DC2

Can they not say “provided the R rate is below 1 we will allow outdoor events of up to 5,000 people where two metre distancing can be practised”?

Haven’t seen that mentioned but Patel did say there would be some exceptions. 14 days quarantine required here from 8 June but of course that could well be lifted by July. Personally I would like to see the government state now whether or not it intends for spectator events to recommence on 1 August. That would give the BSPA a chance to plan for a three month season.

Do you have a 14 day quarantine?

An arbitrary attendance cap of 500 might affect speedway, but I doubt that one based on two metre distancing would have any effect as most stadiums should be able to accommodate 2,000 well-spaced people.

Huddersfield population 150,000, average attendances in PL last year 23,000. Swindon 220,000; would 25,000 be unrealistic?

“Permeate”? You might be right, but it looks like the BSPA thinks otherwise with today’s update.

Average attendance in the Championship is 20,181. Are you saying Swindon’s would be half the average even if we were top six! Apparently our disastrous 1993-94 Premier League season saw an average home crowd of 15,274, so top 6 could well have seen us near capacity (which is a mere 15,728 now, but could be 25,000). Other than Bournemouth on 10,510, every other club in the PL averages more than 20,000 at home.

But there would be no such problem if we ran one league with riders based in this country.

Why would you run individual meetings every two weeks rather than team matches every week? Team matches are far more important to me than individual meetings.

It’s less to do with Society and more to do with which division they’re in and how well they’re doing. 7,000 crowds in the bottom division is very good. If they were top 6 in the Championship they’d be at 15,000 and top six in the Premiership near capacity.

I think there’ll be a big bounce back when we’re finally released from the lockdown!

I’m quite sure that promoters know full well the pay expectations of riders and what might be acceptable to them.

I think it would be a pretty easy sell: ”Hey, fans, the Covid ban has ended and speedway can now run but we can’t fly in the continental stars due to quarantines, so we’re going to try a domestic league with a reduced admission fee. Will you support us or would you rather have no speedway this year?”

Actually it would be speedway’s chance to start taking the nails out of the coffin and lifting the lid on the realisation that it needs to live within its means. As for the admission fee, yes, you would imagine that no flights and fewer big names would result in a lower one, just the same as the different price levels between the PL, the CL and the NL now.

If travel, quarantine and foreign league restrictions aren’t lifted before a re-start is allowed we’ll be left only with a finite number of British riders to make anything of the season. Some clubs might be willing to run and others not. We might be left with a completely unique, one season league of just 10 clubs and a team building average of CL 32! We’d need 70 riders and we have about 85 British riders, including NL ones. Three of Swindon’s top five might be Ellis, Perks and Rowe, and if we could get Jordan Stewart over and have say Kinsley, Luke Harris and Stoneman, I’d be happy to watch that type of team. We might increase the standard or the number of teams if foreigners (including Aussies) base themselves here. Each team could have a home and away meeting each week and conclude the league meetings after week nine, leaving one spare week for rain offs and two weeks for the play offs and final. Without being dependent on foreign riders, clubs could generally run on their preferred race nights and there would be no double uppers! Your rider would be solely your rider. This season could be used as a worthwhile trial for a future blueprint for British speedway, especially one that includes living within its means.

The good folk of Swindon frequently complain about “stop, start” seasons and say they want a home meeting every week. Nine home meetings in nine weeks seems ideal to me.

Stop talking sense!

Calm down, dear, this was my post: “I guess if travel, quarantine and foreign league restrictions aren’t lifted before a re-start is allowed we’ll be left only with a finite number of British riders to make anything of the season. Some clubs might be willing to run and others not. We might be left with a completely unique, one season league of just 10 clubs and a team building average of CL 32! We’d need 70 riders and we have about 85 British riders, including NL ones. Three of Swindon’s top five might be Ellis, Perks and Rowe, and if we could get Jordan Stewart over and have say Kinsley, Luke Harris and Stoneman, I’d be happy to watch that type of team.” We might increase the standard or the number of teams if foreigners (including Aussies) base themselves here. Each team could have a home and away meeting each week and conclude the league meetings after week nine, leaving one spare week for rain offs and two weeks for the play offs and final. Without being dependent on foreign riders, clubs could generally run on their preferred race nights and there would be no double uppers! Your rider would be solely your rider!

That’s why I suggested a British League with just British or British based riders for this year only. Although it would be a chance to trial an interesting option!

I think everyone realises that spectators are necessary!

How do soccer and rugby do it? Are you saying they start the season in August, stop in October, resume in April and finish the following October? Because, they don’t.

I guess if travel, quarantine and foreign league restrictions aren’t lifted before a re-start is allowed we’ll be left only with a finite number of British riders to make anything of the season. Some clubs might be willing to run and others not. We might be left with a completely unique, one season league of just 10 clubs and a team building average of CL 32! We’d need 70 riders and we have about 85 British riders, including NL ones. Three of Swindon’s top five might be Ellis, Perks and Rowe, and if we could get Jordan Stewart over and have say Kinsley, Luke Harris and Stoneman, I’d be happy to watch that type of team.

Agreed. If everyone stands two metres apart inside the stadium and queuing to get in, there should be no problem. Just as there’s no problem doing the same in a park.

Nicolas Klindt? Hans Andersen? Ellis Perks? Kyle Howarth? Charles Wright? All must have 7, 8 or 9?

Darn, didn’t think of that. Sometimes though one marble would “get a bit of grip” by being hit from one behind, especially if I curved my hand (the starting tapes) in a certain way for Martin Ashby.