Rune Holta...

[tommy 0]

Rune has both a Polish passport and speedway licence. He's ranked 2nd among Polish riders in ekstraliga. Team manager's job is to pick the best polish riders, wether their background is Swedish, Jamaican or Swahili.

[salty 2,202]

This is quite a thorny subject, but I guess riders have to do what they think is right for themselves. The Matej Ferjan situation is based around the fact that Matej has had long running problems with the Slovenian authorities and hasn't riden under the Slovenian banner for a long time. Therefore if the rules allow it why should he not be able to ride for another country once he has passed their immigration restrictions?

Currently Roman Povazhny rides under a Polish licence (I think) which means he avoids been called back to Russia for any number of meetings allowing him to be more freely available for Arena meetings (compared to Darkin and Gafurov).

Consequently he wasn't in the Russian team for the WTC.

I have a lot of time for Rune Holta as a rider and I think he deserves a lot of credit for becoming such a successful rider from a country where Speedway has such a low profile.

I would assume he must have a Polish passport and as such is eligible to represent them and good luck to him.

He is not the first person to have followed that route as it is commonplace in sports such as Athletics and Cricket (Kevin Pietersen being a very topical example).

[rabbit 1]

And I'd add that it certainly seems no more bizarre than a sportsman choosing/being eligible to play/ride for a particular country simply because one of their grandparents happened to come from there xx number of years before. If he's serious enough to have taken up a Polish passport then he must have met their criteria for that, so can't see the big problem to be honest - he rides as a Pole in the Polish leagues (rather than being their one foreign rider) so it's not a sneaky move done just to get him into the SWC team and if the Poles are happy for him to represent them, then who are we to object...

[Old Saint 3]

There is little difference between this and the days when GB was too weak to fill a side with all British born riders. In those days such greats as Briggo rode for GB.

[coma 0]

he rides as a Pole in the Polish leagues (rather than being their one foreign rider) so it's not a sneaky move done just to get him into the SWC team

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No, it was a sneaky move to get him into the leagues as a Pole which also had the second benefit of allowing him to ride in the SWC for Poland too.

Opinion in Poland seems to be split although I feel they were more upset when he was allowed to take part in the Polish Championships (and became Polish Champion! ) not long ago, but not so bothered now he is riding with their riders rather than against them!

 

In general I would say I don't like the idea of people changing nationalities just for their personal careers / earning but have to agree with 21CH, judge each case on it's own merits.

If Hungary, Germany and Russia can enter teams, why can't Norway? They have a few good riders, certainly enough to enter a reasonable team and it would be the sort of experience the kids need to progress. Of course they won't win the SWC but surely Rune would rather be representing his "real" own country whilst raising the profile of the sport there?

 

 

 

BTW when Briggo and the like were riding for us, it was still a British Commonwealth team wasn't it?

[frigbo 518]

There is little difference between this and the days when GB was too weak to fill a side with all British born riders.  In those days such greats as Briggo rode for GB.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yep, and that was daft too!

[Lanzilla 0]

I think the Poles have pulled a stroke too, but I say live and let live. Personally I think the Poles have enough quality without having to bother including Holta, especially on their own soil.

[Derwent 271]

Didn't Andy Smith ride under a Polish licence for a while ?

[rabbit 1]

Still does.

[Photo Eddie 0]

I don't think that this is a case of Poland pulling a fast one. They have selected a team that they believe is strong enough using the best available eligible riders, including Rune Holta, who is a Polish citizen.

 

It might be argued that as Holta is also a Norwegian citizen and has represented Norway at FIM level in the Grand Prix, the old Pairs and World Team Cup (and indeed the qualifying round of the new World Cup in 2001 - the only time I think that Norway have competed) he shouldn't be eligible to ride in another national side. However as in all sports, times have changed and this sort of thing happens all the time. Fiona May represented Britian as a long jumper, married an Italian and won medals for Italy. Speedway was right there at the start of it all - mention has already been made of the farcical situation in the early 1970s when one year there was a GB team with New Zealanders in it, the next there were separate England and Scotland teams and then sometimes an English team with Scotsmen in it.

 

The Norwegian authorities have neglected speedway to the point where it is virtually dead and it is not surprising that their best rider has decided to look elsewhere. I should add that this is a view shared by Dag Lovaas who I interviewed recently. He said he would prefer it if Holta was riding for another Scandinavian country but he was quite sympathetic to his situation.

 

It is worth noting that in Poland the decision is far from being universally popular. Both fans and insiders have mixed feelings and one former World finalist told me that he would prefer to see Poland finish second if it meant giving an international chance to a young Polish rider.

 

Personally I believe that Holta deserves his chance on merit although there are several very good riders knocking on the door (Walasek, Miedzinski, Zabik, Hlib, Miskowiak etc. not to mention Wieslaw Jagus who has never really been given a chance at international level despite frequently outscoring Jason Crump at Torun).

 

The pressure is certainly going to be on Holta to perform tonight. One final point - I believe it is essential for Holta's personal credibility now that he is riding for the Polish national team he should ride in all international situations for Poland rather than Norway. If he does that (and produces the goods on the track of course) he will go a long way towards convincing the doubters.

 

Eddie Slater

Speedway Correspondent - Dziennik Polski

www.dziennikpolski.co.uk

[Subedei 0]

Wouldn't like to be in Holta's shoes if the Poles don't win and it's because he has a couple of poor meetings.

[Mr. Clemens 646]

Eddie Slater

Speedway Correspondent - Dziennik Polski

www.dziennikpolski.co.uk

 

Being this person you are, you must be in a position therefor to answer the question 'why is it with all the riders that poland have at their disposal they should need to use Holta in the first place'?

[Subedei 0]

Being this person you are, you must be in a position therefor to answer the question 'why is it with all the riders that poland have at their disposal they should need to use Holta in the first place'?

 

It's being held in Poland, they want to win and Holta adds strength to their line-up. The Poles have some fabulous young riders coming through, but Holta, an experienced GP rider, is less risky than say Kolodziej or Rempala.

[Photo Eddie 0]

Being this person you are, you must be in a position therefor to answer the question 'why is it with all the riders that poland have at their disposal they should need to use Holta in the first place'?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I suppose the point here is that Holta is a 'rider at Poland's disposal' as he is both a citizen and a Polish licence holder.

 

As I hinted in my earlier post there is no shortage of talented Polish riders and Holta is going to be under tremendous pressure to perform. Polish speedway fans are not known as a forgiving lot!

 

I'm not sure whether my role as the speedway reporter for DP (which is published daily in London) gives me that much more insight into the minds of the selectors than anyone else but I think the reason he has been picked is on the strength of his peformances this season for Czestochowa and VMS Elit. He wasn't particularly impressive in the Eskilstuna GP so I personally think his selection is a big risk.

 

I shall be in Wroclaw for the race off and final so I'll try to speak to some people from the PZM to find out what the justification is. So far there has been little in the way of official comment (although we don't see everything that appears in the Polish press about Speedway - try as we might) other than the announcement first of all that he was in the twelve man squad and then in the team.

 

One wonders what team spirit will be like - Holta recently had an altercation with Krzys Kasprzak's brother which resulted in young Robert being banned from speedway for six months! Looking at the way team GB performed on Sunday night you would have to say that the team was more than the sum of its parts and that team spirit and motivation from Neil Middleditch made a very big difference. I have often thought that Poland have delivered performances in the World Cup that have been less than the sum of the parts. We will soon see!

 

Eddie Slater

Speedway Correspondent - Dziennik Polski

www.dziennikpolski.co.uk

[AndyM 1]

Rune has both a Polish passport and speedway licence. He's ranked 2nd among Polish riders in ekstraliga. Team manager's job is to pick the best polish riders, wether their background is Swedish, Jamaican or Swahili.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Though presumably he hasn't given up his Norwegian nationality or passport in the process but take up dual nationality and therefore qualifies to ride for either country. Perhaps, like Kevin Pietersen and many others, he felt his chances were greater by appearing for his second country?