pawel115 Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 In connection with Sunday's tragedy, Extraliga Ltd. took the following decisions: having regard to the memory of the tragically deceased Lee Richardson every match next week will be preceded by a minute of silence, flags during matches will be decorated with pall, fans will be asked to maintain restraint cheering favorite teams, and the matches should be conducted in an atmosphere of seriousness. This is statement issued today by Extraliga Zielona Gora - Rzeszow postponed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 Hmmmm.A Politician dies and it is a day of mourning and all sport cancelled.A speedway rider dies on track and they want to continue racing! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_martin Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 I've just returned home after having travelled to see this meeting. As to what happened, all I can say is that the situation was confusing. The stadium PA was hard to hear where we were so we didn't catch the internal announcements, and of course we didn't have the benefit of what was seen on TV. That said, the pieces of the jigsaw that are to hand suggest that: The Referee consulted with the teams as soon as news broke. Both teams agreed to continue. The match score card was signed by both team managers to that effect. Falubaz had a change of heart as time went on and of course it was all stopped after heat 11. Some Stal riders were seemingly also not happy to contunue. Tomasz Gollob's suggestion was that the meeting sould carry on with all remaining riders in the remaining heats being excluded under the 2 minute rule so that the meeting could be "declared" and no rider need ride. Flaubaz's management were not happy with this and were negotiating for a re-run of the meeting. Confusion ruled. No-one seemed certain about what was going. I said that I had a few pieces of the jigsaw, but I don't know how many are missing. Not sure anyone really does. Stal fans were locked in the stadium for a while as stories spread about the Falubaz fans and the Riot Police locking horns with each other. Seems some Falubaz fans were arrested, and others would be persued on the evidence of the CCTV and photographic surveilance that was carried out. What seems to have missed all the reports so far, was the spontanious chanting of Lee Richardson's name by fans of both teams when the news broke. There was a minute's silence as a mark of respect, and the afterwards, there was even applause from the Stal fans when the next round of tribute chanting of Lee Richardson's name came from the Falubaz fans. It of course led to the Stal fans repeating the chants. Not long after that, but I'm not quite sure after which heat, the Falubaz fans unilaterally left the stadium. Sadly that was when they had their encounter with the Police. The meeting went on for a heat or two without them, with the atmosphere in the stadium being numbingly flat. After an period of uncertaintly, the announcement was then made that the meeting had been abandoned, with decisions about whether the result would stand following later in the week. People started moving towards the exits, but of course were penned in for a while (see point 5 above) Someone on another thread said that we can all live another day and the meeting may or may not be rerun, and there will doubtless be repercussions, before everything is sorted out, but there's one person who won't be with us to see that day. RIP Lee Richardson, and my condolences go out to his family friends and colleagues on their immeasurable loss. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 Well i have read some harsh criticism of Poland from a few rider now.Chris Holder for one,already a few weeks ago came out with a statement that despite being injured he felt he was forced to carry on.He has added more criticism after this tragic incident.Now he has been joined by Nicki Pedersens criticism of the Wroclaw track etc.And i have seen comments by Nicolai Klindt as well.Trouble is will any riders make a stand against tracks that they know are not good?I said before the meeting that Wroclaw has a poor reputation and other tracks in Poland have been fined,but nothing seems to change.I would link to the Nicki P article,but unfortunately it contains a disturbing foto that i didn't want to see and am sure no-one else would either 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racers and royals Posted May 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 (edited) a couple of short video reports on Tarnow v Leszno http://sport.tvp.pl/...o-skrot/7364496 Gdansk v Czestochowa http://sport.tvp.pl/...z-skrot/7364451 Also just a reminder that the full match Torun v Bydgoszcz is here http://sport.tvp.pl/zuzel/enea-ekstraliga/mecze/unibax-torun-polonia-bydgoszcz-mecz/7356627 Heats 3 and 5 with Darcy Ward and heat 7 with Chris holder are worth watching. Edited May 16, 2012 by racers and royals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_martin Posted May 22, 2012 Report Share Posted May 22, 2012 The TVP cameras do a good job, but three are things that they miss, things that make the trip over to Poland for league meetings so worthwhile...the insanity that is a Polish league meeting... Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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