June

I agree, that meeting Bell Vue was without Garrity and you loaned Greenwood, however it was still a good meeting depleted teams on both sides. Some excellent racing!Backless, normally I accept our team with riders short in league matches, thats the sacrifice we pay to see our youngsters progress, not a problem. I just want to see our kids win! no doubt you feel the same for your team. I will "suck-it-up" as you say, whatever team we go with I'll be there shouting them on! COME ON SAINTS!

I understand and agree with this and thats exactly why I posted. A PL reserve would probably score many more points in the NL than he would in the PL. would he still be so much out of pocket? Nothing can be done about riders who get injured and those who have exams but with the system we have now are we giving the fans a " Play Off " with depleted sides ? Plus I'm sure all the youngsters want to win this competion, are they getting a fair chance, the likes of Adam and Stefan ( ever present ) must feel gutted when as many as 3 riders are missing from the team. This week at Poole people were turned away, the stadium packed. They fielded proper teams and that was a real Play off.

This competion is becoming a laugh!......In my opinion Saints being one of the the strongest teams in the NL ( all youngsters whos ridden their hearts out to get where they are now ) (through no fault of Saints ) promoters seem to deliberately select dates when members of the team would be missing. Whats the point of play offs when it ends up where teams do not contest the best? Isn't that what its suppose to be all about? Surely for this competion (in all leagues) riders should be released to compete, otherwise dont bother, let teams race for the 1st places to become league champion!

I would just like to say that what Scunny has been able to do to help bring on the youngsters over tha past few years through lots of very hard work by; Mr Godfrey, Richard and Anne Hollingsworth, Graham and all other helpers in extremely cold weather through the winters has been amazing. This is what I call "developing youth" seeing is beleiving! Most weekends me & hubby have been there watching the kids. seems like we've been watching the likes of young Robert Lambert for ages. (thats just singling one out ) Nothing gives us more pleasure than to see how these kids improve by the week. Admittedly Mr Godfrey can use his stadium whenever he wants and has done. Watching the likes of the Worrall twins, Birks, Irvin and Wrathall etc ( who can get loads of practice ) develop makes me feel proud of the Scunny gang. I'm sure there are other tracks where work of this nature takes place. ( I hope so anyway ) The problem is where do these youngsters progress? surely it has to be in the N/L maybe stand alone clubs who show no interest in giving these kids team places should aim to be in the prem league? unsure. I'd like to see at least one, preferably 2 british reserves for a full season, be a good start! Its certainly worked for Stevie Worrall at Scunny. some of his passes in his last match at Scunny was brill.

Thanks for the updates gisatrack...can't you do anymore?

Are there any updates to this meeting please.

The team is made up of mostly Scunny trained youngsters who's progressed at Scunny. Are sponsered by Local "Joton Company" and from day one have always been the "SAINTS".... TELL ME; " WHY DO THE NAME HAVE TO CHANGE?"........dont say to please Sheffield fans. As I can then say it upsets the Scunny fans! My feelings on this has nothing to do with how riders progress, they will whatever. ( these are determined riders ) At the end of the day I wish every one of these lads the best of luck and I'm sure they all have a fantastic future in the sport. Thats it from me.my point in the matter ends here.

Brill win for SAINTS!.....Didn't Benji do well after being out for so long.( bet he's knackered today lol. ) Well done to all riders and I hope our guest L Kerr is OK after his fall and has no serious injury.

From a fan point of view I'm gutted at this merger. We were told the team would be known as Scunthorpe /Sheffield Saints. 4 meetings at Sheffield and 5 at Scunthorpe. Bought the DVD of the dbl header at Sheffield because I'm not in agreement of having to travel from Scunny 60 miles to a home meeting. What did the DVD reveal. The matches headed as the Sheffield Prowlers and riders wearing the said named team jackets So upset of the loss of my team I didn't bring myself to watch the DVD. As I love this level of speedway and have watched these kids progress I will turn out to support them, but only at Scunny. Shock horror a lot will say, but tough. I feel hard done by. So UP THE SCORPIONS!

Special thanks for the free meeting ( is that the 3rd or 4th now ) it brought back some old fans to speedway. hope they return to the EWR for future meetings! Well done to the Saints on their win. A very good meeting with some excellent racing from both teams. I agree montie. A very good guest in L Kerr who thoroughly deserved his paid 11 pts. Another 3 pts in the bag!

Firstly I'd like to wish John Oliver full and speedy recovery. John who was having a brilliant meeting and was riding a correct line when suddenly got thrown into the fence through no fault of his own, such bad luck! my thoughts are with him and his family at this very stressful time.....On to the meeting, like everyone eles I was waiting for a rider to be announced to take the TR that never come.....slipped up there Mildenhall, we'll never know now whether you could have got a point from the meeting. The Mildy fans deserved to see tacical rides - sometimes they dont work, but often do. there was a couple of incidents looking back at the scores when you could have gained some TR points.... Well done Saints on your win! special mention for Stefan. very impressed with you tonight coming back after a nasty accident. you was brill! huge well done!!

Kev. As you singled me out in your last post I will answer, but quite frankly this discussion goes round in circles. We had a lengthy thread on it last year. I am not racist, I do not mind foreigners in our leagues, I always support the ones in the Scunny teams. As Ive said numerous times I am a paying fan, nothing to do with the club or running of it. What I say or think is purely from genuine interest in the sport. Its only my opinion, which I know differs to some other fans. Yes I agree at the mo there probably are not enough british riders to fill spots in the NL but just ask yourself why! Our youngsters appear then disappear. because not enough is being done to help them onto the ladder. As to whos fault that is I have no clue. I remember in the CL league days there used to be a very lengthy list of riders names and grades. Seemed then to be loads of riders. Where are they now? Had some of them been helped with sponsership training etc. british speedway may look to have a brigter future. I'm sorry Kev but the one thing I do believe is that the NL has to be a breeding league for the prem otherwise we may just as well forget BRITISH in the sport of speedway. Dont forget this is only MY opinion!

Thanks RocketBen1 ......I wanted to post a comment such as yours.....As a nation we really do need to take the sport in this direction or in the not so distant future we wont have enough british riders to compete with the rest of the world.

Not sure what sort of answer you want from me. As for "those terrible Australian types" ( not how I have ever described them ) I actually remember Oliver riding against the Scorpions in the C/L when he rode for Boston. I have posted several times and referred to Australian riders being used when its at the expence of british youngsters. Sorry if you object but as a paying fan I long to see british riders of the Caliber Of Peter Collins again... We will only reap any benefits from giving our young brits the chance and help they deserve. By the way Rob Godfrey does just that!!

Spot on montie.......we should also mention the really bad winter we had last year. a lot of the weekends were written off due to either "frozen track or snow" wasn't Scunny covered in snow for about 5-6 weeks and we were all fed up with the stuff lol. Dead right about Stuart Parnaby he's amazing with the youngsters,

I think your right shirlmeister problems do lie in the N/L but I dont think it'll change until all promoters agree to it being a developement league, Last year Scunny had practically a full team of youngsters newish to competative speedway. Our team average was way below most others. We stuck with our lads not expecting to win or even come close to winning the league whilst some of the other teams used mostly experienced riders. ( yes I know we used the brilliant BUZZ ) very useful he was too. One older experienced rider can work wonders as a coach. At Scunny practices and amateur meetings we see plenty of youngsters, some probably lose interest due to lack of racing opportunities. ( unsure ) the moral of my story being that Scunny's stratagies worked. this years BRILLIANT TEAM is the result A huge well done SAINTS!

I partly agree with what you say, BUT the Australian youngsters have to look to countires like GB to progress to a level of acheiving their aims. Why can't Australia have leagues?. so it would work both ways, as it does with Denmark Sweden Poland. Our riders could then ride in the Ausatralian leagues. Cor the Aussie boys should be good as they race all the year round. Just think how good that would be for our boys too!

As a nation we owe it to OUR youngsters to at least give them the best possible chance to race for THEIR country. With all loopholes that exist that somehow allow Aussie young riders in the NL then its time they come in on an assessed average much higher ( at least doubled ) My gripe is that promotions struggle, like Scunny who do more for our youngsters than most. Australia do it on the cheap because they have no leagues as such,I think P/L should be made to use at least 3 brits per team. A system for progression needs to be put in place for our lads. Whats the point in N/L if P/L offers no chance for them.

The same old arguments over the british lads and the Aussie boys.....I thought this year was suppose to be a NL for only british kids yet the Aussies still get in through one way or the other. Australia (a huge country get their youngsters speedway career started then send them over in their droves for GB leagues to put in the finishing touches, ready to take on all other countries. Cheap way of doing it for them whilst the promoters of our county struggle. Makes no sense but nothing will change! People will still have differing opinions on the matter. Cant blame the Aussie youngsters though.

Well done Saints.....A good solid team performance, every rider playing his part....Whatevers happened to Dudley? I couldn't believe how poor this team was. I was almost willing them on a bit to give our lads a competative meeting....I never like to see any rider withdraw from a meeting, especially Adam Roynon whos only just back after injury. get well soon Adam. special mnention for Danny Stoneman " Well done lad, you put in a very good effort " Another 3 points for the Saints onwards and upwards!

Dead right squall.....I lose you gain. Glad your enjoying our team!

When 2 teams merge it changes things. Its like putting Man City and Man united together and supporters told this is now your team. I admire Scunny for their youth developement, but no way will I travel to Sheffield to watch a home meeting. But I will always turn up at Scunny to watch the mighty SAINTS! I agree with rocket Ben - Rye house go back to "Raiders" and for someone to get Hackney started up in an area where the genuine fans are.

Well done to both teams for a good meeting. Some excellent races. A quick shower just before the meeting possibly made the track a little greasey as in the first few races our riders were being caught out and falling, either that or they were just trying too hard. However things evened out and the track then produced some brilliant racing. Hats off to Gary, he was amazing, some of those passes looked fantastic! It was however a good win and congratulations to all our team. 3pts is what we wanted and its what we got. BRILLIANT!

For me this is what the NL is all about........Last year Scunny stuck with our youngsters when some teams strengthened.Most of these lads have improved and held their own in the prem leauge so its a thrill and pleasure to watch these kids go for it. I know their sights are on winning the league, So come on Saints do the job. Good luck and stay safe.

Well done Saints on a brilliant win......4 pts. whoopie!