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8 minutes ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

The SON is really nothing more than a Best Pairs competition with an U21 rider chucked in. 

Errr .. Yes. 

Is that something we didn't know?

Edited by Grand Central

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52 minutes ago, Grand Central said:

Errr .. Yes. 

Is that something we didn't know?

Needs to be re-iterated that it's not a proper team competition. 

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1 hour ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

Needs to be re-iterated that it's not a proper team competition. 

To be honest, I would be happy if they ran it for what it is, which is the World Pairs Final.

The compulsory U21 rider is a load of nonsense, which works against the aim of giving the smaller speedway nations a better chance of competing, as only a handful of nations have a rider of sufficient experience or ability.

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And do away with the semi and grand final. The old World Pairs Final worked perfectly well. What is this obsession with every meeting having to finish with a grand final?

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Russian may have to withdraw form the SoN, becuase they don't have an u-19 in Poland this year (except Chugunov, who might still be eligible to ride for Russia, though, as Artem and Emil are !).

And because of Covid-19 it is not so easy to get an under-21 rider from Russia across the EU border. There will be a 14-day quarantine once he enters Poland, and the same again when he retund to Russia.

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51 minutes ago, Terry said:

And do away with the semi and grand final. The old World Pairs Final worked perfectly well. What is this obsession with every meeting having to finish with a grand final?

TV:neutral:

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2 hours ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

Needs to be re-iterated that it's not a proper team competition. 

THE FIM wanted more nations being able to compete, not just making up the numbers, but personally feel the Under 21 rule was foolhardy. Like the idea of two riders from the same country in a race but each squad could have three riders and introduce some tactics into who rides in what heats, 

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2 hours ago, Bavarian said:

Russian may have to withdraw form the SoN, becuase they don't have an u-19 in Poland this year (except Chugunov, who might still be eligible to ride for Russia, though, as Artem and Emil are !).

And because of Covid-19 it is not so easy to get an under-21 rider from Russia across the EU border. There will be a 14-day quarantine once he enters Poland, and the same again when he retund to Russia.

Or alternatively field one rider in one heat on both days; hardly a major handicap when there is a semi-final and final at the end of the meeting.

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3 minutes ago, moomin man 76 said:

Or alternatively field one rider in one heat on both days; hardly a major handicap when there is a semi-final and final at the end of the meeting.

The problem being that the U21 rider is mandatory in 2020, however i suppose the FIM because of Covid might use " force Majeure" judgement. The Russians still need to get a team manager to Poland, so i still think they can get a rider there as well.

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7 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said:

THE FIM wanted more nations being able to compete, not just making up the numbers, but personally feel the Under 21 rule was foolhardy. Like the idea of two riders from the same country in a race but each squad could have three riders and introduce some tactics into who rides in what heats, 

Fully understand the reasoning, but World Rugby haven’t turned their World Cup into a sevens tournament so more countries can be competitive. That’s a tournament with plenty of one-sided matches.

If you want a competition for the minor nations then run a World Pairs for them, but even if you can only muster up 6-8 countries for a proper team event, I don’t see a problem with that. There’s hardly any countries that play test cricket, but no-one would suggest that’s not the pinnacle of the sport.

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11 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said:

THE FIM wanted more nations being able to compete, not just making up the numbers, but personally feel the Under 21 rule was foolhardy. Like the idea of two riders from the same country in a race but each squad could have three riders and introduce some tactics into who rides in what heats, 

I think that makes a lot more sense, although it does again favour the stronger nations.

 

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10 hours ago, racers and royals said:

The Russians still need to get a team manager to Poland, so i still think they can get a rider there as well.

They don't need to, the manager can "work from home". I know I always do the Team Managers job sat on my sofa at home when watching Speedway on TV... and I've never made a bad decision :lol:

5 hours ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

Fully understand the reasoning, but World Rugby haven’t turned their World Cup into a sevens tournament so more countries can be competitive. That’s a tournament with plenty of one-sided matches.

Cricket diluted their World Cup tournament with the inclusion of loads of "non-cricketing" nations and for the most part they're non-events and just fill up TV air time

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32 minutes ago, iainb said:

Cricket diluted their World Cup tournament with the inclusion of loads of "non-cricketing" nations and for the most part they're non-events and just fill up TV air time

Thought the inclusion of Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ireland, Afghanistan and earlier Sri Lanka in various tournaments was actually a positive move. Certainly Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan progressed to test status (even if the latter three are only token test nations) and Sri Lanka even went on to win the World Cup, so wouldn't call them 'non-cricketing' nations.

Would agree the World Cup over-extended with too many weak teams from 2003 onwards, but really the whole thing only got scaled back because India and Pakistan both managed to go out in the first round. 

But ODI cricket is not real cricket anyway. There's still really only 9 test nations... 

Edited by Humphrey Appleby

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2 minutes ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

Thought the inclusion of Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ireland, Afghanistan and earlier Sri Lanka in various tournaments was actually a positive move. Certainly Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan progressed to test status (even if the latter three are only token test nations) and Sri Lanka even went on to win the World Cup, so wouldn't call them 'non-cricketing' nations.

I'm not calling Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe non-cricketing nations... Sri Lanka were in the first world cup.

I would call: Canada, Kenya, UAE, Kenya, Scotland, Namibia, Holland, Ireland, Bermuda & Afghanistan non-cricketing countries often made up of players on passports of convenience not good enough to make their own national team

A similar thing has happened with Rugby Union

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4 hours ago, iainb said:

I'm not calling Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe non-cricketing nations... Sri Lanka were in the first world cup.

I would call: Canada, Kenya, UAE, Kenya, Scotland, Namibia, Holland, Ireland, Bermuda & Afghanistan non-cricketing countries often made up of players on passports of convenience not good enough to make their own national team

A similar thing has happened with Rugby Union

You're right in some of those but others are unfair, Afghanistan especially. Most of them grew up in Pakistan but generally they've all been born in Afghanistan. Their rise to become a really good side with some of the best players in the world is one of sport's great stories.  

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