Pascal Swart - Available For Nl Team Place

[Main Man]

don't think I had better comment as i have acted as USA tour manager since 2005 , was TM for Young Australiasia in a test series a few years back , helped countless Aussies and Kiwis over the years , plus introduced riders from Finland , Czecho, Denmark, Sweden etc to British Speedway plus helped for many years with British Under 15's / 16's set-up plus supported , encouraged and helped countless young British riders and stood in the cold and wet running winter training schools !!

[Tsunami]

don't think I had better comment as i have acted as USA tour manager since 2005 , was TM for Young Australiasia in a test series a few years back , helped countless Aussies and Kiwis over the years , plus introduced riders from Finland , Czecho, Denmark, Sweden etc to British Speedway plus helped for many years with British Under 15's / 16's set-up plus supported , encouraged and helped countless young British riders and stood in the cold and wet running winter training schools !!

 

Shocking that Main Man. Helping others in speedway to get started, you should be ashamed of yourself. :D

Pity there is not more like Main Man, Richard at Scunny, Craig at Northside, etc, and less old grumblies, and do nowts, like olderse.

[oldace]

don't think I had better comment as i have acted as USA tour manager since 2005 , was TM for Young Australiasia in a test series a few years back , helped countless Aussies and Kiwis over the years , plus introduced riders from Finland , Czecho, Denmark, Sweden etc to British Speedway plus helped for many years with British Under 15's / 16's set-up plus supported , encouraged and helped countless young British riders and stood in the cold and wet running winter training schools !!

 

Indeed you have, and any of those Nationalities will have been shop fronted by yourself and maybe gained a ride in the UK on the strength of it, and no doubt under the flag of the country they are from. No problem with that at all.

 

Thats different from helping what is in reality a going nowhere "Dutchman" (who will not offer anything to this country) beat the system to gain a ride as a Brit.

 

You obviously dont agree but it doesn;t strike me as something Kevin should be encouraging

[John Leslie]

If the lad has a British parent I don't see any problem at all in him seeking out a NL team place. It's only the same as the likes of Nick Morris etc, who quite rightly were able to ride NL.

In fact a half-Dutch/half English rider could be considered a better option than a half-Aussie/half English rider, because if he became any good (admittedly unlikely) then he would more likely choose to ride for Britain than the practically non-existent Dutch World Cup squad.

 

What I would totally object to though is a Dutchman coming over on a 2-week adventure holiday and riding in our AJL, MDL or the Northern youth thing.

 

The junior youth development leagues should be for British riders only.

 

It would be absolutely disgraceful if some foreign-based half-British rider came over here for a two week holiday, and a young local Brit was booted out of his Youth league place to allow the foreigner to play at speedway during his 2 week holiday before disappearing back to his foreign home.

 

After the 2 week holiday is over and the foreigner was back home, some British kid would be expected to fill the place. A british kid who should have had the team spot in the first place.

[Main Man]

Indeed you have, and any of those Nationalities will have been shop fronted by yourself and maybe gained a ride in the UK on the strength of it, and no doubt under the flag of the country they are from. No problem with that at all.

 

Thats different from helping what is in reality a going nowhere "Dutchman" (who will not offer anything to this country) beat the system to gain a ride as a Brit.

 

You obviously dont agree but it doesn;t strike me as something Kevin should be encouraging

 

Whatever you think the rights and wrongs are all Kelvin has done has highlighted a potential rider for any track interested ....he has not sorted him out a team spot or promised him one. Last year I helped Damien Koppe, Brady Kurtz and Harley Horwood get rides in the UK and two of those now have PL places --I didn't sort those out for them or suggest them but gave them the opportunities to put themselves in the shop window for promoters.

I will not name names but there are young riders out there from a variety of countries who have UK parents or were actually born here or have patriality ......if they want to ride in the UK should they be prevented from doing so?

I know there are a lot of British riders who are chasing team spots and at the moment do not have one but at the end of the day a promoter will look at and sign riders he or she believes will do a job for their respective clubs.

[neil3065]

I'm not sure whether promoters and other officials have as much of a problem with these patriality riders coming through the NL as some fans do.

 

However, the problem seems to me to be that, despite the regional junior leagues that have now been created, the training structure still isnt at a level where its possible to produce a greater number of young British riders to a better standard of ability than is currently the case.

 

Certain clubs and officials are clearly committed to the discovering and training of young British riders, but the fact that this commitment is not consistent across our clubs and officials limits what can be done.

 

With no disrespects to young British riders trying to make their way in Speedway - there are some very talented British lads in the NL - in a lot of cases the patriality riders are of a better and more advanced standard when they start riding in the NL, both in terms of on-track ability and off-track set-up and attitude. This is presumably because more time and effort has been put into their development than is the case, barring a few notable exceptions, amongst British clubs.

 

If British Speedway genuinely is committed to finding and developing more British riders to a higher standard of ability, then it needs to do a lot more in terms of its training structure. It needs to match the efforts of those who have demonstrated genuine commitment and build on them. It needs to stop paying lip service to the issue, as is currently done in a lot of cases, it seems. Otherwise, people will keep coming back to these very same discussions about patriality riders and a limited number of British lads progressing in the sport.

Edited January 1, 2013 by neil3065

[Jonny the spud]

As I said in an earlier post. He's eligible , if he's good enough he may get an offer. If he's not good enough he won't. That's it.

[Main Man]

Shocking that Main Man. Helping others in speedway to get started, you should be ashamed of yourself. :D

Pity there is not more like Main Man, Richard at Scunny, Craig at Northside, etc, and less old grumblies, and do nowts, like olderse.

 

you missed someone off that list Tsunami --- you and your band of helpers at Newcastle with your training scheme on Sundays before the Diamonds meetings !!

[Tsunami]

you missed someone off that list Tsunami --- you and your band of helpers at Newcastle with your training scheme on Sundays before the Diamonds meetings !!

 

But that's my pleasure, and I have great team of Dad's and mechanics to help me.