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Lots of hysteria going on here with people looking to point the finger of blame. What has happened here is quite simple. Bewley wanted to ride for Belle Vue, and Belle Vue wanted him to. They discussed with the PZM about the Polish contract he had signed, and then tried to get the FIM to rule the restrictions on the Polish contracts were illegal. The FIM confirmed a couple of weeks ago the contracts were not illegal. The PZMs offer was that the UK league would have to be declassified down to the same status as the other minor leagues eg French, Czech and German, where they are not included on the international calendar and would lose all rights over their race day priority. So if you are Sheffield or Ipswich, Holder and Doyle could be forced to miss any meetings just because the Poles feel like it and didn't want them to get injured etc they could have insisted they stay in Poland and practise. If that's the case I'm surprised its only 3 clubs who voted against it. What Rob Godfrey has released is correct and I have (for the first time I can recall in my life) some sympathy with him. Belle view were pinning all their hopes on this coming off and have only recently started working on Plan B Adrian was always on an approx. 5 year tenure and was planned to leave. Mark Lemon "is surprised he's leaving" because that sounds good, and has just realised the scale of his job he now has for not much more money. And in all of this a fans favourite has said a bit too much on social media and has stood by his comment so much that he removed it very quickly. He's a lovely kid, but that wasn't the brightest thing to do. People will now choose to blame whoever they want to blame, this is 2022 after all, so facts don't matter, just whoever shouts the loudest and feels most offended. Choose whoever you want to hate and off you go

I give up

So let`s get this straight, Bewley signs to ride again for Wroclaw in 2022, under an existing Extraleague rule permitting him to ride in 1 other league. He then signs for Smederna in Sweden. He then along with Belle Vue management thinks he can force the Poles to change their rules in order to ride in 3 leagues total.

No it hasn`t the French league is not classified as one of the other leagues- same as german league

Some say sports people are innocent and just want to compete, maybe true, but where will they go after the competition, back to their lives in Russia maybe with medals and where will thousands of innocent Ukrainians be, seeking refuge in other countries or sheltering underground from bombing. The world needs to show a united front and no sports people should be allowed to compete in other countries until the bombing stops.

The ISLB members certainly used to be UK, Poland, Sweden and Denmark only. It worked reasonable well when Alex Harkess was both it’s chairman and the BSPA chairman as he got Sweden and Denmark to stand with UK in opposing the Poles. When Buster took over, it is alleged he didn’t attend the meetings so UK lost its say.

But in the end he has plumped for instead of.....

Read the official British speedway comment no british club blocked Bewley OFFICIAL STATEMENT TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2022 BRITISH Speedway Chairman Rob Godfrey has moved to clarify the situation regarding the availability of riders who have contracts with Polish Ekstraliga clubs. Regulations currently state those riders can only appear in one other league but dialogue has been taking place between the Danish, Swedish, British and Polish Federations on this matter. Said Godfrey: “I think it’s important to clarify where we are at with the situation after some incorrect claims I have seen on social media, some of which have been prompted by a rider. “Over several months representatives of the various federations have been in dialogue regarding the ruling and agreement has been reached to restart these discussions from the summer onwards with 2023 in mind. “I sincerely hope positive discussions can continue which result in more riders becoming available to Premiership clubs in British Speedway next year. “Anyone who suggests Premiership clubs have blocked any rider signing for a club because the rule has been changed is completely incorrect. “That said, I’m hoping things will work out for all parties concerned, and I believe they can, for 2023 and the Premiership can see more riders returning.”

No great loss if that’s the case,mediocre rider ,not even entertaining in my book.

Could be zane keleher hes still looking for a club according to his twitter

Maybe no position on the medal table but will that stop it being celebrated on the sports pages of Russian newspapers if they win a medal, I doubt it.

It would have been utter madness if GB had given up its status in the international pecking order. But it also seems like the FIM is powerless when it comes to bringing about any change to the PZM's restrictive contracts. It's been obvious all along that a combined approach by GB+Denmark+Sweden is needed to negotiate change. However, I'm also wondering if Discovery will play a crucial role and bring it's weight to the situation, as surely their interests are to avoid Poland's dominance going too far?

The rule hadn't changed but it was willing to be changed but only for the right to have priority over all riders on every day of the week. Belle Vue thought we will risk it. Others said no chance. I'm glad it didn't go that way because R/R would have had a field day

They should not be allowed to compete what's so special about them, it's a farce.

You have to be kidding,how many chances has he had in Championship and not produced.

Yes. Definitely seems the case that the Poles have dropped the two league only rule. Godfrey is trying to spin it some other way, because other teams completed their teams early, while Lemon looks like he had inside info from Poland and waited for the rule to be dropped. The teams who completed early seem to have gone bellyaching to Godfrey about being outsmarted. Would be interesting to know which 2 PL teams supported the Aces and which 3 put the block on their legal team declaration.

Dan was fed up of beating nobody's. Althoug that was a mistake because he was only doing it at NSS. Not away. Before he thinks he's to big for UK he needed to be getting maximums away from home for me

It’s Gary o’hare and Tony Atkins

It will not encourage anything of the sort. The average Russian has no chance of overthrowing Putin who controls all the levers of power including the security forces. No more than Saddam Hussein could be overthrown by Iraqis. All you will do is reinforce Putin's rhetoric that Russians are being victimised in the world, and turn innocent Russians who don't support Putin against you. The only way Putin will be overthrown is when his inner circle, the oligarchs or the Russian military leadership decide enough is enough. There is a strong argument for other countries to make travelling in and out of Russia very difficult, or prevent Russians in Russia from doing business with the rest of the world. It is very wrong to target Russians who already live and work in other countries unless they have some connection to the Putin regime.

Potapova may play as stateless but where will she go at the end of the tournament - back home to Russia. Svitolina should see the bigger picture not just her tennis match. While Russia is killing innocent people you can't give some the opportunity to compete in sports if they play as stateless and ban others they should all be banned. We need to stand together and be seen to stand together against this aggression.

Can he not do the NL too?

Competition time..... Wightlink Warriors Reveal New Development Team With Fans Invited To Suggest A Nickname The Wightlink Warriors have embraced the success of My First Skid by creating a second development team to provide competitive action for riders at the Wightlink Wizards level of progress and fans now have an opportunity to win a special prize by suggesting a nickname for the new side. Wightlink Warrior’s co-owner Barry Bishop explained, “The Wizards have become an established part of our club, offering up-and-coming riders a chance to be involved in proper team matches on race nights. Most of our Wizards have progressed from My First Skid which has been very successful in attracting new riders to the sport. We have now reached a stage where we have enough riders to track two teams of Development League standard and we plan to take this forward in 2022. After much discussion between Martin (Widman), Kev (Shepherd) and myself we have settled on the riders who will line up for the Wizards and our new team and the riders will be: Wizards: Michael Austin, Vinny Branch, Jamie Sealey (pictured), Sam Peters, Steph Whitlock. New Team: Jamie Evans, James Laker, Wayne Parker, Anastasia Sallee, Morgan Williams. Many of those names will be familiar to Smallbrook regulars however we are delighted to introduce newcomers Michael, Vinny and Wayne. Michael and Vinny are both from motorcycling backgrounds with road racing, trials, moto X and grass track experience. Wayne is returning to speedway after some time away. All three have been showing super progress week on week and we think we have balanced the sides to ensure the on-track action will be meaningful and exciting. If people are wondering about Chris and Rob Watts, we have spoken to both lads who are super keen, however other commitments could make regular appearances tricky – that said Chris is definitely going to do other meetings at Smallbrook having already been confirmed as one of the Cradley squad for the three-team tournament. I must also thank long-standing supporter Kay Richardson. To add a little good-natured spice to the matches between our two development sides, they will be competing for a trophy to be presented to the winning team by Kay in memory of her late husband Michael who was such a staunch supporter of speedway on the Island and who offered non-stop encouragement to those riders looking to make their way in the sport. We now need to find a catchy nickname for our new side, and we are inviting supporters to come up with their ideas. We will award an appropriate prize to the supporter whose suggestion captures our values and the excitement we believe in, and I have asked our Press Officer Rob Dyer to co-ordinate replies. Please forward your submissions to him by email using rob.dyer@hotmail.co.uk Closing date midnight 14th March 2022.”

Please don't let the truth get in the way of a good story

Still posting on Facebook, so all seems fine

I rather think the problem was that two Saturday tracks (Workington and Lakeside) wanted to run extra meetings on Fridays, on nights the three regular Friday tracks already had fixtures set. While this has nowt to do with Oxford (and lets remember the Cheetahs were originally wanting to enter the Premiership as a Thursday club anyway) it needs to be remembered what really was the problem in four years ago.

The 4 named plus McGuiness and Keleher would give us a team of real racers who would entertain although an out and our number 1 would still be needed, would be acceptable to many genuine supporters What we lack is the home track advantage that the likes of Workington exploited brilliantly in 2018 without any standout heat leaders and other Clubs have with big banked tracks or trick tracks. They don't always make for close and entertaining speedway. A well prepared Perry Barr is a great track and the investment in getting that right which IS being done is as important as any rider signings. I'm happy to see entertaining speedway every week and some speedway is better than none at all. Winning is not the be all and end all. Cradley used to be full every week in the 70s when they hardly ever won. I applaud all concerned in the new management team for trying and the Masons for giving us all they did in the past few years. I hope they don't read and take any notice of some of the rubbish on here most of it from people with no affinity or affiliation or love of the Brummies

Well that's not what you put! Not so smart arse

Sorry i meant if there had been a rule change it would have been a very recent one. Smart arse

Yes

The context is that a new product is being launched. Which could provide some much needed additional income for the promoters. If you were opening a new shop you'd make sure your best products are on display to make more sales and get repeat business. I'd imagine a few people will be interested in seeing what the standard of the stream and broadcast is before forking out £109 for the season pass. So if that first match is poor (i.e. a non contest) you'd have to ask yourself if it's worth spending £109 if those are the type of fixtures being offered. Why risk that scenario when you've no idea what sort of team Birmingham will field. It's like putting tins without labels on them on display. I agree jeopardy is one of the essential ingredients of sport but I would say that's why so few watch speedway. Home track advantage and mismatched teams means anything can happen but rarely does. Yes there's the odd surprise heat win but in general the results are predictable when one team is clearly stronger than another. My hope is that income from streaming changes the culture within the sport. If you're less reliant on home support for income and it's the standard of the product (excitement, skill, jeopardy) which attracts a larger audience then the on track product improves.

Any truth in the rumour that John Priest & Arthur Browning are both swapping tractor driving for speedway riding, and making comebacks at a combined age of 158, which will be perfectly in keeping with the age of the team's fan base?

If it is a young Aussie, I'm guessing a 4.00 average?

Tie me kangaroo down sport

I'm pretty sure that 12 months ago Adam Ellis confirmed French league did not count in his quota of 'international leagues'. Can't ever recall seeing Ligue Francais matches appear on the ISL.

Nowt, the info/averages are on the website.

So why hasn`t one other rider come out to congratulate the Extraleague authorities in easing the 1 league rule !!!- you are clutching at straws !!!!!

Something must of changed, Dan Bewley rode in the French league on the 19th of February.

Do keep up - there has been no rule change

Probably true, but a bit harsh, on that thinking you could say why even run the match. But it's sport and anything could happen, that's why we watch it.

As much as I'm really disappointed that Dan won't be in the team, and want to blame someone, I have to say that this sounds like a credible interpretation of events. Just hope we can sign a decent 'replacement'.

It's the BSPA and promoters who set the fire with their complete lack of openness - they are so used to doing stuff their own way, with no transparency. Remarkably - they are happy to blame their paying customers (on whom they rely for cash flow and essentially their existence) for all the resulting rumours and gossip.

Better watch what your saying,you don’t know who will be guesting

It the Poole thread to be fair......

Totally agree. Unfair on Sayfutdinov & Laguta, but the World must send a message to this evil dictator. The man is a monster with no regard for human life and must be treated as such. The World has had enough of these people.

There is just one small thing the Ukrainians would like….. to be able to live, and live in peace. Putin wants to get at the US and NATO and he is killing innocent men, women, children in doing so. He has immense pride in Russia being the greatest, Russia has no1 and no3 in the world, deny him the things that he loves.

Ban them ... !!!! Follow the precedent set by a number of other sports. Economic + social pressures are being used to try and stop Putin - rather than military ; so however small an impression this will make on the scheme of things It needs still to be done. Ban them.

No ****ING wonder our great sport is dying. Pathetic bunch of clowns.

Not going to disagree that pay rates across all leagues have got silly but it started at the top and worked down. As for gulf in level there are number 8s of 4 star level who will be CL 2nd strings this year whilst others on the rising star list drop down to NL reserve and lower. No offence to any of them but 1 star rising stars can be hugely different in class to those who they will be lining up against.

Hardly worth riders funding their own team kevlars then. However using the RS pay scheme rates of £40 per point, a 4 rider 6 heat formula so 36 points available split in half so 18 points and over 4 meetings 40x18x4 =£2880. Thats a lump of additional cash a season to fork out. Im sure some riders would take to the track for £20per point and some might even do it for free but the gulf in levels would open up pretty quickly and the spectacle could rapidly go downhill.

Of cause he did- 99.99% of riders have a higher home average than away- i`m not disputing that !!!!! You have been found out by saying that his high average was only because of his home form- myself and allthegear have proved that that`s bunkum !!!