Rafal Darzynkiewicz And Krzysztof Cegielski Thank You

[racers and royals]

I just wanted to praise the stance of these two "gentlemen " who were commentating on the 2nd live TV match for TVP and refused to carry on broadcasting after the news of the tragic passing of lee Richardson had reached the Gorzow track.they firmly believed the match should have been halted then.One could see how the riders were affected by the news ,Yet several more races were run with the riders clearly not wanting to ride anymore before the meeting was called off.yes i understand it was a local derby with probably 14000 in the stadium but if a sensitive announcement had been made by a leading Gorzow offical the fans would have left quietly and without trouble.

good on you Rafal and Krzysztof.

 

Edit sadly sportowefakty are reporting there was trouble caused by the fans at the match last night-however nothing to suggest this was as a result of the match ending early.

Edited May 14, 2012 by racers and royals

[PolskiZuzel]

I just wanted to praise the stance of these two "gentlemen " who were commentating on the 2nd live TV match for TVP and refused to carry on broadcasting after the news of the tragic passing of lee Richardson had reached the Gorzow track....good on you Rafal and Krzysztof.

 

I can only echo your sentiments. Rafal and Krzysztof were the only two who behaved as everyone should...pay respect.

My thoughts and deepest condolences goes to Rico nearest and dearest.

RIP Rico

[Haza]

I could not beleave what went on at this meeting surley the ex World Champion and Polish no 1 Gollob should have led by example and packed up and gone home with the other 13 riders when this news broke but no it looked clear to me Gollob wanted to carry on racing others was clear to me was in no fit state to carry on Holta Davidson and Jepson Jensen was in no fit state to race .

That said lets not get away from the fact Lee lost his life and in the big picture that's what we should be thinking about Gollob and the rest live to race another day sadly Lee hasn't .

 

[iris123]

It rather shocked me this morning when i looked in that people actually continued to watch the meeting after they had heard the news.I turned the stream off once it was confirmed and despite a number of people posting links to the crash i have not and nor will i look at it.Respect to the two guys mentioned above for their actions

[Star Lady]

Respect to the two Polish commentators at least they were gentlemen.

 

The Daily Mail website today covers the story with a picture of the crash in their headlines so it cannot be avoided and in the story they also show medics treating Rico on the track. For a paper that in my memory has never mentioned speedway their actions are disgusting.

I did try to post a comment condemning them but surprisingly it has not been published.

[brandonbee48]

Respect to the two Polish commentators at least they were gentlemen.

 

The Daily Mail website today covers the story with a picture of the crash in their headlines so it cannot be avoided and in the story they also show medics treating Rico on the track. For a paper that in my memory has never mentioned speedway their actions are disgusting.

I did try to post a comment condemning them but surprisingly it has not been published.

 

I read the story overnight ( i'm resident in the USA) and decided NOT to post a link. The Mail is a crap paper. You say "surpisingly it has not been published". Unsurprising, i'm afraid. I long ago gave up posting comments as i NEVER had one published. They obviously have hacks sitting there deleting what doesn't fit the Mail's party line.

Regards. Alan.

[pandorum]

At first I did not understand what was going on as I don't speak Polish but came here and saw the news.

I stayed with it for a while and was expecting the meeting to be abandoned.

 

Total respect to Rafal Darzynkiewicz And Krzysztof Cegielski for refusing to carry on the commentary.

The scenes in the pits told a very sad story.

Lee's former team mate Jonas Davidsson looked pretty bad and to me that was it but they carried on and I could not understand that.

 

Jonas went out in a heat and moved a yard and then stopped as he did not want to race. Yes there was a very good crowd but the news was too much for several of the riders who were probably good friends of Lee. I turned off the stream and later learned that common sense prevailed and it was cancelled. It's a hard decision and I would not envy those who were tasked with making it. Whatever was done would be wrong in someone's eyes.

 

Of course everyone will have to eventually return to normal and just carry. Lee wasn't the first and likely will not be the last as the sport is a dangerous one. I will watch Sky tonight to see what they say about Lee but am not going to bother with the speedway as just not in the mood today.

[bluejam]

I just wanted to praise the stance of these two "gentlemen " who were commentating on the 2nd live TV match for TVP and refused to carry on broadcasting after the news of the tragic passing of lee Richardson had reached the Gorzow track.they firmly believed the match should have been halted then.One could see how the riders were affected by the news ,Yet several more races were run with the riders clearly not wanting to ride anymore before the meeting was called off.yes i understand it was a local derby with probably 14000 in the stadium but if a sensitive announcement had been made by a leading Gorzow offical the fans would have left quietly and without trouble.

good on you Rafal and Krzysztof.

 

Edit sadly sportowefakty are reporting there was trouble caused by the fans at the match last night-however nothing to suggest this was as a result of the match ending early.

 

I had the pleasure of meeting the guy who does the interviews in English on Saturday evening in Prague.Lukasz ???(Not sure of his surname).He offered to take me to Wroclaw for the meeting yesterday!!The TVP Sport presenters,analysts,interviewers etc.that cover speedway are superb!!Maybe we could learn a thing or two from them on how to do it right!!

[Reliant Robin]

I had the pleasure of meeting the guy who does the interviews in English on Saturday evening in Prague.Lukasz ???(Not sure of his surname).He offered to take me to Wroclaw for the meeting yesterday!!The TVP Sport presenters,analysts,interviewers etc.that cover speedway are superb!!Maybe we could learn a thing or two from them on how to do it right!!

 

That'd be Lukasz Benz I'd imagine - nice guy and good presenter

[bluejam]

That'd be Lukasz Benz I'd imagine - nice guy and good presenter

 

Thanks RR.A most pleasant chap he is.

[DutchGrasstrack]

The news even made one of the Dutch biggest newspapers (with crash photo): http://www.telegraaf.nl/telesport/12125816/__VIDEO-Fatale_crash_coureur__.html. Not happy with this, normally they never post anything about speedway.

 

Still quite a shock by that pathetic heat 11 with Kasprzak and Jepsen Jensen racing eachother while the Zielona Gora boys already had decided to stop racing.

[Vicar]

The truth is not so obvious. After heat 8 when the sad news came the referee went to the pits asking riders if they wanna ride. They all wanted so I don't understand the circus in next heats...

[Lioness]

Respect to the two Polish commentators at least they were gentlemen.

 

The Daily Mail website today covers the story with a picture of the crash in their headlines so it cannot be avoided and in the story they also show medics treating Rico on the track. For a paper that in my memory has never mentioned speedway their actions are disgusting.

I did try to post a comment condemning them but surprisingly it has not been published.

 

its not just the mail. the on line version of the supposed 'quality' Guardian has a picture of Lee lying on the track with two medics at his side. I havent had a reply to my mail to them either.

[Daniel Smith]

I think some are being harsh here. There is no right or logical way to react to something like this. Some think they could handle it and carry on. Some couldn't handle it. Some were in a state of confusion and just did what ever came along.

 

Everyone reacts differently to sudden devastation. We should never be critical at people's way of thinking in an instant. Everyone came to a conclusive decision shortly after.

 

We should all be respectful too all involved

[jimmy jimmy]

 

 

its not just the mail. the on line version of the supposed 'quality' Guardian has a picture of Lee lying on the track with two medics at his side. I havent had a reply to my mail to them either.

 

I am afraid it is news, the same happened with Simoncelli last year and the F1 drivers of previous years. Respect never comes into it when selling newspapers.

[2ndbendbeerhut]

I watched the meeting last night and was a strange situation, one which we all hope will not happen again. There had to be an announcement as news would have filtered through from the terraces anyway. There seemed loads of "officals" in the pits and looked like no one would make a decision either way. Looked as though some of the riders didn't want to ride but others just wanted to get on with it and blank it out via racing. There was no right or wrong way react, just a decesion needed to be made for the sake of the riders.

[uk_martin]

Kind of relevant to what is bieng said here, but no point writing it out twice...

Please click on the link's arrow to see the post.

[pawel115]

To those who dont speak polish what happened in the pits after Cegielski and Darzynkiewicz signed of the air was one big embarassment for polish speedway ,fans from other polish speedway cities were absolutelly disgusted by both teams behavior the decision to stop the meeting basically came from the outside becase they recieved so many phone calls from people who were absolutelly disguted that the meeting was to be continued,Because of their behaviour I myself lost total respect for some Gorzow riders.

Edited May 16, 2012 by pawel115

[uk_martin]

A case of "damned if you do and damned if you don't". Also case of "talk is cheap" comes to mind.

 

Supposing that the meeting would have been cancelled after about 7 heats, Would the supporters in the stadium have been entitled to refunds? In which case would the riders that wanted to have the meeting stopped have been happy to not get paid for the day? There was only one pot of money, it could either go towards refunds or it could go to the riders' pay...it can't go both ways. Would the people who were phoning in to complain afterwards have been willing to pay for the refunded admission prices?

 

As for the conduct of the meeting, the translation that I saw on the SG web site says that the PZN does not influence meetings from "outside". Its representitive at the meeting is the referee, (or "judge"! in the words of the translation service lol) and he negotiated the continuation of the meeting with BOTH team managers.

 

It's easy to say that it's all Gorzow's fault, but I'm willing to bet that the last three races being 5-1, 5-1 & 5-0, influenced ZG's wanting to pull out of the meeting too. They were keen for the meeting to be rerun rather than taking Gollobs option of letting the remaining riders in the remaining heats get excluded under the 2-minute rule and have the meeting count towards the league table. No-one's hands came out of all that totally clean.

 

As for the actions of the TVP guys, I can understand their personal feelings, and I have sympathy with that, HOWEVER, there is a PROFESSIONAL angle to this. The whole situation was confused, there were millions of people watching who needed explanations of what was happening, and it was their jobs to make some sense of it for the benefit of the viewing public. They let their personal feelings get in the way of their professional obligations. OK, there was a death, and it's very sad that it happened. But we've seen that before. When MotoGP riders, IndyCar and F1 drivers have been killed in the past, the TV presenters have stuck to their tasks and the viewing public got all the information that was available, and weren't left trying to make sense of a silent video that carried on for a long time afterwards, and I wonder how many opinions were clouded by mis-understanding the pictures that were being seen, that weren't explained by a commentator or presenter.

[racers and royals]

A case of "damned if you do and damned if you don't". Also case of "talk is cheap" comes to mind.

 

Supposing that the meeting would have been cancelled after about 7 heats, Would the supporters in the stadium have been entitled to refunds? In which case would the riders that wanted to have the meeting stopped have been happy to not get paid for the day? There was only one pot of money, it could either go towards refunds or it could go to the riders' pay...it can't go both ways. Would the people who were phoning in to complain afterwards have been willing to pay for the refunded admission prices?

 

As for the conduct of the meeting, the translation that I saw on the SG web site says that the PZN does not influence meetings from "outside". Its representitive at the meeting is the referee, (or "judge"! in the words of the translation service lol) and he negotiated the continuation of the meeting with BOTH team managers.

 

It's easy to say that it's all Gorzow's fault, but I'm willing to bet that the last three races being 5-1, 5-1 & 5-0, influenced ZG's wanting to pull out of the meeting too. They were keen for the meeting to be rerun rather than taking Gollobs option of letting the remaining riders in the remaining heats get excluded under the 2-minute rule and have the meeting count towards the league table. No-one's hands came out of all that totally clean.

 

As for the actions of the TVP guys, I can understand their personal feelings, and I have sympathy with that, HOWEVER, there is a PROFESSIONAL angle to this. The whole situation was confused, there were millions of people watching who needed explanations of what was happening, and it was their jobs to make some sense of it for the benefit of the viewing public. They let their personal feelings get in the way of their professional obligations. OK, there was a death, and it's very sad that it happened. But we've seen that before. When MotoGP riders, IndyCar and F1 drivers have been killed in the past, the TV presenters have stuck to their tasks and the viewing public got all the information that was available, and weren't left trying to make sense of a silent video that carried on for a long time afterwards, and I wonder how many opinions were clouded by mis-understanding the pictures that were being seen, that weren't explained by a commentator or presenter.

Respect your views however the crash was during a polish league match only hours before,so i firmly believe the match should have been halted as soon as the news reached the Gorzow track.