Humphrey Appleby

Even cheaper if it's done through a website, then minimal staff needed for taking calls. From my own perspective, I find it far more efficient to look for what I want online, rather than have to spend ages going over details on the phone. In fact, I can't remember the last time I did that - must have been more than 10 years ago.

The telephone? How quaint ;-)

It's the wider issue of why use a travel agent for anything, and of course people increasingly don't which is why they've virtually all disappeared from the high street.

They're the only ones in the business aren't they?

It is of course pointless, but this initiative seems to be more about politics and commercial rights.

But both are on Eurosport, so why would one competition get twice the viewers of the others? I take the claimed viewing figures with a pinch of salt anyway. The number of countries is probably those that fall within the satellite footprints, and I suspect lots of extrapolation of the figures goes on.

A record number of punters doesn't mean anything without context. A record since when? Hundreds on this particular trip, or hundreds over the whole time these trips have been run? There's nothing especially cheap about Ryanair. I've invariably found them as expensive as more established airlines on many occasions by the time you've added everything in, although I suppose there's an argument they keep the prices of the established airlines down. Their real advantage is they fly to more obscure cities direct, although the downside is you usually have to deal with Stansted at the UK end.

No doubt their advertising revenue still comes in handy. The concept of the organised tours was useful in the days when World Finals were held behind the Iron Curtain and independent travel was difficult, but there's virtually nowhere in Europe you can't reach with a budget airline and book your accommodation online. It's also a reason why so many travel agents have gone out of business, as most people have discovered you can the job yourself (and often better). Maybe when there's a North Korean GP then organised tours will come back in their own... Is it the barge they bring the shale in with?

Why on earth would anyone want to go on an organised tour in this day-and-age? It's the easiest thing in the world to plan and book transport and accommodation online nowadays. As with all Nordic countries, everything in Finland is pretty efficient and just about everyone speaks English.

Appreciate that, but it seemed to masquerade a bit as an official championship, and of course there's the 'official' European Pairs as well just to confuse matters. To me, if there's interest in having international best pairs competitions, then I don't see why they just don't revive the World Pairs (with proper teams) which always seemed to be a popular competition in the past. I also think it's interesting that SEC managed to stage a Russian round, and it's apparently cost effective to do so. Something that has seemingly been beyond the SGP until now... Anyway, I'm sure we can expect the issues between IMG/BSI and SEC to be fully explored in a forthcoming issue of the World's Leading Speedway Magazine...

Each to their own, although I find individual meetings pretty one dimensional after a while. The World Pairs used to be one of the interesting events in the calendar, and it's a shame the thing that was staged this year was such a pale shadow of what was once a prestigious title. The SWC also needs a rethink as seeding such a weak host to the Final is just farcical. Whilst World Championship level competitions are not in an especially healthy state, it would appear absurd to introduce further distractions at European level. Of course, it may be that change of promoter is needed to rejuvenate matters, but that's another matter and perhaps there's now some regret that the SGP/SWC rights were signed away for so many years.

Did he not escape from East Germany, or something like that?

Rights issues aside, I simply don't see the point of having European Championships in speedway because nearly all the World Championship meetings are already held in Europe. If the powers-that-be wish re-introduce pairs competitions or whatever, that's fine but give them World status. If there's a need for more GP-type meetings then hold more GP meetings (although I think there are already too many GPs), or come-up with some format involving more riders. Alternatively, maybe the European Championship could be pitched as some sort of challengers' series like the NASCAR Nationwide Series which also involves some drivers from the top tier.

Not in the same year though, and the SGP is already primarily a European-based championship.

It's the old UEM based in Italy though isn't it, whereas the FIM proper is in Switzerland. It seems the whole UEM speedway programme was something to make the UEM look important, because with sp much world-level motorcycle sport already based in Europe, the rationale for its creation was not entirely clear. Maybe it's just one hand not knowing what the other is doing.

It wouldn't have to be a 'ban' as such. They could declare that SGP riders have to sign exclusive contracts with them, or specifically not with a rival competition. Probably wouldn't stand up to any legal challenge given the self-employed nature of riders that IMG/BSI has been happy to utilise over the years, but there we have it.

I can actually understand BSI's annoyance because the European Championship is potentially taking sponsors and potential hosts away from the SGP which is not in an entirely healthy state. It's also difficult to understand the rationale of having a parallel European Championship when the World Championship is primarily European based and primarily involves European riders. Nevertheless, BSI can hardly grumble that another organisation is doing exactly what they did, and if does affect their business, then that's merely case of what goes around comes around. The bigger intrigue is why the FIM would allow this to be licenced (although I appreciate it's actually been done through FIM Europe) after signing a long-term deal with IMG/BSI (which runs until 2021). Either there's been a monumental lack of joining up the dots, the FIM are dissatisfied with how IMG/BSI have been running things, or the Poles have become irritated by the money going out of speedway.

Don't think it would matter even if the sport's authorities did close ranks. That happened with Packer and he still took them on and won. Conversely, if the national leagues closed ranks against BSI then it wouldn't be much competition. I don't remember there being much ermm... solidarity in the 1980s...

Wasn't that tried by the established authorities with the Kerry Packer players, and it ended in tears? Surely a restraint of trade? Can we also expect this to be reported in the Star?

The 20-heat individual format is about the fairest you can get, but the league format isn't necessarily designed to be fair. 7 riders allows heats to be programmed so that riders don't need to take two on the trot, and in most cases they have at least two heats in-between (which was/is an important consideration for extra T/S and R/R). 8 would be better as it would allow for better balanced heats, but presumably it would also mean paying the travel expenses of an extra rider. The original 13-heat format and its latter day derivatives is designed so that riders in equivalent categories (e.g. heat leaders, second-strings, reserves) generally ride against each other more often. Although quirky in places, it is quite cleverly formulated and unlike most things in speedway, has largely stood the test of time. I don't doubt it, although playoffs are not as alien to British sport as people popularly imagine. For example, Rugby League employed playoffs in various forms from 1909 until 1973, and Minor Counties cricket had championship playoffs long before the NFL was screened in the UK.

To be technical perfect you'd also need to come-up with a formula that over the course of the season ensured every rider had each gate the same number of times, as well as different combinations of heat line-up. It wouldn't necessarily be any fairer in reality though, as the best gates would vary from GP to GP, whilst injuries and replacement riders add in an additional factor. Well the Football League had promotion and relegation playoffs in the late 19th century, before baseball got around to it. Even then, they only employed a solitary 'playoff' series between rival leagues to decide the best team. So it's hardly American thinking..

Rivers are not normally the best way of demarcating boundaries in urban areas because they tend to straggle commercial centres (look at how many cities grew up across two or more counties), plus they either naturally change course or get redirected. Individual properties would have already been assigned to one authority or another, so it's probably too much of a hassle to transfer them unless there's a good reason to do so.

And to think that the SGP acolytes suggest that World Finals held in the middle of nowhere were responsible for its demise...

Let's hope the tarpaulins don't leak this time, although no doubt the state-of-the-art monitoring will see to that... LOL

If they were not speedway riders, would personal possession of cannabis warrant 15 pages of discussion? Although Michael Lee has more serious previous, this particular offence is hardly the crime of the century, or even a crime at all in certain other countries.