mikebv

Soren and Christer Sjosten

The one glaring thing they don't seem to understand is that by annually undermining their very own 'flagship events', they devalue them to a level where fans then start to ask themselves "why the hell would anyone attend"? And if the Finals become so devalued then really why attend any of the qualifiers either? It actually suggests that those who run the sport dont take it too seriously themselves, so lets face it, if those who run the sport don't take it seriously then really why should the fans? Quite incredible how this sport is ran in the UK isn't it?

Was this written last year and just reproduced? Or maybe the year before? Or maybe any given year over far too many years..? Cricket is another sport that relies on the weather conditions being favourable to run, therefore I am amazed they don't run all their finals in October like Speedway in the UK does.. Surely those in the ECB are missing a trick? It is truly amazing that every year the same nonsense pervades yet those who run the sport obviously see absolutely nothing wrong with it.... Maybe seeing all those growing empty spaces on the terraces will one day start to finally give them a clue. .?

Definitely worth considering, however you would need a to set a 'team mean average' which all teams couldn't go over to prevent one team buying up the best in each grade.. Maybe also let teams 'miss a grade' and use two riders from the one below instead? Possibly even run with six man teams initially to increase the riders avaialble per grade? This would create a situation where supply exceeds demand thus teams will have options for injury cover other than guests, and can replace poor performers with a like of like replacement rather than making two changes to fit one decent rider in with a make weight to maintain the team average, like they do now.. Makes it easy to transfer riders into it too, ie those from overseas or those wishing to double up can be slotted in to a grade based on assessed or converted average. .

And each season, after peeing about for donkeys using a slide rule to get seven riders as near to the limit as possible, all teams start 'level' yet, by the end of the season, one, if not more, are always miles adrift of the team that tops the table. . Usually after tinkering around for weeks signing riders not much better than the ones they are replacing, from a small pool that fits the averages that they need to build to, rather than a wider pool of 'talent' that might make a difference.. Hence they don't move forwards and their seasons are effectively over by the end of June... Market forces will dictate who they bring in if there were a wider amount of leeway as, lets be honest, not many could afford a Bartek or a Tai to turn their seasons around, however maybe a club could pick up a '6 point man' to replace a '5 point man', which could make a difference without breaking the club...? As we know, there a myriad of variables that delivers a riders average, so many of which are shall we say 'less than scientific' meaning this hardly justifies the influence they possess on the whole sport, therefore, let's spend less time trying to build a speedway team with averages as it's most important focal point, and more time building one using the actual personalities who have brought it both success and positive fan engagement...

Didn't have time, flying to the moon took up all his focus...

To be fair, its not a 'Poole thing'.... For what seems like 'forever' away teams have arrived with guests... Often having agreed to a meeting knowing full well that their 'star rider' will be missing as required elsewhere, as lets be honest, their crowd wont be impacted by his absence. Or. They agreed to the meeting knowing they could bring in a couple of ringer track specialists to replace their known missing riders who might not be as good at that particular track.. Surprising how many times 'star riders' are always available for home meetings though... Given the reputation of the team competitions in the UK, it doesn't really matter who makes up the septets, so just ride under the banner of the two teams on the best nights you can get a crowd in... And as has been said, ensure your home side is strong so fans (who are obviously ok with contrived septets) can at least keep the faith that their team has a chance of winning their home meetings, thus will keep attending... And if you ride on the nights that traditionally brought you your best crowds, then you have more chance of getting those all important 'fans who used to be regulars', to attend more often than maybe they currently do now. . Much easier to bring them back into the speedway fold than attract newbies I would suggest..

Screwdriverski.....

They kept mentioning 'Droogy" every race which made me have all sorts of thoughts... Seemingly its 'druga' and it means 'second'..

It does, but an away team with guests on a Friday or Saturday evening at the NSS will still generate a bigger crowd than a 'proper' away team on a Monday or a Thursday.. There's no real kudos in winning any Speedway League title in the UK, so it doesn't really matter who represents who.. Therefore, ride on the night you can make your most money, even if it's a bit contrived.. The fans who are still going regularly have shown that contrived septets don't prevent their attendance so it doesn't really matter to them if the teams are a bit cobbled together.. So ride on nights when most fans can get there... Its obvious the sport cannot run itself 'properly' as a genuine team sport due to a myriad of variable issues, so it might as well not even try running itself 'properly' and aim to get those who still attend now, but maybe not every match, to attend more often...

Always looks good in Poland when they do the same with their two channels who cover the top league.... Cant understand a word of it mind...

Good news if it happens.. A chance to create a few 'characters' and maybe get some riders profiles increased which can be used as 'drawcards' going forward.. There are a good few exciting riders who ply their trade in the UK so showing their races weekly can only be good for the sport overall.. And the NSS, Peterborough, Somerset, Scunthorpe and Swindon in particular (there may be more), seem to deliver plenty of good racing most weeks so there shouldn't be any shortage of footage to showcase the sport in a good, positive light...

Quite possibly.. I presume though they will have discussed with Eurosport what the highlights package will consist of? No point showing highlights of something that didn't contain any as all that will do is turn even more people off.. Much better to take one or two heats from a dull live meeting, show the result and a couple of interviews, then spend the rest of the programme showing the best races from each meeting that week from around the country with rider and team manager interviews.. Every team then gets a mention and riders start to get noticed..

Don't all the teams have a company filming their meetings? If not, they should be made to.. BV's has a tremendous picture quality and could be used for a highlights package.. One of the issues with TV is how few riders actually get noticed by anyone curiously watching.. Some Premiership riders will have been on TV only once or twice this year (and maybe even not at all). Championship and NL riders don't even get a chance unless they double/treble up.. Therefore, a whole sport highlights package can only be a good thing.. Many riders will deliver some great entertainment weekly so the sport needs to get this action out to the public every week, meaning that even if the main live meeting is a bit dull, you still have a package of great, exciting racing.. The 60 second football round ups on Sky and BT concentrate on the matches goals and controversial incidents so Speedway should follow suit.. Most mundane meetings will have at least one "very good race", often by the same riders who are renowned more for passing than gating, so get this one race per meeting out there each week, and start to build individual rider profile's and reputation as racers, which can only be good for their own sponsorship as well as getting the team they ride for noticed.. Get the 'exciting' riders noticed and the teams can then build marketing on the back of their names... And five to ten minutes of passing, passing and more passing, will help dispel the "first out of the gate wins" reputation.. Throw in a bit of 'handbags' too, where it happens, and you will maybe getting those watching sitting up and taking notice..?

Spot on . Everything leading up to the play offs is far too low key and treated as nothing more than a qualifier to the finals.. Poole topped the table and lost money.. You can almost guarantee several fans missed a few meetings knowing the play offs were a cast iron certainty as basically the end of the season became 'dead rubbers' for them. They need to make 'winning the league' mean something as well as winning the play offs...

I think too much is read into who actually provides the coverage and more should be considered about what they actually get to show.. Sky, BT, and Eurosport are not 'Speedway's saviours', they are just TV companies showing the sport.. Their production capability might add weight to the racing or it might not, however.. If the racing isn't up to any great entertainment standard (as we sadly see most weeks in the UK meetings), then it doesn't matter who shows it nor how great their presentation and production skills are.. If what you are watching doesn't maintain your interest, then it doesnt matter if it's 'free to air' or not, and that can never be a positive for the sport. In fact it could work very much the other way and disconnect any potential new fans, or ex fans who may think about returning, completely.. Doesn't matter who shows the sport if it doesn't deliver on the track...

Whilst I don't doubt it improved technique riding on smaller tracks, I would suggest that the level of competition brought on the riders more.. Top riders of the past rode against the other top riders several times on a weekly basis in the UK, which meant they had to improve accordingly if they wanted to be No1.. Nowadays someone like Dan Bewley won't get the same impact to his career riding a smaller circuit as the opposition level won't give any kind of barometer of where he sits globally... The likes of Bewley and Lambert need to be riding in Poland and Sweden's top leagues (on any shaped tracks) to improve their racing and position in the World rankings... Too many times British riders have settled for a 'successful' domestic career which nowadays, in the grand scheme of World Speedway, means very little...

For me pretty much THE No1 PRIORITY for each track.. As fans who still go have shown, they will put up with a whole host of 'anomolies' with regards to how the sport is ran versus it's peers, therefore the least the sport can do is ensure it runs on the best nights for the vast majority of them to get there.. For teams currently in the second tier, I cannot see (no disrespect intended as could be lots of riders used as an example), how the likes of Danny King and Chris Harris riding in Ipswich colours in the Premiership will deliver much bigger crowds than when they turned up this year for Sheffield and Somerset respectively... Maybe the Champions, with Jason Doyle in tow, would deliver a novelty crowd bounce but cannot see over a season how it could work for second tier clubs moving up.. Unless of course financially the TV money is similar to the Sky deal and clubs feel they can make ends meet with it?

Must admit, it did cross my mind to end my comment with something like that... Five years is a long time and lots of decisions will be made by those who run the sport.... And we know how many 'strange decisions' five weeks can bring, let alone five years..

But in Speedway you could be going 'in hard' against tomorrow nights team captain for your other team.. Go in 'too hard' and effectively you could knacker your other teams' season... Playing aggressively against a fellow international for your own team is perfectly acceptable, you owe him nothing and your club loyalty and own fan base comes first.. However, in Speedway, a different club on another night needs you both to be on the same side so riding too aggressively will have consequences for them.. Must have a bearing on how you react I would think, and definitely takes away some of that 'tribalism' that team sports should always inspire in their participants and fans..

You can only presume that there is significant money on the table to lock yourself in to five years.. Suggesting no other bidding war between TV companies is needed for the BSPA till 2025.. Or could there actually be a genuine "Five Year Plan" for the sport in conjunction with Eurosport's backing? A plan that actually exists, and has been agreed with the TV company? Eurosport must have done its homework on the sport in the UK, so must be happy with what they see now, therefore maybe they too have a vision for the sports journey over the next five years...? It's certainly a big investment in time and resources if nothing else for them over the next five years, which suggests confidence in the product..

But it does... To the most significant issue for several teams which is.. Their race night... Fixed nights are in place to ensure double uppers are able to ride as much as possible to earn enough to carry on, (and ensure plenty of guest replacements are available).. Sheffield changed last year to a Sunday because racing on a Thursday became not possible and suffered as a consequence.. This ultimately closed down Buxton who couldn't run profitably against their neighbour on the same afternoon. BV would get better crowds riding on a Friday or Saturday night but cannot due to fixed nights.. And Poole have said losing Wednesday impacted their crowd levels.. And we saw what happened to Workington when they lost their race night slot because "there wasn't enough riders to guest when so many riders rode on the same evening".. Doubling up is pretty much irrelevant for me from the respective competitions perspective as it doesn't really matter who wins the titles anyway so mixing riders in two or three leagues won't make me go or not go.. However the race night will.. In "The good old days" as has been mentioned, doubling up was common place for development. PC did indeed ride for BV and Rochdale, however.. BV still rode every Saturday night and didn't change race nights to accommodate his participation..

Partnering a rider in one night, and then riding against him on another night in another domestic league, and then with him in another country the next night, and against him in yet another country the night after that, must have a huge bearing on the level of racing... You simply won't be as aggressive to win against someone who you will be sat next to in the pits somewhere else tomorrow.. I would defy anyone to 'give everything' for their teams given such situations.. Just human nature.. Therefore the level of competitiveness has to suffer... Unless, of course, it's Poland where individual contracts worth several hundred thousands pounds are on the line, and tens and tens of thousands of rabid fanatical fans are critically judging you every race... That focuses your mind and motivates you to give 100% every race I would suggest..

Are Berwick changing counties too? Moving its town 200 miles or so south to become part of Lancashire or Yorkshire?

And often ran on nights to suit the riders' own individual aspirations on the global stage, rather than prioritising when clubs can deliver their best crowd (which should be the ultimate priority).. Looking at the last few seasons a few riders seem to have become almost "weekly guests" riding in both leagues, so no need to ride in individuals given they can get plenty of extra money over a season getting hired by all and sundry...