Leaderboard

Why do you think? Because clubs are for sale, clubs are closing for housing, crowds are down, riders haven’t been paid, the TV deal has gone, whilst promotors want to continue with the same structure, that quite clearly isn’t working and isn’t sustainable and that’s just the Premiership.

TTT this and almost all your other posts assume that prem Clubs have some cards to play, they really don't, they're almost in a beggers can't be choosers position.If belle vue/ipswich owners/promoters decide they'd rather sell then so be it

"It's not a Circus, it's a pantomime" "Oh no it isn't" "Oh yes it is"

No... It was cancelled last week due to the poor forecast...

So the bspl don’t tell the public the AGM isn’t happening till January until after it was supposed to happen yesterday even though through gossip we knew anyway, the contempt for the fans is off the scale with these people,over the last few month or so the governing body have really shown their colours, they don’t answer the phone, they don’t reply to emails and they don’t give support to clubs trying to come back or start up,they don’t turn up to the speedway show on Saturday even though it is literally peanuts to have a stand,I’m holding back here I could say more but I don’t hold up much hope for the future of my sport and yes every one of us own this great sport 🤢

Haven't you heard... Christmas has been put back to March 😂

It's going to be tough to find 3 wise men in the BSPL

exactly which is why no one would take it seriously. I think its time to admit the illusion of a top league has failed and to cut their cloth accordingly and drop to one big league with less riders per team.

Nobody agrees because you're wrong. Glasgow lose enough money in the Championship, and that is on their fans preferred race night, with lots of local derbies and rivalries. None of the 5 Premier teams hold any of the appeal of a visit from Edinburgh, Berwick or Poole. Or Redcar or Workington. 1 season propping up the Premiership and the financial losses associated with that could be the end of the current promotion and no one in Glasgow wants that. I genuinely can't see many Glasgow fans wanting to move up a division. One other thing, where would Glasgow, or any other 6th team, get a competitive team from? An Oxford/Birmingham select from last year would still finish miles behind the other 5 teams, and would provide little excitement. That's partly why the Premiership is struggling, because whenever anyone steps up the others refuse to share their riders and the new team end up as cannon fodder.

Will have to save these quotes up for the end of the season when you are singing Harrisons praises. Luke has always been levels above Hodder and will continue to climb whilst i think Freddy has already exceeded any expectations i had of him and much like Perry already found his level. As for Harrison vs Boughen comparison thats years of careful consideration, planning and learning vs quick blast and hope for the best.

When well meaning enthusiasts who are happy to spend hundreds of thousands on their hobby get some independent leadership and administrative structure... And when the sport stops getting treated as a personal plaything and starts getting treated as a bona fide team sport by so many... And when £200k is shaved off the riders payments across the 80 or so riders, (on a % pro rata basis).. Riders, who are pretty much completely unknown outside the Speedway Bubble, and bring in hardly any extra bums on seats, and this money is then handed over to a marketing company who just might be able to get these riders recognised, (and more importantly the very sport itself), and bring a few more in.. Sadly, no chance of any of the above...

Glad everything is rosy in your head.

They’ll run regardless. Why is everyone on this fuc*king forum so glass half empty ffs 🙄🙄

And if Glasgow tell them where to stick their ultimatum? Are you REALLY going to kick Glasgow out of speedway?? And kick Chris Harris, Kyle Howarth, Leon Flint, & Luke Harrison out of the Championship? Or are they just to ride your 4 meaningless meetings? (NB I've no idea who Glasgow have signed for next year, but those 4 have all been linked to Glasgow, but I expect the first 3 to be wanted back. I'm also reckoning that most Championship teams have already signed nearly all of their 7 for 2026 so couldn't fit three newly unemployed 2026 Tigers septet into their plans). So Tigers prop up the Premiership for one year with Janowski or some other nae user at number 1, no second heat leader and a team full of riders not good enough for the 5 existing Premiership teams, and then go back to one big league to sign the cast offs again? That is assuming that your 1 year propping up the Premiership with a dross team getting stuffed every week with a significant drop off in the racing (entertainment) against teams we don't care about (no rivalries of any sort) doesn't kill the crowd levels to the point it becomes not financially viable to continue? Also how is this Championship level team going to work, is at a select team from other clubs (essentially 7 guests!) are we just bringing riders out of retirement. Or are we to have 4 Premiership riders plus 3 NDL reserves? (like that very sorry lived inter league trophy from 10ish years ago) The 2026 Premiership problems are a direct result of 4 of the remaining 5 teams hoovering up all the talent and leaving the others to rot. KL made a decent fist of it, but Oxford and Birmingham were lambs to the slaughter and consequently aren't around any more (Brummies lost their stadium but there was no talk at all of trying to relocate). That is the reason that no one wants to step up. It's not the first time it happened either, Arena Essex / Lakeside were screwed over just the same when they stepped up. Ideally it needs a miracle resurrection of Coventry or Swindon or Peterborough or Cradley Heath but that isn't likely, and starting a Northampton team in a different location (like Oxford) with a weak team getting stuffed every week sounds like a recipe for disaster

The Speedway Show is happening this coming Saturday 15th November 2025, more information here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550576383947 The consortium aiming to preserve Speedway in Peterborough in a joint initiative with the Peterborough Panthers Supporters Club have a stall at the event and we will be delighted to welcome members from the BSF for a chat and to ask us anything about our campaign and its progress. As an added attraction, we have some items on display that will very much not only interest supporters of Peterborough, but also specifically, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Reading and Swindon. We look forward to meeting as many Speedway Supporters as possible, irrespective of which team you support.

Don't know why you are infatuated about Poole and Glasgow.You seem to think because they are successful they should move up and probably lose money.No mention of any other Clubs. Fans at Championship Clubs know their Clubs are just surviving in the Championship.Tells us all the incentives for Championship Clubs moving up apart from saving Premiership. The Leagues should have been merged years ago.Perhaps sharing money was the problem. iMO

I like the way you clarified the year...

It's an absolute disgrace and shows the regard the BSPA (Clubs) have for their fans and complete lack of respect. Speedway star announced it was obviously 12th November then changed to the 6th of January via the speedway star. Nothing on the official BSPA website, which is poor and before the goody lot start coming back with 'its delicate and confidential' and that's why nothing can be said. Come on! they don't need to give details just give the supporters some basic information instead of radio silent and hope! Lets face it, Oxford and Birmingham didn't close yesterday! We have known since August (promoters knew longer than that) have they sat around for 8 weeks hoping someone will wave a magic wand and hope everything will be sorted, get real! It's a poor show and the fans deserve better.

You clearly know nothing about Luke Harrsion. Your initial point was that Glasgow wouldn't take the risk on him because he is a similar age to Boughen but that's a daft reason to not sign him. Sounds like Glasgow have anyway and I think he'll do really well, he's an extremely talented young rider and most importantly a racer so Ashfleid will suit him perfectly.

The top brass don't seem to have any long term plan and go from one mess to another. We were told that some major changes were happening next year and that the AGM was only going to be a case of finalising everything. But look where we are now! They should have foreseen what was happening and definitive plans should have been put in place months if not a year ago. Essentially, scrap the two league system and run one league. If that league mirrors the Championship more than the Premiership then so be it. Still entertaining racing to be had with more variety of teams and riders. If things had been thought out properly I'm sure they could come up with 14 or so balanced teams. It's all been said before but a 5 team Premiership is totally unviable, teams meeting each other at least 6 times over a season just will not work. Quite frankly it's laughable. Belle Vue v Kings Lynn for the third time .... no thanks! Belle Vue v Glasgow for the first time .... yes please! Etc etc.

There definitely has been a shift in mindset. There was a time when there was an abundance of youth/amateur/2nd half riders who were all happy banging in laps, racing each other with the hopes of improvement and potential NL opportunities. The pool of riders was large and competition pretty fierce. Today the pool is much smaller and places are handed to those who are competent and have the right kit. This has then driven the bigger issue of riders making the "next step" into CL racing. A rider (and family/assistants/mechanics) now has double the fixture list and more than double the expenditure. This turns a subsidised hobby into a financial black hole. Opportunities to work outside of speedway become reduced so where is the shortfall coming from? Sponsorships or asking for more money and/or a guarantee. Those costs are passed on to clubs and fans and the cycle or rising costs continues. Riders aren't Pirates (except that lot) they should be able to ask for respectable compensation in exchange for pausing careers, dedicating an extraordinary amount of time and sacrifice in order to simply participate. The reason riders don't want to share their income and expenditure is simply because if you viewed it on paper, calculated an hourly wage from it 90% would sell up immediately.

A thriving sport? It’s behind you.

Fans want their sport to stop being a circus. Not too much to ask really.

In today’s speedway star it’s confirmed as being put back to January 6th

I wouldn’t read too much into that.

Your wasted on speedway Forum Norm😂👍

Why is it a disgrace? How many other company AGMs do you know what's happening?

This might be the worst idea yet You would be closing down all but your 8 clubs in the league instantly

That's not true. I know of several clubs only paying the standard rates this year. Payments to NDL riders have come down considerably, particularly over the past 2-3 years, with the vast majority of NDL/NDT teams now being second teams to higher league clubs. (Only Iwade were a standalone club in 2025). It's not like it used to be. Going back to the days when Buxton were forced out due to wage costs, there used to be a lot more standalone clubs (Eastbourne, Cradley, Sittingbourne, Mildenhall, Isle of Wight, Stoke, Birmingham) and some of those were the clubs paying huge money to NDL riders.

I have read it is the 6th... The Epiphany.... If so... How very apt....

I didn't want to confuse people 😄

I wouldn't be to sure about that, he may not be in there plans.

Don't knock fixture repetition too much, Glasgow hosting Edinburgh for the 5th time last season was an absolute cracker of a match. Lots of passing, close races, crashes, breakdowns, riders unexpectedly popping up with great rides (and the odd unexpectedly duff one), a last heat decider and some dodgy refereeing (the ref accidently leant on the ref lights button halfway through a race). Best meeting I've seen in the 40 years that I've been going to speedway

That ain’t never going to happen.

With Santa gonna be quite worried about the March 'rain dear'.......

So someone's prospective team sits above 36 but below 37. You couldn't make it up..... oh but they do🙂

Yes, he's come all the way from Memphis.

Nail on Head

Of course he is happy having an income from 2 teams, plus the occasional guest booking, with only 1 income he may have to find a proper job and just be a part time Speedway rider, could i ask what will he do when he decides to hang up his leathers ?.

Louis is probably just completely pi$$ed off that kno*heads in both tiers can’t run their clubs as well as he can.

If Louis is pulling Ippo out of the PL and there is no additional mystery club, surely a PL with 4 teams is a non-starter in which case the 4 remaining clubs will either have to be accommodated in the CL, NDL or not at all.

Glasgow.... To You, To Me, To Me, To You. Etc, etc etc... The seemingly unpalatable truth for some is that the level of the Premiership is clearly, and undeniably, untenable in the UK, for enough teams to make it viable and credible... A dead horse that some still seem to want to keep flogging.. As was shown last season, seven is two too many given the lack of riders of the level needed, and the cost of them, with the team in fifth being no real challenge for the top four.. Running with five or six teams makes little difference anyway to running with four teams when it comes to credibility and variety of clubs visiting.. Listening to the arguments for a Premiership is like listening to the Dead Parrot sketch in Month Python... "This league is no more. It has ceased to be. It has expired and gone to meet it's maker!"... Time to move on with "something else"... As. Whatever it may be, it has to be better than a non competitive top tier with so few teams... (Once Again)...

Let them keep matches against Berwick and Edinburgh on the side. Do a 3 Team Tournament between them, Ride against each other H & A Twice and whoever finishes Top wins the Cross Boarder Trophy. If Glasgow lose money by riding PREM then PREM clubs will have to chip in and cover the costs.

Final Recapture: English forces captured Berwick for the last time in 1482, ending centuries of back-and-forth between the two nations. Formal Annexation: Despite being under English control, its legal status remained ambiguous. The Wales and Berwick Act of 1746 was finally passed to officially incorporate the town into England. THERE ENDETH TODAYS HISTORY LESSON LOL

Was it rained Off!!!!

Coincidentally I happened to stumble across an 18 minute BBC film of his last ever meeting on YouTube last night. If you put 1975 Reg Luckhurst speedway rider BBC archive into your search engine you should find it.

A gamble no doubt but a gamble at 5.93 feels one worth taking. On his day he’s a Championship heat leader.

It's a fantastic little feature and really captures how different life was in the mid-70's compared to now. Reg comes across as a lovely, sincere bloke.

As I said on a previous thread, rider pay is not helping the sport grow in the UK.