weatherwatcher Posted September 2, 2014 Report Share Posted September 2, 2014 This week alone has seen 2 riders from Eorope, who have failed to ride for thier British Elite League team being given the old heave ho by thier team. Not sure how many have done the same thing this season alone. I may be wrong but I think it started with the 2 riders at my team Leicester that just never came back and stated that they where not riding over here any longer. There have been quite a few cases like this I think. It is time that the rules where altered and the riders that have signed for a team stay until the season is over, unless of course they have turned out to be utter useless. Not only is it bad for the sport, it is also bad for the promoters who have to find replacement riders to cover a meeting and also long term for the team at very short notice. If this carries on, then I think the argument of not having overseas riders is slowly coming to a head. The only ones who seem to stay the cause of the season are the Aussie lads. So think they could well be kept in the offering but we would then be looking to keep the rest of the team an all British affair. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The White Knight Posted September 2, 2014 Report Share Posted September 2, 2014 Fair point - it may mean the dilution of British Speedway for a year or two - but - as British lads come through and develop we just might, eventually, be able to field a Great Britain Team in the World Cup that is worthy of the name. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherwatcher Posted September 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2014 Yes it has been far to long, since we could hold our heads up high. We just have not done enough for our own young riders, these last 10 to 15 years. Being content to bring in second rate riders at reserve. And riders in the main teams, that couldn't even bother if they won or not as long as they got a pay day and all expenses paid. While our own young riders just had to sit back and suffer and could do very little about it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCB Posted September 2, 2014 Report Share Posted September 2, 2014 2? MJJ, Pawlicki and Bech is 3. Â Also, if you don't want rider to be able to quit then you can't sack riders either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R87 Posted September 2, 2014 Report Share Posted September 2, 2014 Problem is that, despite the promoters grumbling about riders not turning up, but these same riders get picked by other gullible clubs the next season. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyhoundp Posted September 2, 2014 Report Share Posted September 2, 2014 Simply dont sign these riders from Europe, if we are only 3rd choice for them then dont use them. There must be enough riders to go around without putting the begging bowls out to riders who use and basically abuse the system, 6 Man Teams to begin. I havent counted but probably 2 x 14 Team Leagues and Play Offs at the end between the 2 Leagues. Â Also it needs Teams running a better balance of fixtures None of this riding 1/3 of the fixtures by end of July then 2/3rds of fixtures within the last month, utter rubbish planning but we have put up with it year in, year out, make a stand if the fixtures are NOT balanced out over a season, then dont buy a season Ticket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ch958 Posted September 3, 2014 Report Share Posted September 3, 2014 Simply dont sign these riders from Europe, if we are only 3rd choice for them then dont use them. There must be enough riders to go around without putting the begging bowls out to riders who use and basically abuse the system, 6 Man Teams to begin. I havent counted but probably 2 x 14 Team Leagues and Play Offs at the end between the 2 Leagues. Â Â Â there are enough riders to go round but as TWK said above it would mean the temporary dilution of standards which frankly is fine by me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff Posted September 3, 2014 Report Share Posted September 3, 2014 Fair point - it may mean the dilution of British Speedway for a year or two - but - as British lads come through and develop we just might, eventually, be able to field a Great Britain Team in the World Cup that is worthy of the name. Â But are there sufficient numbers of British lads to come through? Â When I started going to speedway in the late sixties, League 2 riders were plentiful. They included semi-veterans dropping down/coming out of retirement, grass track riders transferring across, many youngsters and even a policeman (John Hibben) having a go. I have read about the Collins brothers & Chris Morton developing their skills on farms, wasteland etc. But with the demise of grasstrack and much wider range of hobbies now on offer I wonder just why and how a 16 year old in 2014 is going to give it a go unless their speedway knowledgeable father or uncle etc sets them up. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevePark Posted September 3, 2014 Report Share Posted September 3, 2014 Simply dont sign these riders from Europe, if we are only 3rd choice for them then dont use them. There must be enough riders to go around without putting the begging bowls out to riders who use and basically abuse the system, 6 Man Teams to begin. I havent counted but probably 2 x 14 Team Leagues and Play Offs at the end between the 2 Leagues. Â Also it needs Teams running a better balance of fixtures None of this riding 1/3 of the fixtures by end of July then 2/3rds of fixtures within the last month, utter rubbish planning but we have put up with it year in, year out, make a stand if the fixtures are NOT balanced out over a season, then dont buy a season Ticket. Â Is there? Is that why the EL teams have 2 NL riders riding for them (don't be kidded by the so called "Fast Track System") and PL riders Doubling up, down and sideways? Â On your last point (fixtures), the rain/weather soon botches all hope of better balanced fixtures, which is why you have teams (in the PL at least), riding 2 or 3 home matches in a week and double-headers 2 or 3 weeks running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCB Posted September 3, 2014 Report Share Posted September 3, 2014 Â Is there? Is that why the EL teams have 2 NL riders riding for them (don't be kidded by the so called "Fast Track System") and PL riders Doubling up, down and sideways? Â On your last point (fixtures), the rain/weather soon botches all hope of better balanced fixtures, which is why you have teams (in the PL at least), riding 2 or 3 home matches in a week and double-headers 2 or 3 weeks running. Simple answer. Meeting rained off, you have 28 day to run it. If you don't the BSPA award the points - probably to the away team Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevePark Posted September 3, 2014 Report Share Posted September 3, 2014 Simple answer. Meeting rained off, you have 28 day to run it. If you don't the BSPA award the points - probably to the away team  That would still botch the fixtures up though, as all you'd be doing is moving another fixture to later in the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ch958 Posted September 3, 2014 Report Share Posted September 3, 2014  Is there? Is that why the EL teams have 2 NL riders riding for them (don't be kidded by the so called "Fast Track System") and PL riders Doubling up, down and sideways?  On your last point (fixtures), the rain/weather soon botches all hope of better balanced fixtures, which is why you have teams (in the PL at least), riding 2 or 3 home matches in a week and double-headers 2 or 3 weeks running.   Steve i almost hesitate to reply fearing scorn from all sides but i actually do believe there are enough riders. If you list the number of young men who have drifted away from the sport over the last few years due to lack of opportunity at league level it would come to a fair few. Also if you replaced DU PL riders with riders in NL who should be PL (there are plenty of them who have been there for 2/3 years or more) you could staff teams, albiet with a dilution in strength initially  having said that the fast track should be via PL not direct to EL and the likes of Lawson, Cook, etc should be EL exclusively Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCB Posted September 3, 2014 Report Share Posted September 3, 2014 Â That would still botch the fixtures up though, as all you'd be doing is moving another fixture to later in the season. That obviously wouldn't be allowed. Once a fixture is agreed, only called off for rain or absolute necessity and they are investigated if need be. any meeting improperly called off results in 0 points for the home team and the BSPA determining if the away team should have points. Â Have these rules in place and you'll soon see fixture completed and less dodgy call offs as clubs wont want to risk investigations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevePark Posted September 3, 2014 Report Share Posted September 3, 2014 That obviously wouldn't be allowed. Once a fixture is agreed, only called off for rain or absolute necessity and they are investigated if need be. any meeting improperly called off results in 0 points for the home team and the BSPA determining if the away team should have points. Â Have these rules in place and you'll soon see fixture completed and less dodgy call offs as clubs wont want to risk investigations. Â I see what your getting at. A bit like Cricket. One problem I can think of is - what happens to all those who have season tickets and lose matches because the clubs can't/won't find an alternative/suitable date? Â As far as points awarded go, the home team could offer the away team dates, but the away could be unwilling to fulfill the fixture (for whatever reason), then, under your system, I think the home team should get some (or at least one) point(s), as they have made an effort to re-arrange the fixture. After all, it's no ones fault if it rains! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherwatcher Posted September 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2014 Quite a simple one that if the away team fail to agree to a date within the 28 day period then the home team get the points. No problem. I am sure that within the 28 day period that the 2 teams can surely manage to find a free day in that time to re stage the meeting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barncooseboy Posted September 5, 2014 Report Share Posted September 5, 2014 A factor not mentioned is that these days riders in both 'Professional leagues expect that their racing wull provide them with enough money that they dont need to have a job outside speedway. In the 60s and 70s most riders had jobs that put the food on the table and earnings from racing was a nice extra bonus . Now even NL riders seem to expect to take home enough race winnings to live on, until we return to the mindset of earlier times the cost of running a team will continue to rise until such time as the only teams left are those with rich benefactors.' Â Riders flying in from Europe have addeed costs that they expect to have paid for them, how many UK workers have employers that pay their travel to work expenses, precious few I suspect, its a case of this is where you work it is up to you to get here to do your job. Â The Aussies are here on visa/work permits and therefore are in the main based in the UK if the powers that be dont get their thumbs out of their fundamental orifices and reply to the Visa and Immigration service request made in March 2014 forget any Aussies/Yanks/nonEU ridersbeing in British speedway in 2015 unless they already have multi year permits. Picking up on another thread THAT is why Alex Harkess should resign and why the entire office staff should be replaced. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moxey63 Posted September 6, 2014 Report Share Posted September 6, 2014 Cheeky blighters... riders wanting an income from speedway! That's where we are going wrong. They want an income from speedway, but turn up noses at Elite League, when it suits, saying they have too much on. Â The sport would be a whole lot better, attract men who actually wish to race for the love of it, if the flitters were cut right back and they were allowed to concentrate on what they most care about - themselves. Â If Sweden and Poland suddenly cut back on employing overseas men, the same men that constantly turn up their noses at the mere whiff of British racing, a country that helped make many of them, they would come creeping back, tail between the legs. Â Time for Britain to grab things by the scruff of the neck, and begin to get radical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherwatcher Posted September 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2014 The big difference between speedway now and speedway in the 50's, 60's and early 70's was that riders then saw speedway as a cheap hobby and they partacted in a sport they loved. Any money the earned from the sport was a bonus to them a bit like the Grasstrack riders do nowadays. Speedway as become a money earner for the top riders and to expect clubs over here to fork out for thier air fairs is just no on. If they want to ride over here they pay thier wack and get the same money as the rest of the riders. None of these silly fortunes they expect the promoters to pay for the privalage of having them ride for thier team. It is only the few well off clubs that can even think of paying wages out top 3 or 4 of these riders per team. Lets get back to how the sport used to be then just maybe less teams will be strugling to stay afloat. If they had to have a North South split and just use British, Australian and American riders, then so be it. Even if it did dilute the sport for a couple of years. After that time I am sure we would then see a far better standard of young British riders coming along. Because now they are not even getting a chance other than in the FTR scheme or riding in the PL and then getting no further. Very few young British lads are getting a place in the EL, so unless things change the Team GB, will soon be running very short of riders that could compete at major level speedway. There are some very good young riders out there now, if they where used in the main places of the EL team they could come along much faster, but what is it that is stopping the promoters from bringing them in to the teams. Not sure if I know the anser to that one. Other than the fact that a few teams are there only to win the league at the end of the season and then win the play offs, never mind the cost. So until there is a level playing field and all the teams follow suit, with no breaking the rules, then things are not likely to change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted September 6, 2014 Report Share Posted September 6, 2014 (edited) Chris Holder i think it was who a couple of years ago was quoted as saying he earned TEN times the money in Poland that he did over here and I think FOUR times the money in Sweden... Â Now being an aussie and based over here, you could never accuse him (or any of the aussies) of not supporting british speedway. however if the same deals apply across the rest of the riders (or even if it is just say FIVE/TWO times the difference respectively) you cannot be surprised if 'overseas' riders protect their number one income, it is perfectly natural that they would do it.. Â Therefore keep employing these people, keep having a laughing stock of a competition.... Â Big radical decisions are needed.... Â But, does anybody on here really believe those who 'run' the sport have the vision, capability, innovation and inspiration needed to make them? Edited September 6, 2014 by mikebv 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barncooseboy Posted September 6, 2014 Report Share Posted September 6, 2014 surprised nobody has commented on the visa situation if the bspa dont do something soon there wont be any non-eu riders in 2015 apart from those who already have multi year visas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.