British final 2020

[hammer1969]

2 hours ago, mikebv said:

Who decided Speedway in the UK was an 'elite' sport?

Was it the Govt or those who run it?

Presume there had to be some set criteria?

No disrespect to it but you could hardly put it at the same level as Football, Rugby, Cricket and Horse Racing..

Could it get reassessed I wonder? 

Go down the route of riders being semi pro at best? 

Many effectively 'pay to compete' given their outlay, similar to stock car drivers, so maybe the sport could be 'down graded' to whatever the stock car level is..

Change 'points money' to 'prize money' and could you then run the sport regularly at a 'non elite' level..?

 

I've always wondered this exact same question "whose labelled them Elite Sportsmen".  Yes it is a skill and not anyone can ride a Speedway bike it takes years of practice but also I expect a great majority of them have other jobs to supplement their income as it is only a summer sport as well, especially I would have though the riders who only ride for teams in the U.K

[HGould]

17 minutes ago, hammer1969 said:

I've always wondered this exact same question "whose labelled them Elite Sportsmen".  Yes it is a skill and not anyone can ride a Speedway bike it takes years of practice but also I expect a great majority of them have other jobs to supplement their income as it is only a summer sport as well, especially I would have though the riders who only ride for teams in the U.K

It's based on self employed contract basis, average amount they earn and partially down to doubling up I'd imagine

EG.. A League with Jason Doyle in it is obviously elite sport, over 50% in that league also ride in CL so that's elites port too. Work permits are issued in PL and CL so work permit equates to elite sport. 

No such issues in NDL which is developmental and UK only or a few over years with UK passports like BWD etc

 

[cityrebel]

21 minutes ago, hammer1969 said:

I've always wondered this exact same question "whose labelled them Elite Sportsmen".  Yes it is a skill and not anyone can ride a Speedway bike it takes years of practice but also I expect a great majority of them have other jobs to supplement their income as it is only a summer sport as well, especially I would have though the riders who only ride for teams in the U.K

It might need to be reassessed, if next season ever gets started.

[IronScorpion]

On ‎9‎/‎22‎/‎2020 at 10:31 PM, hammer1969 said:

The Government don't seem able to grasp that fans watching professional sports and fans watching non professional sports are still people and possibly the same people ie they watch stock cars and speedway, surely reduced capacity for stock cars should also apply equally to other sports, speedway, football etc.  The Virus doesn't know the difference between fans at amateur or professional sports or is it that clever it can pick and choose which venue it decides to strike at, no it can strike anywhere we just all need to take precautions, hands, face, space then perhaps we can all enjoy a bit of life as it used to be.

At the weekend, a local football club, Gainsborough Trinity, held their 1st league match(Northern Premier I think, about div 8 or 9 to our top league) but because they were amateur standard, were allowed up to 600 fans in a 4300 capacity stadium(partly congested) yet you are not allowed 2000-3000 in a 50000+ stadium(less congested) as it is classed as professional.

[Argos]

Let’s get one thing clear this is NOT the British Final, It’s an open meeting made up of 16 riders who are available we all know it’s not the best 16 BRITISH riders, and for the BSPA to call it the British Final is insulting our intelligence and should be prosecuted under the Trades Description Act       

[hammer1969]

21 minutes ago, IronScorpion said:

At the weekend, a local football club, Gainsborough Trinity, held their 1st league match(Northern Premier I think, about div 8 or 9 to our top league) but because they were amateur standard, were allowed up to 600 fans in a 4300 capacity stadium(partly congested) yet you are not allowed 2000-3000 in a 50000+ stadium(less congested) as it is classed as professional.

No consistency anywhere, no wonder people are fed up, as I said this Virus doesn't know whether fans are watching, speedway, football or any other sport so surely a percentage of the stadiums capacity could be allowed in and it would also help keep people employed.

[AFCB Wildcat]

17 hours ago, Hawk127 said:

Thanks for this. I am far from a techno person and simply want to watch a speedway meeting albeit I am not around on Saturday evening so just want to watch a recording of the event which I am happy to pay for. Why is something so simple so bloody difficult. Old age yes and if someone can come up with a simple solution that does not rely on downloading or registering another app or similar gets my vote. If speedway stuck to one platform life would be simple but I guess that is asking too much.

No probs, it's new to me too.

I dropped them an email just to be sure & yes you can watch it on demand whenever you like.

[Turnleft]

6 hours ago, hammer1969 said:

I've always wondered this exact same question "whose labelled them Elite Sportsmen".  Yes it is a skill and not anyone can ride a Speedway bike it takes years of practice but also I expect a great majority of them have other jobs to supplement their income as it is only a summer sport as well, especially I would have though the riders who only ride for teams in the U.K

Elite is when the participants earn the majority or all of their wages from the sport in question

Grassroots is when the participants earnings from the sport are the minority of their income 

speedway unfortunately sits in both camps, Stock Cars sits only in the Grassroots box

Edited September 24, 2020 by Turnleft

[lucifer sam]

10 hours ago, mikebv said:

Who decided Speedway in the UK was an 'elite' sport?

Was it the Govt or those who run it?

Presume there had to be some set criteria?

No disrespect to it but you could hardly put it at the same level as Football, Rugby, Cricket and Horse Racing..

Could it get reassessed I wonder? 

Go down the route of riders being semi pro at best? 

Many effectively 'pay to compete' given their outlay, similar to stock car drivers, so maybe the sport could be 'down graded' to whatever the stock car level is..

Change 'points money' to 'prize money' and could you then run the sport regularly at a 'non elite' level..?

 

For speedway, the government seem to have decided that the top two leagues are "Elite" and NDL downwards is "Grassroots". As other posters have said, it's largely down to whether most of the competitors at that level are deemed to be professional. 

 

 

[mikebv]

12 minutes ago, lucifer sam said:

For speedway, the government seem to have decided that the top two leagues are "Elite" and NDL downwards is "Grassroots". As other posters have said, it's largely down to whether most of the competitors at that level are deemed to be professional. 

 

 

A shame the sport couldn't get itself classed as 'more grassroots'..

How many riders are truly 100% pro in the UK? ie those who only race and don't do any other work for the rest of the year?

Would they be in the minority?  If so, then couldn't Speedway suggest it was more semi pro/grassroots?

Must be annoying to see Stock Cars and Non League football running in front of crowds ranging from "excellent" to "possibly workable" in the eyes of a Speedway promoter..

[mikebv]

2 hours ago, Turnleft said:

Elite is when the participants earn the majority or all of their wages from the sport in question

Grassroots is when the participants earnings from the sport are the minority of their income 

speedway unfortunately sits in both camps, Stock Cars sits only in the Grassroots box

So could only giving out riders their money as "prize money" won on the night, rather than "guaranteed points money" allow the sport to drop a level?

Those with "other jobs" would have "guaranteed income" and their Speedway earnings would be "nil" unless they "won" money each time they rode. .

Technicalities maybe but if it got fans back in stadiums akin to how stock cars can do it then worth a go surely?

[IainB]

19 hours ago, Argos said:

Let’s get one thing clear this is NOT the British Final, It’s an open meeting made up of 16 riders who are available we all know it’s not the best 16 BRITISH riders, and for the BSPA to call it the British Final is insulting our intelligence and should be prosecuted under the Trades Description Act       

That's funny because it's called the British Final and all riders riding in it have British Passports. Let us know how you get on with your prosecution 

[cityrebel]

16 hours ago, mikebv said:

A shame the sport couldn't get itself classed as 'more grassroots'..

How many riders are truly 100% pro in the UK? ie those who only race and don't do any other work for the rest of the year?

Would they be in the minority?  If so, then couldn't Speedway suggest it was more semi pro/grassroots?

Must be annoying to see Stock Cars and Non League football running in front of crowds ranging from "excellent" to "possibly workable" in the eyes of a Speedway promoter..

The maximum attendance allowed at the non league games I've been to, range from 150 to 600. They have all been compliant with covid regs. Track and trace, sanitizing stations and extra stewards come as standard. No different to the speedway meetings i have attended at Scunny and King's Lynn.

[mikebv]

20 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

The maximum attendance allowed at the non league games I've been to, range from 150 to 600. They have all been compliant with covid regs. Track and trace, sanitizing stations and extra stewards come as standard. No different to the speedway meetings i have attended at Scunny and King's Lynn.

600 (maybe more?), would have been workable at most tracks I would have thought, especially Championship level where crowds of that level are not a million miles away from their actual.

Riders probably wouldn't have had their usual money but it would at least have given them regular racing. 

Seems crackers that Stox can get thousands in the same arenas that Speedway can't have even 'hundreds' in..

Tonight I will sit in a 4500 capacity stadium watching my lad play in the Youth Cup with around 400 to 500 others, with pretty much all social distancing being done by ourselves..

A strange situation..

 

[Gasser90]

The weather not looking too good the next 48 hours in Suffolk, fingers crossed after all the hard work the weather doesn’t beat us 

[norbold]

3 minutes ago, Gasser90 said:

The weather not looking too good the next 48 hours in Suffolk, fingers crossed after all the hard work the weather doesn’t beat us 

The weather round these parts is looking very bad today, but is due to get better and brighten up tomorrow. As you say, fingers crossed.

[False dawn]

21 hours ago, Argos said:

Let’s get one thing clear this is NOT the British Final, It’s an open meeting made up of 16 riders who are available we all know it’s not the best 16 BRITISH riders, and for the BSPA to call it the British Final is insulting our intelligence and should be prosecuted under the Trades Description Act       

Unfortunately, the British Final lost most of it's prestige when it stopped being on the qualification route to the old one off World Final. Back then, it was typically held on a Wednesday night at Brandon and the world and his wife turned out to watch it.
The meeting regained some credibility when the winner became the automatic wildcard at Cardiff. But Brtish Champion? The title carries far less kudos these days.
As to this meeting. I think the addition of "Open" to the name would have been appropriate.

Running any kind speedway meeting this year is inherently difficult. We should enjoy it with that in mind rather than worrying if it qualifies as a "real" British Championship event.

[cinderfella]

3 minutes ago, False dawn said:

Unfortunately, the British Final lost most of it's prestige when it stopped being on the qualification route to the old one off World Final. Back then, it was typically held on a Wednesday night at Brandon and the world and his wife turned out to watch it.
The meeting regained some credibility when the winner became the automatic wildcard at Cardiff. But Brtish Champion? The title carries far less kudos these days.
As to this meeting. I think the addition of "Open" to the name would have been appropriate.

Running any kind speedway meeting this year is inherently difficult. We should enjoy it with that in mind rather than worrying if it qualifies as a "real" British Championship event.

No matter what the meeting is called it is nothing more than an invitational meeting with contestants more than likely chosen with a calculator and phone book.
As you say The British Final, along with the BLRC, lost all credibility years ago and that is reflected  by the apathy of some riders.
Sadly this pandemic has put the red lights on and if ever the sport had a chance of a total rethink,  restructure and rebuild this is the time to do it. The Promoters' Conference should have a lot to discuss this year even though there has been no competitive racing.
Time to move the sport forward.

 

[Fortythirtyeight]

3 minutes ago, cinderfella said:

No matter what the meeting is called it is nothing more than an invitational meeting with contestants more than likely chosen with a calculator and phone book.
As you say The British Final, along with the BLRC, lost all credibility years ago and that is reflected  by the apathy of some riders.
Sadly this pandemic has put the red lights on and if ever the sport had a chance of a total rethink,  restructure and rebuild this is the time to do it. The Promoters' Conference should have a lot to discuss this year even though there has been no competitive racing.
Time to move the sport forward.

 

The ‘ Promoters Circus ‘ event will be via Zoom ( if at all ) as can’t have more than six attending. You think the same clowns on the top table that got us here are now going to completely change tactics?

Time for a revolution but don’t hold your breath.

[cityrebel]

3 minutes ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

The ‘ Promoters Circus ‘ event will be via Zoom ( if at all ) as can’t have more than six attending. You think the same clowns on the top table that got us here are now going to completely change tactics?

Time for a revolution but don’t hold your breath.

If the sport doesent start again next March, it will need a revolution to save it.