fatface

Some great suggestions here. Some very vague ones. I wince when I hear the words 'American razzmatazz' - anyone remember the Sky Sports cheerleaders on a cold Monday at Boundary Park? What British Speedway needs is a short-term plan and a long-term plan. In the short-term we need to address the match day experience and long-term we need the facilities to be brought up to modern standards and be economically viable. My league speedway experiences last year were at Plymouth and Poole. The racing at both wasn't too bad, but the time in between racing was dull. The only amusement was to have a pint or look at the trackshop. Neither particularly great. I live in Devon and the best match day experience is going to Exeter Chiefs rugby. Quite simply, stuff is happening all the time, right from noon through to midnight. There are bands on before the game, big screen interviews and previews, bouncy castles, face painting, throw the ball through the hole games, half-time competitions, good food, the players stay around after the game for pics and autographs and then visit the bar afterwards for a Q&A with a host. None of this has to cost too much. Indeed if the BSPA clubbed together, they might find that shared ownership of big screens and bouncy castles might be quite a decent investment. Speedway can replicate a lot of these ideas. How about on track bike races for kids? A Top Gear-style leaderboard on the terraces for fans to do a virtual lap on a SGP Xbox game - even taking on some of the riders at that night's meeting? Pits tours? Trophy tours? (When do we ever get to see the EL, British GP, SGP, etc trophies?). Every match day has to feel like an occasion. Instead, too many just feel like another meeting ticked off. Beyond that I am a big believer in ditching GP riders, bringing the leagues together and regionalising them in order to cut costs, make the product more competitive and actually make teams feel like real teams again. Long-term the big threat to speedway is facilities. Frankly, our current crop is the UK is absolutely awful and not up to modern day expectations. But with limited ownership, there's not a great deal to do about it. The Belle Vue project could be a watershed moment for the sport. If it succeeds, it will provide the financial blueprint for British clubs, if it fails, well it's hard to see a long-term future for the sport. There are certainly no new greyhound stadiums being built and the appetite for rugby or football clubs to share with speedway is ever dwindling. Land is increasingly hard to come by, so when there is land available is has to be utilised to the full and be sustainable. The days of a stand alone speedway track only being used once a week 6 months a year are long gone. Clubs have to find partners in their community that can share quality sports facilities with and find a mixed economy that works for all. What a lot of other sports - particularly Olympic sports - have going for them is the backing of public funds in the form of the National Lottery. What a lot of them don't have is regular paying customers beyond the actual participants and their family. Something speedway can bring to the table. The recent Government announcement that more funds will be put into grass roots sport is actually a real opportunity for speedway - though I doubt many promoters would have even batted an eyelid. Now is the time to buddy up with NGBs, sports charities, community groups, local councils and sports events and find a way of creating vibrant community facilities for year round use. Without a long-term plan for facilities that makes a real difference to the locality, the sport will forever be on a slippy slope.

Agree. He was a poor England team manager on numerous occasions, alienating people rather than bringing them together. Great club promoter though.

I know where you are coming from. But it's a judgement call. Being from an athletics background, I'd say the most competitive events are the 100m, 1500m and 10,000m. Jess and Daley are all-time greats and the best of their eras at multi-eventing. I think Jess would be a worthy winner this year given she has come back from pregnancy, has nothing to prove, but still does the business at the top level. However - and its a very small 'however' - not everyone in the world has access to a javelin, hurdles or a long jump pit. But we all have legs and - at some point in life - we have all ran and raced. Mo is the best in the world at running at running a long way. He's the best at something millions and millions of people have done and continue to do.

There's no argument from me on that. The public did vote for it, can't argue with that. I actually would prefer it to be decided by experts to get a more appropriate winner, rather than a mere popularity contest. I also suspect Murray benefits hugely from being Scottish in this type of vote. I suspect the Scots are much more inclined to pick up the phone and vote for their man rather than us English are. What Mo Farah has achieved and goes onto achieve is incredible. We have waited 30 years for a world-class male distance runner. Now we have an absolute all-time great and I think he's rather taken for granted. Don't want to sound like a t0sser, but here goes..I used to be the media manager for Team GB and I've worked with a few of these people. Mo, in particular, is a very nice fella.

I like him. He's a nice guy. But despite the clumsy title of Sports Personality, most would accept that the award should go to the British sportsperson who has achieved the most in the calendar year. And as much as the white, middle-class media who almost exclusively cover sport in the UK shout about it, sorry but I can't accept the Davis Cup win was the greatest British achievement in this sporting year. I'd have Ennis, Farah, Froome, Fury and Peaty all comfortably ahead of him this year.

I wouldn't say it was related to the BBC pulling out of F1 (quite rightly too in my opinion). The F1 championship is still one of the great sporting titles, but I think people recognise that it isn't really that competitive. This year only two guys had the horsepower to win it. The World Heavyweight Championship is also still one of the great sporting titles too, but I would also reserve judgement on where this places Tyson Fury in terms of sporting greatness. At the moment, I'd be more inclined to say he is closer to being the worst heavyweight champion ever than one of the best. Personally I think Jessica Ennis should have won SPOTY. She's the best in a truly global sport, she came back from giving birth and is a great role model to boot.

I don't really expect Tai or another other British world champion from a minority sport to be nominated unless it is something truly exceptional. Having said that, it did seem like a particularly flawed SPOTY this year. Andy Murray is a top sportsman, no doubt about that. But he had a below par year in the Grand Slams (he was thrashed by Federer at Wimbledon) and the Davis Cup (despite the BBC hype) ain't all that big. The best player he beat throughout the whole run was 10th ranked Tsonga. No Federer, Nadal or Djokovic. In fact Federer and Wawrinka gave it a miss this year for Switzerland, which shows were it really sits in the priorities of the very best. Just because we have been rubbish at tennis for 80 years doesn't make it a greater achievement this year. I also felt a bit uncomfortable at the pandering to the hosts. Northern Ireland winners in unsung hero, coach and lifetime achievement categories. All worthy contributors, but it did seem slightly more than coincidental that they all won in Belfast. If next year's awards are in Truro, Chris Harris might be in with a shout...

An amusing debate. I preferred Shawn Moran as a rider, but Sam Ermolenko was better no doubt about it. All the facts you pulled together back that right up. Many people find it very hard to judge their favourite riders in a non-biased way. Or indeed those they don't much care for in a neutral way. You won't Nicki Pedersen ever making most people's best of all-time lists for that very reason.

Then again, if Nielsen had been able to beat Knudsen in 85, he would've won that one too. He slipped up though didn't he?

Bang on - on all points! Nielsen will go down as one of the all time greats. But he had a surprising weakness to frequently crack when pressure was at its absolute peak. He didn't see the job through when unbeaten at the interval in both 84 and 85, lost three world final run-offs, let the 96 GP series slip in the last round and took out Ermolenko and Knudsen in finals - getting away with it in the latter. Also agree that world-class rider though he was, Muller was never World Champion material anywhere but Germany. I too was in Norden - seems like everyone on this thread was! He was just miles ahead of the rest. No doubt he had unprecedented access to that track beforehand so knew every nook and cranny. I'd also be amazed if the track wasn't prepared to his spec, such was the appetite for a home winner. Finally, he had exclusive use of the newly developed GM engine at that final. His opposition were still on Weslakes, Goddens and Jawas (not the most popular engine of choice back then). Even when you watch the footage back now, he is yards faster than the rest. Only in his last ride when one point will do, he is more cautious. He didn't cheat and won it within the rules - fair enough. But he had a few advantages along the way that made it possible.

Agree 100%. The clip is from some sort of Midlands TV Sport Show. It was on YouTube, but I can't find it now. To me it is also clear that Penhall's wheel clips Kenny's handlebar and knocks him off. It's also pretty revealing in Penhall's interview immediately after the incident when he is perhaps a little more honest than he probably wanted to to be... https://youtu.be/nuF9BWpEDXo?t=57m10s If he didn't touch him, what DOES he mean when he says "I felt a little bit and it was him.." Anyway, can't believe we still discuss this 33 years on. Penhall was a tremendous rider. One of the greatest ever. He could do the lot. Professional, fast, he could gate and race with the best of them. In pure fantasyland, if there was a World Final with all the greats racing at their peak, I reckon he'd be right up there. Indeed from the last 30 years, I'd only have Rickardsson above him.

Probably won't be the first that comes to many minds, but one that lodged with me is a race at the 1987 final. As a Chris Morton nut, it was quite an uncomfortable afternoon. He missed gate after gate and went into his last ride with just 6pts needing at least a second up against Cox, Cross and Doncaster. He missed the gate (again), scrapped his way past Donkey on lap 2 and on the very last turn sneaked inside Cross to just qualify. What made the British Final such a great meeting at one time was the scrap for qualification - often involving riders you would consider as possible World Title contenders, never mind British title contenders. I can recall Lee, Wigg, Doncaster, PC, Mort all missing out in the 80s alone when they were still all top, top riders.

Dead right. Looping at the start happened fairly regularly at one time, now it's so scarce, I'd almost forgotten about it.I don't have the technical expertise to suggest ways that the bikes can be made safer. So I will leave that to the experts. What I will say is that losing control of the bike is actually a major feature of the sport - indeed of all off road motorsport - and you are never going to elimininate that unless you eliminate the sport itself. Maybe I am seeing something different to other people, but in most races, at least one rider loses complete control at one point during a race doesn't he (even if it is just momentarily and he doesn't fall off)? I'd say it's actually rarer for all four riders to complete an immaculate error-free four laps than not. This has always been a feature of the sport and surely always will be whilst riders race on an off-road surface in close proximity to each other. Perhaps one of the most famous World Final races ever Penhall v Olsen in 1981 saw both riders lose control simultaneously on the last lap. I don't recall anyone having a major issue with it. Quite the opposite, it's an ingredient of what make the sport so unique and special. I am not saying let's make the bikes even harder to control or not to look into areas where we can make racing safer. But I think we need to acknowledge that speedway racing is no smooth ride and you are never going to change that - that's part of the sport's DNA.

I think we need a wider view than 'top of my head' thinking. From when I first started watching in 1981, I recall Zdenek Kudrna, Denny Pyeatt, Leif Wahlmann, Craig Featherby, Brett Alderton were all killed within a two-three year time frame. Was the sport more dangerous then than now? I don't know. Truth is that it is a very, very dangerous sport. It always has been and always will be no matter how skilled the rider. Even some of the sport's very greatest - Tom Farndon, Peter Craven, Erik Gundersen, Per Jonsson have had life-ending or career-ending crashes. A solution is not easy to come by. It is impossible to make the sport 100% safe. I think the air fences have been a great addition to the sport. We'll never really know how many serious injuries they alone have prevented. Yet, I can well understand with the rawness of the terrible news regarding Darcy Ward, people are questioning even the existence of the sport. But as long as young men have the desire to race motorbikes round a dirt track and people are willing to pay to see them, there will always be speedway. And if there is speedway, there will always be danger.

Daisy Duke surely?What an actress!

If you think I am accusing you of being a racist, I apologise. That certainly wasn't my intention. The question I was asking was that if you are happy to tolerate a flag that does cause offence to people, are you also willing to tolerate the type of casual racism we used to see on TV? I hope that's clearer now and in no way infers you are racist. Tolerance is one thing, respect for others is another. Thankfully, you are wrong that humanity doesn't evolve. Prejudice will always exist. But the ending of racial segregation in the US, the break-up of apartheid in South Africa and equal rights for homosexuality in the UK are all significant developments that I would guess have taken place in your lifetime alone. That's progress - all driven by a change in public mood rather than by politicians. I look forward to a trip to Somerset at some point this summer. Will I be hugely offended by their use of the Confederate flag? No. Do I think it an appropriate symbol for a Westcountry team in a family-friendly sport in 2015? No.

Actually what happens is that humanity evolves. What is right and accepted and the norm changes. You only have to watch a 70s sitcom to see what is considered acceptable then is offensive now. Or would you be happier for black people to be referred to it an openly derogatory way now? With regards to the confederate flag, I am not massively offended, nor massively in support. I am indifferent to it. Which I suspect you are too. But other people are hugely offended by its connotations. So what takes priority - our indifference or the huge offence taken by others?

Some flags represent a geographical area. If people take offence, that's up to them. Some flags represent a philosophy. If people take offence at that philosophy, that's more understandable.

Good. I'm glad you clarified that. It wasn't clear the first time round. Clearly there is no intent to offend by the Somerset Rebels, as I am sure there was no intent to offend by the Oxford or White City Rebels before them. And for the British speedway audience oblivious to the offence the flag causes to others, they too have gone unoffended. Myself included. But you have to recognise that it is a flag that causes genuine offence to people, internationally now, not just in the US. I think it needs a re-think. I like the position of the Pope on issues like this. And its not often I say that - particularly in relation to speedway. Freedom of expression is one thing, but if you offend my mum, expect a punch on the nose.

Just for the indigenous population?

I'm not sure I agree with this. Sure the bikes are faster, but I wouldn't say they are more dangerous. If anything I would say they are easier to ride than ever before. You only have to look on YouTube for any National League match in the 1980s and you'll see a vastly different type of riding than you'll see in today's 2nd or 3rd tier racing. Is that because today's riders are so much better? I don't believe so, but their bikes are much easier to handle with a much lower centre of gravity. It's arguable that overtaking is more dangerous now, because more league riders can go full gas for four laps these days without making a mistake. So to overtake, the risk element is now much higher, riders have to go closer to the edge. Whereas years ago - particularly in the National League - you could wait for an opponent to make a mistake. Then again, although riders have to push that bit harder, the number of serious accidents resulting in death or paralysis seems a lot lower than in the 1980s. Of course, we have a lot to thanks the air fences for on that front. It seems to me - in Britain in particular - the tighter and narrower tracks are just less suited to the bikes. As an example, speedway at Coventry now looks much different to me that what it did in the 70s and 80s. There are much less racing lines now with everyone able to bomb into the turns at full belt knowing that the bike is good enough to get them round.

Both have attitude, that's true. But I think you are tarring two very different riders with the same brush. Darcy Ward is brilliantly talented but his unprofessional attitude has held him back. Nicki Pedersen would make few people's lists as one of the most talented riders ever, but it's his ultra determined attitude and professionalism that has earned him three World titles and kept him at the top of the sport for nigh on 12 years. There's a big difference there. I guess it also depends on what sort of top 20 you are looking at. If it's your favourites, then again Nicki would not make many lists. If it's the all-time greats then you won't find many who have a list of achievements better than Nicki Pedersen.

Very sorry to hear that. If there were such a thing as a BSF Hall of Fame, Shazzybird would be an absolute shoe-in. Condolences to all her close friends and family.

Yes, I am aware there are tickets available through agencies on-line and on-the-day. I am just wondering if anyone has two tickets in the home straight/first turn area that they are now unable to use? I can give them a fair fan-to-fan price rather than some paltry offer they might get from a tout. They are not for me...sadly, I can't make it this year. They are for my folks.

Double drat! Thanks for letting me know anyway. If anyone else knows of any going, please let me know.