Sings4Speedway

Fingers crossed Jacob has a decent season, would be handy for the headlines if he dishes out a Royal Clouting.......

Whilst i admire fans devotion to a chosen side it still baffles me. I likewise am a supporter of the sport rather than any specific team.

I guess its possible to run a Swindon Based side who were "sponsored" by Reading becoming the Swindon "Reading" Racers ? But why should they, there is nothing wrong with the current situation other than the over lords wanting to muscle in.

Dreadful, shocking, immoral the list goes on. The sooner the mafia are outed / a break away from the BSPA the better. Better let Coventry know as their challenge against Leicester cannot morally continue now......

The difference is that the breakaway needs to be from the BSPA not the SCB. The sport needs to remain Speedway and be sanctioned as such under the SCB and therefore the ACU but be organised and run by a body of people who have the interests of the league and its participants at the forefront. The BSPA would only stand a chance of 'black listing' sides that ran teams in multiple divisions (if the top 2 tiers remain under the current tyranny) but even then Belle Vue Colts (for example) could operate under a different promotion and therefore its a shared use track that the bspa has no say over in the same way as they have no control over dog/stox etc. This of course would require SCB buy in though but nothing is impossible.

Sadly i fear Pipe can see the way the NL is heading and wisely took the chance to move on. The league does need to break away from the BSPA and be allowed to function for the benefit of all clubs and the riders within. Never agree with age limits though, being good enough is all that matters and is all that is required to drive the standard up.

Sadly the BSPA are currently taking a dim view of nomad teams (having just shut down Reading, Weymouth, MK Knights & Exeter) so at best i fear the hopes are a few challenge matches unless some serious funding can be found.

Firstly the above was prior to todays fanfare. Second why did there have to destroy one league and create another? Surely all these teams could have just entered the existing setup? The opportunities are at best equal to what was exisiting. Why any NL or CL would want to enter the premiership junior league sounds unlikely. There are plenty of riders who have spent thousands preparing for a season, licences purchased and now potentially face an anxious few weeks/months to discover if they will be competing this season.

Always reassuring to see the Prem sides step in and run development sides for the benefit of long term British Speedway, shame they couldn't have done so in the existing league oh wait they did. Kings Lynn, Wolverhampton, Belle Vue, P'boro and Sheffield have all had dev league sides before and for various reasons have not continued to run them. Swindon were happy for Reading to stay so doesn't strike me as being that enthused by the new league. Ipswich have boasted about the swift running of meetings and spare time after and have never considered running a dev league side until now. Certainly makes me wonder how long this "new" venture will last hopefully longer than the last one, the whole of 1992 according to the press release.

Or "adding value" to the entry prices. How many actual local riders are there? Its all about big clubs playing the hero (whilst likely treating them like dirt)

The truth is out, MSDL crushed by Prem clubs to run a second half league for a season or so until they get bored. Promoting local riders to each club despite the vast majority of riders being spread far and wide and unlikely to even be remotely local. Enter teams in the league great, maybe even split the M & SDL's back up, no problem with that as more rides and more competition will always benefit the sport but don't hail yourself heroes BSPA when you have directly replaced an established product and cast good honest hard working volunteers side without so much of an acknowledgement.

The truth is out there. The Prem clubs step in to save the day (after the destruction of the current development league) by running a second half division for "local young riders" to enable them to develop and hone their skills before finding there is no team place for them as they are all filled with overseas riders and fading GP stars.

Has to be an argument that if one of these teams found and co-operated in the opening of a new venue it has to be a positive thing that none of the take over clubs will be doing. Of course there was a lot of lip service and most of the current dev league promotions could not actually fund a full stadia but they are/were keeping the prospect and supporter base open. How many new tracks have opened in the past 10 years (3? Kent, Leicester & Redcar?) versus how many have closed. The stats speak for themselves that every possibility has to be supported not shot down.

and yet you still shop there. Others switch to Aldi/Lidl. Even if its 1 in 10 that stop going regularly its quite a hit on the crowd. Throw in the lure or CL, lack of fixtures to build any bond and the expense i fear that Kent will be lucky to see 400 in the crowd for NL this season.

Fundamentally yes the competitive 2nd half action is the most important aspect. The cloak and dagger stuff is all unnecessary. If the announcement was we intend for all Prem clubs to run a 2nd half side in the MSDL (or whatever it is re-branded too) along with a maximum of 3 additional teams. Teams who run under the host clubs name/promotion will be given priority. The biggest issues is that the information drips out rather than controlled releases (sound familiar) and that all riders involved get incredibly late notice. Thousands have been spent by riders already in preparation and potentially many could see themselves left out ?

Shhh it hasn't been yet. Still need to complete the crushing of the existing league before swooping in and saving the day.

Gamble or 2nd half of the story?

Out of interest where has this been announced? If that is the case then are the prem clubs not crushing the league to start their own?

The difference is that whilst these volunteers do an amazing job of running development teams they also have their own interests in promoting the defunct teams they support. It could easily be argued that by keeping the team names on track they are still assisting the chances of a revival at their own tracks. Reading, Crayford, MK, Exeter and Weymouth are all run by supporters of those sides. Remove those and with no Camarthen it leave just IOW and Birmingham from last year hence no league. Next up IOW will be blocked from running as their riders are not actually wizards!

Hopefully those who made the decision will make themselves known soon enough. Non of the the committee, the board etc but those who have been appointed to be the guardians of British speedway and do what is in its best interests at all levels and who will offer a genuine justifiable reason why teams using nomad names cannot participate in a development league and why they are willing to destroy a development league in the process.

Not spreading rumours, two clubs that intended to run in the MSDL this season have been blocked from doing so. The information i was supplied was that it was the BSPA who had done so and Godfrey sits at the top of that tree. Should it be the SCB who blocked the clubs then i have been mis-informed. If it was Vatcher (and it wouldn't surprise me) it would be nice to hear his personal motives / reasoning behind it. If it wasn't Vatcher then i would hope the real villains name themselves and take ownership of their terrible decisions.

For reasons known or unknown Wally has ridden for or at the majority of the NL sides, is available on a "bargain" sub 4 average and yet nobody else wanted to sign him? Other major issue will be riding order who will take the number 5 jacket?

I am only purveying information that i have been told / read. This season two teams have not been allowed to run in the MSDL because they are nomad sides. The others have yet to confirm or deny but few are likely to be making more substantial efforts to locate a new venue than Reading. I do not know if Godfrey was the decision maker or not but as top of the pile it cannot be something that has passed his notice. If you want reasons it could be anything from ensuring the league in which his club operates in is secure or profiteering from the amateur meetings he hosts as they re likely to be better supported this summer.......i would point out all of those are speculation due to no genuine real reason being issued. Whilst that may/may not be the case there are certainly several nomad sides preparing to run this season and have now been denied so he message was neither clear nor made publicly known as the uproar would have started before now.

The bigger danger being "if rumours are true" that the only level clubs will be able to enter at is CL with a NL/MDL level junior side as a compulsory second team. That is a big outlay for any club looking to join the leagues and lets face it how many tracks have opened vs closed in the past 10 years. With established sides struggling to balance the books and the NL becoming a more financial viable option for many sides it has been torpedoed by the mafia to sustain their own product. The MSDL has fallen foul to the same treatment.

Its truely heartbreaking especially when so many have put so much time and effort for little reward but to now be removed of any chance to compete at all is disgusting. The BSPA should be looking at ways to assist these teams not punish them. I suspect the master plan is to set up a new league that they can control which will be wonderful when there are no riders left, no clubs willing to fund it themselves and no spectators willing to support another price hike. A few people who are trying to create a legacy for themselves are doing a good job, they will be know as the people who destroyed UK speedway.