Fim Bans Participation In European Championships

[jimmy jimmy 298]

Why are people blaming British speedway for this?? The FIM is very continental, not UK friendly at all

[Ghostwalker 1,859]

Why? Do you think One Sport are doing it for the benefit of speedway?

 

BSI are a British company (albeit ultimately owned by a US corporation), but I hold no candle for them whatsoever. People have to move beyond national interests and not listen to propaganda.

 

No less the BSI who one hardly can say are doing anything for the best of the sport but rather for their own commercial interest just like OneSport.

One thing that OneSport is doing better is Tv-coverge by having Eurosport onboard (Available in 59 countries and 20+ languages) rather having

different broadcasters and broadcasting rights for each country.

 

That goes especially for the Brits in this forum aswell. You are not less biased then the Polish members. In fact you whine just as much as they do, if not more.

I also don't think that there's any merit to the constant

 

OneSport saw a potential in the SEC and went for it and I can't see anything wrong with that and I don't why BSI's bussiness should be protected from competition

especially since EU-laws in general don't like monopolies. What the FIM is trying to do is to prevent competition and while I am no legal expert I am pretty sure that

the current EU-laws does not allow prevention of competition.

 

Obviously an employer can prevent their employees from working for someone else, however in this case the riders are not employed by FIM, the

riders are simply self-employed consultants which can seek work at whoever they wish.whenever they wish.

 

So stop using the SEC as an excuse for the state of the EL and as far as your weekend fixtures go, it's about time that you

decided upon two adjacent weekdays (such as mon+tue* or wed+thu) and sticked to those it would be better for the league and better for the riders).

 

*Obviously Sweden have their fixtures for Elitserien on Tuesdays but I don't think there would be any problem to move them to Wednesdays which

would mean Elitserien Wednesdays and Allsvenskan Thursdays.

 

rmc, riders left because there are too many meetings.

Edited February 15, 2014 by Ghostwalker

[Humphrey Appleby 13,955]

No less the BSI who one hardly can say are doing anything for the best of the sport but rather for their own commercial interest just like OneSport.

That goes especially for the Brits in this forum aswell. You are not less biased then the Polish members. In fact you whine just as much as they do, if not more.

I certainly didn't suggest that BSI aren't doing it for commercial reasons. Neither did I bring British speedway into it, as clearly the horse has long bolted in that respect.

 

It's the people believing the ridiculous propaganda making out OneSport to some sort of saviour of the sport against the 'evil' FIM/BSI. There are undoubtedly questions to be asked about the FIM/BSI arrangements and who is benefitting from these, as well as how FIM Europe can be allowed to establish competing events, but that should be considered in a non-partisan manner.

 

OneSport saw a potential in the SEC and went for it and I can't see anything wrong with that and I don't why BSI's bussiness should be protected from competition

especially since EU-laws in general don't like monopolies.

All very well in the real world, but commercial competition in sport has always been ruinous which is why these sorts of things were regulated from the very early days. Regardless of what one feels about BSI - and I've certainly been one of its few critics on here - it's ultimately not in the interests of the sport to have two similar competitions running in parallel. If people cannot understand how this is competing for what are already quite limited resources in a minority sport, then I fear there's little hope.

 

it's about time that you decided upon two adjacent weekdays (such as mon+tue* or wed+thu) and sticked to those it would be better for the league and better for the riders).

Maybe, but British speedway has a completely different set of economic and logistical challenges to Sweden, and it's a matter of staying in business rather than doing what's convenient for the riders.

[kraftwerk 34]

You may be happy in Sweden and Poland with less than ten home meetings a season but the sport here is founded on recovering your overheads over seasons twice to three times as long. Thankfully our Premier League is relatively unaffected and is able to still successfully deliver this eighty year-old model. It is the disruption to this model caused by international events that has been the ruination of the British Elite League.

It's like listening to a CEO of an old traditionally and successfull company, complaining that their eighty year old business model don't work any more because of the competition and globalisation.

No way Jose

[Humphrey Appleby 13,955]

It's like listening to a CEO of an old traditionally and successfull company, complaining that their eighty year old business model don't work any more because of the competition and globalisation.

Which would be fine if the other 'modern' competitions were paragons of success, but I don't see anyone making much money.

 

I think few would disagree that British speedway hasn't moved with the times, but its decline is not entirely down to its business model. Pressure on land for housing, noise regulations, rising insurance costs, and increasing choices of entertainment have all taken their toll. The bottom line though, is that we are where we are, and it's simply a matter of survival for the foreseeable future regardless of what could'of, should'of been done in the past.

 

It's very easy to take an "I'm alright Jack" attitude and say let the best competition win, but having the sport contract back to just one or two markets is hardly desirable either. If people think this is a good idea, they should read about the rivalry between professional sports competitions in North America that ended-up ruining nearly all of them.

Edited February 15, 2014 by Humphrey Appleby

[kraftwerk 34]

Which would be fine if the other 'modern' competitions were paragons of success, but I don't see anyone making much money.

 

Poland is doing just fine with one meeting per week?

 

I wasn't talking about business success of the EL, but loosing all the best riders of the world, or not able to get them to race in EL is a problem for the future. I think Sky Sports is the one of the biggest reasons why EL is still holding up, but for how much longer?

And riders complaining about logistical nightmares when racing in the EL ... you see where i am going to.

 

But this is not the topic for the EL, I think it's wrong to punish riders if the FIM and FIM Europe are showing their muscles. There should be other ways to hold down OneSport if apparently the became too big?

I disagree that SGP and SEC look the same and it will confuse the fans. Look at the football, basketball, swimming ... they all have world and EU champinoships

[Humphrey Appleby 13,955]

Poland is doing just fine with one meeting per week?

Is it? Might be doing okay crowd-wise, but my understanding that virtually all the clubs were losing money.

 

That's before we even get to the playoff fiasco that surpassed any of the farces we've ever seen in British speedway.

 

I wasn't talking about business success of the EL, but loosing all the best riders of the world, or not able to get them to race in EL is a problem for the future.

You can only afford to pay what you can afford to pay. Even when the EL had nearly all the best riders in the world, crowds were still falling and teams were losing money.

 

I guarantee that if British teams could afford to pay what Polish teams are, then you miraculously wouldn't hear any complaints from the riders about too many fixtures.

 

There should be other ways to hold down OneSport if apparently the became too big?

I don't think it's a matter of holding back OneSport if they can do a better job than BSI, which of course brings the very long-term deals made by the FIM into question. It's a matter of having two championships (and two governing bodies) competing with each other that's the matter for concern.

 

I disagree that SGP and SEC look the same and it will confuse the fans. Look at the football, basketball, swimming ... they all have world and EU champinoships

It's not a matter of confusing the fans whom I'm sure can work out the difference. It's the matter of competition for a relatively limited pool of sponsors and venues, as we're already seeing with sponsors choosing one competition over another.

 

As already pointed out, the World and European Championships in most other sports have different focuses and to a large extent different competitors.

Edited February 15, 2014 by Humphrey Appleby

[racers and royals 8,727]

No it's the voice of someone determined not to let what they have be destroyed by outside interests. Why the hell should we let our system die so others can make a fast buck? It seems some will not be content until British Speedway is dragged down to their half a dozen meetings per year per track format and will use any excuse to achieve this.

 

When I first got involved in speedway over forty years ago I saw a highly-successful sport, running around forty tracks, each staging an average of about 26 meetings, producing an annual calendar just within Britain alone of over 1000 speedway meetings. Since then there has been a steep decline, much of it fuelled by serious mistakes made by the BSPA, some by social and economic change, but with a very significant proportion being due to outside federations constantly chipping away at this through international fixtures, always trying to stimulate the sport in countries staging maybe a dozen meetings a year, and always failing to achieve this stimulus. I can think of no minor speedway nation, where the granting of an old World Championship round or now SGP or SEC event has created any growth at all.

 

The change of system in Poland was an enormous influence with the resulting wealth in the sport there changing the balance totally. But all the time there have been the constant erosion. At the heart of the old British League was weekend racing with most of the tracks running on Saturday or Friday nights. The arrival of the SGP and its constant demands for riders to attend days before for 'practice' sessions that are little more than additional money-raisers has resulted that now in GP weeks it's even getting hard to run on Thursdays.

 

Now we have the pressure to drop to the level of others and run on only one night a week for just a few weeks per season. Now we also have the power struggle between One Sport and BSI which is all about Polish money wanting control of the SGP, and we face the prospect of yet more weekends where riders will have commitments abroad.

 

There comes a point where you have to draw a line in the sand. Enough is enough.

 

Thankfully, aside from the Elite League we have two other leagues, the Premier and National, both of which thankfully stage very entertaining speedway. It's time for us to let the final 'stars' to go, focus on riders prepared to put our leagues first and let the FIM and FIM Europe events go their own merry hype-filled, money-grabbing way.

 

Greed and envy has almost strangled the 'Golden Goose.'

Agree with nearly all of your post however I cannot agree that Thursday`s are a problem to the Elite league on GP weeks-BSI have put the practice on later now on a Friday and every European GP venue can easily be got to with an early Friday am flight out of Britain.

[Bavarian 767]

The GPs are not really the problem for speedway in the UK. The problem is that British speedway clubs have become much too dependent on foreign riders. And that's not just top stars, but very average riders all through the teams 1 to 7. Too many foreigners, who need to ride in way too many of their own national and international competitions all over the Continent.

 

The inflation of all those new competitons in recent years is of course a problem, and U can understadn that the BSPA is not keen to see teh FIM Europe events expanding ever more.

 

If the British speedway clubs would employ in the main UK based riders, that's British and non-European Overseas riders, they would be able to do their own thing, without having to worry much about any Poles, Danes or Czechs missing for having to ride somewhere else.

[jimmy jimmy 298]

The British are not the ones banning SGP riders from racing in the SEC. They aren't keen on UK riders bring in the SEC, but they have had nothing to do with this ruling.

 

Frankly, no one in the UK could care less how many competitions Polish and Russian riders get involved in. The FIM, which is dominated by Continental Europe voted this ban in, so get off the UK back.

Edited February 15, 2014 by jimmy jimmy

[Ghostwalker 1,859]

The British are not the ones banning SGP riders from racing in the SEC. They aren't keen on UK riders bring in the SEC, but they have had nothing to do with this ruling.

 

Frankly, no one in the UK could care less how many competitions Polish and Russian riders get involved in. The FIM, which is dominated by Continental Europe voted this ban in, so get off the UK back.

 

But it is the British fans who complains that the SEC is a threat to their league because according to your opinion SEC blocks the EL from using weekend fixtures.

[SCB 0]

 

But it is the British fans who complains that the SEC is a threat to their league because according to your opinion SEC blocks the EL from using weekend fixtures.

Because it does.Coventry who run on a Friday already have riders missing on a dozen or so weekends a year because of the GP and the GP qualifiers. Now add in 3 weekends of SEC qualifiers and 3 SEC meetings thats 6 more meetings. How long before theres 6-8 SEC meetings and more qualifiers?

[racers and royals 8,727]

Statement from One sport taken from the SEC website

 

Action makes reaction. We wouldn't stay behind - read our dissaproval for FIM decisions!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As a result of decisions taken by the FIM Board of Directors in Geneva 7th February 2014 , we express our disapproval and absolute lack of agreement on such a huge violation of the rights of players, fans and direct action to the detriment of motorsport, not only in Europe but also through the world. This decision in all aspects contradicts the ideals and spirit of the sport, widely hitting the speedway championships and events, including the Speedway European Championships .

We are confident that this decision will meet with many consequences, because it is in contrary to European law, which clearly signaled already in November 2013 - both from the point of view of the players and performed by their profession, and our contract with the FIM-Europe and widely understood monopolistic practices in the European market.

At the same time, we are confident that the Speedway European Championships in 2014 shall be held in accordance with the assumptions of a valid and binding contract us for the organization of the cycle. We will do everything in our power to artificial constraints and limits in no way affected the level of sporting competition. At the moment, our lawyers analyze the situation , to take direct legal action to block the bizarre decision and obtain appropriate redress for us and potentially disadvantaged players, in the absence of reaction and its changes from the FIM.

At the same time we would like to assure fans that still work on our projects: Speedway Best Pairs Cup and Speedway European Championships will take place in accordance with the assumptions. Our events are anyway affected by external factors. We look forward to the first event , which will start 28 March. Round in Torun will be broadcasted to the millions of viewers around the world. Thank you for your support. We promise that we will do everything in our power to finally win of the sport.

Chairman of One Sport LLC
Karol Lejman

Vice-president
Jan Konikiewicz

[jimmy jimmy 298]

But it is the British fans who complains that the SEC is a threat to their league because according to your opinion SEC blocks the EL from using weekend fixtures.

And that's the reason the FIMhave taken this action? I don't think so?.......

[kraftwerk 34]

No it's the voice of someone determined not to let what they have be destroyed by outside interests. Why the hell should we let our system die so others can make a fast buck? It seems some will not be content until British Speedway is dragged down to their half a dozen meetings per year per track format and will use any excuse to achieve this.

 

 

Because it does.Coventry who run on a Friday already have riders missing on a dozen or so weekends a year because of the GP and the GP qualifiers. Now add in 3 weekends of SEC qualifiers and 3 SEC meetings thats 6 more meetings. How long before theres 6-8 SEC meetings and more qualifiers?

Like I said, your eighty year old model don't work any more! And blaming others is the easiest way ...

Somehow I get a feeling that you (UK) are holding rights for occupying the whole week for racing, letting others countries/competitions a day here and there? I mean OK, if you have riders available to do that, but than don't complain that the best world riders are not in the EL.

4 SEC saturdays are hardly a threat to EL, so I can't see why all the fuss