Humphrey Appleby

Yes, but there have been some dreadful ones too. It's not just about getting it right occasionally, but putting in place methods to ensure consistency from year-to-year, especially for the showcase event. BSI always seem to have their apologists, but could you imagine turning up to the FA Cup Final and finding a bumpy pitch full of potholes? The FA would be rightly slated for it. From the sound of things, it looks like BSI probably did the best job they could to get the meeting on, but it doesn't change the fact that someone took their eye off the ball (again).

If that was the official attendance then I can only think previously reported attendances have been creative as the stadium looked pretty full. Rather a shame about the track as otherwise the GP came over quite well on the box. Whilst acknowledging that track preparation isn't an exact science and the limitations of doing it in temporary venues, BSI have had 13 years to work out how to do it and still don't seem to be getting it right.

It's entirely about money and from whom BSI can extract staging fees and/or sponsorship. Don't think the FIM really cares that much about speedway so long as they continue to get their licensing fees out of BSI.

Normally he claims not to be party to the arrangements that BSI make. Where did I claim the clashing scheduling was deliberate? However, if it were me (and I do actually have some experience in organising events) then I'd have looked for other major events and tried to avoid them. Okay, it's not always possible, but I don't think I'd risk running an expensive prestige venue against the European Championship even if the fixtures weren't completely known at the time. Equally though, maybe they got Parken cheap that week precisely because no-one else wanted to do that (whether Denmark were involved or not). Anyway, that was last year. What does that have to do with threatening to move to Vojens next year?

Parken is booked 51 weeks of the year?

It's not a question of not conflicting with anything else, but not scheduling a Danish GP the same day as the final qualifier of the Danish football team.

A bit daft to schedule the GP against the national football team's final (and potential crucial) European Championship match then.

Yes, but the ACU should still be representing the interests of British speedway. Moreover, are the BSPA not associate members of the FIM, so presumably should have some influence? The selling-off of the SGP was one thing, but to not ensure a cut of any profits from the sport's premier event went back to national speedway bodies was a dreadful oversight. Can perhaps understand why none of those bodies thought the World Championship had any value initially, but it was commercial folly if there was no clause to take a percentage of any profits.

It was one of those ones that BSI organise themselves, and whilst they're happy for other promoters to take a financial hit, they want to keep their money. I'd guess the crowds at Parken are just not paying their way anymore...

Peter York's BSPA shenanigans make for hilarious reading...

Not really any dilemma at all. Whatever I think about BSI, I think it a complete nonsense to have a parallel European Championship to what is primarily a European-based GP series and I can quite understand BSI's annoyance at having a rival competition if they're paying for supposedly exclusive rights. If BSI are considered not to be doing their job very well, then that's something the FIM should take up with them.

Well it could well come into competition with the SGP, in terms of taking sponsors and television money and competing for venues. I were paying 1.5 million per year (or whatever) to the FIM, I'm not sure I'd be very happy if they or one of their subsidiaries started licensing a similar competition.

A lot of that could have been rectified with a DTP system though.

My point was that there were people in the speedway establishment who didn't want the Star to disappear and were willing to help out, whereas I suspect the opposite may have been the case with the Mail..

I'd agree that the Star made the necessary investments at critical times and wasn't lagging behind in DTP terms. It also has to be understood though, that the Star had backing from certain establishment figures and your only have to look at the list of (former) shareholders to see that.

I think the accommodation is the responsibility of the local organiser, is it not?

Sounds like cricket. Did the track start reverse swinging after a few heats...?

You can get away with shoddy DTP/typesetting if you're a newspaper, but more difficult with a magazine. Unfortunately, the Speedway Mail looked poor even by the standards of most magazines of the time, and although the content was worth reading, I'm not sure it would haven't encouraged the casual reader to pick it off the shelf.

Generally a bigger points differential keeps things more competitive, as it allows one-off results to challenge consistency. That's why F1 changed their system a few seasons ago. At the end of the day though, if one rider dominates then it doesn't matter what point system is used...

My point was that the 'guarantees' that have to be given to work permit riders are hardly generous, especially as they won't be able to take other employment unlike the local Brits. Furthermore, work permit riders have to have had a degree if success in order to qualify for a work permit in the first place. I wouldn't disagree that trying to break into any speedway is difficult and requires lots of travelling for little reward. However, what other professional sport is any different?

Erm.. Shovlar?

And how do you enforce that? They can pledge to do it, but ultimately there's nothing to stop them changing allegiance later on. Happens in cricket all the time.

I also thought the coverage was quite decent, even if the racing wasn't. Didn't even mind the commentary, despite the over-excitement of the main commentator (can't remember his name off-hand).

Yes, but paying a guaranteed minimum wage and providing lodging is only required for work permit riders. I don't think any guarantees are required for EU/EEA riders which is most foreign riders these days, although it's likely these sort of things are negotiated into contracts. I certainly wouldn't agree to work abroad with all the attendant costs that entails without some sort of guaranteed income. In addition, the minimum wage for work permit riders was only something like 150 quid a week last time I looked, and I think the cost lodging can be deducted from that as well. Hardly a fantastic living if you're not scoring points. I think the main reason is that anyone making the effort to go to another country to work/ride is generally going to be more determined to succeed than most of the locals, plus of course they're usually more skilled on average. I'd guess with riders as well, they probably have decent parental/sponsor backing to start with, whereas those that don't stick around in local competitions.

Yes, and his daughter Elena went on to represent Britain in tennis, usually badly, but never mind... However, the point is that she was Ukrainian born so wouldn't have be allowed to compete in the National League if some people get their way, despite the fact she only five years ago when she arrived in Britain. It shows the difficulty of making hard-and-fast rules. In general, I'd agree that the National League should be primarily a development league for British riders and not a finishing school for Aussies etc.. However, the fact remains there are many foreign nationals in the UK who may wish to take up speedway and it would be absurd to exclude them because of an accident of birth.