scribbler

Apologies to both you and your son Darrell. I suppose that I'm just a bit cynical and disillusioned at the moment... One Newport rider left waaaay before season end and I've just read about 2 Dudley Heathen riders sending their equipment back before season end in their rush to get back to Oz for the Individual meets. Respect to those who put their team before themselves.

The end of the British season is always 31st October. They should commit themselves and their equipment to stay until November 1st. I'd be interested to know which Aussies - and their bikes - left before 31st October and who has stayed until the end of the season.

No apologies for snipping the post... What about the sponsors and the supporters? Even if the rest of the team and the promoters don't care there seems a lack of committment from the Australian riders. What if there were more meetings? The team would have had to race with missing riders. A 5 man team in a Final would not have looked good and no guests would/should have been available. It's not that there is no 'proper' meeting - it's the principle of the situation and the fact that the team is not as important to them as the Individual meetings in the Ausrallian season...

Shows how commited to the NDL Aussie riders are...not! All year round Speedway. Get paid for team riding in the UK and then go and ride all winter in individuals in Oz even before the end of the UK season. I think that Aussie riders are only it it for themselves - they don't give a fig about the promoters who gave them a chance, their fellow teammates, their sponsers, or British supporters...

Lucky lads - they have all-year Speedway ... British Summer team riding and then Australian Summer individual riding... and people wonder why Aussie seem better riders. And yet the country that gives them the opportunity to learn how to team ride gets shafted when the lure of the chance of Individual glory in their own country comes around... It's OK saying that more Brits could go to Oz for the winter - but are there financial gains to be made riding as an individual? Team riding gives the opportunity for earning. And anyway - I've been reading that some Aussies aren't particularily happy with young Brits going over and riding in their Individual meets and taking Aussie riders places... sound familiar? But at least our guys go over as Brits - no patriality card to play in that direction...

Shouldn't the Stoke team be renamed Stoke's Saintly Spitfires

Just trying to remember the result of the investigation into the Tyson Nelson debacle...a similar situation... Not sure whether the points were eventually deducted after the decision...

Speedway Star By Post - Letters Page, Speedway Star, 9 Coppergate Mews, Brighton Road, Surbiton, Surrey, KT6 %NE E-Mail - sar@pinegen.co.uk Fax (020) 8335 1117 Why not get writing to the Speedway Star. The BSPA might be a lost cause but maybe writing to the Speedway Star might show that supporters don't just accept what happens without question...

But they've now changed the YS fixture AGAIN - to Sunday 17th - at 11am... So could they still honour the NDL fixtures?

But they also include Benji Compton - and we know that he retired after the last meeting... Bit of a grey area - open to interpretation... 'Scunthorpe's Ashley Birks' may be an indicator to supporters of the team he has ridden for all this season ... or that he is a Scunthorpe asset - but no longer riding for Scunthorpe because their season has ended... Yet another conundrum for the BSPA to sort out.

With training facilities AND Amateur Racing... and I gather that the riders at these meetings are a friendly,helpful bunch

Yes - attacking Malcolm Vasey and then Jayne in this thread is a strange thing to do... They are two people who come on here and discuss and inform - and have a great knowledge of the NDL... and previously the CL. I always appreciate the time they take to write in this section - and admire the pair of them.

This week's Speedway Star again describes it as a work permit - not a visa... and Jayne states that work permits are not allowed in the NDL... And - reading the UKBA site - I would think that Mark Jones has therefore been riding illegally. The BSPA and Newport promotion should tell us the truth. How are we to trust any decision the BSPA make if they stay silent?

Nice to see that a fellow supporter has done their homework - and come to the same conclusions as me. Throughout this thread I have given the same extracts from the UK Border Agency. The final paragraph is also something I have been 'banging on about'. In the 2011 season I would hope that supporters will be asking the same questions about any foreign rider in the NDL and soon as any foreign rider is chosen for a team. Not because we don't want them to ride over in the UK - but because we do not want a rider's career comprimised by promoters... and - through neglect - the BSPA. Promoters may not be concerned about a rider's future career but I'm sure that most supporters are. A short term gain for a team that affects a rider's ability to ride in the future is something that should concern us all...

@ Jayne In this weeks Speedway Star it states that Jones is returning home "... because of the end of his six-month work permit." As stated previously a general visitor, aged 18 or over is not allowed to be in paid employment in sports - unless established at the highest level. To me this implies being paid a living wage - not the £10 a point at NDL level...

But Mark Jones is the only one - as far as we know - who is going home after 6 months... It's the query as to whether he came over on a 6 month visa that is causing the problem. It appears that sportsmen are excluded from riding for money (points) and to do so who invalidate the visa and could affect his career. There are various catergories of activities that can affect a visa...

I would presume that it's easier to be aware that there might be a problem with visas when a rider is brought in during the season than one who starts the season. I wouldn't imagine that opposing promotions knew the return date of each foreign rider in the League - they should be able to presume that all paperwork is correct and has been thoroughly checked by promoters and the BSPA. Why should opposing promoters need to know whether a rider has the correcr visa? That's the responsibility of each promoter and the BSPA. If all promoters abide by the rules there should be no problem. And if promoters/ the BSPA have a query as to whether a rider can ride they can always ask the Borders Agency...

That doesn't square with the fact that Scunthorpe rode 'under protest' and the result took weeks to be altered. The time lapse seems too long for a misunderstanding... It suggests that Len Silver eventually accepted the facts that rules had been broken - which, perhaps, as a promoter, he should have checked properly in the first place - and asked the BSPA before the meeting if he was unsure. Surely he knew that - at some point - he intended to try out/use the rider...

I stand... no I sit... corrected

Just Googled it... BSF - Darcy Ward Boston debut... Arrived in July and Boston debut was 13th July 2008... He left the first or second week of October - before the end of the season... But the laws may have been diferent then - 'cos I can't imagine Malcolm breaking any laws. Someone did mention that the visas changed sometime in 2008...

I really think that the problems have occurred because of lax management by the BSPA... The BSPA should be watching for changes in visas and checking the UK Borders Agency before every season. To my mind they have a duty of care to the riders and should ensure that eveything is 'above board.' If a rider's career is affected by any decision/non-decision that the BSPA make I wonder if the rider could sue the BSPA? Promoters should - I think - have their liciences suspended if they knowingly use a rider without the correct paperwork(hard to prove I know - if the BSPA aren't doing the job properly at their end).

Information from Borders Agency...and my interpretation is... As a general visitor - aged 18 or over - must not be in employment nor involved in sports As a sports visitor - not allowed to be in paid employment As a temporary sports worker - must be at the highest level of your sport Youth Mobility Scheme - Cannot apply if has previously held a Youth Mobility Visa. Not allowed to engage in a professional sport... The UKBA (I think) uses laws - not rules - there are consequences for breaking these laws(?). I'm not sure whether a sportsperson can be banned from competing over here if he has previously been found to break these laws - and this is the point that worries me. It wouldn't affect a promoter who wanted a rider for one season - but it could ruin a riders career... The UKBA site may be complex - but the information is written down and we can view them on their website. As laws(?) they can be changed - but they are more transparent than the BSPA rules...

Not sure you've got the rules right there... Normally a rider is off sick until he's declared fit... You wouldn't stop a rider riding for 28 days if he was off with the flu or something. Normally the 28 days is put into place by a promoter to stop a rider from moving to another team...

As far as I can see - looking on the Border Agency website - the rules haven't changed. I did cut and paste them at the top of page 5... Obviously Mark can't ride on a Youth Mobility visa... Jayne - are you thinking of Tregoning last year? ... also Newport IIRC...

The implication was that Worrall was a poor rider - and British. But Jones wasn't offered a PL place this year... Worrall was. Both ride for Clubs with a PL and an NDL team. I guess the fact that Jones couldn't stay the whole season was why he rode NL and not PL... the rules are adhered to more stringently there I guess... You say that you left Newport Speedway, because you'd had enough, that's about the same time that Mallett junior lost his promoters licience...