mikebv

It is ultimately everyone from Promoters to Riders all racing to the bottom though isnt it? Clubs subsidising their riders own individual aspirations through their salaries... Individual success that will have zero positive impact (or very little at best), to the Promoters own business.. Fans then having to pay increased admission fees to get in to watch riders who have spent £30k and more on machinery.. And all to try and win competitions that, due to the way they are ran, will send hardly a ripple of recognition through the conurbations on their doorsteps, never mind have any impact on a wider national level.. Literally millions will be paid out across the 3 Divisions by riders, promoters and fans... Therefore. You do have to ask "Why?" When the growth of the sport seems to get no forward or upward movement out of such a huge ongoing annual outlay...

100%... And you can also add that the ego of some Promoters impacts far too much on how the sport is ran... eg. If you want to use Div One HL's, then put your team into Div One.. Or. if you cannot put on a show strong enough to compete in Div 2 then drop down to Div 3... You should ride at the level you are "organically" at, and not the one you decide gives you the most chance of (misguided use of the term that it is), "success".... The sport in the UK does come across as nothing more than a whimsical plaything for those who run it, and a way of allowing many of the riders to make as much money as they can so as to not need to work for six months of the year... Regardless of the impact to the overall credibility of the brand, and its competitions, that this clearly has...

For me, the lack of credibility is THE key issue and one that, if fixed, would at least start to encourage and engender that vital emotional attachment to a team that any fan of a team sport must have for it to have any purpose or merit.. When you can pick and choose what league you want to race in as "it suits you better" then all it sends out is a message that the leagues have no real worth in winning and should be treated accordingly.. Without aspiration to grow, any entity will stagnate then ultimately regress.. There is no doubt that within the sport there are clubs who are clearly at a certain level, yet choose to ply their trade in leagues either above or below their "natural position", which ultimately then renders the leagues uncompetitive as some teams are too strong for the league they compete in, or wildy out of their depth, and it also then means the supposed "flagship league" is nothing of the sort... Therefore. What should be seen as the aspirational pinnacle of the sport becomes almost an irrelevance given there isnt the will for many to want to compete for it... And when the "top league's" reputation carries such llittle kudos it then permeates down into the other leagues who subsequently then have even less kudos... The current set of Promoters are not responsible for all Speedways ills obviously, but their lack of innovation and desire for radical change to try and do something different, is definitely down to them.. Covid being a huge opportunity for a reset and relaunch that they chose to not take... What's that definition of insanity? UK Speedway is unfortunatley on rinse and repeat to do the same thing ad Infinitum... Yet. Frustratingly, the 'raw product' can still attract very decent crowds when the infrastructure around it is fit for purpose.. Something we often see, as an example, regularly, whenever an FIM meeting is held over here.... Proving that there is definitely many who still have an appetite for Speedway in the UK, and will willingly pay "top dollar" to attend it.. It's just not an appetite for domestic UK Speedway... As to why that is, is what the Promoters should be finding out, fixing the reasons why, and then hopefully reaping the reward of their enquiries by having fuller stadiums, and wider media coverage of their competitions due to their renewed level of kudos in winning..

But, in fairness, they do have a large company sponsoring the league and dont share riders via a guest system so the team that wins has genuinely only won it by themselves, and not an adhoc amalgam of "willing paid helpers"... (Maybe the sponsorship level and credibility level is linked. Who knows? But I would suggest it definitley is linked in Poland.. I am surprised though at how many are published attending some meetings with it often looking like watching a TV meeting over here on screen... Some tracks are getting over 2000 according to the attendance figures..... Which certainly doesnt always look like that on camera.. The UK, Sweden and Denmark do seem to have a similar demographic of follower, and also similarly, seem to struggle to attract different demographics to go along and watch.. You would imagine if Sweden lost their main sponsor that their league would be under considerable pressure..

Polands fault this...

Uncomfortable truth, but a truth nevertheless, is that there are too many tracks running at an unsustainable level... And when I say unsustainable I also include impact to its credibility and reputation, as well as financial considerations.. You cannot run a team sport with 3 Divisions and all share each others competitors, therefore, if you decide to do so then it simply isnt a sustainable model to follow if you want fans to buy into it.. And if they dont buy into it, and it doesnt look like they do in many places, then the brand itself is damaged.. And with a damaged brand you will always suffer.. Poland, Sweden and Denmark have it right (not perfect, but right), in that they focus on their top league and everything else feeds off it... Some fans in the UK often complain about Poland and the GP's "ruining British Speedway", yet the ONLY nation wanting to run its Speedway operating model from Monday to Sunday is the UK... Not one other league does it and they seem to cope well enough with Poland and the GP's impact.. With Poland, dont forget, actually running the vast majority of their meetings at the weekends, (but AROUND the wide and various FIM calender)... Bottom line is trying to run two leagues using a huge % of the same riders cannot work if you want to have flexibility to attract the best crowds on the best nights for you, and if you want credibility for the sport.. We have so many guests for example because one injury often impacts two teams... With that rider possibly being due to ride all seven nights of the week, meaning seven replacements for him!! Less teams per league, with clear demarcation between them, with controlled DU's using only those not riding overseas as well, has to be a consideration.. Or one large league with controlled spread of HL talent, six man teams, with the number six slot being an "RS role" for each team, being another.. The current operating model will never deliver growth for the sport, and it has clearly shown that for the past couple of decades at least, therefore you can only presume to keep using it must mean what currently exists is all that will ever exist.. (In the UK)....

Great to see Chris Holder showing once again what a class rider he still is in both Poland and Sweden.. Had a few years of, for him, pretty average results, but he seems to be once again mixing with (and also beating), the very top level riders.. When on it, he is always good to watch...

Fair play to the director he/she/they, (delete as applicable), did their best where they could to zoom in where 20 or 30 or so were sat together, making it look "full".. Not something they could keep doing but you could tell it was a plan.. Unfortunately at one stage they focused on five or six Aces fans who were sat pretty much isolated, having their tea by the looks of it, looking miserable, with coats fully fastened as if they freezing to death, which made my lad laugh out loud and say to me.... "Speedway fans make even you look young and normal"... Cheeky beggar.. ... "Eeeeeee I'm fifty four you know.."..

Decent meeting, still not quite the level of the last few years at the NSS, but still definitely worth a watch given even a "decent meeting" from there is often a few steps up from many other places... The racing seems to be improving just a little later than it used to... Surprised they used Batch and not King in 15..

Danyon Hume has deserved more tonight...

A good night... Had Ippo at +10 and thought I was stealing money when I saw that... Saved fifty quid and made seventy... Love British Speedway me... And Bet 365's knowledge of the sport... Just a quick question... They havent brought out a quadruple points rule in Heat 14 and 15 for the home team have they in the past few minutes? You never know...

Doyley.... Hopefully more of the same in the last few races...

It was rather "special" that interview wasnt it?

I think that in all fairness to him... It must be difficult to try and hold an interview in a language that is not your natural one.. But Sam is trying his best..

Is he? I might be giving him too much credit then... His old fella was definitely one of the better promoters of the sport..

Might as well. . Fans get to see the same riders and can watch it for a cheaper price.. Fair play to the Fords .. Shame they dont play a far more prominent part in running the sport.. Although, not sure anyone can sort the nonsense like tonight that goes on, at both the NSS (with the teams), and Monmore with the track... The irony being is how professional the riders are... If only the infrastructure around them was the same...

Great sport... So poorly ran... Still, as long as Poole can win the 2nd Division the sport will live long and prosper....

And there will be plenty of the same riders...

All sports need lots of hours of coverage... With many other niche sports crying out for what Speedway has... Sadly Speedway (UK), doesn't know how to market itself to make the most of so many hours of coverage... I watched Lublin and Wroclaw last evening.. Wow.. Exactly the same sport.. But a world of difference.. Noise, atmosphere, and a full house... It did mean something though in the context of being a proper sporting fixture, which may be one of the reasons why it was taken so seriously..

"Belle Vue a very well supported club".. Nice one Kelv, fair play... Poor timing though just as they show a grandstand with "one or two" empty seats...

I have noticed that the Poles often have quite a few FIM meetings (GP's, GP Challenges, SEC qualifying, SEC Finals, SON Finals, GP2 rounds etc etc), ran at the weekend (on their protected days/nights)... However.. What they slyly do is quite cunning in that they actually plan their fixture lists around these meetings... A truly amazing concept... And one that will never catch on over here though, thank goodness... NB. When you want to run the Sport from Monday to Sunday like the UK does (using the same riders in a vast amount of cases), you will inevitably get some clashes I would suspect.. Until we can start using a ten day week maybe, thus freeing up 3 days for the UK to leave free...?

Considering it is still school hols in a lot of Grt Manchester, I did think that with the inevitable TV crowd level, (now compounded even more by Mickey Mouse's involvement), that it could have been an opportunity anyway to just give several 100 tickets away... No loss of revenue as they wouldnt have been there anyway in the vast majority of cases, and it would have filled the place, making it look popular on TV, and also, at the same time, come across that it was somewhere "ver kidz" would go to in numbers.. No need to mention the freebies on comms, just mention "how great it is to see so many young people attending Speedway"... Still... Much better to do nothing and show swathes and swathes of empty seats... That will definitely get people casually watching interested...

The 100's of empty seats in the grandstand as the infield camera shows the race starts wont be painting a good picture in any way shape or form.. As has been said, totally ludicrous to run a meeting on a night when it would be 100% expected to have riders from either team, (and probably both), missing.. The message it screams out is "League Speedway doesnt really matter anyway"... And if the Promoters are quite happy to not take it seriously, then what chance have you got of convincing the fans to? Not to mention, broadcasters and sponsors... Now. No doubt some of those "devotees" will say "fixture congestion, no dates available" as so many do from both leagues on this platform when the same thing happens time and time again.. However, you can guarantee that any meeting that gets rained off will still get ran later in the season, therefore dates are always available..

It's the "best of both worlds" Championship.. Using Div 1 HL's and no need to have any Rising Stars... The middle tier should have to have two RS's, with the top tier having one.. That would have made a fair few current 4/5 point riders available to ride for struggling teams as replacements, or get used as unattached guests for injured or missing riders.. As well as obviously developing young British riders from NDL to Div 2 SS and HL standard, with maybe a few going onto Div 1 HL level.. Seems barmy to keep paying out to bring over foreign reserve/lower SS standard riders when so many young British riders are available if the team building structure was designed to accommodate them.. Bottom line is. No one outside the few within the "Speedway Bubble" will care who wins any UK Speedway title, thus having very minimal impact (most likely none at all), to the sports growth... But. Getting GB winning globally, regularly, will get interest from the wider sports watching community.. Which definitely will help the sport grow...

Enjoyed that... Lublin definitely major contenders.. Sunday night Speedway in Poland rarely disappoints.....