mikebv

The sad reality is not many in the UK will even notice, nor care, if five teams don't come to the tapes next year.... It's been ran like a private members club, with, for a good many, a hobby rather than a sport, for so long, to become almost irrelevant... Eastbourne, Somerset, Peterborough, Coventry, Swindon, Wolves, Stoke, Exeter, Reading, Newport, Lakeside, Newcastle, Hull, Rye House, and the IOW have all closed since 2005 from the top two leagues.. Hardly been a ripple from outside the sport has there?

We even have Sunday deliveries now to "catch up" and meet their agreed contract with the Government... Luckily I have three Supermarkets and an ex WHSmiths, who still stock it, within 10 mins... Every Thursday on sale in each...

Not as simple as that... Some Double Uppers may get their best individual sponsorship from someone who follows their Championship team... Eg a new bike paid for... To presume those already signed for Championship teams would "jump ship" for "more money" should one league happen, and that be the only option, is too simplistic... Especially as signed contracts hold people to account ..

It is doomed whatever they do, given the lack of teams, the high average age of the HL level of riders, and the lack of riders of the required level being developed... Keeping the patient on life support in the hope a miracle cure is found over the next two or three years is probably the best all can hope for.. It shows just how much the sport in the UK is just set up for the riders to earn as much as they possibly can, rather than being set up to be seen as bona fide team sport championships..

The rules are set... Hence the Championship are planning for next season... If the Premiership cannot come to the tapes then those clubs will need to put out teams together from riders who haven't yet got a team place, "if" the Championship let them in...

They will be holding the launch in the telephone box outside the NSS next season...

For me, it was when England stopped dominating... You could watch PC winning races for England in incredible fashion on regular Saturday afternoons, and the country was the best on the world... A good news story... Then the Yanks and the Danes were trained up by the UK, and took over, and much wider public interest was lost... And then World Of Sport disappeared... The domestic leagues backed onto the England teams success hugely at the time... Then they started to import journeymen after journeymen, short term, instead of developing UK riders for the longer term team place requirements.. And, sadly, it has been a constant stream of "no plans, no vision, no strategy" other than "the next season will be like this, (hopefully)"...

You do get a sense that there is a "civil war" in the offing...

I think for the nine Championship teams it is probably "business as usual", and they will have their teams sorted... Anyone they allow in later, (should they even do that), will just have to put together who they can...

Another excellent read... I would skip page 33 though if anyone is buying it...

Lifeguard at the GP's?

Hit your Century, raise your bat, and then get bowled out!! I think it will carry on in some way shape or form with around ten clubs or so... Those clubs trying desperately to return ie Coventry, Swindon and Peterborough, would/could boost the numbers, ironically though, needing to use a standard of rider that some seem to not want to use now should one league be a possibility next season, given the rider numbers available... A hell of a lot of planets need to align over the next few years to save the sport you would have to think.. There cannot be any other team sport surely that has lost as many teams over the past decade that UK Speedway has...?

And the savvy ones will be doing their utmost to keep them in 2027 when/if the Poland+1 league, kicks in...

Then their £400k to £600k contracts in Poland will just have to do them to "tide them over"... Edit. With a nice "high" five figure pick up from Sweden..

I think you will find that that was all Workington's fault mate... An amazing situation, but, in keeping with so much that went before, and gone on since... The last thing you need is any track finding its "sweet spot", best night to ride on isn't it?

If you had the chance to get Bewley, Kurtz, Fricke, Doyle and Jack Holder to your track for the first time in Donkeys/Ever, you would probably work "very hard" on ensuring the fixture list delivered them, wouldn't you? Maybe, on occasions, Friday night tracks becoming Saturday night tracks, and vice versa, to ensure they could appear at your track...

There is no doubt Chris Louis is/was, one of the most forward , modern thinking promoters... However, you have to say that the bar is very, very low... What did Ipswich average last year for a basic POQ against the likes of Oxford and Birmingham? 1700? 1800 maybe? In UK Speedway terms, undoubtedly very, very good, but, again, as the bar is set so low, it is hardly "Barnum and Bailey" promoting levels is it? (One for the teenagers there) The Hawkins comments come across as almost blaming others for not doing what Ipswich do, however, for many, they don't need to, as their other businesses bankroll their team, or, they own tracks with other revenue streams that can subsidise their teams.. Clubs getting, (and quite happily surviving), on crowds of 600 or so could spend plenty of money increasing their attendances, however even if they got a 25% increase (a huge actual % in reality), it would still only be 750 a night, and nowhere near enough to compete with other clubs getting double... As we have seen, some teams go bankrupt by winning Speedway Championships and close, therefore why would clubs attempt to compete with those who can sustain the costs of more expensive riders, and put their own existence at risk? It isn't the fault, nor incumbent of, the Championship Teams to take (the very, very clear) risks by "moving up" just because a small minority of clubs won't deviate from their own inflexible business plans.. Fair play to Chris Louis for getting out if his expectations and aspirations can no longer be met, and good luck to him, he will definitely be missed by UK Speedway, however, it isn't the fault of any other club that Chris didn't want to ride in a five team league or one "big league".. That was, in his opinion, a business decision he felt wasnt right for him and Ipswich, and he will know his business model better than anyone.. Let's hope he finds a buyer and Ipswich come to the tapes next season..

Against the same four (maybe three), teams ad nauseum all season...? For what? Maybe another year? Two years? It isn't Brady's fault the likes of him and others are not affordabe for more teams to join the "top league"... And it isn't the Championship Team's fault that some in the "top league" have such a one dimensional business plan, that they seem unable to change...

In last weeks Speedway Star, Danny Ford specifically mentioned the tangible negative impact on the crowd level that any home defeat brings to the next meeting... Regardless of how well they are doing overall in the league, it can be an immediate drop... Hence, Poole winning is essential to their business plan, and as they "pay their mortgages" off the profits, rather than run it as a hobby, it has to be profitable... Maybe that is why they see no plus side to "moving up" as they could easily spend six figures more to win less home meetings... Let's face it, they are currently the biggest fish in the biggest pond, given the "puddle" that is the Premiership... So many Promoters want so many different things to ever make it succesfully work I would suggest... Therefore the majority who are quite happy with what they have got, and can deliver, will always hold sway.. Ritchie Hawkins mentions in the piece that the sport needs some "independent" leadership.. Is that a "new thing" amongst some Promoters "all of a sudden?"... However, given so many want so many different things from running a Speedway Team, if has gone well beyond that.. Maybe if an independent person/entity could fully sponsor the league, it could happen, but any promoter bank rolling their teams losses each season isn't going to let someone with zero financial input dictate the direction they should be heading.. Turkey's don't vote for Christmas.. The sport is knackered (over here), isn't it, (from a bona fide "serious sport" perspective)... Far too much to unpick, far too much self interest to allow radical change, far too many different needs and wants to get any general consensus as to a fit for purpose, future fit plan.. In last weeks Speedway Star, Paul Burbidge mentioned the legacy that a previous generation of promoters could have left, as, when the going was good, they didn't invest in purchasing tracks, which has left the sport threatend by land developers... 50 years later, however, these people would no longer be with us, and maybe their families would have taken over, or someone else had bought the track.. With these people possibly quite happy to sell up to developers given they would have seen, and been part of, the allowed, condoned, unchecked decline over the past two decades in particular.. And just imagine trying to deliver enough riders for Coventry, Peterborough, Birmingham, Swindon, Lakeside, Somerset and Wolverhampton today? Each meeting would need to be a "Best Pairs"!! It feels like its almost time for "snookers needed"...

Let's hope the Aces keep going too so that's at least two threads that can be contributed to....

There must be far too much to unpick now with regards to "one league", given pretty much all the Championsbip teams will be sorted and a five team top tier surely cannot be an option, given it will be a disaster..

And lo.... It came to pass... 3 Wise Men from the East (Anglia), named Chris, Ritchie and Buster, saw a bright light in the sky, and the bright light did then (when it dropped a bit in the sky, as it was getting in their eyes, meaning they had stop the journey for half and hour or so), leadeth them on to Rugbethlahemy.... Where they did find "12 Disciples of the Speedway" who were already gathered, with much furrowed brows and foreboding.. "Do not fear", said the Three Wise Men, because upon us today is the "Spirit Of Speedway", and "King Of The Shale", who will guide us from our current woes and tribulations.. And lo it came to pass that "The Speedway" did becomath, from that very moment onwards, hath one, and never again to be untwained or torn asunder... And the many followers of "The Speedway" did rejoice... (Well, at least until the next year any road)... Amen...

100%... I will go to Buxton next year, (several times if its not Arctic up there!).. I won't care who wins, but it will be an afternoon out watching Speedway.. However. I have zero emotional attachment even to the Aces due to the Mickey Mouse way the sport is ran, but still enjoy "my Speedway" and attend the NSS when something is either riding (pun intended), on it, and will attend various places around the country as a "day out"... Who is there is pretty much irrelevant just as long most of the competitors are of a "decent" level.. Poland provides the "utopia" which the UK sadly "bent over" for, (instead of ploughing its own furrow), and a weekend out there is great for any Speedway fan...

The Junior Championships and NDL meetings are akin to me paying to watch the United U23 Academy... And. I wouldn't do that... The NDL play offs would barely get 500 there, so no "big match" feel that at least you get (sometimes) with the top league play offs.. Edit. I have attended several Youth Cup finals at Old Trafford down the years with over 30,000 others each time, paying a minimal entrance fee.. The "Big Match Atmosphere* that such a crowd (which was expected to be "big"), got me there.. Every sporting occasion should aspire to be an "event" that encourages repeat visits... As has been mentioned on other threads, other minority sports seem to do more than OK in their UK domestic leagues without "World Class" talent...

A perfect opportunity to do a 14 team league to "whatever" standard, (as long as it can bring 14 competitive teams together)... And, if it doesn't work, and there is too mcuh of disparate difference between the top and bottom, simply run 2027 with the top seven being "Div 1" in 2027 and the bottom seven being "Div 2".. If