RobMcCaffery

You'd have thought Czestochowa would have been a warning. Not so perfect in Poland as people try to tell us.

You just need to look at the gaps on the terraces to see the plight Bydgoszcz are in. It's so very sad. I can imagine TVP aren't too happy at the prospect of a trip to Latvia for the final.

Doesn't do a heck of a lot for the play-off either way.

Ever considered that people can have logical, thought-out opinions that don't deserve childish insults? I just prefer league racing and have always viewed individual events, whatever the label to be an 'extra'. Yes there have been some very good meetings but give me a match anytime. It was team racing that saved the sport from being a nine-day wonder in the 1920s and it was the fact that I had a local team to support in league racing that appealed when I first wandered into Rayleigh in 1971. If I wanted individual motorcycle racing I'd have followed other branches of motorcycling that do it far better. Whoever is World Champion is pretty irrelevant to me but then some people go for that kind of thing. I'm interested in the World Championship and watch the GPs on the basis that some speedway is better than none, but don't like it when it wrecks the core team side of the sport. That's my preference, and one that's been formed over four decades.If that makes me a 'fossil' then your insult is rather irrelevant. I'm not changing that opinion due to childish insults.

So you are rightly entitled to a choice but those who disagree are dismissed as fossils? Charming and so very helpful. I prefer a one-off world final simply because to me the world championship is far less important than league racing, but that's MY choice. So if those who don't like the GP are fossils, what shall we call those who prefer to let the GPs kill British speedway? Oh yes, fools....

Are Vargarna financially sound enough to accept promotion if they win?

Tie a 15 kilo weight to the dirt deflector?

my desire for the Devils to get four points tomorrow has nothing to do with me spending a week in Devon next week ;-) Honest!

A quiet week's suddenly become rather lively! Thanks.

Sadly it's not just a case of receiving the channel's signal, the first two at least are pay-TV so need a decoder and subscription. I suspect the only FTA coverage might be on Eurosport - the SEC and Swedish League (when they can be bothered). The SGP is only on the British version. Once with a good motorised system you could have fun scanning the skies for all kinds of free international TV including the likes of Polsat showing Polish speedway in the clear. Sadly far too much is encrypted now. It's much easier just to use the internet.

Historically the only noise complaints received at Rye House related to the karts, not the speedway. Of course times change.

First second halves, pairs, four team tournaments and individuals were meaningless, now some league matches are apparently meaningless. At what point do speedway supporters stop trying to talk their sport out of existence? Whatever happened to enjoying a good night's speedway racing? No wonder the sport's falling apart if only part of the remaining short season isn't 'meaningless'.

I helped out at Eastbourne a couple of times in the mid-eighties where the starting gate was controlled by a mechanical system using a lever, not a switch. One prominent ref showed me how he'd learned how to give the lever the necessary thump without moving his upper arm since certain star Eagles riders were known to watch the refs' shoulder move so they could anticipate the start...

Unfortunately incorrect. In 1964, following the collapse of the National League and the running of the Provincial League as an unlicenced league during that season over a dispute over the attempted forcible promotion of Wolverhampton, 1963 PL champions into the NL, Lord Shawcross was commissioned to report on the future of speedway. He recommended a merger of the two leagues to form the British League which commenced in 1965. In 1968 a second division was formed which included Berwick. After operating for seven seasons as British League Division two the lower league renamed itsewlf the New National League to emphasise how it wished to be seen as an independent body which it progressively became. After a few seasons the 'New' was dropped from the name and the BL and NL ran pretty separately until the end of the 1980s. In 1991 the two leagues came back together to reform as British League divisions 1 & 2 with a controversial and ultimately unworkable promotion and relegation system. In 1995 the declining numbers of tracks saw another restart attempted by the forming of one league, the Premier League. In that and the following season the former NL clubs weren't helped to rise to BL standards and it was clear that the merger had been near-fatal to the former second tier clubs. In 1997 several teams broke away to form an Elite League, the situation that still exists today.

That would be relevant if you had chosen the three meetings we were actually discussing. PNYC liking your post says it all given that he was part of the discussion..... Better luck next time.

Those previous transmissions carried the FIM id, rather like the ice racing. I take it Dorna have been involved in the past working for the FIM. I've been wondering who was producing it for the FIM and who was commentating since the coverage carries no credits, just the FIM logo.

For the past couple of years it's been carried on Motors TV in the week following. Sadly there's nothing there this year. I've checked up to the 25th. For it to appear on You Tube it has to be televised first......

Must buy a copy for "The Return" and his mates ;-)

Let's throw all the Brits out from Spain and Portugal then. ;-) Ever thought the Poles who have travelled here might actually be looking after themselves? Best if you stick to speedway, I'd suggest.

Don't worry Trees, it was a natural thing to assume if you didn't know the back story. I was just trying to help to explain.

Polish pride goes back well before they were stifled by the Soviet Union post-war. I suspect it has more to do with the country being shifted around the map of Europe by the Russians, Austro-Hungarians, Prussians and later Germany, including many decades where the country wasn't even on the map. It's been messed-about more than probably any other major European nation. The carving-up by the Germans in Russians in 1939 was sadly far from the first time they'd been abused. It's a tragic story and the fight to end Communism was nothing compared to trying to re-create the country a century before.

Looks like we're in for ten heats of mud sliding. :-D Hopefully not.

Thanks for reminding me that Hampel is a Vetlanda rider as well. Are there concerns in Swedish speedway that Vetlanda are so strong that it's devaluing the whole league? These play-offs really do look a complete formality.

There was more to this than Nicki's absence. Just taking a crude calculation, if Nicki had gone through the card Dackarna would still have only managed 42, probably less if you adjust the minor positions. Can't see the second leg getting too much coverage in next week's double-header on TV. What a choice for a team manager when choosing nominated riders, Woffinden, Sayfutdinov and Zmarzlik. That tells the story, I feel. How did they manage to lose two league matches?

No, but it does show how a squad system isn't as wonderful as some think. Got CMore running as a back-up to Eurosport. At least we're getting the match - international Eurosport is just tennis right now. I do wonder if it just being carried on British Eurosport might explain the the TX errors. Will need CMore tomorrow for the second semi so time to refresh the Swedish, which amounts to the equivalent of: "A beer please" "HOW MUCH?????!!"