4thbender Posted September 13, 2022 Report Share Posted September 13, 2022 Judging by the announcement placed on the Tigers' website today, it would appear the home PL fixture with Ipswich will take place AFTER the play-offs. The announcement seems to suggest that Sheffield can still finish top of the Premiership table ahead of the play-offs if they win both of their remaining meetings at Owlerton against King’s Lynn and Belle Vue this Thursday and next. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but six points from those two matches will give us 43 points, matching the 43 that Ipswich already have in the bank. In other words, the outstanding (as yet uncontested) home match with Ippo would effectively be the decider, but it can't happen until AFTER the play-offs! In those circumstances, how will they decide which teams will race against each other in the semi-finals with finishing positions undecided? If I was confused before, my mind is now completely frazzled. Whatever else happens, I'm still betting the Tigers v Ipswich match will be quietly forgotten (or decided BEFORE the play-offs by the toss of a coin), once again short-changing the Sheffield paying customers. After all, when the play-offs have taken place and the league champions have lifted the trophy, what's the point of a further league match that can't have any impact on the result? Considering all the Thursday nights throughout the summer when there's been no action at Owlerton, this position takes some believing. You can't make this stuff up. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnieg Posted September 13, 2022 Report Share Posted September 13, 2022 Finishing positions are irrelevant. It's positions at 22 Sept that count. There have been more than one instance of teams finishing in top 4, but not making the play-offs because some of their points were accrued after the cut-off date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thbender Posted September 13, 2022 Report Share Posted September 13, 2022 7 minutes ago, arnieg said: Finishing positions are irrelevant. It's positions at 22 Sept that count. There have been more than one instance of teams finishing in top 4, but not making the play-offs because some of their points were accrued after the cut-off date. The rules state that the semi-final play-offs will be 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd. How will they decide who is first and who is second with both teams tied on 43 points and the decider yet to be contested? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob B Posted September 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2022 46 minutes ago, 4thbender said: The rules state that the semi-final play-offs will be 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd. How will they decide who is first and who is second with both teams tied on 43 points and the decider yet to be contested? Points difference same as most sports! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racers and royals Posted September 13, 2022 Report Share Posted September 13, 2022 11 hours ago, arnieg said: Lightweights. Is that all, a pathetic 11 meetings in 6 weeks. In 1992 Reading Racers rode 16 matches in 24 days (5-28 Oct) I know i`m still recovering 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Jacobs Posted September 13, 2022 Report Share Posted September 13, 2022 2 hours ago, 4thbender said: The rules state that the semi-final play-offs will be 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd. How will they decide who is first and who is second with both teams tied on 43 points and the decider yet to be contested? Points difference. Assuming Sheffield win both of their other home matches, then they will be worthy Champions, sorry, first place in the League. The Pools Panel and Duckworth Lewis would give Sheffield a win against Ipswich. Also, the Witches have three bonus points from Stupid Heats, so they're currently on 40. I know "rules are rules", but the Stupid Heat really is the most pointless rule since the Tactical Joker. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Jacobs Posted September 14, 2022 Report Share Posted September 14, 2022 11 hours ago, arnieg said: Finishing positions are irrelevant. It's positions at 22 Sept that count. There have been more than one instance of teams finishing in top 4, but not making the play-offs because some of their points were accrued after the cut-off date. Which is a remarkably poor situation to be in. Acceptance of that enables the continued mismanagement and decline. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobHowe Posted September 14, 2022 Report Share Posted September 14, 2022 On 9/12/2022 at 7:05 PM, 4thbender said: With the cut-off date having been set as the conclusion of fixtures on Thursday September 22 and the meeting with Ipswich next Monday having been cancelled, I'm guessing that the match with Ipswich won't now take place at all. The ridiculous prospect of having to organise a last-minute 'double header' (or determine final league positions on the toss of a coin!) just adds further hilarity to the laughing stock that is premiership speedway. Between April and September there have been 26 Thursdays and 26 Mondays, yet the league management and Owlerton hierarchy have conspired to make a cock-up of fitting in ten home league matches. Considering the vast length of week-after-week inactivity that have dogged us throughout the summer, it is yet another shameful spectacle that we should encounter such a backlog of fixtures at this late stage. But the season's not over yet.... as well as the Ipswich fixture, we have home matches with Kings Lynn and Belle Vue also to fit in, and just nine days to do it! What's the weather forecast for this Autumn period? Sheffield’s “inactivity” on Thursdays through the summer: 9th June - home v Wolves 16th June - Pairs at Ipswich 23rd June - away v Kings Lynn 30th June - no meeting 7th July - Pairs at Kings Lynn 14th July - home v Peterborough 21st July - away v Ipswich 28th July - SoN 4th Aug - home v Wolves - called off due to work on the dog track 11th Aug - no meeting 18th Aug - home Pairs - rained off 25th Aug - home v Belle Vue - rained off 1st Sept - home v Wolves 8th Sept - away v Kings Lynn 15th Sept - home v Kings Lynn So there were two Thursdays when it might have been possible to run a meeting if an opposing team was available. Hindsight is a wonderful thing when you’re sat behind the anonymity of a keyboard and a made up Username, but the reality is without the unfortunate and unforeseen issues with the stadium and some terrible bad luck with weather we wouldn’t be in the position we are in. But you knew that before you posted. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted September 14, 2022 Report Share Posted September 14, 2022 2 hours ago, RobHowe said: Sheffield’s “inactivity” on Thursdays through the summer: 9th June - home v Wolves 16th June - Pairs at Ipswich 23rd June - away v Kings Lynn 30th June - no meeting 7th July - Pairs at Kings Lynn 14th July - home v Peterborough 21st July - away v Ipswich 28th July - SoN 4th Aug - home v Wolves - called off due to work on the dog track 11th Aug - no meeting 18th Aug - home Pairs - rained off 25th Aug - home v Belle Vue - rained off 1st Sept - home v Wolves 8th Sept - away v Kings Lynn 15th Sept - home v Kings Lynn So there were two Thursdays when it might have been possible to run a meeting if an opposing team was available. Hindsight is a wonderful thing when you’re sat behind the anonymity of a keyboard and a made up Username, but the reality is without the unfortunate and unforeseen issues with the stadium and some terrible bad luck with weather we wouldn’t be in the position we are in. But you knew that before you posted. Maybe not starting the flagship competition until June didnt help? And they havent finished the other one yet have they? The one that meant the flagship competion started so late... Not to mention the pairs havent been completed yet either... Maybe given it is only 6 meetings they should have done the pairs during October and tried to fit them in Mon/Thu for 3 weeks..? Would have kept interest too, unlike now where it has dragged on... And meant the league took priority as well as was finished by the end of September... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobHowe Posted September 14, 2022 Report Share Posted September 14, 2022 7 hours ago, mikebv said: Maybe not starting the flagship competition until June didnt help? And they havent finished the other one yet have they? The one that meant the flagship competion started so late... Not to mention the pairs havent been completed yet either... Maybe given it is only 6 meetings they should have done the pairs during October and tried to fit them in Mon/Thu for 3 weeks..? Would have kept interest too, unlike now where it has dragged on... And meant the league took priority as well as was finished by the end of September... I don't know about any other team but Sheffield's league campaign started in May. However I think the TV coverage and their requirements may well dictate when the league starts and, especially, when it finishes. Given that in reality every club currently has circa 13-14 home meetings, not counting Playoffs, to schedule over a 20-25 week season, had they run everything on a week by week basis the season could have been done and dusted by the end of July. Had that happened I'm pretty sure the usual suspects on here would have been complaining about not spreading the meetings out over the whole season. I completely get the frustration though, however we are where we are and complaining after the fact doesn't help. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trees Posted September 15, 2022 Report Share Posted September 15, 2022 On 9/13/2022 at 10:16 AM, Racin Jason 72 said: It needs someone like Phil Morris to sort it out. He can't even ensure the GPs are run on decent tracks over the world of speedway, he can't have any influence! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted September 15, 2022 Report Share Posted September 15, 2022 (edited) 14 hours ago, RobHowe said: I don't know about any other team but Sheffield's league campaign started in May. However I think the TV coverage and their requirements may well dictate when the league starts and, especially, when it finishes. Given that in reality every club currently has circa 13-14 home meetings, not counting Playoffs, to schedule over a 20-25 week season, had they run everything on a week by week basis the season could have been done and dusted by the end of July. Had that happened I'm pretty sure the usual suspects on here would have been complaining about not spreading the meetings out over the whole season. I completely get the frustration though, however we are where we are and complaining after the fact doesn't help. But you don't need a crystal ball to see where we ALWAYS end up... ie cramming in meetings to complete a season... It will be the same next year, the same the year after that, and the year after that etc etc... Split the season into four sectors from April to November... 1. The "Cup" thingy. - 3 Home meetings per team and a another one for the two finalists. All done by the end of April... 2. The Premiership. - May to the first week of September. Meaning you run the play offs in the better weather and you take the most advantage of the kids being off school. 3. The Pairs - 2nd Week of September to October. Done in three weeks to keep fans interested. 4. All the rest - October. The League Riders Championships, The National Individual Finals, Any Testimonials, Any Individual Comps. That way you would keep interest in the Comps and also get some momentum fan wise through the year. Currently with all comps ending at the same time any succesful tracks cannot build on that success as their season often ends on the night of that success.... It also can mean fans forking out for five or six meetings within a one month salary window (regardless of following a succesful team), on colder evenings where they closely most monitor the weather forecasts, and even "light drizzle" will then keep them away... Sheffield are doing a "three match special" for £50 which highlights they recognise the issue so fair play to them... But not needed really if they all had a structure to their season... Edited September 15, 2022 by mikebv 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPEEDY69 Posted September 15, 2022 Report Share Posted September 15, 2022 Agree, if your club does not make the play offs then you don't want the season to end too soon so your proposal here deals with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thbender Posted September 15, 2022 Report Share Posted September 15, 2022 On 9/14/2022 at 11:39 AM, RobHowe said: Sheffield’s “inactivity” on Thursdays through the summer: 9th June - home v Wolves 16th June - Pairs at Ipswich 23rd June - away v Kings Lynn 30th June - no meeting 7th July - Pairs at Kings Lynn 14th July - home v Peterborough 21st July - away v Ipswich 28th July - SoN 4th Aug - home v Wolves - called off due to work on the dog track 11th Aug - no meeting 18th Aug - home Pairs - rained off 25th Aug - home v Belle Vue - rained off 1st Sept - home v Wolves 8th Sept - away v Kings Lynn 15th Sept - home v Kings Lynn So there were two Thursdays when it might have been possible to run a meeting if an opposing team was available. Hindsight is a wonderful thing when you’re sat behind the anonymity of a keyboard and a made up Username, but the reality is without the unfortunate and unforeseen issues with the stadium and some terrible bad luck with weather we wouldn’t be in the position we are in. But you knew that before you posted. I stand by my assertion that there is some major malfunction in the way speedway is being run. As I pointed out earlier in this thread, Sheffield's home calendar for 1967 shows a grand total of 31 Thursday race-nights, all with packed houses of paying customers. Perhaps those were the days when we had people running the sport who knew what they were doing, but If the league management fail to organise the weekly arrangements for what is barely a dozen meetings per team throughout the season, there is something amiss. Even your friend Peter Mole wrote in tonight's programme notes that the last home fixture "was almost like an away fixture for our lads, we've had so few meetings at Owlerton recently." Says it all, really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racers and royals Posted September 16, 2022 Report Share Posted September 16, 2022 (edited) On 9/12/2022 at 6:24 PM, Rob B said: Each team home leg been confirmed: SEP 26 - WOLVES v TBC SEP 29 - IPSWICH v TBC OCT 3 - BELLE VUE v TBC OCT 6 - SHEFFIELD v TBC With Sheffield meeting being postponed on Monday, will they have to do double header next Thursday 22nd now? Eurosport scheduled to show all 4 Sf’s live Edited September 16, 2022 by racers and royals 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob B Posted September 22, 2022 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2022 SEP 26 - WOLVES v SHEFFIELD SEP 29 - IPSWICH v BELLE VUE OCT 3 - BELLE VUE v IPSWICH OCT 6 - SHEFFIELD v WOLVES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beowulf Posted September 23, 2022 Report Share Posted September 23, 2022 12 hours ago, Rob B said: SEP 26 - WOLVES v SHEFFIELD SEP 29 - IPSWICH v BELLE VUE OCT 3 - BELLE VUE v IPSWICH OCT 6 - SHEFFIELD v WOLVES Pure coincidence of course that both semi's are Monday v Thursday tracks. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted September 23, 2022 Report Share Posted September 23, 2022 8 hours ago, Beowulf said: Pure coincidence of course that both semi's are Monday v Thursday tracks. Hasn't that "spookily" happened before? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric i Posted September 23, 2022 Report Share Posted September 23, 2022 8 hours ago, Beowulf said: Pure coincidence of course that both semi's are Monday v Thursday tracks. The semi-final line-up is based on the final league table: 1st v 4th, 2nd v 3rd 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arch Stanton Posted September 23, 2022 Report Share Posted September 23, 2022 11 minutes ago, eric i said: The semi-final line-up is based on the final league table: 1st v 4th, 2nd v 3rd We don’t know what that the final league table is yet though.. but I know what you mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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