Woofy's Thoughts About The Team G.b. Set-up

[uk_martin 1,606]

Numbers of riders starting off in the sport is one thing but what when they do make a start, then what? There is a whole National League and some development leagues full of riders who have made the start. Lots of them....now compare that with the slack handful that ride in the USA and the dozen lads in Latvia who ride, and you will see that numbers in Britain isn't the biggest problem.

 

What I find incomprehensible is that out of the dozen Latvians, on the one track in the country, 5 of them made it to the Speedway World Cup, by means of qualification, not seeding, and shamed the British team in the final. There aren't that many riders in the USA, and their tracks are even harder to stumble across, and are tiny compared to any in Europe, and always have been, but their strike rate of producing world class stars has been amazing.

 

So what is going wrong with what we do here that strangles the potential of the kids who do make a start in the sport? How come we can't turn 50% of the riders who start in the sport here into SWC-level performers like Latvia do? Why can't we produce a string of world champions and stars like the USA have, again with less resources than we have here already?

[speedibee 3,091]

Richard hall without a ride . arthur sissis still has . say no more !!

[Gresham 928]

Numbers of riders starting off in the sport is one thing but what when they do make a start, then what? There is a whole National League and some development leagues full of riders who have made the start. Lots of them....now compare that with the slack handful that ride in the USA and the dozen lads in Latvia who ride, and you will see that numbers in Britain isn't the biggest problem.

 

What I find incomprehensible is that out of the dozen Latvians, on the one track in the country, 5 of them made it to the Speedway World Cup, by means of qualification, not seeding, and shamed the British team in the final. There aren't that many riders in the USA, and their tracks are even harder to stumble across, and are tiny compared to any in Europe, and always have been, but their strike rate of producing world class stars has been amazing.

 

So what is going wrong with what we do here that strangles the potential of the kids who do make a start in the sport? How come we can't turn 50% of the riders who start in the sport here into SWC-level performers like Latvia do? Why can't we produce a string of world champions and stars like the USA have, again with less resources than we have here already?

How much time practicing on a bike regularly do those abroad get compared to those in the UK?

 

I understand there are many tracks abroad where you can still rock up and practice pretty much most days. Open to correction on that, but there certainly used to be.

 

Where can you do that in the UK on a regular basis?

[racers and royals 8,736]

Numbers of riders starting off in the sport is one thing but what when they do make a start, then what? There is a whole National League and some development leagues full of riders who have made the start. Lots of them....now compare that with the slack handful that ride in the USA and the dozen lads in Latvia who ride, and you will see that numbers in Britain isn't the biggest problem.

 

What I find incomprehensible is that out of the dozen Latvians, on the one track in the country, 5 of them made it to the Speedway World Cup, by means of qualification, not seeding, and shamed the British team in the final. There aren't that many riders in the USA, and their tracks are even harder to stumble across, and are tiny compared to any in Europe, and always have been, but their strike rate of producing world class stars has been amazing.

 

So what is going wrong with what we do here that strangles the potential of the kids who do make a start in the sport? How come we can't turn 50% of the riders who start in the sport here into SWC-level performers like Latvia do? Why can't we produce a string of world champions and stars like the USA have, again with less resources than we have here already?

Don`t forget the Riga track is up and running and I think is used for training and meetings.

[speedibee 3,091]

Numbers of riders starting off in the sport is one thing but what when they do make a start, then what? There is a whole National League and some development leagues full of riders who have made the start. Lots of them....now compare that with the slack handful that ride in the USA and the dozen lads in Latvia who ride, and you will see that numbers in Britain isn't the biggest problem.

 

What I find incomprehensible is that out of the dozen Latvians, on the one track in the country, 5 of them made it to the Speedway World Cup, by means of qualification, not seeding, and shamed the British team in the final. There aren't that many riders in the USA, and their tracks are even harder to stumble across, and are tiny compared to any in Europe, and always have been, but their strike rate of producing world class stars has been amazing.

 

So what is going wrong with what we do here that strangles the potential of the kids who do make a start in the sport? How come we can't turn 50% of the riders who start in the sport here into SWC-level performers like Latvia do? Why can't we produce a string of world champions and stars like the USA have, again with less resources than we have here already?

The Usa have produced No world champions at all . we have done it for them .

[HAMMER180 96]

Until our riders start racing in Poland Sweden or Denmark then

I don't think we will really challenge for gold.the countries above

and Australia all ride in all three or at least two every week and

most over here too and all except woffy and scotty Nichols only

get rides over here.so until they can and compete with the best

week in week out then it just wont happen.

The lower leagues in the 3 countries wont even have us

Sweden looks like all swedes Denmark all danes and Poland

all poles or aussies. We need the riders to get themselves

in the shop window.

[uk_martin 1,606]

Richard hall without a ride . arthur sissis still has . say no more !!

 

Richard Hall = 31. Arthur Ssissis = 21 - I shall say no more as it is pretty much off topic.

Don`t forget the Riga track is up and running and I think is used for training and meetings.

 

OK, so they now have two tracks. Apart from the aborted GP at Riga I wasn't aware of anything happening there.

The Usa have produced No world champions at all . we have done it for them .

 

OK, so does Britain take credit for Ivan Mauger, Barry Briggs, Hans Nielsen, and uncle Tom Cobley and all too? God dammit, we're good aren't we?

[racers and royals 8,736]

 

Richard Hall = 31. Arthur Ssissis = 21 - I shall say no more as it is pretty much off topic.

 

OK, so they now have two tracks. Apart from the aborted GP at Riga I wasn't aware of anything happening there.

 

OK, so does Britain take credit for Ivan Mauger, Barry Briggs, Hans Nielsen, and uncle Tom Cobley and all too? God dammit, we're good aren't we?

GP challenge semi-final in 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4I_661VBpY

Edited August 3, 2016 by racers and royals

[speedibee 3,091]

 

Richard Hall = 31. Arthur Ssissis = 21 - I shall say no more as it is pretty much off topic.

 

OK, so they now have two tracks. Apart from the aborted GP at Riga I wasn't aware of anything happening there.

 

OK, so does Britain take credit for Ivan Mauger, Barry Briggs, Hans Nielsen, and uncle Tom Cobley and all too? God dammit, we're good aren't we?

you really are a halfwit aren't you , you quote latvians and admit to not knowing anything about whats going on there , well heres a shock for you , they were not 5 riders who had been going round in a field somewhere and turned up at the world cup . Daugavpils race in the Polish league and are currently second in their division , and some of the 5 are regulars in Polish elite league .. yes britain does take credit for Ivan Mauger, Barry Briggs , and Ronnie Moore , lets go halfwit...... .name an Australian, American , or Kiwi , who were not riding in Our leagues when they won their world titles . your silence will speak volumes on your lack of knowledge here . as far as Im aware Hans Nielsen and all the other nordic world champions started riding in the leagues in their own country and became skilled professional riders there so I make and never have made any claim for their success whatsoever .

[Humphrey Appleby 13,960]

Why should the BSPA receive money from the FIM/BSI beyond the expenses for the riders and their crews? Does any other National governing body get anything?

In most serious sports the international governing body makes grants to its member federations from the monies generated from the competitions under its control. The FIM is reasonably unique in selling off its premier competitions without guaranteeing at least a percentage of the profits, and probably quite unique in paying prize monies whilst another company makes the profits.

 

What is clear is that BSI make about 1.5 million quid in profit each year, whilst the FIM banks about 1.5 million from them. From memory, about half of the FIM's cut goes on prize money for the SGP and SWC, which suggests there's another 0.75 or so million going into the FIM coffers.

 

The FIM is complicated by the fact that motorcycle sport is multi-disciplinary, so it's probably difficult to demarcate its monies exactly. I'd imagine though that the money goes towards general administration and supporting its less prestigious competitions like the U21 and Youth events.

 

I think the point though, is Britain along with Poland, Sweden and to some extent Denmark, are the only federations that provide full-time employment to the riders used by the SGP. So I don't think it unreasonable at all that a competition making money from the employees of others should be expected to provide some sort of compensation. It happens in other professional sports.

[Deano 1,318]

you really are a halfwit aren't you , you quote latvians and admit to not knowing anything about whats going on there , well heres a shock for you , they were not 5 riders who had been going round in a field somewhere and turned up at the world cup . Daugavpils race in the Polish league and are currently second in their division , and some of the 5 are regulars in Polish elite league .. yes britain does take credit for Ivan Mauger, Barry Briggs , and Ronnie Moore , lets go halfwit...... .name an Australian, American , or Kiwi , who were not riding in Our leagues when they won their world titles . your silence will speak volumes on your lack of knowledge here . as far as Im aware Hans Nielsen and all the other nordic world champions started riding in the leagues in their own country and became skilled professional riders there so I make and never have made any claim for their success whatsoever .

 

but the Aussies who are the top of their tree right now, came over here pretty much high level Premier League standard or Elite, apart from Glen Doyle. Yes the GB leagues have made them super stars, but how did they get so good before they came over?

[Humphrey Appleby 13,960]

What I find incomprehensible is that out of the dozen Latvians, on the one track in the country, 5 of them made it to the Speedway World Cup, by means of qualification, not seeding, and shamed the British team in the final.

There are very few tracks in Britain where you can just turn up and practice on a regular basis. Swedish, Danish and Australian tracks tend to be run by clubs in the middle of nowhere, and whilst I'm sure they have restrictions on when they can be used, I'm guessing it's easier for them to stage regular training sessions at minimal cost. AFAIK, Polish teams also have training sessions for their riders as well as structured development competitions for young riders.

 

The other point of course, is that Australians and Americans have to leave their country if they want to progress beyond anything more than a local level in the sport. That's why promising riders invariably rock-up in one of the countries with a professional scene at an early age, and simply have to succeed otherwise they'll be on their way home again.

 

Latvia seems to have a well-funded club with its own stadium, which enables it to compete in the Polish League. Daugavpils is also something of a Russian enclave in Latvia, so it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that some Russian money is floating around to support Russian 'cultural institutions'.

I think that the Team GB matters are the responsibility of the SCB, as the governing body of speedway in Great Britain, although I may be wrong on this.

Bilaterally-arranged team events such as test matches were I think always the responsibility of the BSPA, and responsibility for FIM events was delegated to the BSPA years ago.

What about government funding? Has it ever been applied for? The Sports Council gives tens of millions a year to football, the richest sport of them all. Millions to rugby, athletics, even two bob sports like archery and sycronised swimming.

Lots of factors involved which include participation and growth rates, plus Olympic sports tend to get priority in the funding queue. Funding is also linked to competitive success at the highest level, which is why basketball and some other sports recently lost their funding.

 

Speedway isn't mass participation, would probably be argued to be insufficiently health and fitness based, and could be perceived as environmentally unfriendly. That's before you get to the fact that top competitions are virtually invisible in the media, so no-one would realise if British riders were successful.

Edited August 3, 2016 by Humphrey Appleby

[A ORLOV 8,628]

Whichever way you look at it the people in charge of speedway should have run it in such a way that they and the lower levels of the sport gained some financial benefit from the World Championships and GPs etc.

[The White Knight 9,039]

Whichever way you look at it the people in charge of speedway should have run it in such a way that they and the lower levels of the sport gained some financial benefit from the World Championships and GPs etc.

I couldn't agree more.

 

Why is it that I feel that British Speedway is being 'ripped off' somewhere along the line?

[steve roberts 9,246]

I couldn't agree more.

 

Why is it that I feel that British Speedway is being 'ripped off' somewhere along the line?

I know that I keep quoting the late John Berry but he was quoted many years ago saying that British Speedway no longer benefited financially from the the SGP and lost out when the FIM decided to go along the route of the GPs.

 

I admired JB and how he spoke a lot of sense about the direction in which speedway was heading. How we could do with him now in some form of administration.