yes, father) and the other not too mobile (mother). We have said we might go again for ‘one last time’ next year. Honestly though, i don’t know anyone else my own age or younger that would have any interest at all in going.

Had a couple of trips there in the 80s as a kid. And of all the away visits, I have to say - as a kid - the area always felt like a bit of a rough and ready place. Much more so than other tracks. I went back there to the same area many years later with the intents to shoot a video of inner city kids doing Olympic sports as a legacy piece. The reality was it was very different, very gentrified and difficult to find the grit and grime I was looking for! The kids too were annoyingly brilliantly articulate....not the poor urchins we had planned on! In a roundabout way, what I am saying is, when an area gets the "regeneration" treatment, then speedway's days in that area are numbered. It's difficult to pick out exactly where it was now, I know Waterden Road is still there, but as I understand it, the roads have also changed. Is the Copper Box now sited on the old Hackney Stadium footprint?

Richard Green, Exeter It was a miserable start to the 1988 season at Exeter with a rag tag ensemble of riders who were either years past their best or misfits ie. Bruce Cribb, Dave Trownson, Paul Evitts etc. A couple of months into the season and they signed Richard Green, a second string left out of the Mildenhall team. Hardly inspiring. But he was a sensation. In his first meeting he took Gordon Kennett from the back. From that point on, he was the absolute darling of the crowd for several brilliantly entertaining years with his ‘win or crash’ approach. He would have won the NLRC one year if he hadn’t crashed (again!) in his last race. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rider make as many last bend overtakes as Greeny did. He was a real catalyst for turning the season round. Peter Jeffrey also emerged from the juniors as a real prospect, then Steve Regeling arrived and we had a proper no1. By the end of the season, we even started winning away matches!

1983, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1992 1990 was probably the most entertaining. But it was great to see a British winner (Havelock) in Poland. 1983 and 1987 both pretty forgettable. The ride that stuck with me most though was Gundersen going round both Moran and King in 1985 in heat 20....the ride of a true champion.

Although they finished 2nd in the League, KO Cup, League Cup and Premiership I enjoyed 1984 at Hyde Road too. Although we hammered most teams, the team was an exciting one, the racing was great and we had the uniquely brilliant moment when PC and Mort won the World Pairs, plus Mort also won the BLRC. Down in Devon, I enjoyed following the 1989 Exeter Falcons. Steve Regeling became a class no1, Richard Green was thrill a minute, they actually won some matches on the road and had an epic cup tie with Berwick.

Yep, the boy done good. But three World Finals is probably a bit sub-par for his abilities. I just think 85 was pivotal really...the year following a decent World Final debut...he was banned from the World Championship. Then in winning the WLT that same year, he made himself hot property (and very well paid) on the continent....and that tipped the balance. I get it entirely. But there's no doubt his speedway suffered.

The Wiggy of 83/84 looked so hungry and sharp and destined to be at the sharp end for years. Looking back, the ban he had from international speedway in 85 coupled with winning the World Long Track that same year completely changed the direction of his career. I’m not sure speedway ever became an absolute priority again. I remember him going out of the World Champs at the Commonwealth Final one year and he was really poor. Sticking with long trackers, did Marcel Gerard ever give speedway a go? Pretty remarkable that a guy from Switzerland could win the WLT.

It's one thing posting something dodgy on social media, it's another when you are under suspension for a drugs offence. I've urged a bit of compassion in this issue as young men frequently do silly things and shouldn't be burned at the stake for a first time offence. But posting about it and undermining the whole process afterwards is, frankly, stupid. I won't go into the details, but a long time ago, I had a quite traumatic experience of someone close being spiked. It does happen. However, if you are a professional sportsperson, then part of that professionalism is being extra vigilant on what enters your body. I have been on senior management teams alongside elite athletes and its is absolutely drummed into them again and again to be vigilant and examine every little ingredient of every medication. Athletes don't consume anything unless they are sure of its safety to the point of paranoia, eg. only drinking sealed bottled water when they are personally breaking the seal. Speedway being speedway, its unlikely such professionalism occurs. The problem for the authorities is that they cannot go on the "how" of drugs cases, they can only go on the "what". That means sportspeople have to be held accountable for what is in their bodies, end of. If they are let off for being "spiked" or "never knowingly ingesting", then that sets a precedent for all future drugs cases. He may have taken drugs, he may have been clumsy. Either way he needs to own it and learn a harsh lesson.

There's some well intentioned posts here, but most suggestions are not workable. To suggest testing every rider at every meeting is not only unaffordable and impractical, it defeats the whole object. These riders got busted not because they knew they would get tested, it's because they didn't know they would be tested. That's why it has to be random, so riders know it could happen at any time. Plus, just testing at meetings/competitions in sport is not enough. There is obviously wholesale testing at the Olympics, but anyone who turns up the Games with drugs in their system is not only a cheat, but a complete idiot too. The real cheating is done beforehand away from the testers, months ahead in training. That's why out-of-competition random testing is key. Yes, random testing at meetings should be part of it, but better to have random tests away from meetings for those with bad intentions. I have to say, I also don't think drugs in speedway is a big a problem as some are making out. I don't think there's any clear evidence that drug taking is widespread nor is it clear it even improves or impairs performance in the sport. There's been a handful of cases. But that's it. If folk are looking for a time when drugs were more common in the sport, probably the 80s when the Morans, Bobby Schwartz, Gary Guglielmi, Steve Payne, Michael Lee, Gary Havelock, Mitch Shirra all got into trouble. I think their cases, just like these, were a case of young men doing something daft with social drugs. Just like they do in wider society. Of course they should all be sanctioned because sport only works when its a level playing field, but let's not get too carried away.

It's a moot point. If the official tester found an illegal substance in your body, then that's what the authorities must go on. Any other test is irrelevant.

You did say: "Doesn't deserve his racing license back." So you were advocating a life-time ban and him being permanently stripped of his living. Do you not believe in rehabilitation and second chances for first time offenders? As for whether he put others at risk, I don't think the science is clear enough to make that statement. Cocaine has been used as a performance enhancer by some athletes as a way to increases alertness and confidence. Some say it encourages greater risk taking. In this case he hasn't caused harm to anyone but himself and the wider evidence on the effect of cocaine is unclear on sport performance. I think we can agree that either way, sport needs to be a level playing field and the use of drugs should not be tolerated.

Great. That's clearer and fairer. Thanks for clarifying. No one knows what was said in the hearing and the exact circumstances. What is clear is that he made a bad mistake and deserves punishment for it. I just find the lifetime ban stuff some are rolling out for a first time offence quite ridiculous. I doubt whether all those throwing stones now are not without sin either. Everyone deserves a second chance, it's up to Richie Worrall draw some harsh lessons from this episode and take his second chance.

Potential employer? So, never be allowed to work again ever anywhere? This is the next level from those who want a lifetime ban from speedway. Maybe rethink that in the cold light of day. Very good

Then let me clarify for you. I'm saying taking his livelihood away for good is not appropriate, as some are suggesting. He's made a mistake, he's been rightly punished. Boxall is a repeat offender and deserves much harsher treatment. Of course Worrall should know better. Now he does. People make mistakes in life. This is a big one and he's been punished and - in the eyes of some - will be tarnished forever. There will always be plenty of folk charging out of the door with their pitch forks shouting "burn him", particularly in the extreme black and white media world folk inhabit. Real life doesn't work that way. As far as I know Richie Worrall doesn't have a track record of misdemeanors, so let's been grown up about it and not treat him like some leper.