2014 European Speedway Championships

[Hunty 189]

The Sayfudinov coments are a tricky, he says that there is no profit in GP racing and that medals or GP's hes won have not attracted sponsers from Russia...What is he really after then, the money or the glory! Can he have both?

Look at Tai now...he well and truley has the Money with the Monster backing he nis now getting and then look at the glory he has got!

 

The one thing that anoys everybody in speedway is the Money aspect, thats what everyone wants and not everyone gets it! There is not enough to go around.

 

The thing about this bickering between the SEC and the SGP is that the riders only seem to be after one thing. Where as I can see where the SGP are coming from with the riders riding in another series they run the risk of injury. As of last year those injuries, all be it they didnt come from SEC racing cause a very intresting Title challenge to become an easier passage for Tai even with all the drama that came with him winning it.

 

Maybe Sec should look at doing a Winter series that takes place in Indoor arenas and then they dont have to worry about them crossing over and causing championships to be defucnt.

[iris123 20,935]

The one thing that anoys everybody in speedway is the Money aspect, thats what everyone wants and not everyone gets it! There is not enough to go around.

 

The thing about this bickering between the SEC and the SGP is that the riders only seem to be after one thing. Where as I can see where the SGP are coming from with the riders riding in another series they run the risk of injury. As of last year those injuries, all be it they didnt come from SEC racing cause a very intresting Title challenge to become an easier passage for Tai even with all the drama that came with him winning it.

 

Maybe Sec should look at doing a Winter series that takes place in Indoor arenas and then they dont have to worry about them crossing over and causing championships to be defucnt.

Speedway has got itself into a real state.You can't say the SEC is a problem for the SGP with riders getting injured.They have 4, maybe a few more would be planned,meetings.How many do they have in the Swedish or Polish or Danish etc leagues?This is the big problem.Riders ride all over the place.They can sign up to as many leagues as they can fit in.Now the FIM are saying they can't sign up for a speedway competition.Doesn't matter what it is called it just obviously isn't right to do that.If this does go to court,i'd imagine the FIM will be hard put to win and then it could mean big problems.

 

On the other hand i can see where Tsunami is coming from.People say the SGP is boring with the same riders.Well give this a few years and you will just have the same riders pretty much in both series and there won't be a lot of difference.I'd quite like a decent series with riders just below SGP level,but i doubt if the sponsors,tracks and tv would be that interested.More importantly would enough fans?

 

It is time speedway had a big shake up.This might just be the first step in getting the whole thing into shape.Although i somehow doubt it will go to the European Court or any other court......

[New Science 1,059]

The Sayfudinov coments are a tricky, he says that there is no profit in GP racing and that medals or GP's hes won have not attracted sponsers from Russia...What is he really after then, the money or the glory! Can he have both?

 

Look at Tai now...he well and truley has the Money with the Monster backing he nis now getting and then look at the glory he has got!

 

The one thing that anoys everybody in speedway is the Money aspect, thats what everyone wants and not everyone gets it! There is not enough to go around.

 

The thing about this bickering between the SEC and the SGP is that the riders only seem to be after one thing. Where as I can see where the SGP are coming from with the riders riding in another series they run the risk of injury. As of last year those injuries, all be it they didnt come from SEC racing cause a very intresting Title challenge to become an easier passage for Tai even with all the drama that came with him winning it.

 

Maybe Sec should look at doing a Winter series that takes place in Indoor arenas and then they dont have to worry about them crossing over and causing championships to be defucnt.

Tai has only recently acquired Monster sponsorship,Emil has had Red Bull sponsorship for many years which would dwarf that of Woffinden.The argument of riders getting injured in a rival series is a flawed one as all GP riders ride in several leagues across Europe all summer.Maybe the Elite league,Polish and Swedish league should sue the F.I.M for compensation if their contracted riders get injured in F.I.M events.Just a thought Edited November 14, 2013 by New Science

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

VERY much doubt that Red Bull sponsorship of Sayfutdinov dwarfs that of Woffinden and Monster.

 

The FIM have got themselves into a right pickle over this. However, presumably they didn't just charge straight in and consulted their own lawyers first to establish whether or not they were on sound ground. As usual it will only be the legal guys making money out of this sorry saga.

 

Sooner or later there will have to be a compromise ... let's hope it is the former.

[iris123 20,935]

VERY much doubt that Red Bull sponsorship of Sayfutdinov dwarfs that of Woffinden and Monster.

The way i understood the statement Phil was that over the period of Red Bull sponsorship, Emil has earnt a lot more than Tai has out of Monster.Not that the current yearly deal is much better.Might be wrong though.....

[BWitcher 12,453]

 

Not bad ? Anti BSI/SGP feelings of Polish fans have been known for some years . It's nothing new, and the last move of BSI/FIM looks like a last straw.

There are already voices calling for 'twit for tat'. If BSI/FIM wants to play dirty, let them, but they will be paid back by the same tactics. Sundays matches in the Polish Ekstra Liga are likely to be switched to Saturdays. Which means that unless BSI will pay more than Polish League, SGP riders will ride on Saturdays in Poland. That's one option already mentioned. There are many more to be considered.

The more I read, the more I come to the conclusion the problem doesn't lie with BSI who go about their business in a professional manner.

 

The problem lies with Polish speedway. We know many of the owners are, shall we say, not entirely reputable with links to certain organisations. They are used to bullying to get what they want. Indeed we only have to look at the recent Polish Playoffs to see an example of that.

 

Haven't they already tried to throw a spanner in the GP works with their "1 GP rider per team" rule, which they were soon forced to back down from.

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

The way i understood the statement Phil was that over the period of Red Bull sponsorship, Emil has earnt a lot more than Tai has out of Monster.Not that the current yearly deal is much better.Might be wrong though.....

WELL, as Tai has only just started his Monster deal that much is true. But from what I hear, and it is no more than that, Red Bull don't pour much money into speedway although there are fringe benefits as Jason Crump experienced when he was injured although that may have had more to do with his friendship with Mark Webber.

[severnsider 197]

Could the threatened court case cause issues for Polish & Swedish league racing also with the restrictions on teams using certain numbers of home grown riders as surely this also restricts rider options

[Humphrey Appleby 13,938]

The thing about this bickering between the SEC and the SGP is that the riders only seem to be after one thing. Where as I can see where the SGP are coming from with the riders riding in another series they run the risk of injury.

It's purely a matter of money. GP riders can be injured in league matches or open meetings, but unless BSI are prepared to stump up a living wage so they can be exclusively contracted to the SGP, then that's just an occupational hazard of their business.

 

Of course there's nowhere near enough money in the SGP to compete with the Polish leagues, and frankly I doubt BSI cares that much either. They still get the pick of dates and the best riders for relatively modest sums of money and make a reasonable profit on the back of it.

Edited November 14, 2013 by Humphrey Appleby

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

AND, as Jason Crump and Tony Rickardsson pointed out, produce a World Championship series worthy of the name. Some riders might just be in it for the money but those two, and many more, now look back on their careers which included racing at places like Cardiff and Copenhagen. It was something Rickardsson spoke about at the Stockholm event this year ... it's has come a long way since GPs were held at Linkoping.

[Humphrey Appleby 13,938]

AND, as Jason Crump and Tony Rickardsson pointed out, produce a World Championship series worthy of the name.

It would be amazing how loyalty would ebb away if the European Championship (or whatever) started paying big money. Other sports have seen breakaways or threatened breakaways when the top competitions are seen not to be leveraging enough income for the players.

 

There's been no other shop window in speedway up until now, but now there might be an alternative. I don't consider it to be good for the sport, but questioning why the riders take home a relative pittance whilst BSI and the FIM trouser 3 million or so is long overdue.

Edited November 14, 2013 by Humphrey Appleby

[racers and royals 8,712]

Offical statement from one sport copied from the SEC website

 

November 17 officially comes into force provision introduced by the FIM - Europe prohibits competing in the European Championships competitors who are regular participants at Grand Prix. Therefore, the company One Sport has released an official statement which clearly underlines the inconsistency of this record with European law.

"As a result of the decisions that can be made this weekend, about banning the riders of FIM Speedway Grand Prix from start in Speedway European Championships, we want to once again openly protest and point out the illegality of this idea. The adoption of the challenged decision could be particularly incompatible with EU competition law.

Lawyers of One Sport are ready to take immediate action, both in terms of investigation regarding the repair damages made to our company, including lost profits, as well as to inhibit the monopolistic practices, the violation of which FIM-Europe and the FIM members are dangerously approaching. Explicit and obvious violation of applicable competition law in Europe will meet with very onerous consequences for the authors.
At the present stage of development of the European Union, the competition law is a fundamental tool to work against abuses in the sports associations in Europe. With no controversy, it is common today to say that sports associations are considered as the undertakings or associations of undertakings, which are provided for in article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (ban on abuse of a dominant position).

The interference of EU competition law in the activities of sports associations is no novelty - there have been many high-profile cases in recent years, and the subjects which have committed violations, suffered severe consequences. Major interest was especially so called 'Bosman case', which led to a total redesign of the operation of football clubs in Europe. The European Commission also intervened on the anti-competitive practices by the FIA - the International Automobile Federation. FIA was forced to remove the requirement for the owners of racetracks, which required from them to skip organizing different than Formula 1 competitions on the same tracks.

Planned FIM-Europe decision regarding the European Championship series, will mean a serious breach of EU competition law. There is already a well-established case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, according to which the attempt to push out of the market a new, highly efficient product (Speedway European Championships) by the dominant subject (FIM-Europe and FIM) in a manner different than the so-called competition on the merits, is contrary to competition law. As an example, one can identify at least for a line of reasoning that went to settlement in cases of Microsoft.

EU competition law has an efficient and effective system of enforcement. Ultimately, the Commission should not have any problems with ordering his FIM Europe to remove illegal provisions and regulations. It may also impose giant and sever financial fines. What is more important, is the fact that if the FIM-Europe would not be able to pay the fines, those liabilities will lay on the commited members of the organization, which means – the national federations associated in FIM-Europe.

We will not hesitate to use all available means, to oppose the illegal and harmful practices against the interests of the riders and our company. We deeply believe, that such decisions are contrary to the law and it is only an attempt to suppress the development of a competitor of the FIM Speedway Grand Prix series.

We believe that the right is on our side. All kinds of artificial and unreconciled decisions not agreed with the promoters and limiting the product we are building, are open and obvious violation of competition law. Once again, we would like to underline that competition law has an efficient system of law enforcement and confirmed judgement standards in similar cases. It is obvious, that due to such practices, FIM-Europe can only lose in a longterm perspective.

Nevertheless, we declare the willingness and openness to talk about the FIM & FIM-Europe vision of Speedway European Championships in the coming years, starting from season 2015. We hope that together we can come to an agreement and find a compromise satisfying all, however, opennes and sincerity in the talks, are required for such dialogue.

We categorically do not agree with the public and open violation of our rights, as the holders of a valid contract to organise the competition for the title of Individual European Champion. We also do not agree to limit the riders' rights to their performed profession on the are of EU. We disagree with such unfair 'game', which will effect mostly with the loss of speedway as a sport and the fans who follow it.
We call for a common sense, good will and decision-making in accordance with the compulsory law, to avoid any unnecessary disputes and conflicts."

Jan Konikiewicz
Karol Lejman
ONE SPORT

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

ABOUT time the FIM issued a statement

[New Science 1,059]

The way i understood the statement Phil was that over the period of Red Bull sponsorship, Emil has earnt a lot more than Tai has out of Monster.Not that the current yearly deal is much better.Might be wrong though.....

Thanks iris123 that is exactly what I meant.

VERY much doubt that Red Bull sponsorship of Sayfutdinov dwarfs that of Woffinden and Monster.

 

The FIM have got themselves into a right pickle over this. However, presumably they didn't just charge straight in and consulted their own lawyers first to establish whether or not they were on sound ground. As usual it will only be the legal guys making money out of this sorry saga.

 

Sooner or later there will have to be a compromise ... let's hope it is the former.

If Woffinden is so heavily sponsored by Monster its strange that he does not wear the Monster logo cap on GP duty as per Hancock,Holder,Ward and Gollob do

[LagutaRacingFan 1,929]

Thanks iris123 that is exactly what I meant.

If Woffinden is so heavily sponsored by Monster its strange that he does not wear the Monster logo cap on GP duty as per Hancock,Holder,Ward and Gollob do

 

He's only just been sponsored.

 

Red Bull have no interest in a small sport like Speedway, They are busy with Formula 1 and allow Monster Energy to spend money on smaller sports that the majority don't care about.