arthur cross Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) 10 hours ago, stevebrum said: Whatever time it starts we know that Doyle, !ambert, Kurtz, Lidsey Bewley, Batchelor, Pedersen, won’t be available to the UK for 2020 unless there ridiculous Polish contracts can be challenged. That'll be the "ridiculous" Polish contracts that are still paying the riders you've mentioned plenty more money than they'd be on with their normal UK contracts despite a hefty Polish pay cut to reflect TV-money only rather than gate-receipts as well. All this at a time when the Poles are on the verge of racing while there is absolutely no chance of any UK action before August given the latest government hints and the plans already published of other UK sports. Which of these statistics is the more "ridiculous" ? - Polish coronavirus deaths so far, 21 per million-population - UK , 460 per million-population !! "Ridiculous Polish contracts" or ridiculous for riders and their machinery not to go and earn some good money with no alternatives elsewhere for at least the next 3 months that's only risking missing out on a few weeks of ordinary money in the UK that might never take place anyway. ? !! One other thing, looking ahead to 2021 - if you don't make the effort to ride in Poland this year, good luck getting the deal you want there next year when hopefully all of speedway is returning much closer to pre-coronavirus days. It's only your UK-blinkered view that's hopelessly naive and "ridiculous", not the Polish contracts given the current coronavirus circumstances. Edited May 9, 2020 by arthur cross 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HGould Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 12 minutes ago, arthur cross said: That'll be the "ridiculous" Polish contracts that are still paying the riders you've mentioned plenty more money than they'd be on with their normal UK contracts despite a hefty Polish pay cut to reflect TV-money only rather than gate-receipts as well. All this at a time when the Poles are on the verge of racing while there is absolutely no chance of any UK action before August given the latest government hints and the plans already published of other UK sports. Which of these statistics is the more "ridiculous" ? - Polish coronavirus deaths so far, 21 per million-population - UK , 460 per million-population !! "Ridiculous Polish contracts" or ridiculous for riders and their machinery not to go and earn some good money with no alternatives elsewhere for at least the next 3 months that's only risking missing out on a few weeks of ordinary money in the UK that might never take place anyway. ? !! One other thing, looking ahead to 2021 - if you don't make the effort to ride in Poland this year, good luck getting the deal you want there next year when hopefully all of speedway is returning much closer to pre-coronavirus days. It's only your UK-blinkered view that's hopelessly naive and "ridiculous", not the Polish contracts given the current coronavirus circumstances. Thank God Arthur for some sanity. I challenge anyone offered the chance to work for very good money indeed better than available anywhere, not to take up that opportunity. To hear the bleatings of some on various forums and social media, you would think speedway riders were being kidnapped, taken as speed slaves to some god-forsaken hole and mal and mistreated. The Poles have made it clear that there will be a significant reduction in pay, strict travel conditions and a need to abide by Polish rules. Anyone going is going with their eyes wide open, anyone not has the right to decide. Britain is still letting 15,000 people in per day with no testing, no quarantine and the excuse in the Papers today that "if doesn't matter as the Covid rates are so high anyway" is the most inhumane stupidity ever hear. The sooner UK adopts Polish Border regulations the better. Those LUCKY enough to be invited to join a Polish top tier Team have 2 considerations (a) do I want to leave family and friends and go over there for possibly 4 months (b) do I want to ride speedway and earn some money. Simple as that. Anyone thinking as we now are that there is going to be ANY Speedway in the UK in front of anything more than 50 people (e.g practice) before October is I think living in cloud cuckoo land. Any Speedway anywhere in Europe in 2020 is almost certain to be behind closed doors and that includes SGP. The only chance I see of Speedway in UK this year is possibly a variant of SON at Belle Vue right at the very end of October (basically with any Nation who'll turn up) and possibly a few Challenges / Testimonials and Individuals from the handful of Clubs who can either afford to race in front of very small crowds or who can find ways of encouraging enough to come out and take the risk. If we can start "on time" early April 2021; I think that right now, that would be an absolute result. The stark fact is that we may still be in some form of strict crowd control and social distancing measures well in to the summer of 2021. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dontforgetthefueltapsbruv Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 I think this could be just the opportunity the Poles need to push ahead with exclusive contracts as the norm...... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rusky Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 It will be interesting to see what happens if the UK introduce the much rumoured 14 day quarantine for all incoming air passengers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebrum Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 5 hours ago, arthur cross said: That'll be the "ridiculous" Polish contracts that are still paying the riders you've mentioned plenty more money than they'd be on with their normal UK contracts despite a hefty Polish pay cut to reflect TV-money only rather than gate-receipts as well. All this at a time when the Poles are on the verge of racing while there is absolutely no chance of any UK action before August given the latest government hints and the plans already published of other UK sports. Which of these statistics is the more "ridiculous" ? - Polish coronavirus deaths so far, 21 per million-population - UK , 460 per million-population !! "Ridiculous Polish contracts" or ridiculous for riders and their machinery not to go and earn some good money with no alternatives elsewhere for at least the next 3 months that's only risking missing out on a few weeks of ordinary money in the UK that might never take place anyway. ? !! One other thing, looking ahead to 2021 - if you don't make the effort to ride in Poland this year, good luck getting the deal you want there next year when hopefully all of speedway is returning much closer to pre-coronavirus days. It's only your UK-blinkered view that's hopelessly naive and "ridiculous", not the Polish contracts given the current coronavirus circumstances. Nothing ‘blinkered’ at all. Asking riders to quarantine before they ride is perfectly fine. No issue with that. Asking riders to sign contracts (as mentioned by some of the riders) that say they CANNOT ride in any other country is the kind of thing we have become used to by the Polish Authorities. If this is allowed to happen then this action could see the closure of some teams in other countries. That cannot be allowed to happen. Id imagine if any rider challenged the contract the authorities would be laughed out of court. Now for the reality check. We know other countries have yet to get a start date so technically have no hold over any riders. That said each governing body has the absolute right to expect their own riders to stay loyal to their respective nations clubs. You can’t blame them, as they doing precisely what the Poles are doing. So if it’s good for then it’s good for other nations. There is this assumed idea that no other nation will get to see Speedway this year so Poland should be allowed to do what they want. Really? I’ve seen mentioned that this 2nd wave of infections will put paid to any action in the UK. If this is assumed are we then assuming Poland would be immune because they are a Speedway super power? I think not. You cannot blame the riders for going to Poland to earn a living, I certainly don’t. Riders should be free to choose if they want to ride elsewhere if and when it’s safe to do so and hopefully the riders will do just that when the time comes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebrum Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 3 hours ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said: I think this could be just the opportunity the Poles need to push ahead with exclusive contracts as the norm...... Sadly so do I. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waytogo28 Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 5 hours ago, HGould said: If we can start "on time" early April 2021; I think that right now, that would be an absolute result. The stark fact is that we may still be in some form of strict crowd control and social distancing measures well in to the summer of 2021. You are right, I think that this would be the best we can hope for. But there are distinct possibilities that could mean we cannot run unti lthe summer of 2021 OR when a vaccine is widely available. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topsoil Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 The Ekstraliga has wanted exclusivity over riders for a few seasons now. If you look back far enough in this forum you will see the quote from their president at the time. This is the perfect excuse for them to implement that now. And that would cause a lot of pain for certainly Swedish, British and Danish domestic speedway. But Polish speedway seems to be able to do what it wants, even over World Championship levels, so it probably will happen through time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 6 hours ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said: I think this could be just the opportunity the Poles need to push ahead with exclusive contracts as the norm...... And maybe the UK's chance to do the same and start finally to be in charge of their own destiny? All be it at a lower level... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcon1983 Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 Poland only contracts moving forward should not even be an issue for British Speedway. A dozen or so riders ride in the Polish top league who ride in the UK (or less). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawk127 Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 37 minutes ago, mikebv said: And maybe the UK's chance to do the same and start finally to be in charge of their own destiny? All be it at a lower level... Agree and given the limitations on cross border movements which are likely to be around for a very long time, perhaps it is time to look at what speedway has got in terms of riders and then have one or possibly two leagues with teams running Wednesday to Sunday on days that suit the local track and possibly look at ways of introducing the formula 2 bike to cut rider costs and let’s see where it takes the sport. It can forget about international racing for a year or two so why not experiment. I am sure that many fans would like to see some form of regular speedway on popular nights whenever that may be and hopefully find those local heroes of the track once again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dontforgetthefueltapsbruv Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 2 hours ago, Falcon1983 said: Poland only contracts moving forward should not even be an issue for British Speedway. A dozen or so riders ride in the Polish top league who ride in the UK (or less). But it wont just be the top league if they think the idea works...... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve0 Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 3 hours ago, Falcon1983 said: Poland only contracts moving forward should not even be an issue for British Speedway. A dozen or so riders ride in the Polish top league who ride in the UK (or less). I beg to differ! Don’t want to see more riders abandoning British Speedway! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobydoo Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) If the 14 day quarantine period for anyone flying into the UK is in place for several months it will put a massive spanner in the works for all british speedway teams and just cant see how there will be any speedway until 2021 Edited May 10, 2020 by scoobydoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcon1983 Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 Even if it's the top two leagues UK will have to build a series that stands on it's own. If Poland is where the money is in the top 2 tiers then nothing can be done riders will go where the money is and the UK will either help them get there or see them on their way back down the ladder. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyhoundp Posted May 11, 2020 Report Share Posted May 11, 2020 Well according to the latest guidelines Step 2 No professional sport before June 1 at the earliest, and Step 3 from July 4 will include hospitality and leisure facilities. Their is as yet no indication when mass gatherings will be allowed the government document says "only the development of a vaccine or effective drugs can reliably control this epidemic and reduce mortality without some form of social distancing or contact tracing in place" so its begining to look bleak for any meaningful speedway this season.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booey boy Posted May 12, 2020 Report Share Posted May 12, 2020 On 5/9/2020 at 9:08 PM, scoobydoo said: If the 14 day quarantine period for anyone flying into the UK is in place for several months it will put a massive spanner in the works for all british speedway teams and just cant see how there will be any speedway until 2021 There will be no speedway this year no crowded stadiums until there is a vaccine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cityrebel Posted May 13, 2020 Report Share Posted May 13, 2020 On 5/11/2020 at 4:30 PM, greyhoundp said: Well according to the latest guidelines Step 2 No professional sport before June 1 at the earliest, and Step 3 from July 4 will include hospitality and leisure facilities. Their is as yet no indication when mass gatherings will be allowed the government document says "only the development of a vaccine or effective drugs can reliably control this epidemic and reduce mortality without some form of social distancing or contact tracing in place" so its begining to look bleak for any meaningful speedway this season.. I'd be content with the odd amateur meeting. I have three training tracks that are relatively close to where i live. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old bob at herne bay Posted July 12, 2020 Report Share Posted July 12, 2020 Attended a motorcycle auto jumble at the South of England Showground at Ardingly this weekend. There were several hundred people in attendance.... mostly motorcyclists like me .... so few of the 4 wheeler crowd. well organised with Marshall’s all wearing masks directing you to well speed parking spaces..... many of the stall holders had free hand sanitiser and disposable gloves available. Stalls were all spaced well apart ....toilet facilities were spacious with a Marshall ensuring no crowds of people. Facilities were regularly cleaned and were well supplied with hand soap and hand wash basins. Most people were wearing face masks when near the sales pitches. So these events can take place.... but how many speedway venues have facilities or space similar to a county showground? Most of the grubby toilet facilities at speedway stadia are so cramped and poorly maintained they were un hygienic pre Covid..... you were lucky to have a light bulb in the loo at Lakeside speedway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noaksey Posted July 13, 2020 Report Share Posted July 13, 2020 13 hours ago, old bob at herne bay said: Attended a motorcycle auto jumble at the South of England Showground at Ardingly this weekend. There were several hundred people in attendance.... mostly motorcyclists like me .... so few of the 4 wheeler crowd. well organised with Marshall’s all wearing masks directing you to well speed parking spaces..... many of the stall holders had free hand sanitiser and disposable gloves available. Stalls were all spaced well apart ....toilet facilities were spacious with a Marshall ensuring no crowds of people. Facilities were regularly cleaned and were well supplied with hand soap and hand wash basins. Most people were wearing face masks when near the sales pitches. So these events can take place.... but how many speedway venues have facilities or space similar to a county showground? Most of the grubby toilet facilities at speedway stadia are so cramped and poorly maintained they were un hygienic pre Covid..... you were lucky to have a light bulb in the loo at Lakeside speedway. Lakeside once went a whole season without a working light in the back straight toilet.... Was great when we turned up for the first meeting of the following season and it had been fixed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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