The 2016 Speedway Best Pairs Cup

[Skidder1 7,637]

Are the Brits being allowed to ride in the Euros this year ?

I'm sure it was stated somewhere (Speedway Star probably) that the BSPA would withdraw any objection to Brits competing in either the Euros or the Pairs, as long as One Sport arranged the dates well in advance and along with all the other international dates and it didn't affect any EL fixtures by riders missing!!

 

The BSPA's original objection a few years ago was to show support to Eastbourne - the only EL Saturday track at the time!!

[f-s-p 832]

You think groups of private promoters muscling in on an established competition structure is a good thing? In how many other major sports are there privately sanctioned tournaments in the middle of the established competition season?

Like I've said I'm pretty conservative. SPBC is not the problem though, it's three "almost open" meetings that are ridden on left over dates. SEC is different, but even in that case OneSport has worked and changed a turd to a jewel. Most if not all problems were caused by FIM politics that really did not know what they were doing.

 

FIM sold SGP to BSI, thats not really muscling in... about the same with OneSport. Dont have an answer for your other question and ice hockey is a major sport over here. = )

[Ghostwalker 1,859]

1. You think groups of private promoters muscling in on an established competition structure is a good thing? 2. in how many other major sports are there privately sanctioned tournaments in the middle of the established competition season?

 

1. BSI are also a private owned sports promotion company. I am perfectly fine with free competition.

2. There are several. Tour de Ski in cross country skiing is a sort of "mini-cup" in addition to the original world cup, albeit organized by FIS just like the regular world cup.

NHL owners doesn't want "their" players to play in the Olympic so they revived their own world cup tournament simply because they

considered getting too little pay from IOC's Olympic games tournament. The last thing haven't been said though regarding NHL player in the Olympic.

 

We had two parallel touring car racing series in Sweden during 2012. STCC was the old established series but a few teams left STCC and started

a new championship called TTA. For the 2013 season they had joined forces again though.

 

For many years USA had competing formula cars racing series. I don't remember which series was which anymore

but they were named IRL, IndyCar, ChampCar, CART and similar.

Edited March 2, 2016 by Ghostwalker

[iris123 20,997]

Like I've said I'm pretty conservative. SPBC is not the problem though, it's three "almost open" meetings that are ridden on left over dates. SEC is different, but even in that case OneSport has worked and changed a turd to a jewel. Most if not all problems were caused by FIM politics that really did not know what they were doing.

 

FIM sold SGP to BSI, thats not really muscling in... about the same with OneSport. Dont have an answer for your other question and ice hockey is a major sport over here. = )

Does the Spengler Cup qualify?Does seem a number of leagues take a bit of a break for that

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spengler_Cup

 

In any case,it doesn't really matter....all this do any other sports etc.Speedway is fairly unique in a lot of ways with most riders riding in a number of different leagues

[f-s-p 832]

I'm sure it was stated somewhere (Speedway Star probably) that the BSPA would withdraw any objection to Brits competing in either the Euros or the Pairs, as long as One Sport arranged the dates well in advance and along with all the other international dates and it didn't affect any EL fixtures by riders missing!!

 

The BSPA's original objection a few years ago was to show support to Eastbourne - the only EL Saturday track at the time!!

The pecking order is FIM, FIM Europe, national federations. OneSport is given dates after FIM has reserved theirs. I think they are trying to get along, as the SEC challenge for example is on a thursday this year.

 

Protecting your own is fine, but the BSPA's problem is not OneSport but the lack of a local pool of riders. Even 20 years ago it was 50/50 with uk or foreign riders in the top league. Why not wake up then and start making riders of your own?

[Humphrey Appleby 13,960]

Does the Spengler Cup qualify?Does seem a number of leagues take a bit of a break for that

In fairness though, this seems to be organised by an actual ice hockey club that plays in an established competition.

The pecking order is FIM, FIM Europe, national federations. OneSport is given dates after FIM has reserved theirs. I think they are trying to get along, as the SEC challenge for example is on a thursday this year.

The wider issue is running parallel series. As speedway is primarily European based, it makes no sense to run World and European Championships which are essentially competing for the same riders and market.

 

If there's an issue with how BSI run the SGP then deal with that, if certain countries/tracks feel left out then address that issue too, but it's absurd for the FIM and its mickey mouse offshoot FIM Europe to be sanctioning competing competitions in the same space. The pairs is slightly different in that there's not an existing FIM version of that, but that could have been a proper World Championship instead of the cobbled together nonsense it is now.

 

Protecting your own is fine, but the BSPA's problem is not OneSport but the lack of a local pool of riders. Even 20 years ago it was 50/50 with uk or foreign riders in the top league. Why not wake up then and start making riders of your own?

Even if Britain did have a sufficient pool of riders, taking part in European competitions would still require riders to be disappearing off almost every weekend. Aside from the duality of functions mentioned above, I'm not sure anyone is suggesting that these European competitions shouldn't be run to provide fixtures for continental tracks and riders, but neither should British speedway be criticised for not participating because it wants to run its own programme of meetings at the weekends (which it has done for the past 80 years).

[iris123 20,997]

Not sure it really matters.Also you just have to look at the state boxing is in.Back in the 70s there were just 2 or 3 world federations,now anyone with a bit of money seems to be able to set up a federation and hold world title fights.Is there really anything to stop someone doing the same with another world or European speedway title ?But in any case it is all ok'ed by the FIM and so money should be going back into the speedway pot

[Humphrey Appleby 13,960]

2. There are several. Tour de Ski in cross country skiing is a sort of "mini-cup" in addition to the original world cup, albeit organized by FIS just like the regular world cup.

Yes, but this forms part of the world circuit of events and I daresay elite cross country skiers tend to compete exclusively at that level.

 

Conversely, football has alternating World Cups and European Championships that (usually) take place outside of the normal playing seasons of the main leagues. European club competitions have defined midweek dates and don't take away prime weekends from national leagues (although they're arguably more prestigious nowadays), whilst even the World Club Cup has a defined week in which it takes place.

 

And the revenues from these competitions for better or worse, accrue to FIFA and UEFA even though where it goes after that is anyone's guess.

 

NHL owners doesn't want "their" players to play in the Olympic so they revived their own world cup tournament simply because they considered getting too little pay from IOC's Olympic games tournament. The last thing haven't been said though regarding NHL player in the Olympic.

North American sports have never really played well with the rest of the world, not least because the major leagues there are so financially dominant.

 

We had two parallel touring car racing series in Sweden during 2012. STCC was the old established series but a few teams left STCC and started a new championship called TTA. For the 2013 season they had joined forces again though.

For many years USA had competing formula cars racing series. I don't remember which series was which anymore

but they were named IRL, IndyCar, ChampCar, CART and similar.

Motor sports is a bit notorious for having rival series, but it usually comes down to disagreements over formulas and running costs. It'll usually be argued that series X differs from series Y in some subtle manner, although rarely is it ultimately good for the sport.

 

As far as I know though, the riders in the SGP ride the same bikes as in SEC, so that can't be an argument.

Edited March 2, 2016 by Humphrey Appleby

[f-s-p 832]

In fairness though, this seems to be organised by an actual ice hockey club that plays in an established competition.The wider issue is running parallel series. As speedway is primarily European based, it makes no sense to run World and European Championships which are essentially competing for the same riders and market.If there's an issue with how BSI run the SGP then deal with that, if certain countries/tracks feel left out then address that issue too, but it's absurd for the FIM and its mickey mouse offshoot FIM Europe to be sanctioning competing competitions in the same space. The pairs is slightly different in that there's not an existing FIM version of that, but that could have been a proper World Championship instead of the cobbled together nonsense it is now.Even if Britain did have a sufficient pool of riders, taking part in European competitions would still require riders to be disappearing off almost every weekend. Aside from the duality of functions mentioned above, I'm not sure anyone is suggesting that these European competitions shouldn't be run to provide fixtures for continental tracks and riders, but neither should British speedway be criticised for not participating because it wants to run its own programme of meetings at the weekends (which it has done for the past 80 years).

I feel the same way about parallel series and also about your last sentence.

[Long Eye 278]

In fairness though, this seems to be organised by an actual ice hockey club that plays in an established competition.

 

The wider issue is running parallel series. As speedway is primarily European based, it makes no sense to run World and European Championships which are essentially competing for the same riders and market.

 

If there's an issue with how BSI run the SGP then deal with that, if certain countries/tracks feel left out then address that issue too, but it's absurd for the FIM and its mickey mouse offshoot FIM Europe to be sanctioning competing competitions in the same space. The pairs is slightly different in that there's not an existing FIM version of that, but that could have been a proper World Championship instead of the cobbled together nonsense it is now.

 

 

Riders want to do it, promoters want to stage it, fans want to watch it and sponsors want to be invest in it. What's the issue?

[Ghostwalker 1,859]

Riders want to do it, promoters want to stage it, fans want to watch it and sponsors want to be invest in it. What's the issue?

 

The "but neither should British speedway be criticised for not participating because it wants to run its own programme of meetings at the

weekends (which it has done for the past 80 years)." says it all. Some want things to be like the "always" have been.

 

If Speedway is going survive it's time to stop with the "territorial thinking" like the one above.

[Humphrey Appleby 13,960]

The "but neither should British speedway be criticised for not participating because it wants to run its own programme of meetings at the weekends (which it has done for the past 80 years)." says it all. Some want things to be like the "always" have been.

It's not question of being opposed to change, but asking whether competitions between made-up commercial teams are actually going to advance the sport in the long-term. We were also told the SGP would usher in a new era that would take speedway to new markets, but the sport has not moved forward in the past 15 years, and very arguably has regressed. Now it might possibly have regressed even more without the SGP, but equally had similar effort and investment been put into league racing then the story might be different as well.

 

This European Pairs competition offers three meetings for about 21 riders. Without league racing providing regular fixtures for the other 30 weeks of the season, what else are they going to be doing for the rest of the year, not to mention the other 400 or so professional riders?

 

Now I fully accept that staging some competitions for elite riders generates interest and a certain showcase for the sport, but the right balance has to be struck between these events and needs and requirements of the bread-and-butter of the sport. What certainly should not be happening is elite competitions competing with each other for riders and revenue, and what certainly should be happening is some of the profits from elite competitions accruing directly back to the underlying sport that sustains them.

 

If people prefer one-off meetings organised by private promoters between made-up commercial teams then fine, but let's see how the sport progresses in the next few years.

[f-s-p 832]

Any idea or listings that show when I can watch these on Eurosport?

[Ghostwalker 1,859]

Any idea or listings that show when I can watch these on Eurosport?

 

Tried this link? http://tv.eurosport.fi/tvschedule.shtml Only show the nearest two weeks though.

[f-s-p 832]

 

Tried this link? http://tv.eurosport.fi/tvschedule.shtml Only show the nearest two weeks though.

No I had not tried that. Did know though that they are not listed anywhere. Thats why I was asking about listings that show something.