Foreign Rider's - Should We Help Our Own?

[Daniel Smith]

There have been lots of questions over many year why British riders fail to establish team spots in the British top flight. Even the Championship has a high number of foreign rider's, which in turn see many British riders 'stuck' in the 3rd tier. 

As a thought, should we have stringent restrictions, i.e.

Foreign Rider's;

° All GP rider's with 3yrs+ experience should automatically be 8.00+ (including Brits -25%) 

° SEC / SGP / SWC rider's with 3yrs+ experience should automatically be 7.00+ (including Brits -25%) 

° New rider's to the BPL are automatically 4.50 & can never be below. 

° Rider's over 25 are automatically 6.00 & can never be below.  

For Championship, add 1 point, excluding SGP rider's with 3yrs SGP experience within 5yrs of BCL signing. 

Just an idea. 

Any good?? 

[mikebv]

The Championship should have two "juniors" like Poland have in their top league. 

Giving the UK lads a guaranteed perfect  stepping stone from NL to a higher standard...

Seems crackers that the top league have rising stars but not the league below, given that the RS's in the top league race against world class talent each night..

The sport doesnt need a plethora of World Class GB riders, (it always seems to naturally get 3 or 4 who are of that level), but it does need plenty of "decent" home grown talent that can fill up team places in both Div 1 and 2...

The middle tier would be a perfect breeding ground for the development of those riders..

 

[FromBendThree]

Championship had RS for one year but said early on they would not repeat - and they didn’t. Now a bigger gap is emerging between PL and CL, it would be a good idea to revisit the idea for CL. Not sure the glamour, trophy hunting teams would wish to see this but it’s a good way for CL to get something of a grip on costs and encourage homegrown talents 

[mikebv]

1 hour ago, FromBendThree said:

Championship had RS for one year but said early on they would not repeat - and they didn’t. Now a bigger gap is emerging between PL and CL, it would be a good idea to revisit the idea for CL. Not sure the glamour, trophy hunting teams would wish to see this but it’s a good way for CL to get something of a grip on costs and encourage homegrown talents 

100%...

So the "glamour, trophy hunting teams" should compete in the top tier and let the 2nd Div revert to what it once was...

[FromBendThree]

17 hours ago, mikebv said:

100%...

So the "glamour, trophy hunting teams" should compete in the top tier and let the 2nd Div revert to what it once was...

Absolutely 

[FAST GATER]

I do feel the the NL and Gulf leagues of the 70's were better balanced than today's but maybe it's "rose tinted glasses " I am looking back through !

[Chadster]

Looking at the Championship team line ups it seems there is almost a de facto Rising Star scheme because of the reduction of the team limit. There are a lot of young/inexperienced reserve riders in the league. Will be interested to see how they get on. Of course, if they do well they will effectively ride themselves out of a team place for next year....

[FAST GATER]

11 hours ago, Chadster said:

Looking at the Championship team line ups it seems there is almost a de facto Rising Star scheme because of the reduction of the team limit. There are a lot of young/inexperienced reserve riders in the league. Will be interested to see how they get on. Of course, if they do well they will effectively ride themselves out of a team place for next year....

Is this not how the old Nl operated a mixture of journeymen( with outside jobs ) ,old -hands and young riders who either sink or swim normally within about two seasons  .

[steve roberts]

51 minutes ago, FAST GATER said:

Is this not how the old Nl operated a mixture of journeymen( with outside jobs ) ,old -hands and young riders who either sink or swim normally within about two seasons  .

The old British League Division Two was introduced to generate riders and worked well for a number of years under the retitled New and then National League. However the two leagues moved apart when mis-trust and egostical promoters became prominent and then the intoduction of foreigners only added to the slump.

Edited March 16, 2023 by steve roberts

[Teromaafan]

The important thing to take into consideration here is the number of team places available to riders. After my interest hiatus of 28 years from the sport (the period of Leicester’s absence), I was quite alarmed at how few tracks were operational in 2011 when the Lions roared again. That number has reduced further since then. Whilst not wanting to dwell on the past (I picked up on the sport in the 70s), the biggest problem for me is the amount of doubling up between the top two leagues at present. When I could last be bothered, a check highlighted that about 70% of Championship riders also rode in the Premiership. That speaks volumes for the credibility of the sport. Pitch that to someone that you are trying to introduce to speedway and see what reaction you get. (Stay clear of explaining rider’s guest appearances).

The fact that riders double up is not so much a reflection of a rider shortage, but the fact the extra meetings are essential to most of them to make the sport pay, irrespective of Nationality. Whilst in principle, moves to create more opportunities for young riders should be the way forward, sacrificing a more senior rider to make way for them, will impact on team strength. This doesn’t sit well with Promoters or supporters, neither of whom have any patience with an under performing team. Wearing the financial hat, the ‘future’ of the sport doesn’t extend beyond next week unfortunately.

[arnieg]

On 3/16/2023 at 6:59 AM, steve roberts said:

The old British League Division Two was introduced to generate riders and worked well for a number of years under the retitled New and then National League. However the two leagues moved apart when mis-trust and egostical promoters became prominent and then the intoduction of foreigners only added to the slump.

Surely the 1968 expansion principally came about because speedway was then profitable and existing promoters wanted to open more tracks and make more money. Anything else was a coincidental by-product.

[steve roberts]

1 hour ago, arnieg said:

Surely the 1968 expansion principally came about because speedway was then profitable and existing promoters wanted to open more tracks and make more money. Anything else was a coincidental by-product.

I'm sure that was the general aim but if I recall teams could declare one "old hand" so as to encourage a new breed of riders to develop and because some promoters had a foot in both camps it did generate a flood of riders who went on to ride in Division One.

Edited March 23, 2023 by steve roberts

[Ray Stadia]

11 hours ago, Teromaafan said:

The important thing to take into consideration here is the number of team places available to riders. After my interest hiatus of 28 years from the sport (the period of Leicester’s absence), I was quite alarmed at how few tracks were operational in 2011 when the Lions roared again. That number has reduced further since then. Whilst not wanting to dwell on the past (I picked up on the sport in the 70s), the biggest problem for me is the amount of doubling up between the top two leagues at present. When I could last be bothered, a check highlighted that about 70% of Championship riders also rode in the Premiership. That speaks volumes for the credibility of the sport. Pitch that to someone that you are trying to introduce to speedway and see what reaction you get. (Stay clear of explaining rider’s guest appearances).

The fact that riders double up is not so much a reflection of a rider shortage, but the fact the extra meetings are essential to most of them to make the sport pay, irrespective of Nationality. Whilst in principle, moves to create more opportunities for young riders should be the way forward, sacrificing a more senior rider to make way for them, will impact on team strength. This doesn’t sit well with Promoters or supporters, neither of whom have any patience with an under performing team. Wearing the financial hat, the ‘future’ of the sport doesn’t extend beyond next week unfortunately.

Yes, we should be helping our own, in my opinion. I really think, speedway should ditch its professional/paid image, it should now be an amateur sport, which would make it cheaper for promoters, hopefully, cheaper for supporters and probably many riders. That way you can rebuild speedway from the bottom up. In my opinion, it will then be more attractive for promoters to open tracks. They may start as a 'track in a field', but it would be a start. Let's face it, it definitely won't survive as it stands. 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Ray Stadia

[Technik]

There are riders that will stick to NDL racing & ride for a club that is prepared to pay them an oversized fee for their services in the hope of team success as the return. But if asked to race in higher leagues as reserves they are not so keen to ride for basic point money & only possibly 3 rides when their rewards in NDL are of more value.

I have heard of NDL clubs waiting for a reply from a rider as one of the higher paying clubs might want him & until that option closes the smaller clubs will suffer & in turn so will the progress of British riders as these clubs will fold