mikebv

You are probably right... I can actually see Poland and Sweden adopting the system any day now now they have seen how succesful it can be...

The fact 'no one cared' is (sadly), probably the biggest clue as to the worth of the competitions... Unless it means something to win, then really, why bother?

Whilst 'guests are a necessary evil' (in Britain), then the sport (as a team concept) simply won't move forward, because it can't can it? Imagine Wroclaw using Dudek to replace the injured Woffy? ZG fans would lynch him should he score the points for Wroclaw that prevents ZG from qualifying for the play offs.. And Wroclaw fans would lynch him if he scored next to nothing and they didn't. .. In Poland it actually means something. To fans, media and (probably most importantly) the blue chip sponsors. And if they ran a guest system it wouldn't have anywhere near the same stature, nor mean so much.. I do though think that guests are here to stay as it's the 'easiest' way of running the sport and provides riders with extra earning potential... One rider once told me that 'guesting' was the cherry on the top of the icing on top of the cake... I think now for many riders it now just forms part of the cake, hence will carry on being part of the plan..

Some fair points Steve, but still beg to differ.. The leagues might have had results shown in most newspapers but, unlike today, they didn't come under any scrutiny as to how those points shown were delivered.. Also. The offering you saw on TV back then was credible and what you saw every Saturday (and the odd Wednesday night) wetted the appetite for attending domestic speedway.. PC, for example, brought thousands to Hyde Rd, and elsewhere, because of what he did on Saturday afternoons in living rooms the length and breadth of the country wearing England colours, not BV colours... Maybe it was a bit of chicken and the egg as to what came first, and who benefited from whom.. Bottom line though is what passes for domestic speedway today on TV, ie the way it is ran, won't engage too many to invest their emotional loyalty into it.. And for a team sport, that's not a great place to be in..

To pay for two hours worth of advertising for your business in a prime time evening slot would cost thousands and thousands... Speedway gets it for even better than free because they actually get money.. Yet many seem to never use this HUGE opportunity to advertise themselves...

In those days the big difference was domestic speedway wasn't the narrative... It had barely any coverage, unlike today.... Crowds went to watch their local teams on the back of the sport being beamed into living rooms every other week or so, at Individual, WTC and Test match levels.. And as only three channels existed the riders on show, PC, Mauger, Olsen etc etc became household names and the sport domestically was 'big' by riding on the back of this coverage.... You also often only found out that guests were there after you had paid to get in, unlike in today's instant news era.. Put simply. What you could get away with then, you cannot now... So using an operating model that's fifty years old (and failing), isn't I would suggest, a great plan to keep following..

Pictures fine, but no sound on my firestick... Very dissapointing... Off to NSPORT in a mo... #firstworldproblems Edit: Volume now on, call to Samaritans postponed... Still can't understand a bloody word mind. ..

But with them the wider media simply won't take it seriously and give it coverage.. And Sponsors from major brands won't put their name to something that is in all honesty a 'bit Mickey Mouse'.. Last year's play off where riders from neither finalist were allowed to compete, and then it was sanctioned they could be swapped, would have brought any major sponsors name into that ludicrous scenario and reflected on their 'brand'.. And that wouldn't have been something they would have been too impressed with I would have thought.. And in Speedway (in Britain) there are sadly too many situations which unfortunately would reflect less than positively on any major sponsors..

Shouldn't be paying out that much.... .A HUGE outlay for a sport with such a small following..

Cracking rider Madsen... You don't be top five in Poland for several years without being world class and a bit ruthless.. Not many riders could ride so narrow at that speed down a straight and not drift to the fence on a slick track.. Proper talent... And whilst I have a soft spot for Dudek, Madsen isn't Polish... Tai 3 Poland 1...

"He was as slow as Christmas"...

Poland and Sweden replace injured riders with unattached riders... They find it it adds a modicum of credibility to ensure fans, sponsors and media remain interested.. They can do this because they work on supply exceeding demand, (particularly Poland), meaning riders do have to wait to be given a chance.. Where as over here it does appear the whole set up is driven by the desire to provide riders with as many nights Speedway as is possible, regardless of who they end up representing on any given evening..

How about the following as a starter.. 1 Don't arrange meetings when riders are then needed to be in two places at once.. 2. Don't run a rider replacement facility that means your fifth best rider replaces your No1. Just let all rides take seven rides max and the rider below whoever the rider missing is takes three of his rides, whilst the one above him takes one. A Number seven missing means a No8 gets drafted in and the Number six can take three of sevens' rides).. 3. Have less riders per team meaning unattached subs on the bench to bring in.. 4. Have less teams at the top two leagues levels, meaning again unattached subs available.. Injuries will always be a part of it, but so much could be done to reduce significantly the amount of guests... And remember, Sweden and Poland have injuries too as its often the same rider being shared around all three leagues.. But they don't replace him using guests..

Maybe swap five or six riders around from yourselves, Ipswich and Kings Lynn??

Like the Speedway Stories shoot interviews...

Hope you get paid overtime Dave..

He over slept...

The Promoters disrespect their own competitions by using a truly ridiculous operating model, taking away any credibilty or kudos in winning them.. Speedway meetings become meaningless under such administration.. Fans are not daft, therefore many who still follow the sport closely, and love watching it, don't attend domestic speedway but will pay good money to travel to Poland regularly to watch their Leagues, and attend GP's, SoN etc around the globe.. Stop running meaningless meetings by bringing integrity to the competitions and make them worth winning, and maybe those many, many disillusioned fans would start to return? One thing is for sure, keep doing the "same old, same old" and you only have one outcome..

No big company would touch it with a barge pole... Taking away the fact the level of crowds attending, the media interest that gets generated currently, and the small TV audiences that watch it wouldn't justify their sponsorship outlay given the lack of brand awareness delivered... Just put yourself in a major company CEO's shoes going into last year's play offs where you have your name (and therefore 'brand values' in the publics eyes) emblazoned across all the pre meeting publicity, and then get told by the sports governing body that they have sanctioned that both teams will be sharing two competitors and swapping them during 'half time'... Neither of whom are actually contracted to either of the finalists by the way, but ringers brought in for the occasion.. The watching public would consider the final a laughing stock and your companies name will be associated with it.. And this scenario was actually signed off by those who run the sport don't forget... I would suggest Speedway is a long, long way off from getting any major sponsorship given its operating model allows such things to take place.. I would also suggest if Poland ran Britain's current operating model it too would be in a similar position.. Hence it doesn't. ..

Don't think anyone would seriously say we should follow Poland.. The sport wouldn't last a month... Woffy's one match salary alone would need every club in the land to pay it as Wroclaw would have a crowd of more than double what the whole of Premiership would get combined at home in a week.. Sadly, don't have the money to set up as an 'independent' and let's face it, anyone trying to muscle in would face insurmountable opposition.. However, if I was burning money hand over fist doing the same thing over and over again I might consider trying something different and even if I end up burning more cash, at least I had tried to see if another way would work... But, ultimately you are right, probably best keep running the sport in the country the way it has been now for donkeys years without any radical, innovative changes.... Especially, as it's all going so very, very well. .

Spot on... Should just sell the spectacle... Which currently gets completely diluted by trying to shoe horn it into a team concept... (A very, very inadequate, and nowhere near fit for purpose team concept which does the actual spectacle absolutely no favours).. Running once a month at the NSS for example, at weekends, with circa 40 races on show of differing levels eg kids to juniors to experts, (maybe a 'Festival Of Speedway' over two days?), in competitions with some authenticity, would generate pretty decent crowds I would think.. Ran once a month, with credibility, and properly marketed in the weeks leading up to it, with circa four thousand in attendance, would deliver a much better impression of the sport and enhance its brand far more to help it's long term sustainability than running contrived meetings, four times a month on a Monday or a Thursday, with a thousand at each meeting.. Run one 'biggie' individual during the season, and bang in a couple of Test Matches, and maybe it could kick start a renaissance of the sport in this country.. There definitely is still a fairly large following out there for Speedway, its just not being engaged by the current way it is ran.. So find an operating model that does..

100%... If it wasn't, more people would go.. People often come on here and compare prices to football and say that speedways prices are on a par with the lower leagues.. The huge difference of course is that football has a brand identity and is recognised by the wider public.. Speedway has no sutch brand recognition so any non speedway aware man my age, with a 16 yr old son like I have, is hardly likely to see a £25 admission for them both as something that would entice him to give it a go.. Those who run the sport may see their pricing structure as reasonable, justified and value for money, and have a million perfectly valid reasons why it is what it is, however, that is irrelevant, as its the amount of customers who purchase your product which validates the pricing structure.. Or not as it would appear in the case of speedway,. NB it was cheaper for me and my lad to watch the SoN on a Saturday night at the NSS than an Aces match on a Thursday there.. The SoN was a sell out.... "Quelle surprise!" as Dimitri Berge may say...

I would say that British Speedway is 'bomb proof' in the views of the die hards.. Let's be honest, if they still attend like they do now they are pretty much immune to all the nonsense that exists.. I would even suggest that they are enjoying themselves, hence go so regularly..

The Bull by the horn should have been taken years ago.. British Speedway cannot compete with other leagues so shouldn't even bother.. I do suspect that it is more the Ego of those within the BSPA that prevents them acknowledging that reality, and then carries them forward, fudging and fiddling with a never ending ludicrous operating model.. In the vain hope that the next fudge or fiddle might succeed.. They seem to want to cling on to 'their' riders at all costs, even though 'their' riders are not even theirs.. And then build their own ridiculous fixture list to suit them rather than the fans.. It is crackers isn't it?

Like watching the 'magazine' programmes on NSPORT and ELEVEN... Both showing tonight, one live and one from yesterday.. Not a clue what they are saying but great to watch the race highlights and key moments from those races.. Presents the sport so professionally... Can see why major companies want to be involved to sponsor it..