RobMcCaffery

There have been signs of this on the SGP coverage with many of the mid-meeting interviews being carried on the international feed not making it onto the BT programme, and how long they spend after the actual racing with analysis, rather than a quick look at the presentation then off to the next sport. The post-meeting interview with Craig Cook was very well-handled on Monday. I look forward to seeing how a league match is treated by them. With Natalie Quirk and Steve Brandon we finally have an interview team in the pits that can match the knowledge of the commentary team. (Even those who whinge about Nigel and Kelvin's commentary style wouldn't be stupid enough to doubt their knowledge....would they?)

Key elements of the deal like this are gradually filtering out. Perhaps it's time for cards to be placed on tables and this year's set-up explained in full? I've made my best attempts to work out what's going on from the sidelines and apologise if I have got key points wrong. Equally some of the comments from fans and BSF members regarding the number of meetings, start date and exclusion of SGBC fixtures would better be answered by a proper explanation rather than someone like me using past experience and present knowledge of the TV industry to attempt a hopefully educated guess? Was this a case of a desperate last-minute free deal to save promotions and riders losing their sponsors? If successful, is there any realistic prospect of BT taking up a full, paid contract? How long will Sky be paying-off their contract, for the full term? If lower-cost technology becomes available to Sky, are they leaving the door open to resume? Beyond the £9.99 admission price deal were there any other requirements made by BT and do the BSPA have any specific plans to make this new relationship work long-term? One side issue is whether Sky dumping the sport allowed this year's league restructuring or was the abandonment of the Elite League a significant part of their choice, apart from the obvious over-spend on football? I know that some of the territory covered is commercially-sensitive and I don't expect answers to much of what I have requested but these questions are those which most other sports would be asked in a situation such as this. Personally, I hope Monday night's first league match is a huge success and that BT make a long-term commitment. Already there are subtle signs that they like us. Apart from specific, well-made trailers for the SGP and now SGBP league matches we are being bundled in with major sports in their general montages. It's only a subtle aspect but I do love seeing a sequence of sporting logos covering football, cricket, tennis and rugby being joined by SGP and SGBP logos, rather than our usual associations with sports few have ever heard of. They seem to be taking us seriously. It's pretty vital that their initial faith is repaid!

That was covered in Philip's original posting. Perhaps it might be worth your while reading it? In case that's too much to ask, prior to 1973 neither the Australian or New Zealand motorcycling authorities were directly represented on the F.I.M. Their riders were thus treated as 'British' and they rode in the British Qualifying rounds of the World Championship right through to the British Final then on to the international rounds. In the same way the Great Britain World Team Cup squad was open to Aussies and Kiwis and until 1973 the actual British riders were normally in the minority. In the 1973 World Team Cup final only English riders were selected. In response Australia and New Zealand demanded, and got direct representation at the F.I.M., their own World Championship rounds and World Team Cup teams. As Philip wrote, it was rather different back then. Using your 'logic' our SWC team would include Jason Doyle and a selection from Chris Holder, Max Fricke, Nick Morris and other successful Aussies. What's also mentioned by others is how British riders have raced in Aussie Championship rounds. That's more a sign of desperation by the Aussie promoters to have fields that the public would pay to watch than anything else. It was wrong. We don't need our fields 'bulking-out' like that. In most sports once you represent one nationality it is not easy to just represent another, usually based on long-term permanency of residence and the holding of a passport. Speedway should be the same. In some ways I wonder if a win for Schlein might have done some good for exposing the whole shoddy, ill-thought out system.

It's not pointless, it's completing the fixtures, or should all tracks close down once they can't win the title?

Tonight's match between Tarnow & Daugavpils -, All 15 heats, short format, from Speedway For All https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT9bAjMGLZA

I remember a couple of guys who decided to forget safety and 'live a little'. They did, until the day they ignored safety rules and died from asphyxiation in a silo. Still, at least they showed those H&S geeks, eh?

I'm certain they do! This was a last-minute deal for half a season. Give them a chance! If the SGBC is ignored next year, IF there is a next year then start whinging.

Re Championship meetings, I think it's pretty clear that this deal was a single season emergency substitution for Sky when it became clear they weren't going to change their minds about dumping speedway. Clues are in the very restricted number of meetings, with a June start and just eight regular season matches. Expecting Championship matches as well was a little unrealistic. It's up to the BSPA to take this last chance and make it work so that we can have a proper deal in place for future seasons with 'extras' such as SGBC matches next year and in future seasons, whether with BT Sport or Sky. I suspect we should be grateful that we have even this half-season! You can guarantee there'll be no such gratitude in the BSF which will as ever just tear it all to pieces.

I think my wife would be happier if I was seeing another woman than spending money on speedway ;-)

Poor phrasing by me, I meant the Rockets fans as a whole, rather more important than your own situation and needs.

There's one thing being a hard and determined rider, and then there's injuring people.

Well, you're all going to have to find other things to do on Saturdays with just three more Saturday home fixtures left this season. You can't fault the current promotion for ambition and preparedness to fund that ambition but I do wonder about their actual understanding of the sport. I know one of them had a friend worried when they had to have team riding explained to them. The sad truth is that Saturdays and 'top flight' speedway in Britain just don't work anymore.

Two delayed round 7 Ekstraliga matches are being staged on Thursday night, 22nd: Rybnik v Leszno Czestochowa v Gorzow Neither are being transmitted live but nsport+ are showing 30 minute versions of both matches later in the evening. Going on past performance they should both contain all 15 heats and will probably be uploaded to You Tube by Speedway For All later, probably during Friday. The Rybnik match is at 21.35 UK time and Czestochowa at 22.05. They are preceded and followed by a couple of speedway magazine programmes. One translates as 'Speedway, the other as 'Villain'. As if slag wasn't enough Added to this Eleven Sports have live coverage of Tarnow v Daugavpils, starting 18.00 UK.

It's the price of entering the top division in its current state, running only when others allow it to. When I watched Scott Nicholls working on the first Grand Prix of the season I wondered how many TV appearances he'd miss because of Rye House commitments. At the time it was just one - away from home. The Rockets' promotion threw away continuity when applying for promotion. I expect the increased crowds will pay for the chronically short season (or mitigate losses).

Full coverage of Lejonen v Piraterna in English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjJhzqSFnqk "Full fat" coverage of Leszno v Czestochowa (Polish) for those who prefer the longer version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TaEtXd4nW4 Speedway For All have also made two uploads, both tom their usual short format: Lejonen v Piraterna (Polish Commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25HiIymOj-I British Final (Polish Commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYflC39OJB4 That brings things pretty much up to date.

I'd say Miedzinski needs a proper translation himself. He was involved in the incident which put Emil Sayfutdinov out of the GP series in 2013, just when Emil was looking like a potential champion.

Don't worry Dave, he's long gone now, well unless he's using a new name and behaving himself now.

I thought it was on mental health grounds.

Chris, it took me years to get over the scars of seeing the sport from the inside. Now I just pay my cash, take a seat in the corner and remember what it was like that magic day I first walked into Rayleigh Speedway nearly 50 years ago. You're certainly not the only one with ability to have gone through this. It's not just fans who have walked away over the years.

I was surprised at the camera work, especially the main home straight camera which was too wide and yet still managed to miss races for minor positions. I thought from flagrag's postings that this was going to be the same crew as from the Sky coverage, just smaller. I had this problem back in the eighties of teaching cameramen new to the sport that it wasn't just about the winner so it's nothing new, just a case for education. I thought the commentary was a little less 'hard sell' than with Sky, which is the BT house style, as were the graphics. Judging coverage by its graphics does seem to be the same as voting for someone with the nicest clothes..... As for over-running, I'm not familiar with the Sky boxes but on Virgin's Tivo any time you select a recording of a live event you are offered the chance to manually extend the recording by up to 3 hours. Equally, if you set up a series link you can manually add an over-run. The problem is not usually the broadcaster's but Sky or Virgin failing to update their programme guides which are what the recording timers work from. Just extend your recording or record the following programme. It isn't rocket science. As for presentation Natalie Quirk and Steve Brandon were worlds away from the cute young girl, just doing speedway as a stepping stone to better things. Both know their stuff thoroughly and the final interview with Craig Cook, including his proud walk up to the interview poit with his trophy was superb. Yes commentators and presenters make the odd slip in nearly three hours of live coverage. Yes they will repeat themselves occasionally. Apart from the usual cranks the fact that the main bitching is about mentioning Kyle Howarth's local origins perhaps tells all. Significantly I see nobody's mentioning Pearson's repeated efforts to get people through the gates for next week's meeting at Poole, with frequent mentions of the under-11 concessions. Perhaps that doesn't suit their agenda? The graphics were BT house style by the way.... It was a start but the bigger test will be with the league matches. I enjoy BT Sport's work generally , which I find much more like the BBC's authoritative coverage and wasn't let down last night. The camera work can be simply corrected. Looking on from the sidelines it looks like this is a test sea\son on both sides, BSPA and BT and I hope it works because I do suspect that this is the 'last chance'. Hopefully it'll succeed and we'll get a long-term, full-season and financial commitment from BT. It's very much in the BSPA's hands. They have to work for the money. It was good to have coverage that assumed the viewer could think for themselves instead of the relentless hard sell of Sky.

As you can see, the number 8 is taking all the writes.... Friday's match delayed to Sunday. Wasn't live but Speedway For All captured the 15 heats shown after the main matches: Gorzow v Grudziadz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg3spgwjPVc It's the usual treatment. That's everything from the weekend now, I think, unless the full version of Krosno v Opole gets posted by Carpathian TV. . British Final's already up thanks to our Ukranian (I think) friend. Full BT Sport coverage in English (i.e. no Ermolenko...) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL_hgkob9j4 Must stop running on New York time, especially considering I'm in the west of England.....

In the absence of r&r this week we are operating writer-replacement. Today's Second Polish Championship Semi-Final from a no doubt deserted Swietochlowice is now online. It's the full Sabmar TV production : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiZs72tzbmE Short version of yesterday's Krosno v Opole in Division 2 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7-Hdi49lf0

What gets forgotten in this situation it's the paying public who are defrauded when and if this happens. It's one of the many reasons why people decide the sport isn't worth the money and why most journalists steer well clear. The fact that people accept is part of the sport is frankly quite chilling.

Yes, they are providing a really comprehensive service, until the authorities eventually get to them. Polish speakers will realise that the opening caption on their videos is a claim that they are providing an educational service and are encouraging people to subscribe to nc+. At least that's what Google Translate says... Clearly a few shots have already been fired 'over their bows'. Enjoy it while it lasts. It does seem though that others who would have put complete broadcasts on You Tube aren't putting so much on and leaving it to Speedway For All, which is worrying if and when that service does finally get caught up with. I rely on the You Tube versions since the live broadcasts are at completely the wrong times for me. Before the Polish troll starts up his childish goading about 'thieves and criminals' as someone who actually has a clue about copyright (my copyright is abused all the time on You Tube) it's the one uploading the programming that is the offender, not necessarily the receiver. Law is behind reality though as technology races ahead, as Kodi users are beginning to discover after the recent clamp-downs. The recent initiatives by isps have related to downloaded content rather then streamed but pressure from the football authorities and the likes of Sky and Canal + are putting pressure on as well. Streaming will never be eliminated but there is now a serious effort to clamp down. As ever, the key thing is to enjoy it all while it lasts, not to take it for granted and don't be suckered into buying devices from con men who promise you the earth and forget to tell you the risks.

Good job nobody here had a past life in illuminating manuscripts or the bandwidth would implode ;-)