Oxford Chargers 2024

[Technik 491]

It maybe stating the obvious but isn't this league about "development" rather than winning a title.

[phillwhitewasmad 1,487]

14 minutes ago, Technik said:

It maybe stating the obvious but isn't this league about "development" rather than winning a title.

Not obvious to some though 

[K3Scotty 31]

1 hour ago, phillwhitewasmad said:

Not obvious to some though 

Like Leicester you mean? Dropping a 16 year old up and coming rider and fielding a declared premiership rider instead?….

Edited December 25, 2023 by K3Scotty

[phillwhitewasmad 1,487]

3 hours ago, K3Scotty said:

Like Leicester you mean? Dropping a 16 year old up and coming rider and fielding a declared premiership rider instead?….

thats a debatable point as it could be argued that both are still developing. Leicester could have still used the dropped 16 year old if they wanted to and built their team differently, they chose not to and that's their prerogative. My comment was more aimed at another poster who said it was an uninspiring team . My point of view is if riders develop in the league who cares who wins it I certainly don't 

[Diamonds85 699]

1 hour ago, phillwhitewasmad said:

thats a debatable point as it could be argued that both are still developing. Leicester could have still used the dropped 16 year old if they wanted to and built their team differently, they chose not to and that's their prerogative. My comment was more aimed at another poster who said it was an uninspiring team . My point of view is if riders develop in the league who cares who wins it I certainly don't 

The people who are going to pay money to go and watch? It's a fine balance between development and not losing a shed load of money...

[phillwhitewasmad 1,487]

30 minutes ago, Diamonds85 said:

The people who are going to pay money to go and watch? It's a fine balance between development and not losing a shed load of money...

Shouldn't be anything other than focusing on development especially this year when there are no stand alone clubs . For me this has been some of the problem where winning the development league has become an aspiration for clubs rather than it's sole purpose of developing riders who progress into the professional leagues 

[szkocjasid 3,032]

On 12/25/2023 at 11:09 AM, Technik said:

It maybe stating the obvious but isn't this league about "development" rather than winning a title.

Why have a league table if it's not about winning, why have a points limit that rules out developing riders, why not have handicap racing so the better riders learn to pass, why have exclusions - could make every race all four (for the riders development), why not change the race format so riders meet their peers more often?

To me having a low points limit, is the quickest & easiest way to say it's about youth development, without putting any effort in.

Not saying the NL clubs aren't putting the effort in, more the BSPL / rulemakers.

Especially if Joe T can do 3 leagues plus & individual series, when Max Perry could be blocked from the individual series for not having a NL team.

Edited December 26, 2023 by szkocjasid

[Binman 83]

Are riders without a NDL place not going to be able to compete in the individual meetings

[RoundTheBoards 271]

On 12/25/2023 at 11:09 AM, Technik said:

It maybe stating the obvious but isn't this league about "development" rather than winning a title.

I don't get this point.   Development and winning are not mutually exclusive.   To a large extent they go hand in hand.

Speedway is about winning.   Being the first past the chequered flag.  And development is learning to win.

The league is about development and the league is about winning.   I bet there's no one in the Polish U-24 league who thinks it's not about winning.

[phillwhitewasmad 1,487]

12 minutes ago, Binman said:

Are riders without a NDL place not going to be able to compete in the individual meetings

I haven't seen that posted officially but some keep posting that is the way it will be 

[Technik 491]

47 minutes ago, RoundTheBoards said:

I don't get this point.   Development and winning are not mutually exclusive.   To a large extent they go hand in hand.

Speedway is about winning.   Being the first past the chequered flag.  And development is learning to win.

The league is about development and the league is about winning.   I bet there's no one in the Polish U-24 league who thinks it's not about winning.

The point I'm trying to put across keeping in mind that we are only talking about the title of this page "Oxford" is last season the Chargers were a success & were declared the champions.

The development of some riders means they can no longer race at this level & must move up. This seasons squad as was pointed out is 2 points under the starting limit with some youngsters that have limited track time under competition & it has been mentioned that this is a weak team & will harm the attendance levels.

My ideal is this league should be used as a production opperation for young British riders we only need to look back to Tai Woofinden in his early days at Scunthorpe to see that it can work & I see the Oxford system to use riders from their lowest squad to fill reserve places in the higher league then into the main team & now into the top league thus developing their talents rather than buy in a half baked star from overseas.

[Sargent10 30]

3 hours ago, Binman said:

Are riders without a NDL place not going to be able to compete in the individual meetings

Fact, only riders that are in teams can ride in individual meetings and it’s the top 2 riders who are invited first and then if they don’t fancy it it’s next in line etc! 

[phillwhitewasmad 1,487]

30 minutes ago, Sargent10 said:

Fact, only riders that are in teams can ride in individual meetings and it’s the top 2 riders who are invited first and then if they don’t fancy it it’s next in line etc! 

Where has this been said officially please

[Triple.H. 1,986]

7 hours ago, Binman said:

Are riders without a NDL place not going to be able to compete in the individual meetings

That would IMO be a very backward step. Where would the riders to replace those who move up the ladder come from ?

Or maybe the BSPL want to take they're heads out of the sand and work with the clubs using the NORA setup to bring riders through.

[szkocjasid 3,032]

12 hours ago, Technik said:

The point I'm trying to put across keeping in mind that we are only talking about the title of this page "Oxford" is last season the Chargers were a success & were declared the champions.

The development of some riders means they can no longer race at this level & must move up. This seasons squad as was pointed out is 2 points under the starting limit with some youngsters that have limited track time under competition & it has been mentioned that this is a weak team & will harm the attendance levels.

My ideal is this league should be used as a production operation for young British riders we only need to look back to Tai Woffinden in his early days at Scunthorpe to see that it can work & I see the Oxford system to use riders from their lowest squad to fill reserve places in the higher league then into the main team & now into the top league thus developing their talents rather than buy in a half baked star from overseas.

Interesting thing about the Scunthorpe team that Woffinden came through from was it was a very strong team built to win the league, but they were also young riders who developed well as a team.