RobMcCaffery

I read an article on Sportowe Fakty recently which seemed to suggest that riders were fined by their Polish clubs if they were unfit to ride. Now I hadn't mentioned it in here before because I read it via Google Translate and there was obviously a real risk of mistranslation. Going further back I'm pretty sure it was suggested that Adrian Miedzinski had been fined by his Polish club for getting injured in last season's opening meeting for Swindon. Can one of the genuine Polish fans on here (i.e. not the Falubaz troll) please reassure me that this isn't the case please? If however it is true it would explain why riders have ridden over there when clearly unfit to do so and has been pointed out in earlier posts inflicting injury on other riders in the course of obeying their masters.

There are in fact usually only two subscriptions to pay since Eurosport is normally bundled in packages that include either of the other two. The 'fragmentation' is quite simple - Sky ditched the GPs and One Sport set up rival tournaments and signed a coverage deal with Eurosport Poland. So, as long as Eurosport had the GP contract all was quiet on the speedway front - few had to pay extra to watch Eurosport as well. The chief howls have come now that BT Sport (no s) has won the contract to cover the GPs, as if they had no right to and had cruelly deprived speedway fans of the coverage. Sky have ripped-off the market for years so inevitably other competitors have come along, most of which such as Setanta and ESPN have failed. Now they've found themselves facing a properly-funded serious rival in BT. Now, Sky's coverage of speedway isn't charitable and they are not doing it as a favour but as a business decision. They are a very hard-headed commercial organisation with with no public service obligations to get in the way such as those that BBC, ITV and Channels 4 and 5 have to abide with. It is a commercial business, but it is Sky's behaviour that has created this fragmentation. They overcharged for years when they had a monopoly, with most of that money going into the pockets of footballers and their agents. A tiny amount found its way into speedway. Sky have cut back on their speedway commitment, have ceased to sponsor the Elite League while still providing coverage but with less cash. They dumped the GPs onto the red button and ultimately dropped them altogether. Sky have no divine right to all sport and neither do their overcharged subscribers. This current situation is of their own creation. Regarding the extra sub - it's less than the entry cost of a domestic league meeting, a programme and a a drink - for two top-level meetings a month on average. Perhaps if Sky weren't draining so much money out of their subscribers they wouldn't be quite so up in arms at having to pay a relatively small additional subscription? Perhaps the best way is for BT to also take on the domestic British league racing contract as well? I don't say Elite League because I don't believe it will survive this season. BT aren't the villains of the piece here and they're giving the GPs a damn sight more respect than Eurosport are for their events and Sky did for the GPs themselves in the final years of their holding the contract.

Your point about people in power completely misunderstanding the false average aspect to this year's EL chaos is relevant. It was disturbing to hear Nigel Pearson suggesting that the EDR only faced two protected heats - the two reserve races when of course they are also then shielded from heat leaders in both of their other programmed rides. It's a simple principle and it's frankly disturbing how so many can't or won't see it. Regarding the rest, consider this. This was an officially-backed BSPA event, or at the very least endorsed by them, hence the use of their You Tube channel and their promotion of the event. It was clearly a PR exercise to sell tickets for Monday. If they chose to put a positive spin on matters such as praising various individuals who have worked hard for the sport then that is their choice. Did you really expect a no holds-barred fight over every contentious point in the sport? They did deal with some of the problems, obviously in as positive a way as possible so they didn't whitewash and pretend as was wonderful. What kind of crime is it to try to put forward a positive attitude about some of the things that ARE going right? As I've said before this was a piece of promotion of an event, not a public enquiry. Maybe we should have such an enquiry but you can be sure it wouldn't be marketed by the BSPA as this event was. You have to understand and accept what this was. Declaring it a wasted opportunity is frankly naiive. Anyway, I mustn't intrude on your valuable time because you must have a heck of a lot of advertisers to tackle over the fact that their ads don't discuss all of their products' faults.

I should have put 'fixed' in front of assets. The usual cash at hand, current assets and liabilities were there. The 'slush fund' was well-hidden. It was over 30 years ago and reporting requirements have been changed over the years...

Unfortunately we're a long way off having comprehensive coverage of speedway online. Obviously promotions are wary of losing spectators so want good money to allow TV coverage, so we only end up with the top level ----- plus One Sport's events of course

I looked at a speedway promotion's track's financial accounts on the Companies House website. If I remember correctly the assets listed were a safety fence, starting gate and a tractor.

I do think people's expectations were a little unrealistic. This was a PR exercise by the BSPA not a piece of investigative journalism. They did touch on controversial subjects but obviously they had to give the official BSPA line. You had to view it through a certain type of 'filter' and look beyond the necessary platitudes. You weren't going to get a BHS-style inquiry. It was a good start and they need to build on it. Of course for some nothing will ever be good enough unless they hear exactly what they want to hear.

Very tempted to cancel my series link and rely on C More either live or on You Tube in future. Dismal stuff from them. Just hope someone with some respect for it picks up the contract after this shambolic outfit. It's a shame because Dave Rowe is doing an excellent job. He even almost had me caring that Team Fogo won the pairs

As one promoter said to me when contemplating another heavy loss for the year, "Well it's either this or a new car".

There's always one. Yes, ignore the content and just blast the intro. So intelligent..,... The count-down was there on the live feed and obviously wasn't taken off the recorded version. You were supposed to watch it live. Now try watching the rest once you've learned to FF.

I found it worthwhile. Given that it is essentially a piece of P.R. by the BSPA with the primary aim to sell tickets for Monday you can't really expect huge revelations. Instead it was good to hear the Belle Vue promotions comments on what they have been through whether or not you agree with them or not. We've been over that well-trodden road too many times this year. There is only so much that can be done at meetings and on TV to let supporters hear from those directly involved in the sport and it's good to see the BSPA finally embracing modern technology and setting this up. In fact I'd say these events should be regular features during the season. Perhaps if people in the sport in all aspects started listening to each other there might be a little more understanding and tolerance? Sadly there is another such opportunity here in this forum but far too much time is wasted by people's egos and twit for tat bickering to let it flourish. This year we've also seen regular clips of racing published on the BSPA website so at last progress is being made by the BSPA in promoting itself to its public and hopefully the world beyond via the internet. They are small steps but ones in the right direction. Tonight's forum was never going to be sensational but it was good to hear what was being said, even if some of it was of necessity limited by the need to put a positive spin on what was after all intended to sell tickets. I particularly liked David Gordon's comments about trying to rebuild the after-meeting social scene at Belle Vue and most of all Richie Worrall talking about how much fun it was to ride the new Belle Vue track. Yes, fun. That's what the sport should be about, exciting, risky but above all fun. Well done BSPA - it's good to see you getting something right. Keep trying please.

You also have to take into account Mick Bates' many years as a police officer. Not the best person to take on in this instance.

The time has clearly come to put the EL out of its misery and to combine into one senior league but with one key proviso. It must be based on current PL team strengths and costs at worst . It would be appalling if the financially weaker PL tracks were thrown out of business in order to bail out the top division, as happened in the 90s. The problem is though that certain influences in the EL have poisoned that league, as can be seen by the reluctance of sane promotions to go anywhere near it and an unworkable rule book, full of clauses inserted to close loopholes exploited by those influences leaving it incoherent, illogical and requiring a degree in statistical research in order to just work out who can ride in a team. That poison must not be allowed to pollute the lower leagues. The PL needs to stand firm and defend what it's got. It and the NL can be the saviour of the sport running at a sane level relative to attendances. Sadly, entrenched attitudes such as "I only DO EL" need to be changed. You either love speedway or names. If you want the names the message sadly has to be in the short to mid term - "There are cheap flights out there to the GPs and Polish League". It's far from ideal but we need regular speedway with workable rules and teams - and certainly not have tracks closing for a month in peak season! Even if by some miracle Coventry, Swindon and Leicester are all able to enter the EL in 2017, and I pray they can, it is only postponing the crisis. Perhaps it does need one year of a single race night, possibly seven home and seven away on the Swedish and Polish model just to prove how that system is unworkable here. One thing is certain - the PL and to a certain extent NL must not be damaged in order to rescue the EL tracks.

In order for there to be live streaming you either need the meeting to be covered on TV or for a video company to offer a live stream, which is really quite rare outside Russia or Sweden. Sadly a semi-final of a qualifying series in Italy is an unlikely choice by either.

Not everyone fiddled the EDR system to make sure they had EDR riders who could hold their own in the top 5. As ever, if it's okay for Poole it's got to be okay for everyone else. What price Holder in a reserve berth in time for the play-offs?

A truly stupid comment, even by your low standards. The Swedes don't use a 'protected' race formula that is supposed to keep reserves away from heat leaders, thus they don't produce blatantly false averages for reserves who only face second strings and reserves while heat leaders have to race mainly fellow heat leaders and some second strings as in the Elite League. Surely it's not that hard to understand that false averages are being created and riders being promoted prematurely? Are you deliberately misunderstanding this rather simple point in order to back up the Poole promotion and their colleagues on the BSPA or are you genuinely unable to understand? Either way I'm concerned for you. As has been said many times (and seemingly ignored) riders do need to progress into the teams - BUT NOT THIS WAY! In Sweden the race format creates relatively false averages by also having two reserve races but the reserves certainly don't have 'soft' rides in their other races as they do in Britain. I rather suspect that only a handful of posters here follow Swedish speedway or understand its nuances anyway so are unlikely to comment on their race format and averages. Now, if this still isn't understood, and my goodness I've tried to dumb it down enough for you, perhaps you need to consult with your Speedway Star seller when you finally get round to staging another meeting? Sorry to have to puncture your complacency again but I am heartily sick of the way Poole and its mouthpieces try to twist this sport, always pleading innocence and incredulity that anyone should question them. Some of us can see right through it though. Unlike yourself I have no party line to toe these days, thankfully. Been there, threw away the T-shirt in disgust. The problem at Poole is you are so experienced in feeding the world utter bull you've clearly begun to fool yourselves! I'd suggest that the money on offer in Poland also helps attract young motorcycling talent than in other countries. Your 'sink or swim' policy is a harsh one but clearly some extremely good motorcyclists are coming through your system but the sport is far more high profile there and surely more attractive to such young talent than it is in other countries? I don't think there's any doubt that as the money disappeared from British speedway the flow of talent dried up. There just wasn't the incentive to get involved unless you had a genuine passion for the sport - or wasn't after big money.

It's good to know that Tai can fit this into his schedule but not a petty event such as his national championship. Surely it's not about the money?

They came, they saw, they almost conquered. Sadly the Team Eport2000.pl merchandise has arrived a tad late . Anyone know where there's a market for Happy Hippos in ra-ra skirts that squeak "Team eport2000.pl forever" when you blow in their ears and whisper 'One Sport are doing all this for the benefit of world speedway'? I could probably offload them in the EL section - they'll fall for anything in there.... Off to book my holiday in Ostrow. Give us a "T" Okay, maybe not. (Never worked when I used to do it for money )

No, you're missing the point. If he had stopped to put goggles on he would have been excluded under the two minute warning. Instead he rather foolishly rode without them and scored two points that ultimately proved to Poole's winning margin overall. Of course he was handicapped by riding without goggles but the cheating was him avoiding a time exclusion by riding illegally in the heat. Sorry it's off-topic but I couldn't let that one pass.

I prefer the Finno-Ungric languages such as Hungarian. Jo Napot.

I am certainly NOT a doomsayer. I want Swindon Speedway to survive and prosper , if necessary in a new stadium. It is not good news to hear that there are further problems. I would be absolutely delighted to be proved wrong and to ultimately take a seat in a new stadium and am appalled you think I would be pleased to hear there are further problems. However, objective reading of the council documents plus professional analyses by Arnieg and the writer of the article on Speedway Plus reveal severe problems with the application that show it cannot be approved without significant changes. Given how far into this project the developers should be and the time taken to get to this dreadfully incomplete state of affairs, plus GI's appalling past record with proposed replacement stadia you have to be severely concerned that they may be deliberately failing to produce an acceptable planning application in the hope that they can hold out and complete the housing estate without the nuisance of building a replacement stadium. That's not 'doomsaying' for the sake of it like the rubbish that was spouted about Belle Vue's new stadium, it's trying to sound alarm bells amongst the complacent who seem to have little grasp of the seriousness of the situation and choose to believe the P.R. they're being fed. I'm no planning expert but I know how to read and understand primary source documents as on the council website. There are two people who are experts and who have also voiced real concerns. I would suggest you read their comments before making yours. Unlike too many on here for me it's not about being proved right. I am merely trying to help people understand that the current problems are certainly not 'excuses' but serious sticking points that at present will not let the project go ahead. Where am I? Keeping an eye on the situation and trying to avoid the bull being spouted by those without a clue about what they're talking about. Sometimes you really do wonder why you bother. The council documents quote financial penalties on the stadium owners unless there is a significant rise in car-sharing going to the new stadium. It also talks of a park and ride bus service. What it doesn't say is where this bus service will come from. At present there are no bus services in the evenings to the stadium and haven't been for some time. Given the crowds attending speedway and greyhound racing today the chances of getting a bus operator to put on a service from the park and ride site to the track is pretty slim. Council subsidies for bus services are being cut all around the country and it is highly unlikely that Swindon council will subsidise the service. So, it's left to the stadium owners of the speedway promotion to fund this bus service, or at least take the significant commercial risk. This will be on top of the risk of financial penalties if they can't persuade supporters to car share and the cost of increasing sound insulation after three meetings if the intended barrier doesn't meet the required spec. Factor in the need to thoroughly review the required car park design changes, road access to the park and ride site itself and changing significant aspects of the current grandstand plans so that it meets current building regulations and it all looks a total mess. The big question is whether it's a deliberate mess, trying to force the issue and have the plans quietly dropped?

Preparing for the seven meeting plus play-off format arriving next year? If anyone can't see that the decision of the most successful track in the country not to run meetings for four weeks in June constitutes a major crisis for the sport then they really aren't paying attention. We've gone from 26-30 home meetings a season to a bare 14-15. Now where is the EL heading, 0?

I covered the 1986 World Ice Racing Team Championship in what was then Leningrad. It was cold - about -25 centigrade. Now normally at these events you could nip into a bar to warm up in the longer gaps between races when the track was being resurfaced. Not in Russia. There was no escape from the cold. No commentary box, just standing next to the main camera hoping the mic wouldn't freeze to my hand, trying to fill in a programme written in Russian cyrillic script with a glove on. Gave up. Hand froze to mic..... Then the interval arrived and a bunch of local kids came onto the infield, one of them carrying a large globe. What followed was a mini ballet on the subject of world peace lasting about 20 minutes. It was the early Gorbachev days so they were trying to make the USSR look cuddly and friendly. By the end the cameraman, not the most cultured of types in the first place had run out of whinges. Anyway the racing eventually restarted, we got through it, headed back to the hotel which was full of drunken Finns on the lash, hookers trying to pick them off the floor and make a sale, and American students. It wasn't quite what we'd expected. Next day, back to the track, about minus 25 again. All was going well. Then came the interval and a large globe appeared...........

I was at an ice racing meeting held at the Soederstadion in Stockholm when one rider's bike suddenly dug deep into the ice and propelled him straight onto the infield where he took out the meeting's promoter. I think it was an accident.

Quite right. Averages are utterly meaningless under the current EL race formula. Reserve wins heats 2 & 12 against reserves but doesn't score in two other rides - 6 point average. Heat leader does the same and wins two of his heats, against two opposition heat leaders or one with a second string while similarly partnered - 6 point average. Are the achievements really the same? Of course not!