My League Proposal

[Hunty]

Now this maybe fantasy world and some people may love it or hate it. For me however it is a great solution to a problem of a messed up league structure that I dispise! I would love to have one league and surender the EL to room 101.

 

So heres my proposal:

British League North

Belle Vue Aces
Birmingham Brummies
Wolverhampton Wolves
Berwick Bandits
Edinburgh Monarchs
Glasgow Tigers
Newcastle Diamonds
Redcar Bears
Scunthorpe Scorpions
Sheffield Tigers
Workington Comets
Cradley Heathens


British League South

Eastbourne Eagles
Poole Pirates
Lakeside Hammers
Somerset Rebels
Plymouth Devils
Rye House Rockets
Ipswich Witches
King's Lynn Stars
Swindon Robins
Peterborough Panthers
Coventry Bees
Leicester Lions

 

And then North and South divided into four groups of six

North A

Birmingham Brummies
Wolverhampton Wolves
Cradley Heathens
Belle Vue Aces
Sheffield Tigers
Scunthorpe Scorpions

North B

Workington Comets
Berwick Bandits
Edinburgh Monarchs
Glasgow Tigers
Newcastle Diamonds
Redcar Bears

South A

Plymouth Devils
Eastbourne Eagles
Poole Pirates
Lakeside Hammers
Somerset Rebels
Swindon Robins

South B

Peterborough Panthers
Coventry Bees
Leicester Lions
Rye House Rockets
Ipswich Witches
King's Lynn Stars

 

Each group teams race each other home and away twice = 20 matches

 

(More Derbies, more away travel less distance making and saving money,hopefully)

 

Then each group races another group at home = 5 matches

Then each group races another group away = 5 matches

 

Total of 30 league matches. With 15 home and 15 way

Each group will have one group they have not competed against and this will be the team they are drawn against in the cup

 

Thefore Home, Away and Cup Matches will revolve year by year so that the same teams are not racing each other.

 

PLAY OFFS

Top from North A will face second in North B and visa versa

Top from South A will face second in South B and visa versa

Winner of each fixture will go through to try and become North or South Champion!

To finish in a superbowl style finale...North Champion v South Champion

If your team gets to the final they will race 36 fixtures plus how they do in the cup!

 

 

Would make it exciting for me, each mini league having a tussle but part of a single league that is vital for British Speedway!

 

All thoughts are my own, and bet this propsal would never work but it would be pretty awesome to have it in place!

In addtion I know that Eastborne might not take there place next year so maybe need a step up from another club or some leagues bigger than others!

 

Still be fair as each league will still race the same and same amount of teams!

Edited September 19, 2014 by Hunty

[pandorum]

Nice ide but too well thought out mate so will never happen.

 

The BSPA prefer half arced ideas with absolutely no thought whatsoever so they can make up sh#t as they go along and end up with fixture chaos at the end of it.

[Humphrey Appleby]

Each group teams race each other home and away twice = 20 matches

12 teams in a group home and away = 22 matches.

 

Then each group races another group at home = 5 matches

Then each group races another group away = 5 matches

6 teams in a group = 6 matches

 

Total of 30 league matches. With 15 home and 15 way

34 matches

 

What happens if there ends up being an odd number of teams in group for whatever reason?

[customhouseregular]

Now this maybe fantasy world and some people may love it or hate it. For me however it is a great solution to a problem of a messed up league structure that I dispise! I would love to have one league and surender the EL to room 101.

 

So heres my proposal:

British League North

 

Belle Vue Aces

Birmingham Brummies

Wolverhampton Wolves

Berwick Bandits

Edinburgh Monarchs

Glasgow Tigers

Newcastle Diamonds

Redcar Bears

Scunthorpe Scorpions

Sheffield Tigers

Workington Comets

Cradley Heathens

 

 

British League South

 

Eastbourne Eagles

Poole Pirates

Lakeside Hammers

Somerset Rebels

Plymouth Devils

Rye House Rockets

Ipswich Witches

King's Lynn Stars

Swindon Robins

Peterborough Panthers

Coventry Bees

Leicester Lions

 

And then North and South divided into four groups of six

 

North A

 

Birmingham Brummies

Wolverhampton Wolves

Cradley Heathens

Belle Vue Aces

Sheffield Tigers

Scunthorpe Scorpions

 

North B

 

Workington Comets

Berwick Bandits

Edinburgh Monarchs

Glasgow Tigers

Newcastle Diamonds

Redcar Bears

 

South A

 

Plymouth Devils

Eastbourne Eagles

Poole Pirates

Lakeside Hammers

Somerset Rebels

Swindon Robins

 

South B

 

Peterborough Panthers

Coventry Bees

Leicester Lions

Rye House Rockets

Ipswich Witches

King's Lynn Stars

 

Each group teams race each other home and away twice = 20 matches

 

(More Derbies, more away travel less distance making and saving money,hopefully)

 

Then each group races another group at home = 5 matches

Then each group races another group away = 5 matches

 

Total of 30 league matches. With 15 home and 15 way

 

Each group will have one group they have not competed against and this will be the team they are drawn against in the cup

 

Thefore Home, Away and Cup Matches will revolve year by year so that the same teams are not racing each other.

 

PLAY OFFS

 

Top from North A will face second in North B and visa versa

 

Top from South A will face second in South B and visa versa

 

Winner of each fixture will go through to try and become North or South Champion!

 

To finish in a superbowl style finale...North Champion v South Champion

 

If your team gets to the final they will race 36 fixtures plus how they do in the cup!

 

 

Would make it exciting for me, each mini league having a tussle but part of a single league that is vital for British Speedway!

 

All thoughts are my own, and bet this propsal would never work but it would be pretty awesome to have it in place!

In addtion I know that Eastborne might not take there place next year so maybe need a step up from another club or some leagues bigger than others!

 

Still be fair as each league will still race the same and same amount of teams!

In principle this would work...somewhat similar to the old National/Provincial Leagues amalgamation in 1965. But why split North/south in to 2 leagues of 6 and race each other 4 times?. Surely a North/south split with 12 teams each, racing each other once at home/once away and with a revamped Cup competition and mini-derby competitions would work better. The table-topping League and Cup sides from each regional split to meet each other to decide League and Cup champions. Keep it simple and it will work.

[Hunty]

12 teams in a group home and away = 22 matches.

 

 

6 teams in a group = 6 matches

 

 

34 matches

 

What happens if there ends up being an odd number of teams in group for whatever reason?

 

Theres 6 teams in each group...so if they race home and away twice thats 20 matches.. you cannot race yourself!

 

When you race the teams in the other groups i understand that you will have 6 matches in each group so you would get two more fixtures...in a way not a bad thing and you would end up with 32 matches! (My mistake)

 

And if theres an odd number one league has less teams in it...they race less races in the league! The league will still have a fiar result as they all race the same teams the same amount of races! Each year they swap which league they race around so it end up being fair!

In principle this would work...somewhat similar to the old National/Provincial Leagues amalgamation in 1965. But why split North/south in to 2 leagues of 6 and race each other 4 times?. Surely a North/south split with 12 teams each, racing each other once at home/once away and with a revamped Cup competition and mini-derby competitions would work better. The table-topping League and Cup sides from each regional split to meet each other to decide League and Cup champions. Keep it simple and it will work.

 

Good ideas...I was just running with the fact that if you have two leagues of 12 then there ends up being 24 meetings and no real way of racing the other league.

 

The reson why its groups of 6, means that you can have more derby matches and fans dont have to travel as far for away matches and also teams could save some money in doing so. I know Ive split the Midlands clubs up but there is no other way of doing it. The leagues dont have to be the same each year remember they can change a couple of teams around to freshen it up!

Edited September 19, 2014 by Hunty

[deanr1]

Some nice ideas there mate, I'm not a fan of the north / south split though personally, I want to see more different teams and riders rather than less. One big league could work nowadays.

 

Hopefully something better will be sorted out for next season as the EL has become a farce, I get fed up with all the guests and seeing Rory Schlein riding against us every week for a different team. It has now become about who can book the track specialist guests as Poole did on Monday with Dak North & Richard Lawson, whenever a team is visiting Eastbourne and they are missing a rider they book Bridger etc.

 

I just want to see my 7 riders every week, I wasn't even interested when we beat Kings Lynn the other week as it was just a team of guests and RR, to me it wasn't the Bees, so much so that I didn't bother going.

[customhouseregular]

If there are 12 teams in each section racing 22 league matches a season, plus cup and local-derby mini-leagues, there would still be enough diary dates for an inter-region competition if desired, or feasible. Maybe an alternative to the top team in each section meeting home and away to decide the league championship would be the top 3 in each section forming a mini-league of 6 to battle for the title. Ok...if Edinburgh ended up in a mini-league with Somerset it would be a financial headache, but let's face it...the current structure needs an overhaul.

Some nice ideas there mate, I'm not a fan of the north / south split though personally, I want to see more different teams and riders rather than less. One big league could work nowadays.

 

Hopefully something better will be sorted out for next season as the EL has become a farce, I get fed up with all the guests and seeing Rory Schlein riding against us every week for a different team. It has now become about who can book the track specialist guests as Poole did on Monday with Dak North & Richard Lawson, whenever a team is visiting Eastbourne and they are missing a rider they book Bridger etc.

 

I just want to see my 7 riders every week, I wasn't even interested when we beat Kings Lynn the other week as it was just a team of guests and RR, to me it wasn't the Bees, so much so that I didn't bother going.

I forget how many teams the inaugral British League had back in 1965 but I know it worked fine.

[StevePark]

Someone thought up something similar a few years back. Home and away twice in the Groups and then home and away once against the teams in the opposite group. Top 2 from each group (A1 v B2, A2 v B1) in a semi final, with the winners meeting in the final to determine the League Champions.

[ch958]

20/22 team league - 19/21 league matches at home - 6 months worth of fixtures - whats the problem with just keeping it simple

[Hunty]

20/22 team league - 19/21 league matches at home - 6 months worth of fixtures - whats the problem with just keeping it simple

 

Cause that would be 40 matches in the league...Premier League has 28 league matches, Elite League is 32!

 

We struggle to fit all those matches in within a season now so adding 8 more will be extremely difficult. I was trying to keep the matches to around 32 league fixtures!

Edited September 19, 2014 by Hunty

[ch958]

 

Cause that would be 40 matches in the league...Premier League has 28 league matches, Elite League is 32!

 

We struggle to fit all those matches in within a season now so adding 8 more will be extremely difficult. I was trying to keep the matches to around 32 league fixtures!

 

yes 40 matches but half of them are away!!!

 

we currently struggle to fit matches in because of lack of organisation

 

well if not a 20 or 22 league then 18 and a stronger NL

 

either way a simple format is what i'm championing rather than complicated formats

[Hunty]

 

yes 40 matches but half of them are away!!!

 

we currently struggle to fit matches in because of lack of organisation

 

well if not a 20 or 22 league then 18 and a stronger NL

 

either way a simple format is what i'm championing rather than complicated formats

 

Fully agree...That is something worth exploring for sure.

 

How would the play offs work though? Top 8...Top 4! Im a lover of the Play-Offs and make the season longer for teams who may not have something to play towards the end.

[Humphrey Appleby]

Theres 6 teams in each group...so if they race home and away twice thats 20 matches.. you cannot race yourself!

Okay. Came over that teams would race home and away in their regional league first.

 

Why then split the leagues into north and south and limit who can be in the Final? All the best teams might be in one region

 

Just keep the regionalised groups, but base the 'playoffs' on seeding so the best teams can reach the Final.

 

Would also be better to only ride teams twice rather than four times to avoid repetition. So home and away in own group (10 matches), home and away against nearest geographical group (12 matches) and then home or away against the other two groups (12 matches).

 

Basic problem though, is the format becomes too complicated as and when there's an uneven number of teams in each group. There's also a vast difference in economics between some of the teams, which is really why at least a two-tier structure is needed.

[Tsunami]

Someone thought up something similar a few years back. Home and away twice in the Groups and then home and away once against the teams in the opposite group. Top 2 from each group (A1 v B2, A2 v B1) in a semi final, with the winners meeting in the final to determine the League Champions.

I think it was Newcastle (DI)

Now this maybe fantasy world and some people may love it or hate it. For me however it is a great solution to a problem of a messed up league structure that I dispise! I would love to have one league and surender the EL to room 101.

 

So heres my proposal:

British League North

 

Belle Vue Aces

Birmingham Brummies

Wolverhampton Wolves

Berwick Bandits

Edinburgh Monarchs

Glasgow Tigers

Newcastle Diamonds

Redcar Bears

Scunthorpe Scorpions

Sheffield Tigers

Workington Comets

Cradley Heathens

 

 

British League South

 

Eastbourne Eagles

Poole Pirates

Lakeside Hammers

Somerset Rebels

Plymouth Devils

Rye House Rockets

Ipswich Witches

King's Lynn Stars

Swindon Robins

Peterborough Panthers

Coventry Bees

Leicester Lions

 

And then North and South divided into four groups of six

 

North A

 

Birmingham Brummies

Wolverhampton Wolves

Cradley Heathens

Belle Vue Aces

Sheffield Tigers

Scunthorpe Scorpions

 

North B

 

Workington Comets

Berwick Bandits

Edinburgh Monarchs

Glasgow Tigers

Newcastle Diamonds

Redcar Bears

 

South A

 

Plymouth Devils

Eastbourne Eagles

Poole Pirates

Lakeside Hammers

Somerset Rebels

Swindon Robins

 

South B

 

Peterborough Panthers

Coventry Bees

Leicester Lions

Rye House Rockets

Ipswich Witches

King's Lynn Stars

 

Each group teams race each other home and away twice = 20 matches

 

(More Derbies, more away travel less distance making and saving money,hopefully)

 

Then each group races another group at home = 5 matches

Then each group races another group away = 5 matches

 

Total of 30 league matches. With 15 home and 15 way

 

Each group will have one group they have not competed against and this will be the team they are drawn against in the cup

 

Thefore Home, Away and Cup Matches will revolve year by year so that the same teams are not racing each other.

 

PLAY OFFS

 

Top from North A will face second in North B and visa versa

 

Top from South A will face second in South B and visa versa

 

Winner of each fixture will go through to try and become North or South Champion!

 

To finish in a superbowl style finale...North Champion v South Champion

 

If your team gets to the final they will race 36 fixtures plus how they do in the cup!

 

 

Would make it exciting for me, each mini league having a tussle but part of a single league that is vital for British Speedway!

 

All thoughts are my own, and bet this propsal would never work but it would be pretty awesome to have it in place!

In addtion I know that Eastborne might not take there place next year so maybe need a step up from another club or some leagues bigger than others!

 

Still be fair as each league will still race the same and same amount of teams!

But in the likely event of postponed meetings or rearranged meetings the mini leagues would overlap, so if fans and teams made plans for say the second league, their meetings could be scrapped to complete the first league.

[Daniel Smith]

Here's a radical idea that just popped in my head.

 

I think we should run with a North / South Premier League like mentioned in the original post, racing any day of the week except a Monday. No GP / SEC riders etc.

 

On the Monday night have an Elite 4's tournament. Depending on the number of teams interested it could be 8 teams split between North / South or 16 teams split North / South / East / West. Either way it's groups of 4 teams, 4 riders at 4 tracks (example; Kings Lynn, Ipswich, Peterborough, Rye House)

2v2

GP / SEC etc riders included (max of 2 per team + any of your top 4 from Premier League team)

13 heat format

Standard heat race points (3-2-1-0)

Heat 13 is the top riders from each team (Individual Final)

Meeting points per team, 1st (4pts) 2nd (3pts) 3rd (2pts) 4th (0pts)

North / South, top 2 qualify for final

North / South / East / West, top qualify for final

A maximum of 8 Monday fixtures per team (2 at home)

 

Something along those lines would create interest and could generate an interest in fans travelling away (3 sets of away support rather than 1)

[25yearfan]

Sorry but too complicated which has been a problem of the rules and regs of British speedway for a long while now!

 

I'd say a large % of people who go to speedway don't know and don't give diddy squat to the ruoes and regs and just go cause they want a night out at speedway!

 

My proposal -

 

10 team Elite League.

 

Ride each other once at home and once away.

 

Plays off top 4.

 

3rd V 4th one of meeting.

 

Winner of the above meeting to ride away at the 2nd placed side.

 

Grand final - home and away V 1st placed team with the 1st placed team at home last.

 

Amend the tactical ride rule. Teams can use the tactical rule ride for double points when 6 or more points down if the chosen rider is 15 yards back and its after heat 4. The rider used can be using his own ride or taking the ride of another rider. This can be used twice in a meeting between heats 5 and 15.

 

Another tactical ride can be used when a teams 10 or more points down when a chosen rider of the line can replace another rider.

 

Reserve tatcticals stay the same.

 

Elite League cup to be ridden over two legs. If a tie is level after the 2nd leg then then sudden death applies. This is two riders from each team against each other. Whoever gets a heat advantage wins the tie. If the heats are still all square after 3 races then a sudden death run off between one chosen rider from each team will take place to determine the winner of the tie!

 

Two 5 match test matches can arranged on Elite League tracks between Great Britain and two other Countries on Elite League tracks. This would give Elite tracks one more meeting each cause each EL track would have one test match.

 

Two Polish, Danish, Swedish teams can be brought over at the start of the season to ride challenge matches at all EL tracks to give the track another meeting. Look how popular the King's Lynn V the Polish team was at the start of the season, I believe King's Lynns biggest crowd for a King's Lynn match!

 

I'll get onto the PL and NL later!

[customhouseregular]

At the rate British speedway is declining there will be little choice what you watch and where you watch it. The whole structue needs shaking up but one rule needs to be followed, which is the rule I always followed in business...KISS. For those not familiar with the acronym...Keep it simple, stupid.

p.s. I'm not calling anyone here stupid.

[stratton]

Sorry but too complicated which has been a problem of the rules and regs of British speedway for a long while now!

 

I'd say a large % of people who go to speedway don't know and don't give diddy squat to the ruoes and regs and just go cause they want a night out at speedway!

 

My proposal -

 

10 team Elite League.

 

Ride each other once at home and once away.

 

Plays off top 4.

 

3rd V 4th one of meeting.

 

Winner of the above meeting to ride away at the 2nd placed side.

 

Grand final - home and away V 1st placed team with the 1st placed team at home last.

 

Amend the tactical ride rule. Teams can use the tactical rule ride for double points when 6 or more points down if the chosen rider is 15 yards back and its after heat 4. The rider used can be using his own ride or taking the ride of another rider. This can be used twice in a meeting between heats 5 and 15.

 

Another tactical ride can be used when a teams 10 or more points down when a chosen rider of the line can replace another rider.

 

Reserve tatcticals stay the same.

 

Elite League cup to be ridden over two legs. If a tie is level after the 2nd leg then then sudden death applies. This is two riders from each team against each other. Whoever gets a heat advantage wins the tie. If the heats are still all square after 3 races then a sudden death run off between one chosen rider from each team will take place to determine the winner of the tie!

 

Two 5 match test matches can arranged on Elite League tracks between Great Britain and two other Countries on Elite League tracks. This would give Elite tracks one more meeting each cause each EL track would have one test match.

 

Two Polish, Danish, Swedish teams can be brought over at the start of the season to ride challenge matches at all EL tracks to give the track another meeting. Look how popular the King's Lynn V the Polish team was at the start of the season, I believe King's Lynns biggest crowd for a King's Lynn match!

 

I'll get onto the PL and NL later!

Great post,having regular foreign visitors like we had in the past would be great.

[barncooseboy]

The premier teams in the combined north or south leagu cannot afford to pay the current EL stars the £150 or so a point they would expect with gates at some matches at some current PL tracks as low as 350 they are losing £1500 to £2000 per week now, None of tthe current PL teams would make it past mid season before they went bust.

 

In order for speedway to recover the plan has to be financially viable based on current crowd levels

[Glenn]

If a promotion paid £75 a point they would need £6750 plus for points money

A crowd of 600 paying £15 entrance would achieve £9k before expenses and programme sales.

 

Paying riders 'premier league football' wages when crowds are 'non league' size is unsustainable.