Mike.Butler

not sure how many riders would actually pay to watch though? I imagine those not making money are doing it for their own adrenalin rush more than anything..and a big crowd must add to that ..

eh? old TS: the score is 25-29, instead of getting a 3-3 team deliberately lose 2-4, so score becomes 27-33, a 5-1 brings it back to 32-34, compared to a 3-3 (28-32) followed by a 3-3 (31-35) how is that gaining 8? Is it me????

Poole are in danger of becoming the equivalent of Glasgow Celtic.. Poole's relative wealth is bad for British Speedway. (discuss)

i just wish all the current corners offered the opportunity to pass on.

ok, I take your point about promoters taking the financial risk...fair enough, but why can't they listen to the fans in preference to sustaining their egos by pandering to top riders who in the main have no loyalty to anyone but themselves ? why do a significant percntage of fans feel that the NL and PL are better products..(and certainly less prone to ridicule)...surely that's food for thought isn't it?...

The big advantage for me the old Tac sub rule had was that there wasn't the same incentive to 'throw' a race in order to get 6 pts behind as there is now to get 10 pts behind, simply because you were potentially forfeiting 2pts to gain 4, whereas now you forfeit 2 to potentially gain 7...it's absolute crap and brings the sport into disrepute in my view.. I am sick and tired of the promoters ignoring this blatant loophole. How many times do they have to be told us fans don't want it!? i'm close to giving up tbh...the world cup being the biggest fiasco which has meant i refuse to watch them any longer..so a casual armchair fan is pandered to in preference to us who keep the sport (just) above water...FOR PETE'S SAKE _ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

it would be cheaper for a team 6 up to have a rider removed from a heat, and when 12 up remove both..

Us regulars don't worry too much about state of stadium, but i've a feeling any potential newbies might do. One thing i've noticed is the variance in the level of track lighting..Watching 4 riders disappear into shadows isn't clever

i was at mildenhall last night, and they were frankly stunned that their arrangements to host the first leg on Saturday had to be binned...Quite whether the IOW had seriously considered having to stae another meeting until after heat 15 i wouldn't like to say...

out of the blue i get to see an extra meeting tonight! excellent.

Go back to one-legged semis if we really have to have them..

i have been pretty negative on here this season about the EL. The no.of meetings I have attended is in gradual decline. 2007-43, 2008-45, 2009-35, 2010-37, 2011-30, 2012-29, 2013-24=lowest this centrury. Hope this still means i can contribute. I never watch EL speedway on Sky btw, it's too painful...

Magnus Zetterstrom would be my token Swede.. really enjoyed his efforts the year he qualified..

It's not Matt Ford's fault that he is obviously the best promoter in the UK......it's the sheer unfit-for-purpose governance of the sport that allows his skills to undermine the competition as a genuine sporting contest with integrity.. .... I think that's the word he needs to ponder when he looks at the bigger picture and takes his fair share of responsibility for the demise of the Elite league as it inevitably meanders to a thing of the past.. I guess in the scheme of things he might just as well secure short-term gratification since i'm afraid there is no long-term future to worry about....still he's an entrepreneur and will be secure in doing something else by that time; whilst the rest of us remember how Speedway used to be before self-interest, desperation and profligacy by a few over the years took away what was once ours..ce'st la vie...

..so Poole will become the most unjust champions in the sports history..but that's what you are liable to get with play-offs so the other promoters cannot complain can they. Rules that allow those with the nous to manipulate so blatantly for their own means are alienating the majority of would be EL punters i'm afraid...as many have said before...who will poole race against when everyone else has given up...Bournemouth?

let's not bother with a league..at my chess club at school we had a ladder system...seemed to work alright..

don't know but might go if u can find out...

GOBL = Good ol' Bernie Leigh - didn't realise it stood for something else....

Cant see anything but a huge home win if it's a big crowd this will be so true for a lot of people not 6 feet tall..

Jack Kingston has to be the current most frequent faller-offerer...but he's good box office tbh

I was actually there as it happens and 6.5k for a tier 3 football game is more than healthy thank you. I'm sure the atmosphere generated came over well on the box. Absolutely no comparison i'm afraid. nb play-offs for league 1 last year attracted 40k! your point is flawed. fact.

i never watch EL speedway on the tele as it's demoralising. ..somehow doesn't seem so bad in a one or two sided stadium when i'm there but seeing the gaps on the box it makes you realise what a minority sport we've become. Such a shame sky wasn't around in the sixties! I've said before that I think it would be best not to show EL as its such a shambles...but just the play-offs is ok I guess. Even showing some different meetings like the PL4TT that have spectators on 4 sides would be preferable to a league meeting IMV... It's not as though sky don't show League Cup/Johnstone's paint matches cos they aren't football league matches so what's the problem?

ok, re 20 heats without a final.. you notice the way the "draw" seems to always provide a heat 20 with 4 likely winners in it? Seems to me that it is actually acknowledged that having meaningless heats 20,19 and even 18 is crap (like some world finals in the past). Even as far back as the 1970's I recall the NLRC draw was manufactured... Also, by having 4 top riders altogether in 1 heat you are consigning one of them to a zero and potentially knocking one or more of them off the rostrum as the worst gate might mean even if they were actually the best rider they would be unlikely to pass 3 other top riders in the one heat..whereas having a bad gate against lesser riders would offer them the chance t restrict the damage.. Do the promoters think we're so stupid not to have noticed!? To me if you manufacture the draw to get a finale you might as well just have a heat 21.. A final for me every time...

they have got to slow the bikes down to improve the spectacle and reduce the injuries...fings aint wot they used to be..

This title could have read Elite League 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 etc etc...It's no longer an Elite League, it's not offering VFM and it's rotten to the core ...Self interest is consigning us all to oblivion....Until the ridiculous situation re teams racing some teams more than others, matches being run in terrible conditions and fans being charged nearly 20 quid for 10 heats there is no way back...There are so many promoters who in other sports would be on a charge of bringing the sport into disrepute..they should take the blame for EL foreign riders taking the p*ss too as they empluy them. tell the fans that's the team and then we run with R/R and guests. It really is a shambles....i can't believe these guys want to be associated with this as it stands...and some here wanted Neil Machin to be part of it!? including Nigel Pearson I recall..Nige, you're better off in the NL (grass is always greener....)