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Mildenhall V Eastbourne NLPO Final 2ng leg 25-10-18@7-30pm


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STATEMENT FROM MILDENHALL SPEEDWAY - 

Statement from Mildenhall Speedway – Eastbourne v Mildenhall National League fixture Friday 26th October

With the recent comments on social media and in some areas of the press concerning the Eastbourne v Mildenhall fixture which was cancelled on Friday, the club wish to make the following statement.

The original National League fixture between the two clubs scheduled for 14th July was called off by the host club some 48 hours prior to the fixture date due to a football match! This act caused considerable costs to our travelling fan base who had booked a mini bus to travel to Eastbourne for this meeting and in some cases hotels. When we next visited Eastbourne on 21st October this fixture was in their programme as provisional, and that evening we advised Eastbourne we would be unable to confirm that date due to work commitments. We advised Eastbourne that we could most likely bring an acceptable team on the following Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday but were told this was not possible due to the fence being packed away, although the season does not end until Wednesday (it should be noted we have to put up and pack down our fence after most meetings!).

The reasons for our unavailability on the 26th October was as follows, Danny Ayres and Jordan Jenkins had suffered season ending injuries, Ryan Kinsley and Josh Bailey who are both in full time employment at garages in Norfolk were unable to get time off work and Drew Kemp had college followed by a long standing event to attend for his contracted club Ipswich. Kevin Jolly contacted 27 riders in an attempt to put together a viable team but to no avail, riders were either working, packed up for the season or did not want the meeting. An official of the SCB also tried to help with the search for riders but he was unable to source suitable riders either. We would also question why Eastbourne are allowed to have three league fixtures outstanding after the Play Off final.

It has been our understanding that a club should be offered three dates to choose from for a fixture, this has not been the case and we have been unable to obtain a satisfactory reason as to why this was not the case in this instance. It was not our intention to send a weakened team to this meeting and other dates were offered by us. It should be noted that at the annual meeting to discuss fixtures Mildenhall’s representatives put forward a strong case that fixtures should be more structured with the National trophy being completed by July, the KO Cup by August and the League (including playoffs) by the end of September. This was clearly ignored, and in all cases Mildenhall have been left awaiting their opposition in the season’s finals after completing their meetings in a timely manner. 

We are disappointed by the attacks on Mildenhall Speedway which have attempted to besmirch the clubs fine name and hope this statement clarifies the situation in a more considered manner.

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1 hour ago, brianbuck said:

This is all the direct result of the BSPA's nonsensical ruling that riders be allowed to miss matches "for whatever reason." Why oh why do they not think these things out before adding such rules to the book? A child of five could have worked it out that a rule like this would be blatantly abused - and so it has been - and in this particular instance in a shameless and disgusting way. A swingeing penalty is clearly needed - but won't be forthcoming since it is the BSPA's rule that riders can miss meetings as and when they wish, so no rule has been broken or even bent!

While I agree that the rule can - and indeed has - been abused  there has to be some leeway for NL riders who are at best semi-professional. 

The question is whether that is the case here. On the face of it, it has but I'll await the outcome of the SCB investigation first. 

What I would point out is that Mildenhall went into the play off final with Kelsey Dugard guesting for Jordan Jenkins and rr for Danny Ayres. That strongly points to the fact that there are indeed difficulties getting replacements, because there's no way they would have gone into that meeting so weakened had they been able to get other riders.

To me, the important question is whether Mildenhall agreed to the 26th fixture on the 15th. If they did, then they are culpable. 

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31 minutes ago, racers and royals said:

Are Mildenhall  inferring in their statement that between the 12th July(original meeting called off) and the 21st October- there was no dialogue with Eastbourne about a date for the fixture to be re-run. Sorry but i don`t believe it !!!!

No.They offered another date a few weeks later but we were unable to make that due to other fixtures I believe 

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If Mildenhall can come out with a such a statement knowing exactly why their riders weren't going to be available, then why couldn't they have announced this either 2 days prior or even on the evening they hosted Eastbourne. This is just a worded piece of bullrubbish, as it is obvious it was pre-planned as a pay back for the earlier meeting back in July. And surely they would have been in touch with Eastbourne asking when they intend to re-stage it. As for their good name, they lost that years ago. Also, having a pop about Eastbourne not fulfilling their fixtures until after the cut-off, why don't they create a fuss about Coventry refusing to fulfil their NT matches.

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10 hours ago, rocket007 said:

If Mildenhall can come out with a such a statement knowing exactly why their riders weren't going to be available, then why couldn't they have announced this either 2 days prior or even on the evening they hosted Eastbourne. This is just a worded piece of bullrubbish, as it is obvious it was pre-planned as a pay back for the earlier meeting back in July. And surely they would have been in touch with Eastbourne asking when they intend to re-stage it. As for their good name, they lost that years ago. Also, having a pop about Eastbourne not fulfilling their fixtures until after the cut-off, why don't they create a fuss about Coventry refusing to fulfil their NT matches.

According to the statement, they notified Eastbourne on 21st.

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12 hours ago, racers and royals said:

Are Mildenhall  inferring in their statement that between the 12th July(original meeting called off) and the 21st October- there was no dialogue with Eastbourne about a date for the fixture to be re-run. Sorry but i don`t believe it !!!!

That's why I think the announcement on the Eagles website and facebook page on 15/10/18 about the meeting on 26/10/18 is important. 

It would be surprising if Eastbourne simply went ahead and announced a date without any consultation with Mildenhall but, if they did (and there is nothing on the Mildenhall website or facebook page), then I would say that it is Eastbourne that are most at fault here.

Edited by Halifaxtiger
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Eastbourne have tweeted a screenshot of what appears to be dugards email that clearly shows 3 dates (even the Thursday that Mildenhall ran - but this looks like it was before when Mildenhall must have told them when they were running as the email is dated on the 16th and the release for Mildenhall to run theirs was on the 19th October from their Facebook page. I sense a well written statement full of bull. I hope Eastbourne release a statement and make them look silly. 

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Mildenhall did much the same thing in the last meeting of the season at Plymouth in 2017, they did show but fielded a very scratch team resulting in a 64-26 win for the home side. As the promotion there has put the club up for sale and says it will be no more if a buyers not found it will just put another nail in the coffin of speedway in this country sadly.

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2 minutes ago, Falcons50 said:

Mildenhall did much the same thing in the last meeting of the season at Plymouth in 2017, they did show but fielded a very scratch team resulting in a 64-26 win for the home side. As the promotion there has put the club up for sale and says it will be no more if a buyers not found it will just put another nail in the coffin of speedway in this country sadly.

Another nail in the coffin of UK speedway, that quite a lot of people prefer to ignore. Including the majority of the BSPA who believe things can go on and on as they are now. The closure this winter of three or four clubs, as seems likely, may make them wake up and smell the coffee that their valuable assets ( as they see them ) are almost worthless. Any clubs that are "saved" will be by fan coalitions and they need to understand that their financial input is really a gift to eke out nostalgic daydreams.

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Obviously, there is a lot more to run on this matter.

A rider misses a meeting without being injured or genuine reason, gets a 28 day ban.

A referee made a balls up of the rules at the Belle Vue v Kings Lynn Play Off meeting and gets banned for the rest of the season.

Whoever is at fault here will get what?  Heavy fine? Ban? Both?

I was talking to a referee earlier in the season about track walks. He stated quite strongly, that if he reported all the faults he found, there wouldnt be any speedway. So why not report them? He said 'The simple fact is, clubs cant afford to put everything right'!

So just where do we go with any punishment?

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