RobMcCaffery

Like I suspect most people in this section of the forum I have a deep love and fascination for speedway which goes back over decades. My interest started with my local team the long-lost Rayleigh Rockets some 45 years ago and developed so much that I became an amateur journalist and broadcaster within the sport. I love speedway, but most of all league speedway - it's where my interest began, with the Rockets and I guess there it will die. Being able to watch Polish and Swedish Speedway in recent years has added greatly to that pleasure, helped immeasurably by several expert posters on here. I've seen Britain rule the world of speedway in international competition and run what was in its day the strongest league in the world. They are all happy memories, although I must admit the first international I attended, England 88, Poland 19 wasn't the best of matches. Now we have characters like tr3 (etc etc) who represent a world of speedway that I can't recognise - a spitting, snarling version of the sport I love, full of hate and scorn, trying to make childish taunts against British Speedway. Yes our Elite League is in crisis. You don't need to be an obnoxious Pole to know that - we say it all the time. Many of us are very sceptical of BSI's abilities and intentions. We are frustrated at the lack of British talent these days on the international stage, but we have been there, done it, shivered in the t-shirt. Our day will come again, and if not I have happy memories of riders like Peter Collins, Chris Morton and Mark Loram - true racers and respected by all. I also have extremely happy memories of the efforts of Zenon Plech at Hackney. I was privileged to see most of his appearances at Waterden Road. When I think of Polish Speedway I do prefer to think of heroes like him, Roman Jankowski and Edward Jancarz, not these 'fans' that have appeared here or the ruthless version of the sport they follow. My biggest pleasure in speedway now is to go to matches in our second and third tiers, the Premier League and National League. The pressure is off, some riders still have time to get involved with the clubs and their supporters. You can stand with rival fans, have a bit of verbal fun with the opposition fans but still share a drink afterwards. There's none of the stress and near-hatred that seems to be creeping into our Elite League and is clearly present in Poland, especially at Zielona Gora. Yes British Speedway's in a hole right now but you don't need to put our speedway fans in separate enclosures where they taunt the opposition like third-rate football thugs. Sadly that mentality is now being dragged into here by certain Polish posters. I find it fascinating to watch Polish Speedway but too many of the 'fans; including sadly certain British supporters who follow it closely and taunt British Speedway as some part of that 'support' simply disgust me. Thankfully with people like tr3.... I can just click and walk away. In Poland people have to share stadia with this kind of reptile. Now, we used to have a nice friendly section of the forum. I know I've played my part in spoiling matters by responding to the Poles but I just get so angry to see the sport I love treated like dirt by people with tiny brains and big mouths. I apologise but it's hard to stay silent. Having said this I will now try to before this destroys the love I still cherish.

Look, you seem to think this is some kind of football forum. Do you really think you're achieving anything with this childish drivel? British Speedway is having hard times but thank God we don't have 'supporters' like you. Get back in the playground.

It's not even necessary to use You Tube. It's streamed on the SGP website, but only to countries with no TV deal. A proxy soon resolves that. I can't imagine BT being too impressed if the You Tube feed isn't similarly geo-blocked. Just been to the site and see that full-length replays of last year's meetings are all listed and played fine here in the UK.

I take it Video Cassette Recorders, DVD Recorders, Hard Disk recorders, Sky+ a Tivo plus iPlayer all failed to make it to Suffolk

So, it might be rained-off. There's still two days. If it is rained-off then the next meeting will be the first - and so on. It's not that complex.

Poole will continue to win the title as long as they have the money and that team-building rules (FTR and Heat Leader lists) amazingly always work in their favour. The success is all off-track now - the actual racing in the EL is just a case of going through the motions.

Of course any promoter would strengthen their team if they were able to. The point is that a team already considerably stronger than any other team in the league has effectively been able to sign a fourth heat-leader when most of the rest of the league are struggling to track two. Yes the rules may allow it. It shows how appalling the rules are. I take it Poole fans will only be satisfied when every heat produces a 5-1 for them. Consider the bigger picture - you're killing this league.

Sadly many doing the job have no real training on microphone work, especially outside a studio or disco if they work as a D.J.I only learned the hard way. I was lucky to often have someone in the box working the volume control for me when I was out on the track. The interviewer will normally be louder - he's controlling the mic and is confident working with it, unlike his victim who is unlikely to be used to public speaking - or just speaking up! There's no point in having done what I did without being able to explain what it involves. I hope it helps. What always confused me was that if a lot of people in speedway thought the only way to get people to do what they wanted was just to shout and swear rather than just ask. It's one of the reasons I was glad to get out and go back to being a devoted fan, trying to forget much of what I'd seen.

A pre-meeting test can only really tell you whether the system's working or not. Once there's a crowd in the acoustics change greatly, even with our low crowds. Someone needs to tell the presenter during the meeting that there's a problem. You just cannot tell from track level. You also have the problem of balancing the sound. At one track where I worked people complained that they couldn't hear the announcements properly on the terraces so I turned up the levels. Next I had one of the bar staff bursting into the box effing and blinding over the sound level being too high in the bar. We rented the track and therefore the p.a. and the stadium landlords wouldn't do anything about the system which was held together with string at the best of times. Sadly, it's not always as easy as it seems, although King's Lynn should be able to deal with it being their own landlords. Sometimes though the presenter just has to remember that he has to normally hold the mic closer to interviewees than he would for him/herself. Ideally someone in the box would be riding the sound levels to compensate. It's just one of those many small details neglected by speedway that added up do mean so much.

Once again it shows the absurdity of the rules initially allowing a 40 year-old to replace an FTR rider until they were properly checked. This is a sport not a trade agreement. The rules should not be this unclear and difficult to interpret!

Agreed, post deleted.

Treat it as a test/practice session that the public are allowed to attend. After the failure of the product launch a 'soft' launch now makes plenty of sense. The essential thing is that the track opens and goes on to be a huge asset to speedway. Surely that's what we all want? Surely?

If it is within the rules that Poole can sign Pedersen and have four heat-leaders when many struggling to find one or two then there's something wrong with those rules. Not jealousy - I haven't had an EL team to support since the demise of Hackney and later Cradley at that level - just despair at how the EL is self-destructing.

According to the schedules I have the coverage is at 7.30-8.30 am and 1-2 pm on the Wednesday. That's all. The following Wednesday it's at 10.45-11.45 am. Pitiful - just seeing out the contract like Channel 4 did with SGP highlights years back, showing them in the middle of the night.

As I said pawel. I gave details for those who might light to watch before they arrive on You Tube. Patrick Dudek's not happy with having to race in the sleet - confirming they were forced to race at Zielona Gora. One key point made was that a short delay to allow the heavy showers to pass would have seen them racing in sunshine instead. http://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/596805/patryk-dudek-byla-presja-zeby-jechac-nie-patrzymy-na-zdrowie-zawodnikow

Now we have the reliable telewizjada link it's possibly worth mentioning that if you miss the Sunday Ekstraliga meetings that they are repeated during the week following on NSport+. The First Division match on TVP is also repeated late on Sunday nights on TVP Sport. There is a TV guide available here: http://www.teleman.pl/ For example the Zielona Gora meeting is on at 10.25 BST on Monday and the Grudziadz meeting at 2 pm. Just scroll down to the sports section, look for Zuzel and remember the timings are an hour ahead of us. Of course there's also the the You Tube links that R&R kindly finds for us.

The central rules about discipline, bikes, tracks and racing conduct I would suspect are common across the sport internationally otherwise FIM meetings would be chaotic! It's when you turn to rules regarding the various leagues in terms of team composition and meeting formats that the major differences come in. There is no real need for a league match in Poland to run to the same formula as here or that teams be constructed in the same way. In just the UK alone our three main leagues run to two different race formulae and the third tier does not have Tactical Rides. These are due to the individual needs of those leagues. Differences in race formats and team composition rules are really not at the core of the sport's problems.

A magnificent finish to a great match. After the fun at Falubaz that was a great pair of matches - more than compensate for Lodz! Great to see the underdogs doing so well today. Great to see three meetings despite the efforts of the sleet and snow in the Green Mountains.

Sadly the off-track power game is more important to too many.

A race there to remind you that for all the frustrations over stupid rules and rule-makers, the ruinous sporting politics and the unpleasant attitudes of so many elsewhere on this forum, speedway is still a wonderful sport - the trick is to just enjoy the racing!

I'm not generally a fan of the way Sky do things, too much posturing, rather stiff and formal so the relaxed style of NSport appeals, even if I can't understand the actual words. You can tell a fair amount from body language though. It's clearly on a higher budget and money does talk in that business. I do think that Sky have scaled-back on their coverage, reflecting a lowering of commitment. The innovation's gone. I really like the style of CMore's coverage in Sweden though - what appears to be an intelligent conversation, interrupted by racing. I do prefer the conversational approach rather than Sky's hard sell where everything is fascinating, exciting and wonderful. I just wish I knew what was being said then I could confirm my suspicions. You only have to look at Sportowe Fakty's website though to see how much more is invested in media coverage over there. ----- On a different note, what a ride from Gollob to win heat 11!

A lot of people have said that over the years.

Laguta's certainly been reading the Nicki Pedersen passing manual.

Great effort by Rybnik but the heat leaders faded at the crucial time. They certainly aren't in the Ekstraliga to make up the numbers. Not my favourite Polish club, for some odd reason

It does show what conditions riders will still ride in - if they're (£) motivated ($) enough