The Pzms New Two Team Rule.

[A ORLOV]

The riders are self employed and sign a contract to ride for a club. If the club wants to put a restriction in its contract it is up to the rider to accept or not accept it. I doubt It is illegal to put that clause in the contract but they may need to pay a hell of a lot for a riders exclusivity.

Edited September 30, 2016 by A ORLOV

[Daniel Smith]

"It's illegal" and "it's arrogant"

 

Pretty much every contract of employment I've had has an "exclusivity" term in there saying I can't work for anyone else without permission and certainly not a competitor. Why are speedway riders different?

 

My current contract states,

 

"It's illegal" and "it's arrogant"

 

Pretty much every contract of employment I've had has an "exclusivity" term in there saying I can't work for anyone else without permission and certainly not a competitor. Why are speedway riders different?

 

My current contract states,

 

You are absolutely correct that those clauses can be given to any employee.

It doesn't matter whether you're self employed or not.

It's perfectly within EU employment law for an employer to offer exclusivity rights.

Just to put one thing right, Pro Footballers ARE self employed signed to exclusivity contracts that have a start and end date.

Footballers pay managers / agents fees to negotiate contracts, sponsorship and image rights etc.

Speedway riders are in a no different position and maybe Poland are looking to becoming more of a professionally run business, set weekly wages and squad training sessions.

 

If any country could run Speedway on the Football model it would be Poland.

In terms of team Speedway it's every riders ambition to get a spot in the Ekstraliga, no different to Footballers looking to the Premier League or La Liga

[HenryW]

Footballers are not self employed like speedway riders.

As others have said, that's irrelevant. If an employer wants to put an exclusivity clause into their contract it's perfectly legal. As long as they are covering minimum pay laws in their country they surely don't have any issue with EU employment law.

[Steve Shovlar]

As others have said, that's irrelevant. If an employer wants to put an exclusivity clause into their contract it's perfectly legal. As long as they are covering minimum pay laws in their country they surely don't have any issue with EU employment law.

A rider can demand double his usual wages to cover for loss of earnings elsewhere. If the employer isn't prepared to cover the shortfall what then?

 

Either back down and allow rider to ride where he wants, or lose services of said rider. Top polish clubs dont want to lose their star riders. Doyle has already signed contracts in Sweden and UK, so what then? Not honor a contract in the uk when he lives here?

 

If the pzm dont back down it will cause carnage here, Denmark and other smaller leagues.

 

And what happens if they come after a rising British rider? Do we lose them out of our league if they also ride in Sweden?

[1 valve]

A rider can demand double his usual wages to cover for loss of earnings elsewhere. If the employer isn't prepared to cover the shortfall what then?

 

Either back down and allow rider to ride where he wants, or lose services of said rider. Top polish clubs dont want to lose their star riders. Doyle has already signed contracts in Sweden and UK, so what then? Not honor a contract in the uk when he lives here?

 

If the pzm dont back down it will cause carnage here, Denmark and other smaller leagues.

 

And what happens if they come after a rising British rider? Do we lose them out of our league if they also ride in Sweden?

By the way. There is no reason why a British club could not insert into a riders contract the restrictive clause being proposed by Poland. Other than, that is, the club could most probably not afford suitable compensation for such a restriction whereas the Poles can.

We need to consider that for the top riders Poland pay way above anything in the UK - so maybe the Polish club will not have to pay anything above the current rate because if the rider chooses not to accept the clause then he will be left with a substantial hole in his total earnings which could not be replaced by riding two or three leagues.

All credit to Polish speedway (though I don't like it) for creating a position where the league is bigger than the rider and where the dog definitely wags the tail.

Edited September 30, 2016 by 1 valve

[HenryW]

A rider can demand double his usual wages to cover for loss of earnings elsewhere. If the employer isn't prepared to cover the shortfall what then?

 

Either back down and allow rider to ride where he wants, or lose services of said rider. Top polish clubs dont want to lose their star riders. Doyle has already signed contracts in Sweden and UK, so what then? Not honor a contract in the uk when he lives here?

 

If the pzm dont back down it will cause carnage here, Denmark and other smaller leagues.

 

And what happens if they come after a rising British rider? Do we lose them out of our league if they also ride in Sweden?

Absolutely, I agree with everything you say. I was just covering the legality of it.

 

If they decided to go forward with this it'll be interesting how it plays out. The Polish league is currently the top payer so would riders prefer to stick with the other leagues or take the money from Poland?

[Dandelion]

 

Niels-Kristian Iversen.

Oh I see, that's a weird name for him then lol

[moomin man 76]

The problem with demanding exclusivity contracts is the additional financial obligations that will inevitably come from demanding such a clause in a contract.

PZM/Ekstraliga may wish to tie riders down to riding in their league and one other, but it will come to a price. Unfortunately, this is the major flaw in the system, as there are already enough instances of riders complaining of Polish League sides not meeting the financial terms of the contracts they have negotiated, before any additional exclusivity clauses are considered.

[superguest]

A rider can demand double his usual wages to cover for loss of earnings elsewhere. If the employer isn't prepared to cover the shortfall what then?

 

Either back down and allow rider to ride where he wants, or lose services of said rider. Top polish clubs dont want to lose their star riders. Doyle has already signed contracts in Sweden and UK, so what then? Not honor a contract in the uk when he lives here?

 

If the pzm dont back down it will cause carnage here, Denmark and other smaller leagues.

 

And what happens if they come after a rising British rider? Do we lose them out of our league if they also ride in Sweden?

 

Maybe the rider will ride for less money if he is not able to commit to the contact in full or his contract (money) will not be met by his employer come the end of the season.

 

Possibily this ruling is to ensure riders aren't able to demand huge signing on fees? However, individual teams will want the best riders so will do whatever it takes to ensure they sign the best regardless - so the riders are still going to be in the driving seat IMO

Edited September 30, 2016 by superguest

[Jacques]

Emil Sayfutdinov has said he won't be riding in Sweden next year........Hmmmmm!

Edited September 30, 2016 by Jacques

[Steve Shovlar]

Emil Sayfutdinov has said he won't be riding in Sweden next year........Hmmmmm!

The chance of him turning up for Coventry is.................zero.

[ouch]

Maybe the UK should charge a notional training fee that only needs paying when riders turn their backs on us.

If not the poles could take on these raw young lads and put them through their version of MDL - NL - PL - EL

[Jacques]

The chance of him turning up for Coventry is.................zero.

 

Eh, what has Coventry got to do with it?

[SCB]

Maybe the UK should charge a notional training fee that only needs paying when riders turn their backs on us.

If not the poles could take on these raw young lads and put them through their version of MDL - NL - PL - EL

How many riders use the NL and PL to be trained up these days? Even the kids are not bothering over here any more, just the second rate ones. I doubt the PZM care about the foreignors bumming around as PL reserves!

[TheReturn]

What sort of money are we talking about? How much do riders earn in Poland, compared to Sweden and the UK? Would riding in Poland alone be enough for top riders or would a combined Swedish and UK income be greater than riding in Poland?

 

I guess what I am asking is if the Poles do start to play silly games, can the British/Swedish leagues offer enough between them to ensure riders don't actually need Poland?

[racers and royals]

What sort of money are we talking about? How much do riders earn in Poland, compared to Sweden and the UK? Would riding in Poland alone be enough for top riders or would a combined Swedish and UK income be greater than riding in Poland?

 

I guess what I am asking is if the Poles do start to play silly games, can the British/Swedish leagues offer enough between them to ensure riders don't actually need Poland?

I`m talking about the top boys here but we had leaked contract evidence in Poland a couple of years ago(Emil and Czestochowa) that indicated £1500 a point was around. I would guess that Sweden would be(top riders again £600/700 a point.

[foamfence]

What sort of money are we talking about? How much do riders earn in Poland, compared to Sweden and the UK? Would riding in Poland alone be enough for top riders or would a combined Swedish and UK income be greater than riding in Poland?

 

I guess what I am asking is if the Poles do start to play silly games, can the British/Swedish leagues offer enough between them to ensure riders don't actually need Poland?

Probably not, the other consideration is that some riders need to race several times a week to keep themselves at the top of their game.

[A ORLOV]

I`m talking about the top boys here but we had leaked contract evidence in Poland a couple of years ago(Emil and Czestochowa) that indicated £1500 a point was around. I would guess that Sweden would be(top riders again £600/700 a point.

I seem to remember that some of the riders get large signing on fees as well.

[g13webb]

Personally I think this could be a wonderful development that could transform Speedway in all countries.

 

Of cause I like watching top riders racing but, also I get more p---d off when they are away riding for other leagues and we have to make do with guests and rider replacement. Let not kid our selves we are at the bottom of the list when it comes to choosing where they want to ride. From all the top riders, we only get a small percentage and then we have to pay through the nose for that privilege. Most of these riders aren't bothered with our league and see it only as a stop gap, Of all the speedway I've been to this year, I can count the number of full teams on one hand... That's a massive turn-off.....

 

I think this '2 club only' suggestion will really hurt these riders who use their position to hold our sport to ransom and milk it for all they can get. I've got nothing personal against Woffy, but for someone who turned his back on us at the start of the season to ride abroad, then come back when the playoff come to me is totally wrong. I see Wolves logic in going for glory, but we will never get credibility in our league while we allow rider s to pick and choose, if and when it suites their schedule.

 

The biggest problem is, there isn't enough riders to go around, and therefore riders are able to ride 6 nights a week for different clubs. I'm sure if we set our stall out to run a professional league on strick rules, we will attain sufficient numbers and quality to enthuse the fans and progress to better things. Ok we won't get any SGP riders, but we can have regular speedway on regular nights, knowing each team will have a full squad with no guest or replacements...... and that's gotta be good....

[Hawk127]

Could this be the opportunity for 'Speedway Plc' to restructure and get back to basics in order to build for the future or as is more likely the case, preserve what is in the UK. Why not have league racing with those who want to ride here and then have those special moments with the G P and perhaps the European championship plus re introduce international test matches at all three levels so that all leagues get a chance and then have a U K Championship with every track holding qualifications rounds and as these progress more experienced riders can join. Allow the NL clubs to see PL and EL riders on their tracks in this competition. To encourage travelling support have a regional cup competition with the winners of each region meeting in a k o final round.

 

Just a thought and whatever happens U K speedway will survive but will the income of those who chase the top dollar. I cannot see that the way Ploand appears to operate, it will be a resounding success for those who's sole source of income is speedway.