2020 NL Season

[Guest]

Does any member have thoughts as to how the National League could/might look for the 2020 season?

[waco]

You are talking about speedway here Gustix,,, no one ever knows whats happening next year,,,lets just hope there is enough teams still running to form a league..?

[TurnTwo]

Ten teams prem & ten teams championship with Glasgow, Sheffield, Leicester and Somerset moving up Peterborough moving down. 

Plymouth & Kent moving into the championship. With the chance of one other club to join. 

Cubs, Heathens, potters I doubt will continue. With 3 teams moving up and 3 teams not continuing. NL is left with 3/4 teams if rye house come back leaving a glorified mdl type league. 

British speedway is not in a good way

[bruno]

Is there a NL equivalent in Poland and Sweden or just two leagues

[Sings4Speedway]

1 hour ago, TurnTwo said:

Ten teams prem & ten teams championship with Glasgow, Sheffield, Leicester and Somerset moving up Peterborough moving down. 

Plymouth & Kent moving into the championship. With the chance of one other club to join. 

Cubs, Heathens, potters I doubt will continue. With 3 teams moving up and 3 teams not continuing. NL is left with 3/4 teams if rye house come back leaving a glorified mdl type league. 

British speedway is not in a good way

If the moves are being made to prop up the top leagues then the sport is definitely not in a good way. Especially if NL is going to be the sacrificial lamb. 

Maybe those remaining can form an entertaining mini league based from Rye House & Mildenhall with each club hosting a couple of teams as that could present a draw at weekends if priced correctly.

Im not sure Kent would want to move up but could survive although not as the big fish in the pond anymore. Plymouth will likely last a season or so then be lost forever as the losses as a tuesday night track would be horrific.

Worst of all is all the MDL type teams that have been run by volunteers for good while seem like they will be drummed out by  the mafia stepping in on their toes.  If the sports focus at the top is the priority then it will kill its own roots and that is the beginning of the end. 

[Islander15]

2 hours ago, gustix said:

Does any member have thoughts as to how the National League could/might look for the 2020 season?

I’d rather not accept the reality yet 

[HGould]

37 minutes ago, Sings4Speedway said:

If the moves are being made to prop up the top leagues then the sport is definitely not in a good way. Especially if NL is going to be the sacrificial lamb. 

Maybe those remaining can form an entertaining mini league based from Rye House & Mildenhall with each club hosting a couple of teams as that could present a draw at weekends if priced correctly.

Im not sure Kent would want to move up but could survive although not as the big fish in the pond anymore. Plymouth will likely last a season or so then be lost forever as the losses as a tuesday night track would be horrific.

Worst of all is all the MDL type teams that have been run by volunteers for good while seem like they will be drummed out by  the mafia stepping in on their toes.  If the sports focus at the top is the priority then it will kill its own roots and that is the beginning of the end. 

ultimately be down to Barry Bishop and Len Silver to make something out of the remnants that offer the 5-6 Clubs who simply cannot afford to go up, or in the case of Kent can only go to PL as protected nights stop them moving to CL which they could certainly do financially and crowd wise, a product that can be viable based on 5-6 Clubs in the short term.

Mildenhall and IOW are seemingly most at risk if there is no NDL option as Kent and Plymouth would at least seem to have a route to continue in PL/CL respectively. 

[Sings4Speedway]

27 minutes ago, HGould said:

ultimately be down to Barry Bishop and Len Silver to make something out of the remnants that offer the 5-6 Clubs who simply cannot afford to go up, or in the case of Kent can only go to PL as protected nights stop them moving to CL which they could certainly do financially and crowd wise, a product that can be viable based on 5-6 Clubs in the short term.

Mildenhall and IOW are seemingly most at risk if there is no NDL option as Kent and Plymouth would at least seem to have a route to continue in PL/CL respectively. 

There is a potential golden opportunity here for a few forward thinking individuals like Barry Bishop potentially Connor Dugard and others to create something out of nothing here. While those above lose their heads in the immediate mess a chance has arisen for those with a bit of grey matter to do something slightly radical and make a viable product that could ultimately save British speedway in the long term.

[RobMcCaffery]

3 hours ago, bruno said:

Is there a NL equivalent in Poland and Sweden or just two leagues

Both have three leagues. Thev Swedish third tier is very similar to the NDL but Poland's is more like our Championship level. They do have a large number of midweek junior meetings staged on tracks of all three divisions. So, juniors racing at weekends for senior clubs on a 'sink or swim' basis then get a chance to ride in meetings just with riders of their own status. I'd say level but World under-21 contenders Drabik, Smektala and Kubera are eligible for many of them. They attract minimal crowds. 

[RobMcCaffery]

Re the NDL itself I fear that we may be seeing a two league structure next year with an expanded top tier operating between PL and CL level and a second tier for the remainder operating between CL and NDL level.

The risks are stark - too many tracks trying to operate at a level with higher costs but minimal increase in crowds. Apparently it seems to have worked for Ipswich and Eastbourne this year though. A sport is really only as strong as its grass roots so a strong NDL is essential because the way professional speedway is heading in Britain it may be our only future. 

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by RobMcCaffery

[cityrebel]

2 hours ago, HGould said:

ultimately be down to Barry Bishop and Len Silver to make something out of the remnants that offer the 5-6 Clubs who simply cannot afford to go up, or in the case of Kent can only go to PL as protected nights stop them moving to CL which they could certainly do financially and crowd wise, a product that can be viable based on 5-6 Clubs in the short term.

Mildenhall and IOW are seemingly most at risk if there is no NDL option as Kent and Plymouth would at least seem to have a route to continue in PL/CL respectively. 

Five or six clubs might be optimistic. The likes of Kent have trod water for too long, despite getting excellent crowds. The dreaded curfew has always held the club back. It's going to be sink or swim for some NL teams.

[arnieg]

4 hours ago, RobMcCaffery said:

Both have three leagues. Thev Swedish third tier is very similar to the NDL but Poland's is more like our Championship level. They do have a large number of midweek junior meetings staged on tracks of all three divisions. So, juniors racing at weekends for senior clubs on a 'sink or swim' basis then get a chance to ride in meetings just with riders of their own status. I'd say level but World under-21 contenders Drabik, Smektala and Kubera are eligible for many of them. They attract minimal crowds. 

The Swedish third tier is mainly reserve teams of senior clubs.

 

The Danish set up is similar. I saw a Danish lge 2 match at Fjelsted this season, estimated crowd: 29.

[Great Central]

Are you sure it was 29 and not 28!!!

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by Great Central

[RobMcCaffery]

2 hours ago, arnieg said:

The Swedish third tier is mainly reserve teams of senior clubs.

 

 

I thought it was a mix of reserve teams and stand-alone, just like NDL. 

[RobMcCaffery]

Per SVEMO website: 

The Division 1 series consists of 7 teams and is a national amateur series with mixed A teams and reserve teams.

 

 

[arnieg]

1 hour ago, RobMcCaffery said:

Per SVEMO website: 

The Division 1 series consists of 7 teams and is a national amateur series with mixed A teams and reserve teams.

 

 

Brassarna (Nassjo), Ornarna (Mariestad) plus 5 reserve teams. 

[25yearfan]

The NL seems very vulnerable in terms of next season but its essential that this level of racing is maintained cause it is a great breeding ground for young riders and enables standalone clubs who don't/can't go higher League to survive and prosper.

 

It would be nice if Rye House and Buxton return although one must remember that in 1998 the then 3rd tier, at the time called the Conference League survived and indeed prospered with just 5 clubs.

 

For the record in these deepest parts of East Anglia, Mildenhall speedway more often than not is better value for money than its higher League neighbors at Ipswich and King's Lynn!   

Edited September 27, 2019 by 25yearfan

[RobMcCaffery]

3 hours ago, arnieg said:

Brassarna (Nassjo), Ornarna (Mariestad) plus 5 reserve teams. 

Thanks, I was struggling to find results & tables. So, it's the same form of mix, just with emphasis the opposite to our NDL with reserve teams being as dominant as our stand-alones. 

Anyway, I hope the person who asked the question has the answer now that they need. 

Just switching back to the NL I think my happiest seasons were when I was working in the NL or at Iwade, especially the latter. I just loved to see the families working so hard to help the son achieve their dream.....and I had the honour of meeting Brian Osborn, who kept Scunthorpe going against all odds in the 70s. He was once asked if he spelled his name with an e, to which his response was "No, I can't afford one". I met a lot of star riders in my time.....but we all have our OWN heroes ;-)

(He also rode second halves at Rayleigh which earns him honorary demi-god status. Don't ask me what status Hugh Saunders and Geoff Maloney had ;-) ).

 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by RobMcCaffery

[arnieg]

The other interesting feature of the Swedish div One is that each team has a 250cc rider who rides four races against the other 250cc riders. ( The German Team cup - effectively their second division also do this.) [Both countries use a four team tournament format]

Last year Philip Hellstrom-Bangs was the top 250cc rider winning all 30 races in div One; this year he is second in div One 500cc averages to Joel Kling. The majority of the riders are under 21, but in Tony Gudbrand and Benny Johansson they have their versions of Jon Armstrong and Tony Atkin.

Edited September 27, 2019 by arnieg

[Sings4Speedway]

24 minutes ago, arnieg said:

The other interesting feature of the Swedish div One is that each team has a 250cc rider who rides four races against the other 250cc riders. ( The German Team cup - effectively their second division also do this.) [Both countries use a four team tournament format]

Last year Philip Hellstrom-Bangs was the top 250cc rider winning all 30 races in div One; this year he is second in div One 500cc averages to Joel Kling. The majority of the riders are under 21, but in Tony Gudbrand and Benny Johansson they have their versions of Jon Armstrong and Tony Atkin.

Certainly an interesting addition and does offer up a way of rider development without the huge rush to jump on a full 500cc bike. That said the 250 class in the UK is shrinking at an alarming rate with the new in favour choice to jump straight from 125 to 500! That said multiple races of the same 4 riders could become quite predictable but the concept is sound