Bryn Posted November 20, 2008 Report Share Posted November 20, 2008 (edited) I'm asking that question after reading an intriguing posting from a Polish member of the UK Yahoo speedway list today that reads: The Russian big money bag, attracting world's biggest speedway stars, may soon be empty. That's if you believe what is being written in the Russian language speedway internet forum www.forum.speedway.ru. Not so long ago top riders were openly saying that for one match in the Russian League they could get around 50 000 GBP. There signs are that the world wide credit crunch has even reached Russia , and the big sponsors will prefer to spend their money elsewhere. It has been announced that the Oktyabrskaya club will not participate in the 2009 season, and all signs on heaven and earth are saying that the Salawat club will not ride either. The main sponsor Nefiechimash, in order to survive, has cut workers wages and financial backing to sport, health care, and educational organizations. Similar situation can be found in Balakovo, where the main sponsor, producing mineral fertilizers, stopped production for at least three months. Employees have been sent home on unpaid leave. Reasons ? There is no demand for their product. source:www.sportowefakty.pl Edited November 20, 2008 by Bryn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted November 20, 2008 Report Share Posted November 20, 2008 It never was all sweetness and light.A few on here have been saying that since all the hype started about Russia.There have only been 2 or 3 clubs that can really afford the top stars.And because of that they don't need them every meeting anyway.You don't want to believe everything that is posted or written in the Star or even from promoters.I think it was Berwiicks promoter last year who said he was finding it hard to attract young continental riders because they would be riding in Russia.Now who are these great young Czechs(i seem to remember Cz riders mentioned)and others who are riding in the Russian league? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoMinuteWarning Posted November 20, 2008 Report Share Posted November 20, 2008 There were only 5 teams in the Russian League this year, and each team rode just 4 home and 4 away matches - so the entire league programme comprised just 20 matches! Of the riders based in Western Europe, only 8 rode in the Russian League this year - 1 Denmark (Nicki Pedersen - 3 matches) 3 Sweden (Peter Karlsson - 4; Magnus Zetterstrom - 4; Andreas Jonsson - 1) 2 Great Britain (Scott Nicholls - 1; Lee Richardson - 1) 2 Australia (Leigh Adams - 2; Ryan Sullivan-6 - and yes, I know he's based in Poland) And most of the above probably won't be riding in the EL next year, anyway. In Eastern Europe, outside of the former Soviet Union countries, 10 Polish riders competed (inc Gollob - 1 match) - most of whom weren't riding in the EL. Oh, and no Czechs rode! Frankly, there is no Russian problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostwalker Posted November 20, 2008 Report Share Posted November 20, 2008 Jagoda has been riding some matches in Russia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schumi Posted November 20, 2008 Report Share Posted November 20, 2008 There were only 5 teams in the Russian League this year. One of those was from Ukraine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HenryW Posted November 20, 2008 Report Share Posted November 20, 2008 It has been announced that the Oktyabrskaya club will not participate in the 2009 season... The famous Oktyabrsky club didn't race in the 2008 season after losing their sponsor, and the chances of them returning for 2009 always seemed slim. As mentioned by Schumi, of the 5 clubs that participated in the 2008 season one of them was Ukrainian, and there have been some doubts over whether they would be competing in the Russian league again in 2009. A few years ago, things seemed to be looking good for Russian speedway as the number of clubs slowly increased. Unfortunately it looks like they pushed into the foreign rider market too soon and shot themselves in the foot. Hopefully the sport over there can recover from this setback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f-s-p Posted November 21, 2008 Report Share Posted November 21, 2008 The has been plenty of writing about ice hockey recently, as the Russian hockey league KHL is expanding like mad and paying players bigger money than they do in the NHL. The Finnish hockey people are a bit worried what will happen, but one thing that has been mentioned in many places is that the Russian goverment is "in " on the KHL with a target to make Russia once again a dominant force in world ice hockey. While doing that they are giving the nation something to cheer and talk about. In the process (which has gone pretty far as players like Aleksei Jashin and Jaromir Jagr are already there making the big bucks) someone has to keep paying for it, and looks like we are on the short end of the stick... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoMinuteWarning Posted November 21, 2008 Report Share Posted November 21, 2008 Yes, f-s-p, but some of the crowds are very low in the KHL, and despite government support it all comes down to whether the sponsors will be able to sustain their investment. The NHL is far more stable, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcel Posted November 21, 2008 Report Share Posted November 21, 2008 believe me the "black" money being offered will still be more than enough to tempt riders to sign Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HenryW Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 believe me the "black" money being offered will still be more than enough to tempt riders to sign I haven't been following what has been going on over the last few weeks, but I thought that there was a proposal on the table to limit each team to 1 foreign rider each per match...If this does come in, and the league only has 20 or 24 matches in the season, which seems the most likely, there aren't going to be too many opportunities for foreign riders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted December 3, 2008 Report Share Posted December 3, 2008 (edited) And it looks like the Ukranians want their own league with 5 teams(3 from Rovno).So maybe there won't be a Ukranian team in the Russian league next year rough translation Edited December 3, 2008 by iris123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBBY Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 According to today's Speedway Star, page 3, the headline reads..."Russin League in crisis".... To cut a long story short it would appear that because of the International Financial crisis the Russian speedway league could end up folding completely !! Salavat are to close down, it reports, due to sponsors pulling out. Balakovo are to continue but with far less financial backing, and as someone else has already stated on here, the 'breakaway' Ukrainian league could mean the loss of another club, Chervonograd, and that would leave the Russians a league of only 3 !! And we were worried about the 9 team Elite League. Could it be the first pin prick in the bubble of riders big pay days away from the UK ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Bird Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 According to today's Speedway Star, page 3, the headline reads..."Russin League in crisis".... To cut a long story short it would appear that because of the International Financial crisis the Russian speedway league could end up folding completely !! Salavat are to close down, it reports, due to sponsors pulling out. Balakovo are to continue but with far less financial backing, and as someone else has already stated on here, the 'breakaway' Ukrainian league could mean the loss of another club, Chervonograd, and that would leave the Russians a league of only 3 !! And we were worried about the 9 team Elite League. Could it be the first pin prick in the bubble of riders big pay days away from the UK ??? funny lee richardson contacted eastbourne about returning next year after declaring he was giving gb a miss next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattK Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 According to today's Speedway Star, page 3, the headline reads..."Russin League in crisis".... To cut a long story short it would appear that because of the International Financial crisis the Russian speedway league could end up folding completely !! Salavat are to close down, it reports, due to sponsors pulling out. Balakovo are to continue but with far less financial backing, and as someone else has already stated on here, the 'breakaway' Ukrainian league could mean the loss of another club, Chervonograd, and that would leave the Russians a league of only 3 !! And we were worried about the 9 team Elite League. Could it be the first pin prick in the bubble of riders big pay days away from the UK ??? The Prophet Rosco warned about seeking richest from the East. Looks like he was right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humphrey Appleby Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 funny lee richardson contacted eastbourne about returning next year after declaring he was giving gb a miss next year. And with the Polish League talking of a big financial crisis and having to cut back, I wonder how long it'll be before some of the riders who've decided to give Britain a miss will return cap-in-hand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schumi Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 The Prophet Rosco warned about seeking richest from the East. Looks like he was right. But what will all this mean for the GPs? If the big bucks aren't available in Poland, Russia and Sweden, will the stars be so willing to squander money traipsing around the GP circus for the pittance it brings in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dekker Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 They will ride, but the tuners might be cutting back a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheffieldscot Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 And with the Polish League talking of a big financial crisis and having to cut back, I wonder how long it'll be before some of the riders who've decided to give Britain a miss will return cap-in-hand? Could be pretty soon by the looks of things Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schumi Posted December 8, 2008 Report Share Posted December 8, 2008 Similar situation can be found in Balakovo, where the main sponsor, producing mineral fertilizers, stopped production for at least three months. Employees have been sent home on unpaid leave. Reasons ? There is no demand for their product. Things must have got better in Balakovo, since it seems the club have signed Russian starlet and GP newcomer Emil Sajfutdinov from Russian champions Togliatti: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2008/12/...-barwy-klubowe/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted December 8, 2008 Report Share Posted December 8, 2008 Things must have got better in Balakovo, since it seems the club have signed Russian starlet and GP newcomer Emil Sajfutdinov from Russian champions Togliatti: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2008/12/...-barwy-klubowe/ Been on the Russian forum for a few days now.Togliatti have a number of riders on the transfer list.Emil was just one of them.There are all sorts of rumours floating about.Who is going to pull out and who is going to continue.Doesn't sound much different from Britain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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