Thoughts on a strong controlling body.........

[Mylor]

.

Sorry girls, this topic is about speedway

 

until there is an independant person/committee overseeing speedway

From my first post:-

Once again, the need for a strong governing body is paramount but that's for another thread

 

Ahhh but you didn't say independant

We've had quite a few posts mentioning that we need a strong controlling/governing body, some of them, including some of mine, specifying an independent body.

 

But what should we mean by 'independent'?

A body made up of people with no connection to the sport?

A body made up of people who have retired from the sport?

How could the body remain independent?

How would these people be appointed?

 

Or would it be more sensible to have a body made up of representitives of all the facets of the sport? Say a promoter's delegate, a riders delegate, a referees delegate, an ACU delegate, a delegate with responsibility for liaising with a European body and the FIM, a delegate with responsibility for running the promotional elements (TV, BSI liaison, publicity etc), a safety and track standards delegate, a training and development delegate...............and how would these be appointed?

 

A Speedway Control Board with teeth?

[born_2b_mad]

Well firstly, an Independent Ruling Body is a must if our beloved sport is to steer itself away from its current troubles.

 

The IRB would IMO have to be run by persons that have been or are still involved with the Sport. Idealy that would be recently retired riders, for example John Davis would be an ideal candidate, how about former Ipswich, Wimbledon and England Manager John Berry.

 

There are hundreds of these sort of people who could run the sport that already have vast amounts of respect from riders officials and supporters alike.

 

How to appoint them?.....well that would, I suppose, have to be done via the current SCB/BSPA, so there is the stumbling block!

 

Then again, the current 'Powers That Be' could always ask us supporters for nominations via some sort of questionnaire, and then all the team representatives could vote at the AGM, that way everyone associated with Speedway would feel that they have had an input.

 

Easy really.........well sitting here it's easy!!

[martin palmer]

An Independant Ruling body seems a good solution, but probably costly. We could get by with the current set up, but add on an independant Chief Exceutive, and this person would have the ultimate Power. ( Ivan Mauger or someone of similar stature?)

The difficulty with all this is that its the Promoters putting up the cash, so they want to call the shots, so a major sea change is needed.

 

[Kevin Meynell]

But what should we mean by 'independent'?

 

It's a difficult problem. Promoters are the ones that make the investment, so it's not unreasonable that they decide how to run the sport, even if they do make a pig's ear of it. I certainly wouldn't want someone else deciding how to spend my money for me and have no comeback.

 

It's all very well people calling for an independent body to run the sport, but how would that body be constituted and who would decide its membership? I certainly wouldn't want the likes of the ACU to be involved, nor people from undefined groups (e.g. supporters). In fact, the Internet tried to do exactly this with it's governing body (ICANN) and it proved disastrous. There were various groups making absolutely no financial contribution to the organisation that voted to spend the money on all manner of ill-conceived and crazy schemes.

 

However, I do believe that promoters must delegate the day-to-day running of the sport to an independent Commissioner as happens in North American sport. The BSPA would obviously appoint the Commisioner, but that person would have to have no connection with any promotion which would take much of the self-interested decision making out of the sport. In addition, the promoters would only be able to appoint or dismiss the Commissioner once a year (or even longer), so they'd have to evaluate that person on their overall performance, rather than on individual decisions.

 

Finally, whilst promoters should always have the final say on what rules are implemented, any proposed rule changes should be deferred to the following season before being implemented to ensure they're properly thought through. I think it would also be sensible to introduce an advisory panel made-up of various people such as referees, team managers and maybe supporters to give feedback on proposed changes. Then at least some of the more embarrassing decisions of the past might be avoided in future.

[fatface]

Of course everybody agrees we need a controlling independent body. A body that can look after the interests of the sport as a whole and not of the interests of promoters only. The real problem is wrestling the power away from the promoters, who will not give up their power easily.

 

The only way I can conceivably see it happening is if a body such as UK Sport took an interest in speedway - (equally unlikely I know!) But if the sport could be shown to have an important social value then grant aid and lottery money could come our way.

 

But, to get the money the governing body would have to be completely revamped - that means an independent body. So, in short the only way to shift the BSPA out would be with the promise of more money for the sport.

[Kevin Meynell]

A body that can look after the interests of the sport as a whole and not of the interests of promoters only.

 

In theory, the SCB should be doing this, but in reality, the complicated administrative structure of motorcycle sport means that the grassroots level of speedway is not well represented.

 

The real problem is wrestling the power away from the promoters, who will not give up their power easily.

 

I think it's completely unrealistic and unreasonable to expect those that put their money into the sport to give-up control. Those who take the financial risks should ultimately decide how to run things, however badly that may be.

 

What does need to be taken out of their hands, is the day-to-day decision making that is affected by self-interest and knee-jerk reaction. The commissioner-system is one way of doing that, and seems to work quite well in North American sports.