MattK Posted June 19, 2017 Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 For me, the pressing issues with the Premiership are: Disparity in quality of riders – This year’s Premiership has GP-calibre riders racing against National League-calibre riders. This does not lend itself to close and competitive racing. This has been caused by the introduction of the Draft and exacerbated by continually lowering of the points limit, especially this season. The solution is that the league needs to make a choice. If we want a truly “Premiership” league, then the points limit needs to be raised and the top riders tempted back. If on the other hand the overarching aim is to manage costs, the top echelon of riders need to be removed and a single larger league formed. I think at this point in British speedway’s lifecycle, trying to tempt back the top riders is unrealistic, so this leaves the option of a single combined league as the best approach. Missing riders – This seems to have been getting progressively worse over the last few seasons, but is particularly pronounced this year. The main reason is the amount of doubling-up, but there is also blame to be laid at the door of poor fixture arrangement. The most obvious solution (short of restricting doubling-up, which I am not in favour of as I think it rewards loyalty to the British leagues) is to have fixed race nights for Premiership and Championship. My suggestion would be Wednesday and Thursday for Premiership and Friday and Saturday for Championship. I know the usually protest is that clubs are restricted by their landlords, but I believe that if there was genuine willing, then by having the flexibility of two race nights a week, there should be enough scope for clubs to comply. Fixture Planning – How can you get something so simply, so wrong on such a consistent basis? Two major issues caused by poor fixture planning are missing riders, which could easily be avoided by better planning, and the irregularity of fixtures which leave fans with large gaps between meetings followed by a flurry of fixtures in a short period. I appreciate that this season there were some late entrants to the Premiership, but this should act as an incentive to ensure all clubs are present and correct at the AGM, leaving plenty of time for fixtures to be arranged optimally. I like the idea of a dedicated TV channel and this is something I have thought about for a while. The main challenge is getting enough broadcast quality overage of meetings, although as someone else has pointed out, Swedish speedway seem to achieve this with significantly less resources than Sky. Given that BT appear to have been offered the rights for free and the lack of a league sponsor, now seems like as good a time as any to branch out. Personally, I would go all in and aim for SGP and Polish/Swedish rights in order to offer a comprehensive speedway channel, but this would all depend on funding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CookieIpswich Posted June 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 I promoted another sport which had international athletes compete within, we introduced streaming using three cameras and it was a huge hit 80,000+ viewers on one event tho it was a free stream but we still had 1400 through the door, funny enough I sold my stake and its now under the wing of the biggest promotion in Europe When I say high quality field, not high quality as in GP riders but ensuring the best of what we have now competing in the top league only Pick the worst two riders in the teams I put together, I'm sure on their day they could pick off 2 of the top 3 in the opposite sides Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britmet Posted June 19, 2017 Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 Disagree, Nobody should have a problem with riders riding for 2 uk clubs, but this should definitely be restricted to riders with no European league commitments. . TOTALLY WRONG ! It is one of the top 3 reasons why speedway can't be taken seriously today. . 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perton Wolf Posted June 19, 2017 Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 Some great marketing/promotional ideas in that first post. A shame that the out dated mindest of the BPSA won't listen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Smith Posted June 19, 2017 Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 . TOTALLY WRONG ! It is one of the top 3 reasons why speedway can't be taken seriously today. . It is but only because of a clashing fixture list not the fact that a rider has 2 clubs. As an example, Craig Cook riding for Belle Vue and Workington is only an issue if he's missing due to fixtures. Belle Vue fans want him. Workington fans want him. The issue is both leagues need fixed race nights. Premiership Monday, Wednesday and Thursday Championship Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday It really isn't a difficult situation to fix but the BSPA (Promoters) are a stubborn bunch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waytogo28 Posted June 19, 2017 Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 I think that one idea would be for the Home team to all be off 15 metres throughout and then see what kind of track they manage to prepare and which riders with the right attitude they choose to sign. It could be much more entertaining OR will it prove that Gate and Win is what speedway is all about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CookieIpswich Posted June 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 Dan What would you do if your star rider misses the play off final and you lose it because he was injured riding for his other club In football yes you get injured representing your nation but a player doesn't get injured playing for another club I can't think of another sport where they borrow players/riders to make up the numbers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A ORLOV Posted June 19, 2017 Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 What could be annoying and mad is Nick Morris riding and getting a winning score for BV on saturday and then at the end of the season BV beat Swindon to the playoffs by a couple of points. I do not blame Nick but the system is mad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CookieIpswich Posted June 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 Bspa try to keep each other happy, how many promoters will volunteer to drop into a revamped national league? Not many Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevH Posted June 19, 2017 Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 As an example, Craig Cook riding for Belle Vue and Workington is only an issue if he's missing due to fixtures. No it's not......it makes a mockery of the sport and nobody takes it seriously. Can you imagine Sergio Aguero playing for Manchester City at the weekend and Huddersfield Town in midweek? It would be farcical, and that is what speedway is making itself with this crazy rule.........if you don't believe me.......look around you at the open spaces on the terraces next time you go to a meeting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattK Posted June 19, 2017 Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 No it's not......it makes a mockery of the sport and nobody takes it seriously. Can you imagine Sergio Aguero playing for Manchester City at the weekend and Huddersfield Town in midweek? It would be farcical, and that is what speedway is making itself with this crazy rule.........if you don't believe me.......look around you at the open spaces on the terraces next time you go to a meeting. I'm sorry, but I agree with Danny. I haven't heard a single person say they are no longer going to Swindon because Nick Morris is now also riding for Berwick. Fan get frustrated when riders are missing due to fixture clashes, which should be easily avoided. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted June 19, 2017 Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 . TOTALLY WRONG ! It is one of the top 3 reasons why speedway can't be taken seriously today. . And also the main contributer to the No1 issue why it cannot be taken seriously ie guests.. Guests are needed virtually every match due to some fixture clash. Poland and Sweden can work without them in the same sport, with doubling up being used, yet this country cannot.... Simply with the guest system everything is far too easy so no need to work out a plan to fix the issue.. What really is the point of getting teams together pre season when the moment the season starts you can use basically who you like as long as any random average fits..? Craig Cook as an example could ride at No1 for Workington and BV. Say he rode at Wolves on a Monday for BV and picked up a knock and was out for two weeks. Potentially he could miss Championship and Premiership meetings Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday before being fit to ride on the Monday. . 11 guests needed to replace him... In Poland and Sweden he would miss just one match for his team and be covered by a squad member or RR.. Too many teams, with too many team places (seven) per team simply means not enough riders of the required level to make it work... And rather than face that and run the sport with quality rather than quantity, those in charge continue with a make do and mend operating model. And it will never be fit for purpose if you want the sport to be taken seriously by both fans and non fans from a wide sporting audience.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman2006 Posted June 19, 2017 Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 No it's not......it makes a mockery of the sport and nobody takes it seriously. Can you imagine Sergio Aguero playing for Manchester City at the weekend and Huddersfield Town in midweek? It would be farcical, and that is what speedway is making itself with this crazy rule.........if you don't believe me.......look around you at the open spaces on the terraces next time you go to a meeting. Can you imagine for example Wayne Rooney doing the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Smith Posted June 19, 2017 Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 Dan What would you do if your star rider misses the play off final and you lose it because he was injured riding for his other club In football yes you get injured representing your nation but a player doesn't get injured playing for another club I can't think of another sport where they borrow players/riders to make up the numbers How is a rider getting injured riding for their other British club any different from them getting injured in Poland, Sweden, Denmark, GP's, Qualifiers etc? This is a sport with high risk of injury, something we have to live with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CookieIpswich Posted June 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 How many riders in the UK ride in foreign leagues? Are you part of the BSPA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickthemuppet Posted June 19, 2017 Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 there is no way that you are going to get more people to go to Speedway with less meetings/ You can ask almost everyone and one of their biggest moans are why cannot we get a home meeting once a week.sometimes there is a 3 or 4 week gap. Less meetings do not reduce the costs of the stadiums and riders then earn less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CookieIpswich Posted June 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 UK fans cannot built up a rapport or association with a rider if they ride for more than one club in this country. Would Giggs be a united legend if he'd spent 18years doubling down with Oldham, missing 2 seasons of matches because of injury and fixture congestion away at Grimsby on a Tuesday night? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cheese Posted June 19, 2017 Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 Doubling up/down is fine as long as you avoid the fixture clashes and I can't see why anyone would have an issue if you could solve that with fixed race nights. Who cares if it wouldn't happen in football because it's a completely different sport. You wouldn't see a top footballer miss important games because he got injured playing rugby last week but we have speedway riders also riding in grasstrack, motocross etc so lets ban them all from that as well. Suggesting we just have 8 professional teams in the country is easily the best idea of killing the sport completely that I've heard. You have a dwindling support now so lets alienate more than half of those left by getting rid of their teams?! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CookieIpswich Posted June 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 They have the revamped national league Mr Cheese Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cheese Posted June 19, 2017 Report Share Posted June 19, 2017 And how would clubs already in the NL such as Buxton, IOW, Mildenhall be able to compete financially with them? I'm certainly not suggesting all is rosy and nothing needs to change, but I just don't see doubling up as the issue when there is an obvious solution to it with fixed race nights. It's still not ideal obviously but at least it solves the problem of riders missing because they're racing for their other club and it should be limited to British riders only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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