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No brainer, they are a must in terms of a professional image nowadays.

Line 1 - team suit cost irrelevant to rider selection. Its just a tiny fraction of the total cost of putting together a team. Line 2 - if that is the reason then it is petty and short sighted Line 3 - the two shouldnt be mutually exclusive. Both should be an automatic part of a top flight team

Exactly. Except that was a long time ago, so the point stands, the racing isn't the cause. It's the gradual decline in crowds due to lost fans due to natural wastage not being replaced by new ones. As the crowd dwindles, the atmosphere dwindles, the same race seems less exciting.. any newcomer is greeted by a less good atmosphere and doesn't get hooked into it.

Team suits all day long for me Not having them now would be a big backward step Cost is a red herring too - each suit is the equivalent of a routine service for an engine

But that becomes irrelevant when there are three guests in the team with just a similar bib but different outfits.

The second sentence reeks of the usual Poole arrogance which up to now we haven't seen from poolebolton. Hopefully its a one off.

Exclusive.....Poole pioneering the way forward for all teams to be able to sign good riders.Scrap race suits. Your first sentence was fair enough.The second,a bit childish

I could just see United turning up next weekend with Rashford in a blue shirt, Lukaku in a red shirt and Sanchez in a pink one with yellow spots with Manchester United bibs on. It just reeks of absolute unprofessionalism and something else to paint speedway as a minor unprofessional sport.

That's about the right mentality of British Speedway, the sort of thing you'd expect to hear in a year 4 art class - not a professional league full of different teams. Massive marketing opportunities missed by not having team suits and a complete amateurish feel. Teamsuits are an absolute must. I think it's poor that even some National League teams have them and they aren't being considered by some teams in the Premier League.

The first sentence is also absolute nonsense if you do abit of research online. Just because Matt Ford says it, doesn't make it gospel.

Then one day they will all be surprised when no tv company wants to pay the clubs to show it.

You’ll eat and drink like a king in Warsaw and still have some money left when back home.

Let’s hope it isn’t long before Adonis gets owned like speedibee did on the Coventry thread!!No wonder he went off into hiding.Adonis seems to have the same twatty views,so I don’t think it will be long lol

The agreement is about helping to develop youngsters at both clubs not riders unlikely to ride in the UK.

Utter guff waste of time tournament to massage a few corporate ego’s. Pointless event where fans have zero affinity to any team. Would be meaningful if club or country. As it stands, unless you are an employee, who cares?

I personally liked it before team suits more colourful what do posters think

Hope it makes them feel better

On most Friday's yes, or occasionally with a famous Boro Parmo ....to be shared I hasten to add, far too many calories for one to take on !! Plus, I have an emergency supply of salt and vinegar in case the aroma from the chips proves irresistible ...

is it for fish ???

Viktor Trofimov and Grigoriy Khlinovsky are the riders of the team "Raduga" (Rovno). Rovno/Rivne is Ukraine. In the team championship of the USSR, the team performed from 1962 to 1979. Viktor Trofimov is the only rider in Rovno who has been in the team for all 18 seasons (1962-1979). Grigoriy Khlinovsky acted in a team of 13 seasons (1966, 1968-1979).

Sugarray knows what he is talking about.

At Coventry I believe riders bought them but they were reimbursed when they gave them back to the club.

Team suits for league racing, no question.

Guests should now be a lot less with the fixture list being sorted and anybody missing should be replaced with R/R. The idea of black bottoms a few years ago was much better and team shirts are used to keep them in keeping if guests are used. How hard can it be??

Sugarray has also said about it on the Poole thread, who is usually very reliable with his information. I can't imagine Jason Doyle really cares about what other teams are wearing other than his own team.

Interesting to read Laura Morgan's interview in this weeks Speedway Star. The Workington promotion went to a local show to promote their club locally , handing out over 3000 free entry tickets for the following nights speedway. 300 take up that offer, not bad, Workington then put another offer on for the newbies with £10 entry to the next fixture, 100 out of the 300 take that up, the next week without any offers all the free entry fans are nowhere to be seen, in Laura's words what can you do ? It may be a bit controversial but is the core product good enough ? because current fans are leaving the sport, and in this case new fans are choosing not to return. Speedway is down to its diehards, many of who will watch anything. Diehards say there's nothing wrong with the racing but that's the reason I've stopped going, others I stand with are the same, I was going more for a social than the speedway. There's only Belle Vue in the top division, with their purpose built track that I would now attend every week if I lived in that area. Sadly it seems speedway in Britain is slowly dying a slow death, less fans , weaker teams, pennies for a TV deal and no major sponsors . sad but true

I have never heard of that Steve , Middleton not getting on with Airey , Middleton was a real character a lot of people liked him he was a massive personality he was disliked also big time..But Gary was very good rider borderlying world class and i was a fan he mixed it wtth Briggs/Ashby/ Kilby and at there pomp and he did pretty well.!,!,

Think people are missing the point that Ford spent 12k on the things last year. Not as much money in the sport. Maybe if other teams didn’t have racesuits they could actually sign some good riders.

So no matching team suits for us apparently going by Jason Doyle's twitter and other posts on the Poole thread. I appreciate it costs a fair amount of money but poor decision in my eyes from a marketing, association and professional perspective.

maybe not win it but will still finish higher than you

For whom? For a private promoter and maybe 18 riders going through the motions in a utterly pointless event?

Pros & cons with either I think: 1. Nothing worse than having 5 suited & your other riders 2 wearing colours of another teams. 2. Suits not good when both teams look identical. 3. Suits not so good when identifying visiting riders - or even your own! 4. Suits of the same team can look completely different when made by different manufacturers. 5. Riders race numbers are often hard to see on race suits & often in different colours for the same team. 6. With no team suits this could give a riders a fantastic marketing opportunity i.e. Ray Wilson with Bostic - I still remember that after how many years?

Teaming up with Wroclaw is a good step forward for both clubs. Perhaps there could be a Colts v Wroclaw's junior side

I think Adonis is female. Speedibee has recently posted too so his exile must be over.

We all wish you would. For a long time.

If you go on here https://www.kupbilet.pl/index.php?url=sgp2018 and hover on the sections you will be able to see what`s left.

i'm doing 4 nights/5 days and don't speak Polish, did 3 last year and all fine. with regards to DECENT seats, you'll get right at the top as that is all that will be left

Your prerogative but this defeats the purpose in enticing new fans and indeed fans who stopped going for whatever reason. I know of no long term fans who abused this last season as we all recognise the bigger picture in what is trying to be achieved , but to say why should I pay because someone new is getting in for nothing is slightly narrow minded in what we are trying to achieve.

Owing money is alleged to be commonplace in which case there could be several clubs 'not allowed to run' in 2018.

Yep - free channel available on everything bar Virgin (at the moment).

Igor Plechanov - probably the best ever Rider not to have ridden in the British League.. Rune Holta Grigori Khlinovsky Victor Trofimov Valery Gordeev Honourable mention Aleksandr Pavlov. Edit: Must stop repeating myself.

1. Igor Plechanov 2. Boris Samorodov 3. Emil Sayfutdinov 4. Viktor Trofimov 5. Gennady Kurilenko

1. Igor Plechanov 2. Emil Sayfutdinov 3. Gennady Kurilenko 4. Boris Samorodov 5. Grigory Khlinovsky

I really felt he could of won in 75 but the Russian Trofimov pushed him into third place in his first ride and that scuppered his chances.I think his temperment was superb a great style and the Reading side with Michanek,Lovass Curtis in it was some team.

Michanek could of won the title three times in 73 he was superb,74 he won it and in 75 after his third place behind the russian Trofimov he recovered well.

Right so a bit more research has been done and I think a top 30 list is more fitting at the moment. Harlan Bast Snr 5/11/1935 Gene Bonsignore 23/6/1948 Willy Kennis 11/5/1953 Bobby Schwartz 10/8/1956 Imre Fogas Snr 8/9/1956 Marian Gheorge 11/10/1957 Shawn McConnell 26/4/1959 Eddie Castro.?/?/1959 Vladimir Trofimov 28/1/1962 Sandor Tihanyi 28/4/1963 Tuff McBride 3/1/1964 Arnt Forland 10/7/1964 Bob Hicks 29/10/1964 Tony Atkin 8/4/1966 Charlie Venegas 12/2/1967 Bart Bast 4/6/1967 Alexandre Tomu 10/6/1968 Piotr Swist 20/6/68 (End of season farewell) Mathias Kroger 24/6/1969 (Retiring end of season?) Jacek Gollob 27/10/1969 Peter Karlsson 17/12/1969 Making Greg Hancock the youngster of the group being born on the 3/6/1970 I think 1970 can be a cut off to give Mr Hancock some as appreciation that he is a young rider after all compared to some. An amazing list in all honesty and I am sure there are a lot more Poles to be added but Tomasz Gollob just misses the boat I am afraid being born in on the 11/4/1971.

Here are some notable oldies active in 2015/16: Shawn McConnell 26-4-59 - riding regularly at Costa Mesa and Industry, including one round of AMA National Championship. 4th in US National Championship Bob Hicks 29-10-64 - regular at Auburn and Industry Charlie Venegas 12-2-67 - 11th in AMA National Championship Bart Bast 4-6-67 - Auburn track champion, 8th in AMA National Championship this year Piotr Swist 20-6-68 (1994 World Finalist, still rides regularly in Nce Speedway League - Poland's second division) Peter Karlsson 17-12-69 - EL and Elitserien (oldest active rider in both) Matias Kroger 24-5-69 (ever present for Brokstedt in Bundesliga for whom he has ridden for 26(?) seasons) Sandor Tihanyi 28-4-63 - ridden in SEC qualifyer and a couple of other meetings in Hungary this year Vladimir Trofimov 28-1-62 - rode in Ukraine last season (his father Viktor was a double world finalist and carried on riding until age 57) Alexandu Toma 10-6-68 - had a farewell meeting last season, but has continued riding in Romanian Championship this season Marian Gheorge 11-10-57 - currently second in Romanian Championship to Adrian Gheorge (his son?) and has ridden in Swedish league One a couple of times this year) Imre Fogas snr 8-9-56 - Hungarian but rides in Romania where he is currently 6th in national championship Arnt Forland 10-7-64 - Norwegian who rode in Swedish League One on a Swedish licence last year.

The seeding often compounded the unfairness in that despite gifting places to a nations riders it often denied a fair qualifying process Take 1972, GB were given 5 places at Wembley that year but back then the Aussies and Kiwi's were under the GB banner so we had Mauger, Briggs, Nigel and Eric Boocock, Terry Betts, John Louis, Ray Wilson, John Boulger, Jim Mcmillan, a young Collins and Jessup all vieing for those 5 places. Dam good riders simply had to not qualify and yet in the final we had the might of Anatolij Kuzmin, Alexander Pavlov, Gregorij Khlynovski, Viktor Trofimov, Viktor Kalmykov. And people (well only Ian and Derek) seem to think it was in some way fair.

Could well have been Trofimov, I was only about 8 years old at the time. I read somewhere that one of the Ruskies was a big badge collector, maybe a few of them were? What great names though, Tofimov, Gordeev, etc, etc, names that will stick in my mind forever.

Does anyone else remember when that fabulous Russian international side toured the UK in the mid-sixties? I saw them ride in Edinburgh (I think it was 1964, but it could have been 1965). It was a memorable experience, largely because they looked so different to the home riders. For a start, they all rode ESO machines, at a time when the Brits were all on JAPs. They had clip-on handlebars, which we had never seen before. They wore two-piece leathers. The team included, from memory, Igor Plechanov (a man with a constant smile and enormous speedway talent), Gab Kadirov, Gennady Kurilenko, Yuri Chekranov, Viktor Trofimov and, perhaps the hardest man in speedway at that time, Boris Samorodov. At that time nobody ever went to Russia - certainly it was about fifteen years more before I did. The Russian team manager was invited to introduce his team to the crowd, which he did in a very formal way... "Mr Plechanov, Mr Samorodov etc." I suppose none of us had ever seen a Russian before, and we were all left desperately looking forward to them coming back again.