RobMcCaffery

We've been there before in 4TTs, if not necessarily the WTC itself. It didn't work. Maybe it would now. It would be foolish to dismiss it on thatr basis. Anyway, I l;ove team racing, which is why I love team matches

As I said it's all implied. If you'd seen previous anti-BSI/Phil Morris stories on SF you woudln't be quite so naiive.

That was the heart of my argument against this wretched format, Lead for most of 42 heats then lose to the team finishing second and third in the final. Pearson's just said "That's the nature of the sport". Yes brave, entertaining racers working for idiots. Monday morning in a national daily sports desk. "Hey, I see the Brit won the final of the Speedway of Nations, whatever that means". "Sorry, we didn't win. Second and third take all" "What kind of joke sport is that." Thanks to the guys for taking it the last race, which should have been Heat 42 ;-) On the other hand two wonderful speedway riders won a first World Championship for their country. That does rather soften the blow. Yes some great racing, despite the format not because of it. SWC next year please! Bet the Poles aren't interested in this dog's breakfast now.

Here's another piece from SF. More or less in the middle of the competition, nc + reporter Łukasz Benz during the broadcast said that he was a witness to an interesting conversation between the leader of proud sons Albion and the director of the competition Phil Morris . Woffinden praised Morris for preparing the surface. - Speaking of the track, that's how I will get my word out - said Piotr Świderski, a station expert at the end of the broadcast, sitting in the studio nc +. - Tai praises Phil Morris in the break for preparing the surface and tells him that he is the best this year. Something smells bad for me - he laughed half-seriously. - Such optimism in the English ranks was not from Brexit's announcement - the co-commenters, along with Tomasz Dryła, burned Krzysztof Cegielski . In all of this, nothing would be strange if it were not for the fact that both men - Woffinden and Morris - are countrymen. Case? The classic would say "I do not think" and of course we are far from the conspiracy theories, but if Maciej Janowski, who was almost born on this track and did not manage, it is worth sharing these insights as a curiosity". More insinuation. https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/759457/woffinden-chwalil-rodaka-za-przygotowanie-toru-swietny-wystep-brytyjczykow-nie-b

Well they do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Posted two hours before yours. "It seems that we finished first because Morris fixed the track to favour GB. https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/759465/marek-cieslak-nie-chce-sie-tlumaczyc-torem-wszyscy-mieli-taki-sam Lovely people. It can't be easy being constantly pushed around by all the other speedway countries

Cieslak begins the article by trying to say that he didn't want to blame the track. However if you read on to the second and third paragraph The surface of the Wrocław track for the first final tournament of the Speedway of Nations was prepared by Phil Morris . It was quite wet and differed from the one on which the Polish riders were training at the beginning of the week. As a result, the Biało-Czerwoni were deprived of the strength of their own track. This translated into a poor result. After the first day of competition, Poland ranks last but one with 15 points on the account. We lose 10 points to the British leaders. - I will not talk about the track. They all had the same and rode better on him than we did. We are facing the second final tournament and we will do everything to make it better - said Marek Cieślak after the competition ." No it doesn't directly blame Morris but the implication is obvious ---- unless you don't want it to be for some unfathomable reason. I'm a constant reader of Sportowe Fakty and the message is quite clear "Poland is under attack by the British through BSI". Yes iot's sensationalist but revealing, especially some of the comment sections.

Wales is actually part of Britain.

Gricer!

For every race like Woffinden's there were too many when the difference in ability showed. Take the SGP. or SWC. If there's a (relatively) poor rider in the race then the other two or three can still have a great race. In the pairs it's so easy to see a race where one pair just steams off into the distance. In SGP/SWC there's a four-way battle per race. In Pairs it's just a two-way battle, but as we saw last night it still can be thrilling. Unlike the raceoffs. Speedway's all about getting the right mix of riders in the race. At least last night Smolinski saved the six German races from being a bore. Tai's riding last night was simply stunning and it was wonderful to see his team riding. Now in 67 heats of speedway this week just how many other examples have we had? I remember how the pairs went stale in the 90 and we ended up with the appalling six rider race concept as the FIM desperately tried to prop up a dying format. Yes, it's fresher again after 20 years but for me it's a bit of fun at Somerset the night before Cardiff, not a serious World Championship, even if we win it. Relieved to see the SWC back next year. It's one of my highlights of the year. This blow of this poor replacement might at least be softened by a British win. That'll get the Poles really whinging!

After wiping out his partner for the night after being too reliant on cutting the corner, but yes, a very good performance by him. He seems able to ride mid track now, not just on the white line.

Sorry. Put the website address into Google Translate. https://translate.google.co.uk/ Better still if you use a browser like Chrome add Google translate to your broweser extensions. There are apps for phones too.

It seems that we finished first because Morris fixed the track to favour GB. https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/759465/marek-cieslak-nie-chce-sie-tlumaczyc-torem-wszyscy-mieli-taki-sam Lovely people. It can't be easy being constantly pushed around by all the other speedway countries

Excellent analysis. Now we've had the meeting I've just got to say thank you to the three GB riders (yes three!) for their part in making me proud of a British speedway team for the first time in years. Thank you, bless you and please finish off the job tomorrow. Was the meeting title set in English or another language such as French which the FIM seems to use a lot? Is it a case of it not translating well, or just FIM/BSI dimwittedness?. I don't oppose change because I can't cope with it. I fight change when it's clearly wrong. To do anything else is intellectual bankruptcy. I love the SWC/WTC and want it back - NEXT YEAR, So, I don't like the format but that didn't stop it being a very good meeting with a delightful result. Worrying that the Poles don't look interested. At least one thing was missing - that farcical joker. Anyway, the tournament was supposed to help the minor nations, and there we are, first P.S. Now we've got a sponsor for the team perhaps it's a little catastrophically foolish for some one here to call the team "England" given that the sponsors are Scottish. Ah yes, finding sponsors then insulting them. Just like the 80s all over again

Long-winded? I'm trying to HELP you. Okay, here's an alternative: Poor, amateur effort with many errors but I've seen worse. Other are already doing it better. Don't see the point. There, is that better? You know best. Exactly how does this promote speedway?

Nick, thank you for the link. It's always difficult reviewing first efforts like this but my comments are meant as constructive. I don't want to put you off. Firstly, I started out ion the speedway video 'game' 36 years ago with the sport's pioneering company, KM Video and went to record about 200 commentaries for them and later the country's first Sports TV station, Screen Sport. It's been a while since I held a mic but I hope my comments can be helpful. Incidentally, I commentated and presented the video of the first-ever speedway meeting at Arena Essex in 1984. First, there are some technical points that you need to address: Camera framing. There was far too much what is termed "headroom" in the interviews. The camera needs to be angled down slightly. We want to see the people, not the sky. Sound: Riders are generally quiet. You need to get the mic right into them. It looks like you've kept the mic with the camera. It does need to be in the presenter's hand and right up to the rider when he's talking. The levels are all over the place. The action inserts and music boom, the presenter's level is fine but the riders are a strain to hear. This will also help if you do have bikes revving in the background, or planes going overhead. There was excessive wind noise on the Pottinger interview. I'd suggest tighter editing, especially where the interviewee briefly freezes or wanders off the topic. Your presenter seems reasonably comfortable and bubbly -, good for a first attempt. The dinner party question was a little trivial for my taste, but that's just me, but it's a bit clunky to use it three times. One key point. You have to get facts right (something even Nigel Pearson's fouled-up lately). Dudley were renamed Cradley some times ago. It grated to hear it used twice and note how Will Pottinger emphasised 'Cradley' in his answer. Cradley fans are proud people and many weren't happy with the Dudley name ;-. Preparation is essential, even on something like team names. You have got a foundation to build on. It's not a mess and much more professional than efforts I've seen from long-established video companies. In fact I despair to see how little progress has been made by some since my day. I'm uncomfortable with the term 'Niche Sport'. Speedway takes minor placing in the national press and even the local press in the south east but in other parts it does get very serious non-niche coverage. I was reading the Stoke daily paper which ran a half page on the National League Potters lat Friday while tracks like Poole and Ipswich get coverage almost as equal as football in their local dailies. It all depends on where you are. As I suspected you weren't able to show racing apart from the action montages. I take it another company still has the rights to race videos at Lakeside. So, after the interviews the only real reference to the meeting is the statement "Lakeside have beaten Workington and go top of the table". No score even. You need to decide what you are trying to achieve. If it is a report on the meeting then it's tough not being able to show racing. Perhaps you need more 'reaction' interviews such as asking the away team manager "So you lost tonight by 10 points, where do you think things went wrong. Did that heat 10 exclusion cost you?" (Don't forget to say what happened). Then over to Will "So, they think the ref got heat 10 wrong - what's your view". If it's not a report on the meeting just treat it as a chance to meet the people behind the scenes. As I mentioned before there is another business trying this, Speedway Portal who are covering Poole and Isle of Wight. They have their weaknesses but the key difference is that they have filming rights at the Isle of Wight. Good luck with the project. Is this a hobby or a business? If the latter, where's the revenue coming from? Take a look at Speedway Portal's work. It may give you ideas and food for thought on how you would tackle what they have. I hope you take these comments in the spirit in which they are intended. I have seen many come to the sport claiming they're going to do this and achieve that, and watched and waited for their product. You're on the ground. I hope my suggestions can help you to run. At all times you have to ask "What am I bringing to this particular 'table'?"

Yes Tony was very prone to gaffes, which is why it was such a relief to see Nigel taking over. I've been trying to offer constructive criticism after Saturday's serious error, despite the efforts of some to try to derail it into a playground squabble. There is clearly a need for someone to be monitoring commentary for factual errors and to intervene on talkback when they occur. Nigel and Kelvin are delivering 'high intensity' commentary which actually involves a lot of effort and it's easy to neglect factual details. It needed someone to say "No, heat 21 IS relevant, Ukraine can be caught, check the scores" and a correction could have been made at the time without the embarrassment. Likewise when an incorrect scorechart was on screen after heat 14 on Tuesday someone just needed to tell graphics and the commentators that there was a problem. Surely somewhere in the budget there's room for such support for the commentary team? I know the British League coverage is on a tight budget but surely BSI can be persuaded that their expensive SGP/SON product needs 'protection' from avoidable errors. No, I am NOT looking for a job .

Thank you for the clarification. 'Highlights' generally implies exclusion of parts of the actual action. Equally full coverage does not have to include 'tractor racing' as another poster stupidly claimed. The latter is when you go to the pits for interviews and analysis. As usual some here see what they want to see, usually to score cheap points. There's one key aspect of the TV coverage that I am sure flagrag would confirm. Your proposal would produce say a half hour programme which in TV terms is poor reward for the cost of sending a crew which is costly and the cost per hour of a thirty minute programme would be sky high compared to a two hour version featuring racing plus analysis and interviews. Now some clearly feel no need to see or hear such 'colour' but I think you'll find the less 'hard-core' fans might actually welcome a chance to see and hear the faces behind the masks and to hear analysis of what's going on. One person's 'mindless waffle' is another's interesting TV. If it was so overwhelmingly unpopular why after over twenty years' experience do sports TV channels use it? Clearly they see value even if some may not. I return to an earlier point. Sport TV today is about full live coverage. Where highlights programmes exist they are normally supplementing the live coverage, as with the fotball review shows on BT or Sky, or are because that is all they can get the rights to, such as Match of The Day or Football on 5. There are few sports whose prime coverage is reduced to delayed highlights only and I would hate to see speedway becoming one of them.

Utter rubbish. Try reading what I posted again, as long as your finger or lips don't get tired. You clearly have no clue.

Excellent news. This reflects the level of promotion on the channels I referred to earlier. Given that nearly a remarkable (for pay-TV) 3 million watched the Champions League Final it's even more impressive. Hopefully the next step is deal renewals with better monies on offer. They seem to be showing more enthusiasm for the sport than many 'supporters' .

Careful, you'll be taking the title away from ytsjam for ridiculous comment. In any other team sport what do you think the response would be if the commentators got the score wrong? There would rightly be an outcry. But, because we're dealing with speedway, among the more dimwitted people who follow it, it's okay. I am now convinced that you kept posting your witless 'we all make mistakes' rubbish because you were too stupid to actually follow the discussion. Now you make a cheap comment like this. We had another score error tonight, this time on BSI's graphics. Thankfully it was corrected. Getting the score wrong would not be accepted in any other sport, so why is it okay in speedway? Is it such a worthless sport that it doesn't matter? Regarding tonight overall, unsurprisingly the NSS and professional organisation made a silk purse out of this sow's ear and thankfully we had some good racing with the minor nations not being complete cannon fodder. The ridiculous failure of three nations top provide full teams thankfully didn't compromise the situation. i do hope we get a couple of good meetings at Wroclaw. I love the sport and don't want it to fail. but there are too many weaknesses in this 'second and third take all' format which could have an embarrassing finale in heat 43 on Saturday. Yes I love the sport, but the sheer pig-headed stupidity of some of the supporters drives me to despair sometimes. Anyway, to shut iainb up I'll save him some work. We all make mistakes We all make mistakes We all make mistakes We all make mistakes We all make mistakes We all make mistakes But not always on live TV when in front of thousands of people when you're paid well to be taking care not to make mistakes. I understand Nigel has apologised, and it's only right that he did. Apparently to some he doesn't need to get it right in future though..............

Good luck with this, if you indeed have the proper rights and permissions in place, which is a little surprising given BSPA 'form' on this kind of thing. Since UK domestic and FIM TV rights are held by BT Sport, One Sport events by Eurosport and Swedish/Polish by Premier Sports/Freesports I'm intrigued to know what your content will consist of. Are we looking at just interviews and opinion plus scenes away from the track, as with Speedway Portal or are you able to show actual race action? Now, noble as it is to give 'niche sports' exposure I'd suggest that with coverage of three European leagues, BSI and One Sport events sharing space on channels which also feature top-class football, rugby, tennis, motorsport and professional American sports and whose on-air promotion is bundled-in with our own whether the term niche is actually that appropriate, at least in TV terms. Yes these are pay-TV channels but that's where most sport is these days, sadly, bar the occasional highlights deal or what they term "sporting crown jewels' like the Cup Final. I do hope that you can offer a service that is useful to the sport and respect your efforts in setting it up. I'm sure you can understand my curiosity that while the sport needs as much help as possible, exactly what your service will 'bring to the table', given that no actual content has yet been published? I see you are starting out wisely with the underserved Championship and look forward to finding out.

The racing was fair but there didn't seem to be the same commitment as in league racing. Riders seemed just happy to get enough points to make the top eight then put the effort in in the semis and final - except Kasprzak that is. The GP format works superbly in hat tournament because every point counts. In this, as long as you made the top 8 the first 20 heats were pretty irrelevant. Two good rides were all Zmarzlik and Dudek needed.

So, if TV televised a concert you'd only want to hear the few chart successes in the gig? Just get it all finished after 15 minutes? Wonder why Sky and BT spend all that money on live sport when just a 'Match of the Day' style programme would be enough for the undemanding viewers with limited attention spans? All sport has its moments when action isn't rivetting, but viewing figures show that the public want live, full coverage of sport, even if others settle for third rate. The divide between the real world and the BSF is quite staggering at times.

Sorry, highlights just don't cut it. You have to see the full story to understand the scoring. Many people want to keep a scorecard going while watching and the result would probably be known which would ruin it all. If you want to watch bikes going round then fine, but I think speedway supporters look for more. To me, if it's not the whole meeting I couldn't be bothered. After all it only takes under half an hour to show a complete meeting. Also the emphasis on services like BT and Sky is very much live sport. As for highlights of other meetings much of the video footage shot at UK tracks isn't really of broadcast TV standard technically, especially when shot single camera from the back of the terracing. Of course some are up to standard but it would be a tangled web. I expect you'd have to pay out for full match coverage rights of Polish and Swedish matches - and then just show one or two heats? Not cost-effective. If nothing else doesn't such a line send out the message that speedway really isn't worth watching unless you just cut it down to a few minutes of action? Things are bad but not that bad! While BT aren't paying much for their coverage their on-air promotion of the sport is top quality. Trails for the SGP and Premiership coverage are shown constantly, often during their coverage of major sports. In addition you often see a trailer run between say a top football Champions League match trailer and one for a top Rugby match. These are big money deals and there is speedway being given equal prominence. During the Champions League final, which was watched by just under three million viewers which is incredibly high for pay_TV, during a break in coverage, there was the Rye House Rockets logo on screen as part of a promo for the following Monday's Premiership match. As a Rockets fan of old (back to Rayleigh) I could never dream of the team getting a mention during what used to be the European Cup Final! You can't buy publicity like that! Well you could, but we certainly couldn't afford that. On air, BT take the sport very seriously, promote it heavily and give it high prominence. Hopefully in time the financial deal will reflect this.

Yes, I really can't see how Poland are going to be any less dominant.