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2021 speedway season !

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On 10/28/2020 at 9:46 AM, Ben91 said:

If the plan is to run 2021 as 2020 then a huge opportunity to restructure the sport in a positive way has been missed. 

Absolutely.

I've recently posted on the Sheffield thread, and just seen an article by Nicki Pedersen slamming the rules bought in in the Polish League which restricts riders in the Extraleague (Top Tier) to only compete in one other league. Riders in the 1st and 2nd Divsions (2nd and 3rd Tiers) can only ride in two other leagues. This will have a big effect on riders like Nicki Pedersen, Jason Doyle, Jaimon Lidsey, Jack Holder, Dan Bewley, Niels K Iversen, Robert Lambert, Rasmus Jensen etc who were planning to compete in our top division over here.... Watch this space as that one unfolds.

Edited by Najjer

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17 minutes ago, Najjer said:

Absolutely.

I've recently posted on the Sheffield thread, and just seen an article by Nicki Pedersen slamming the rules bought in in the Polish League which restricts riders in the Extraleague (Top Tier) to only compete in one other league. Riders in the 1st and 2nd Divsions (2nd and 3rd Tiers) can only ride in two other leagues. This will have a big effect on riders like Nicki Pedersen, Jason Doyle, Jaimon Lidsey, Jack Holder, Dan Bewley, Niels K Iversen, Robert Lambert, Rasmus Jensen etc who were planning to compete in our top division over here.... Watch this space as that one unfolds.

this has been tried before by the poles it's a clear restraint on a person to earn money /wage on employment rights we will wait to see how it unfolds ?? if all the non poles got together and said right we are not riding in poland we will ride in england/sweden/denamrk/germany = 4 xleagues  surely that could make up the money for not riding in poland ????  but it's all if's and but's ?? let's hope a solution can be found ????

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Yes. Saw a number of riders over the weekend looking for teams in 3 leagues, and they weren't looking at the UK.......

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I personally wouldn't care if we rode at Div2 level with one big league with more local riders invested in their home club. We are like many other sports now where the power lies elsewhere, e.g. ice hockey, basketball, etc who have to rely on British talent and people who frankly are no longer or never were good enough in the best leagues. A parallel could be drawn with MLS football which is very successful using USA talent and lesser talents from elsewhere. 

Its true that people like to watch big names but that's no longer possible so we must emphasise the team aspect more. It no longer makes sense to fly people from all over the place to ride in front of 1000 people, in football terms a non league crowd level. Do they fly strikers in? 

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2 hours ago, ch958 said:

I personally wouldn't care if we rode at Div2 level with one big league with more local riders invested in their home club. We are like many other sports now where the power lies elsewhere, e.g. ice hockey, basketball, etc who have to rely on British talent and people who frankly are no longer or never were good enough in the best leagues. A parallel could be drawn with MLS football which is very successful using USA talent and lesser talents from elsewhere. 

Its true that people like to watch big names but that's no longer possible so we must emphasise the team aspect more. It no longer makes sense to fly people from all over the place to ride in front of 1000 people, in football terms a non league crowd level. Do they fly strikers in? 

totally agree

one problem though. Doubling Up. Will/can the domestic riders settle for riding in one league only?

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58 minutes ago, enotian said:

totally agree

one problem though. Doubling Up. Will/can the domestic riders settle for riding in one league only?

twice as many meetings, the better iders who currently DU can score and earn well

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2 hours ago, enotian said:

totally agree

one problem though. Doubling Up. Will/can the domestic riders settle for riding in one league only?

This is part of the problem. The sport is bigger than the riders, yet there seems to be the thought process that they are owed a living so can have two teams so they don’t have to get a proper job and race as a hobby. It’s time to put the fans first.

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10 minutes ago, Ben91 said:

This is part of the problem. The sport is bigger than the riders, yet there seems to be the thought process that they are owed a living so can have two teams so they don’t have to get a proper job and race as a hobby. It’s time to put the fans first.

As spot on as it gets.

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12 minutes ago, Ben91 said:

This is part of the problem. The sport is bigger than the riders, yet there seems to be the thought process that they are owed a living so can have two teams so they don’t have to get a proper job and race as a hobby. It’s time to put the fans first.

Couldn’t agree more but a lot of riders will look at the sport rather differently if they couldn’t do it full time.

I believe we are at the crossroads of the sport hastened by the pandemic in the U.K. 

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23 hours ago, ch958 said:

twice as many meetings, the better iders who currently DU can score and earn well

they'd get less meetings though. if a home season has say 24 fixtures and you have two teams you have 48 home fixtures and the same away.

only one home team and you only get to ride in half that.  it's not quite that simple because currently teams face each other more than once home and away and that wouldn't be possible with one combined league of say 20 teams. 

22 hours ago, Ben91 said:

This is part of the problem. The sport is bigger than the riders, yet there seems to be the thought process that they are owed a living so can have two teams so they don’t have to get a proper job and race as a hobby. It’s time to put the fans first.

i mostly agree, although would say they deserve to earn as much as possible for the risks they take (at their choice of course). but again the problem might be if riders walk away then how do you fill the teams.  we're already talking about some not riding in the UK so if there was a 20 team league that's 140 riders needed. where do they all come from especially if some established riders decide they can't make it pay? without seriously diluting the standard? so whilst i don't like doubling up and like the sound of one big league it just might not be feasible.  Doubling up for anyone was always a Pandora's box that should never have been opened.

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2 minutes ago, enotian said:

 

i mostly agree, although would say they deserve to earn as much as possible for the risks they take (at their choice of course). but again the problem might be if riders walk away then how do you fill the teams.  we're already talking about some not riding in the UK so if there was a 20 team league that's 140 riders needed. where do they all come from especially if some established riders decide they can't make it pay? without seriously diluting the standard? so whilst i don't like doubling up and like the sound of one big league it just might not be feasible.  Doubling up for anyone was always a Pandora's box that should never have been opened.

When it comes to payment it should be down to supply and demand. This is why footballers earn more exorbitant sums of money for example. Now I’m making some reasoned assumptions here but most clubs seem to struggle to make ends meet, of course there are costs other than rider wages but this suggests the demand for speedway isn’t there sadly. Something has to change, to stop clubs haemorrhaging money and to improve the product for fans. 

For me that starts with the sport going part-time. Some riders may walk away but not as many as we worry will. A lot will of course try and call the authorities bluff because they won’t want to get a real job or try and secure a ride abroad but if they love riding a Speedway bike they’ll have to get on with it. 

That of course means a watering down of the product but let’s be honest, the standard now isn’t that great anyway. A lot of the core fan base these days are those who will attend week in, week out regardless of who is riding. It’s a step backwards to move forwards in the mid to long term. 

If something doesn’t change soon the sport will die. Regardless of the pandemic clubs are falling by the wayside at an alarming rate and it is notoriously difficult to get the necessary permission to open a new track these days. Of course the fact that Speedway is a poor relation these days doesn’t help. 

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On 11/2/2020 at 3:14 PM, Najjer said:

Absolutely.

I've recently posted on the Sheffield thread, and just seen an article by Nicki Pedersen slamming the rules bought in in the Polish League which restricts riders in the Extraleague (Top Tier) to only compete in one other league. Riders in the 1st and 2nd Divsions (2nd and 3rd Tiers) can only ride in two other leagues. This will have a big effect on riders like Nicki Pedersen, Jason Doyle, Jaimon Lidsey, Jack Holder, Dan Bewley, Niels K Iversen, Robert Lambert, Rasmus Jensen etc who were planning to compete in our top division over here.... Watch this space as that one unfolds.

If Poland wants to do that, then I would look to adopt a policy where you concentrate on bringing through young home grown riders. I would then insist that it is a league wide policy that these riders sign a contract that says if they wanted to ride in Poland in the future the Polish club would have to pay a high buy out fee. Two can play that game.

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On 11/3/2020 at 10:31 PM, topsoil said:

If Poland wants to do that, then I would look to adopt a policy where you concentrate on bringing through young home grown riders. I would then insist that it is a league wide policy that these riders sign a contract that says if they wanted to ride in Poland in the future the Polish club would have to pay a high buy out fee. Two can play that game.

and how long would that contract last??? currently they mostly last for 8 months of a season. speedway riders are self employed. I'd say the vast majority of people would work for the person who pays the most. add in that riding against the toughest competition helps you progress/stay at the top. It's just something else we have to learn to live with...... 

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1 hour ago, enotian said:

and how long would that contract last??? currently they mostly last for 8 months of a season. speedway riders are self employed. I'd say the vast majority of people would work for the person who pays the most. add in that riding against the toughest competition helps you progress/stay at the top. It's just something else we have to learn to live with...... 

It's a way of compensating clubs for bringing on young riders. Otherwise Polish clubs can just continually take away riders they want. You have to have some reward for developing talent if that's the way to go.

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