RobMcCaffery

So there is no other choice. Yes that is defeatist and far more patronising than anything I posted. We mifght as well just let the sport fade away with that kind of attitude. I'm quite sincere about the smaller BEL. At present there is an attitude that everybody is out of step apart from the likes of Poole, Swindon Coventry & Wolverhampton and those who can't compete financially are simply not trying hard enough. There are times when I am sure that many people wish that you could all go off and play your own private little games, take your tedious on-line battles with you and let the rest of speedway get on with it. Rob McCaffery

They are probably old enough to be of interest now ;-) Now look young Superkin......er Bryn (must look up definition of 'young') I may have severed my links with Rye House many a season ago but my interest in Hackney was purely academic ;-) - and Mrs.McC would throw a fit - not for looking at young girls mainly because she was a Hawk and certainly not a 'budgie' ;-) . She still calls the Hackney Kestrels "The Leyton Buzzards". Hmm - on second thoughts that isn't the troupe of hairy/bearded cheer 'girls' mainly recruited from the Vic Harding Lounge by any chance? Veering rapidly back on-topic.... This has been a fascinating debate. If Sky are allowing presenters to criticise the product you can guarantee that it is in a very weak position. The mantra at Sky is always to talk the product up. I am sure that a very detailed review of product quality is needed by BSI - not in the presentation which is first class but in that core product, the racing. Certain tracks have abjectly failed to provide a worthwhile TV show. They must concentrate on those GPs that worked and produced great TV, not just atmosphere and either make sure that other venues are b`rought up to standard or deleted from the schedule. Quite simply if a track doesn't entertain it's future on the schedule has to be reviewed irrespective of how powerful the organising club or federation is. Equally if tracks are not being prepared to their best potential steps have to be taken now. The SWC round at Peterborough was excellent. If it takes a decent budget, quality materials and local expertise to make these events work then those elements MUST be used. We must not waste the opportunity that we have to sell the sport both nationally and world-wide. The sport deserves better than the 2009 GP series. Rob McCaffery.

I must echo the thanks to Phil (me old mucka?) for taking part in this debate. It does show what the forum is capable of if people treat it properly. I hate what the GPs have done to British Speedway but while we have them it's vital that they are a top quality product throughout. The point regarding the failure of the British riders in this year's series is a very vaild one in terms of the events' appeal in this country. The poverty of the racing at times, not just in Krsko surely doesn't help and has to be a concern. Yes Sky have many sports to show on a Saturday night but I doubt whether there's more than there have been over the past seasons. Most of Sky's top-level development lately has been in the field of European mid-week football so I would suspect they are very disllusioned with us. With the BEL having had a torrid season let's hope for some great play-off matches to give an encouraging finale to what has been a difficult year for televised speedway. Rob McCaffery. Another afterthought. I'd suggest BSI have a few words with the Slovenian start line girls to see if they have a few more Saturdays free next year...

Philip, many thanks for your as-usual informative posting on the subject of the SGP. I do wish that more people with knowledge of and influence in the sport such as yours would post openly here as you do. Perhaps we could raise the level of debate above that of "my team's bigger than your team" that so wastes the opportunity given by a forum like this. Now you raise several points that I'd like to offer some thoughts on which for convenience I've numbered. I hope that you could clarify on some if possible. 1 - I don't think people really think it's an easy problem to remedy but I'm sure many posters will be glad to know that the problem is recognised. 2 - I can appreciate that expectations of racing quality can vary from track to track let alone couintry. I saw a lot of my early speedway at Hackney which while it had significant safety problems was a track that in its heyday provided excellent racing. However it grieves me that the BEL has been brought to its knees in order to provide Slovenian fans with the dross that we saw on Saturday night. I've never been a big fan of World Championship or individual racing itself. At least under the previous format it could carry on without wrecking my main focus, team league speedway. A trip to Wembley every few years was a bit of light relief and it didn't wreck eleven weekends a year. 3 - Attendances. I'm glad to hear that they are holding-up. The hype is very effective. It's a moot point for how long of course. For many the meetings are the major event of a track or country's season so I suppose plenty will go for the sense of occasion even if the intrinsic product is deeply lacking. As you say perceptions of what makes a good speedway meeting do differ. 4 - It is clear that the staging of events is very professional and some may say it has to be in view of the underlying product. 5 - I agree with you totally about track surfaces. This is a fundamental problem that has to be resolved. As I have said many times you have to have racing to capture the passing fan and hold those you have. If the racing's great it's remarkable how the problems of the sport seem to be so less important. 6 - It's great to see that some research & development in speedway is looking at how to improve the product rather than just make it faster. I look forward to being informed of the tyre issue. 7 - Yes the racing wasn't always that great especially at Wembley. It wasn't so important when in effect the World Championship was a kind of 'side-show' to the real product in established speedway nations - league racing and while qualifying rounds were disruptive there were only a handful of meetings to disrupt this instead of eleven. 8 - Nobody expects perfection but it's not a bad thing to aim for... The SGP has been a boon to lesser speedway nations but Britain in particular has been battered by it. It would be easier to accept this if much of the time it wasn't so downright boring! I just wish the fundamental product was as good as its presentation. Rob McCaffery. Edited to add one extra point. It would be useful to know how BSI feel about the last two GPs' treatment by Sky. I'd be concerned, are they?

I'm lucky enough to have seen top-flight racing running with 18-19 tracks and a large proportion running to large crowds on Friday and Saturday nights. Now I see a BEL on his last legs, struggling to keep a nine team league going, running to pathetically low crowds and having to avoid Saturday and Friday nights like the plague except for the odd weekend where there are no GPs. Now it seems even Thursdays are becoming too inconvenient. I also see huge gaps in fixture lists with too many tracks lying idle through prime weeks of the season and several tracks running out of official fixtures before September has even got going, or worse August in Peterborough's case. All this so that the likes of Slovenia can have one big, pointless and tedious meeting like last night. Perhgaps it is best if the BEL retreats to Monday night racing with say four to six tracks running with all-star teams for about a dozen meetings each a season, and let the rest of speedway get on with it. You wouldn't tell a sick person that there was no point in treating them because "time has moved on" or "the past is the past". Why do we do that to an ailing Elite League? Rob McCaffery.

This GP series shows just how dull it can be. Great riders and often impressive stadia, all very flashy and hyped to the limit, albeit very professionally. Underneath it all, once you look past the shiny bits there's very little. The series is far too drawn out and the champion known far too long before the end. The racing is occasionally wonderful but far, far too infrequently so. It's a bore. What we have is a long series of build-up events building to...just what exactly? Perhaps a streamlining is needed with say a half-dozen meetings with a wider field of riders with places in each meeting determined by on-track results, not reputations decided in meeting rooms building up to a final where the championship is decided, thus bringing it to a suitable thrilling climax? Oh sorry, we had that but threw it away. Oh well, the sport must move on. If we keep telling people the current system's wonderful we'll still catch new mugs to replace the ones that see through it all and give it up as a bad job. Won't we? Well, with luck Sky will start up another half dozen sports channels so maybe the GPs can find a place somewhere occasionally. </irony> Rob McCaffery.

There were more than a few satellites in geostationary orbit last time I looked and the Sky system uses a fair number. It's come on a bit since 16 channel satellites. (Mind you even that was 'luxury' compared with the Intelsat 'bird' that I used to appear on). Bear in mind the Virgin fibre optic service carries considerable broadband internet and telephony streams before you even look at the bandwidth allocation for TV. A "switched star" fibre optic cable network has considerable bandwidth and interactivity but far from unlimited. Either way the Sky interactive service is very obscure compared to the BBC's and being relegated to it really shows how speedway could be falling in Sky's priorities. Why has this problem only just occurred I wonder? Rob McCaffery.

That may be the case at Swindon but ask the fans of Berwick, Rye House, Stoke, Workington and next year it seems Leicester. The trick seems to be to run meetings that don't involve GP riders. Of course Saturday night speedway is viable - if you remove the parasitical GP system. Rob McCaffery.

Too right! I normally just ignore them as an irrelevance but this bunch had personality and were out to entertain. Apart from that it was a dire meeting and sadly not the first one this year. We keep getting told that shrinking the BEL fixture list will work because "less can be more". Isn't it time to take a similar view about the GP circus given the consistently appalling quality of racing at several circuits clearly chosen solely on political grounds? Still it gives the FIM 'dignitaries' plenty of foreign travel and some very good meals. With Jason Crump so far ahead, and good luck to him, it doesn't even make the scores interesting. Once about this time of year we used to gather in places like Wembley, Ullevi and the Slaski stadia to share the tension of a one-off world final. Now we get an endless procession of dull meetings wrapped up in hype with the champion normally decided weeks before the end of the series. At best only a handful have a chance after the opening few meetings. Still the sport has moved on many will say - right into a brick wall others may say... It wouldn't be so bad if most of the meetings weren't so dull. Those who were cut off at heat 8 tonight by Sky were really the lucky ones. Rob McCaffery.

I think you'll find that's a question of capacity. There are only so many signals that you can send through a cable system wheras the satellite system is limited only by the number of satellites that are put into orbit, and there are quite a few used by Sky! BBC interactive services are always likely to be a far higher priorioty than Sky which despite its hype and continuing growth is still a service watched by very few people compared to the main channels. We're talking hundreds of thousands against several millions. I think people should be worried about the last two GPs being relegated to the 'red button' service because it certainly doesn't show Sky having a commitment to the sport at the moment. Perhaps the BSPA's renegotiation of the speedway rights is about to backfire in a major way? Either way that tedious meeting tonight got the coverage it deserved. When the inside gates are so totally dominant and there's virtually no scope for passing it really was a waste of TV space. Remember when Channel 4 showed GP highlights - then moved them to four in the morning? I hope it's not the beginning of the end but far too often when you cut away the GP hype there's not a great deal left. Rob McCaffery.

But viewers still pay Sky either way, it's just in one case they pay via a middle-man, Virgin. Bear in mind a lot of people aren't able to have Sky direct due to planning regulations about dishes or lack of a sight-line to the satellites due to obstructions. If Sky are prepared to sell their services via Virgin then the end consumer has the right to the same product. Rob McCaffery.

A typically crass and insensitive posting. Try to consider the many cases where people aren't allowed to have dishes and have to rely on cable instead. Of course you'd have them move house, or more likely flat. It's not necessarily about price. See my response to Blazeaway. It's more complex than you'd like to think and people have a right to voice concerns without being accused of bleating. Rob McCaffery.

Because Virgin buy channels from Sky which makes their customers Sky's, just indirectly, or do you think Virgin Media get access to Sky programming for nothing? Rob McCaffery.

It's not pool for a starter. It's a form of billiards that's very popular across Benelux. You score points for cannons only - hitting the two other balls with yours in one shot. The legendary Tony's Tattoo Bar in Groningen, haunted by a few ice-racing followers, had a good table although it was a bit tricky getting the local 'ladies' to let you have a shot. Er, should I re-phrase that? Even without Cribby it's well worth getting over there for more - ice-racing that is, not pocketless billiards ;-). I was once blamed by Cribby for him failing to qualify from a meeting because I was wearing green. It's a bit ironic considering his history of UK tracks... 25 years on and Posa Serenius is still winning races. Fond memories of a very mis-spent youth - finish commentating about 10 on the Saturday, head into town and try to sober up for lunchtime on the Sunday for day 2. Rob McCaffery.

Congratulations to Workington on their sixteenth home victory of the year. Obviously this time it was rather tougher than normal but nonetheless they remain unbeaten at home. Some have claimed that Derwent Park has no home advantage. If that is so why haven't the Comets won a similar amount of away meetingsd? Of course staging these supposedly-prestigious events on the track of one of the participating teams reduces it to a farce in sporting terms but I doubt very much that those are the terms underconsideration when planning this event. It's simply a money-maker for the BSPA held at a track that can generate plenty of it. The fans will turn up, cash in the bank - easy. Several people mentioned how Peterborough is the spiritual home of the 4TT. That was fine though whenever the Panthers weren't in the finals. As many will remember then Peterborough matched Workington's achievements most years. Now however that's academic so it is time to use a track like that again. Of course Workington had to do the job on-track but even the most one-eyed of five minute speedway fans would realise that they had a significant help in achieving it. Back to qualifiers and a neutral venue if you're running a sporting event - leave it as it is if you're just out to take money off supporters but don't try to pretend it's the former. Rob McCaffery.

Because what you post is offensive, boorish, disrespectful, arrogant and complacent garbage perhaps, all delivered in total cowardice from behined a moronic name? Apart from that it's fine. Rob McCaffery

I think you've read the situation superbly. Any SWC event is a marathon at 25 heats but to add the need to cover for an hour on Saturday and then to cover the delays on Sunday turned it into a very, very difficult task. To then have to do it in the morning without the benefit of Messrs Pearson, Heuwen and Green just takes the achievement to another level. Tony Millard is a very experienced journalist who has a good record in reporting sport, mainly football plus of course speedway for BBC radio as well as announcing for several years at Eastbourne speedway. Given such an impressive cv I could never understand how his speedway commentaries became so stale, factually-inaccurate and cliche-ridden. Equally I am sure he would have had his own strong views on my own efforts in the genre if he came across them. It was a relief to hear Nigel take over even if his work is sometimes over-projected (NOT shouted) but his factual knowlege and authority would not be challenged by most knowledgable speedway people. As I've said before when ypu commentate, present, interview or report your style is often dictated to you by your editor or producer. Few have total freedom to do it their own way. That was a heck of a challenge to all and I think they did a magnificent job in the most difficult of circumstances. Charlie Webster really came of age in these broadcasts; she's clearly been doing her homework and I can confirm from personal experience that getting the timing right when having to seek out pit interviews is downright tough. She did her job, got the mic in there and dealt with the situation effectively when inevitably riders weren't able to help her. It isn't easy, I can tell you, even at a minor league match, let alone a World Cup Final. Congratulations to the Pearsons on their new arrival and I hope the rumour's not true that certain posters on this forum have been whingeing because the youngster's crying is "dooin' their 'eds in". Rob McCaffery. (The ex-Screensport one, not the ex-Sky Sports one)

I do suspect that is about the only smart aspect of this incident. Rob McCaffery.

Showing an old match instead - Gdansk v Bydgoszcz Rob McCaffery

Unfortunately it appears from the Wroclaw website that their match is off and rearranged for June 11th. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=e...gb:IE-SearchBox Click on "Informacje" Rob McCaffery.

I've watched a couple of meetings on Danish TV recently and it is definitely "Peedersen" not "Peddersen", so we've been getting it wrong for quite some time. Mind you I guess having Bo Petersen about should have been a clue. It's not as bad as the Vetlanda announcer in Sweden years ago calling Kelly & Shawn "Moron". Hmm, maybe... Rob McCaffery.

If you genuinely thought that was atrocious and unprofessional well I think the problem lies with you not them. Just what do you expect? They're working for Sky who expect a certain style of commentary. You have the right not to like the style but to accuse them of being unprofessional is absolutely out of order. Rob McCaffery.

A heck of a surprise on BBC Essex's website today. http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/content/article...s_feature.shtml Rob McCaffery.

This seems remarkably identical to a posting attributed to Jonathan Chapman in the Individual meetings section. Rob McCaffery.

They have a full team racing schedule, just like us with several divisions. Last time I watched vthe Polish league there were a few differences to our league match formula but not enough for it to look very different from speedway as we know it in Britain, excepting the larger tracks and crowds. Sweden is pretty much the same except without the large crowds unless things have picked up there in recent years. Apart from the UK, Poland and Sweden any league racing tends to be very limited in scope although countries like Denmark do stage it. Bear in mind most of the racing and equipment rules are pretty standard worldwide although meeting formats often vary. Hope this helps, Rob McCaffery.