PolskiZuzel

The advertising space on riders kevlars has been disputed for some years now. According to some info kevlar's advertising space value can be as as high £210K per season, and the whole amount goes into rider's pocket So hardly anyone is going to give up on this. Obviously there is a conflict of interest here, and some kind of comprise would be best option. Polish clubs and the EkstraLiga are limiting riders freedom on signing contracts because they have to look after their big sponsors interest. The point is that the clubs sponsors are paying huge sums of money and cannot afford (allow) individual riders to advertise their competitors. It is therefore natural that the authorities of PGE Ekstraliga will not allow any competitor to be sponsored by Energa or Enea. ( all three brand names are Poland's energy providers) . Every year PGE pays a few million into EkstraLiga account and expects full loyalty. Similarly, in the case of club sponsors who spend several hundred thousand zloties annually, and in return are assured stadium advertising board and riders' their logos on kevlars. In their opinion, there is no place for the competitor's logo on the same kevlar and stadium. source: sports.pl

According to sports.pl Holta signed his contract with Torun yestarday. (disregarding his fellow riders stance on the new restrictions) Would you mind quoting the source of your info. Where the figures come from?

In 2017 season Polish EkstraLiga attracted on terraces 633 086 fans in 65 meeting. On average, one meeting was attended by 9 739 fans. When it comes to every speedway league meeting that has taken place in 2017 in Poland then the figure is over one million spectators, or 1 050 530 to be precise, (in 180 meetings) .That makes on average 5 836 spectators at every single League meeting in Polish speedway. source: sportowefakty.pl

Polish Speedway Ekstraliga is facing a problem. World champion Jason Doyle, former champions: Tai Woffinden and Nicki Pedersen plus Matej Żagar, Maciej Janowski and many other world top sriders have not signed and do intend to sign new season contracts in the present shape. Yesterday (4th of November) riders have met in Bydgoszcz, where they set up an action plan. - We came to an agreement on lot of things. But I do not want to talk about details, because I belevie our speedway authorities should be informed first, "said Krzysztof Cegielski, head of the" Methanol " (Speedway Riders) Association. Riders do not like the new speedway regulations for the 2018 season published on 1 November by the PZM, Polish Motoring Association. They claim that these new regulations are extremely harmful to them. They impose additional penalties while limiting their freedom in individual advertising contracts. - I do not see any rider who would be willing to ride whilst these regulation are in force . It is true that riders have agreed terms with the clubs, but on 1 November, when the rules came into force, they were completely taken by surprise and shocked. There are additional financial burdens for them, which have already exceed their potential - Cegielski said earlier. At the meeting in Bydgoszcz the riders agreed that the new contracts will not be signed at the moment. Even those who have long-standing contracts such as Patryk Dudek, Bartosz Zmarzlik and Piotr Protasiewicz do not intend to sign annexes to contracts in which there are controversial entries. Polish speedway authorities are somehow surprised because according to them not much has been changed - No financial burden was imposed on riders, and nothing has been changed on financial conditions acording to which they compete - Ryszard Kowalski, a spokesman for Polish Speedway EkstraLiga. source: sports.pl

In the same article poblished in pokredzie.pl Josh Gudgeon who is Monster's speedway expert, as well as Greg Hancock's team member said this: In Poland at every step there is a talk about the sport and financial gap between the two leagues (EkstraLiga and Nice LigaZuzlowa. In the UK it looks quite different. And paradoxically - this is not good at all. "I think the combination of several factors, such as BSPA's policy, low wages, weak leagues, and a small number of top riders, has led to a drop in levels. There is not much difference between the two leagues. Sometimes in the Premiership meeting there is one, at the most – two riders who do not ride in the Championship League, . So it's easy to see a closed circle – there are not many fans on terraces, because the product is weak, and it is weak, because it lacks money. In order to develop, you have to spend and the British clubs focus primarily on cost cutting and lowering the level of competition, and in return expect fans to pay the same amount. Why would they pay the same for a worse product?" Josh Gudgeon asked rhetorically. "One of the major problems is that, unlike Sweden and Poland, our leagues ride always on different days of the week, which discourages top riders. In these two countries (Poland and Sweden) the riders know they have 18 matches on the same day and in England there are over 40 league meetings, all on different days . Why Tai Woffinden, or Greg Hancock, for example, would have wanted to ride so often, always on different day and for a smaller amount of money? The leading league must be for leading riders and have one day (Monday) when meetings are held. The meetings must also be attractive to them, so they should not race with youngsters who also ride in the National League - it's as if Cristiano Ronaldo had to play against a junior team of under sixteen. On the subject of “men in suits” (the BSPA), Josh Gudgeon added his three pennies. The BSPA was talked loudly about this season due to the large number of penalties and suspensions it has imposed (Chris Holder salutes). In Poland, the president of Ekstraliga, Wojciech Stępniewski, is also often criticised for managing a club in the past. In UK there is no room for guesses and potential connections , because these ... are obvious. Among other BSPA members there is , Keith Chapman (King's Lynn), Rob Godfrey (Scunthorpe), George English (Newcastle), Damien Bates (Leicester and Sheffield) and Colin Pratt (Swindon) . - Why BSPA works in a bad way ?, because there are people in it who are focused only on their clubs. It's not their fault, because they have to take care of their own interests. But there are too many people who do not think ahead. Every year, it's just about saving and spending less and less, how this suppose to help you grow? Our goal is only to survive the year, there are no long-term strategies. For example, what are the plans once this season is over? How do we want to convince Woffinden, Dudek, or Janowski, to ride in the UK? No one is thinking about it, our people in power are only happy to survive the next month or a year, not thinking about prospects and future. There should be independent people in BSPA who are not affiliated to any club. We need young, forward-thinking activists who are familiar with marketing, social media and promotion – our sport must follow current trends. Nowadays, it's not enough to hang a poster, you need a strategy, " said Josh Gudgeon. And what about the world speedway? What perspectives do we face for our sport ? Is there any possibility of expansion beyond Europe? - Yes, I think there is a chance to win big sponsors. There are already a few, but it would be great if their support was a bit bigger. For example, Red Bull - generally supports many great competitors, but in the case of speedway it does not go in expansion outside Poland. If more Grand Prix rounds would be outside Europe, more global brands would be interested in sponsoring. If we had a GP round in the United States sponsored by Monster, then Red Bull would probably want to get involved. At this time the Grand Prix takes place practically only in Europe, so it is only for the European Companies to make sense of the GP series. If I was a representative GoPro, for example, why would I sponsor speedway that is only active in Europe, since I can advertise in sports that have a global reach? Imagine the Grand Prix being held in the United States, South Africa, Dubai, etc. - then there would indeed be competitions of a great scope, and the sponsors would have noticed it. Maybe we will never reach Formula 1 or MotoGP level, but why not the MXGP . To do that however, more rounds are needed outside of Europe, not just one, "added Gudgeon.

Interesting point... Peter Oakes recently gave his views to Polish website pokredzie.pl what needs to be done in British speedway to revive it. - It is hard to disagree with the fact that the British speedway is in crisis, which began some time ago. Many people think that if they do not make radical changes and reforms, within five years the speedway in the UK will turn into a semi-professional sport, the first time since it arrived here in 1928. There are many problems, but one of the most serious is the lack of fans on the stands and particularly the younger generation of fans. I would like to see teams operating on the same rules as in Poland and Sweden, restriction for riding in two-leagues (except for riders under 21 or 23), restrictions in using “guests”riders and a much more restrictive approach from the Speedway Control Bureau.Only when it is necessary. Although the television pays the clubs to share about a million pounds a season, not even a penny is invested in infrastructure or marketing. There is no big sponsor for the whole league, and the vast majority of clubs are not supported by large, nationally known companies, "said Peter Oakes. Assessing the potential of young Britons is always difficult, because many do not have the will to win and self-denial. We have athletes who have won gold medals in 125cc and 250cc (Kyle Bickley and Leon Flint) competitions, but too often they do not achieve anything more. They are more busy with girls, and are happy with themselves, instead of working hard to become real riders. Many people in the UK believe that we have the best young riders in the world, and just look at the results of the youth competition to see the gap between us and Poland and Australia. Robert Lambert is a true diamond and I hope he will ride the Grand Prix by 2020, but it is difficult to predict how others will develop. We have a lot of cross-country competitors, like Craig Cook and the Worrall brothers, but if they want to reach the level of Tai Wofinden, they have to ride in the Ekstraliga. Too many of our riders are only focused on riding in England, and if that does not change, then the UK world class riders will happen accidentally . You already have four or five potential world champions like Janowski, Dudek, Zmarzlik, or even Pawlicki. And the talents like Drabik and Woryna are in the pipeline "noted Oakes. - I fully understand the behaviour of Tai, because he wants to win, both individually and as a member of the national team. At the moment, he simply does not believe that all matters around the team GB are handled in a professional manner. Since 1989, when we have won for the last time the World Cupt, the United Kingdom had three world champions: Gary Havelock, Mark Loram and Woffinden, while Poland at the same time won nine World Cups and won only one individual title. This shows that it is primarily about managing the discipline and not the number of talents. I'm sure Tai will return to the team if he is confident of its professionalism in diet, nutrition and equipment, "explained Peter Oakes.

I disagree...would you say the same thing about the world title. In my opinion winning the national title means that a particular rider was the best rider on the day (out of 15 others) The same was possible to say when we had one day world final.

You're right! Ostafinski is nothing but a JOKE link for English speakers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0CD4vq1HnE

I value your above opinion...but the exchange started when you said that "Madsen has never done anything to suggest he would be competitive at GP level" My reply was that he has, and I backed it up by saying that in the 2017 EkstraLiga averages is ranked at no. 4.... (before Jason Doyle), and that proves to me that he can mix with the best.

Don't make me laugh. Of course he wasn't...and you should know why.

And Madsen has never done anything to suggest he would be competitive at GP level. Madsen is no.4 in Polish EkstraLiga 2017 averages...in front of Jason Doyle, etc., Why performance in SWC should determine SGP wild card for this or other rider. Tell me why. In my opinion performance throughtout the year in the world top three leagues (Polish,Swedish,Danish/British(?) competion should be taken into consideration

Bartosz Zmarzlik has been named as the 2017 EkstraLiga best Polish rider. In the "best Polish rider" category he picked up 37.09 percent of the speedway supporters votes. For comparison, the second ranked Maciej Janowski picked up eight percent less votes. For the 22-year-old this is the second award in row . A year ago, the Gorzów rider also won supporters award as the best Polish rider. "It's a great honour for me. I'm very happy and thank all the fans for my votes. I am doubly satisfied, because for the second year in a row I won this award. Zmarzlik said on Radio Gorzów. The Gorzów rider finished this season with a CMA of 9.50 which placed him at the top of EkstraLiga averages.

Bartosz Zmarzlik has been named as the 2017 EkstraLiga best Polish rider. In the "best Polish rider" category he picked up 37.09 percent of the speedway supporters votes. For comparison, the second ranked Maciej Janowski picked up eight percent less votes. For the 22-year-old this is the second award in row . A year ago, the Gorzów rider also won supporters award as the best Polish rider. "It's a great honour for me. I'm very happy and thank all the fans for my votes. I am doubly satisfied, because for the second year in a row I won this award. Zmarzlik said on Radio Gorzów. The Gorzów rider finished this season with a CMA of 9.50 which placed him at the top of EkstraLiga averages.

SportoweFakty.pl reports: Gdansk's speedway boss, Tadeusz Zdunek, last Sunday, after the EkstraLiga decisive promotion/relegation battle revealed that in the week preceding the meeting his riders were getting strange proposals. Over time it became apparent that Kacper Gomólski got an offer from one of the Torun club sponsors -, I.e. PLN 100 thousand and a contract in Toruń, in exchange for poor riding . The corruption department of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Gdańsk has already taken over the recording with a corruption proposal. The first witnesses were also interviewed, including Mirosław Kowalik, Gdansk's team manager. There is also the first detainee a 40-year-old man. The event took place on Tuesday. The police does not want to reveal even the man's initials. It also does not confirm whether it is a sponsor who came up with a proposal to the player. According to the official statement, the detainee faces up to 8 years in prison

sportowefakty.pl described this as: - In a "derby" event, this is the lowest attendance figure for 9 years, and the lowest home attendance figure since 2014.

You're correct in guessing that. Even second place is a failure. What counts is the win.

Only Falubaz !!!!

We (the Poles) were saying the same thing going back to the 70's and 80's when the Iron Curtain was solid, and we were "the poor cousins" As far as I am aware riders nowdays (from all countries) have equal access to modern technology, so what's stopping UK riders to have the same machinery as their PL rivals?

How very true ! The question arises who is responsible for the fact that this once mighty pond got so small?

Before the last two heats PL U-21 team becomes world champions for the 10th time

After 12 heats PL - 26 AU - 22 DK -17 GB - 11

Fricke's elbow finishing line action for everyone to see

An interesting text written by the former Poole rider, Krzysztof Cegielski, appeared in sportowefakty.pl Below is my translation of it From the new season, the contract signing rates and the point scoring rates in the Polish 2nd and 3rd speedway leagues have been lowered. So far, the riders competing in the Polish 2nd tier of competition could get a maximum of 80 thousand zlotys (around £17’500.00) just for signing a contract. From the new season this amount will decrease to 60 thousand (around £13K). Instead of 1200 zł (£260) per point, there will be 1100 zł £240). Riders competing in the lowest (3rd ) league will also be affected because the signature under the contract will earn no longer 25 thousand zl (£5.500), but 20 thousand zlotys (£4.350). All this was confirmed at the last meeting by the club’s chairmen, which took place in Grudziądz. Scandal? No. Reason for a strong reaction? also no.. Just a few years ago, I was so excited about this kind of topic. With time, emotions regarding this subject have dropped. I just know that these new decisions are just written records, and the reality is most often different altogether. We are coming to the point where speedway ( in Poland) for lower division riders does not pay enough for living. The “interesting” thing is that clubs - in a sense - created a problem for themselves. I am convinced that the club’s CEOs are setting up something, then go home, and later some of them will propose to riders something completely different, i.e. better conditions. I also know exactly why the CEOs are creating such a problem. Each reduction in official quotes is a security for them. All funds that go beyond the contract are not subject to the licensing process. Written rules are just written rules and what the riders earnings are going to be will be decided by the rules of the free market. Nothing will stop this, because in every club there are and always were ways to bypass the rules. Earnings are made up by the sponsor’s payment, and a man who directly manages the whole business. Cheating on each other will continue. Unfortunately, we will still continue to strive for pathology and pretend that we (in Poland) have a genuine licensing process. There is nothing to stop it. Such a mechanism was invented by the governors, and the riders are agreeing with this. The arguments on this matter have long since ceased to make sense.

Speak for yourself... not the whole Poland

My apologies if I mislaed you... yes Bydgoszcz are for now in the Nice 1 Liga Zuzlowa...but in reality they have been relageted to the Nice 2 Liga Zuzlowa. “I am taking over the company and all responsibility for it. I do not need any advisors” - announced Wladyslaw Gollob, when he began building Polonia Bydgoszcz team for the 2016 season in the Nice Polska Liga, The team was to be made up of former and current local riders with two young Russians, Kudriashov and Kulakov. There was also a place for Oskar Ajtner-Gollob, his grandson, and Jacek Gollob son. In the first (2016) season under Gollob’s ownership, Bydgoszcz club managed (only just) to survive and avoided relegation. This year, with more or less the same team they failed, managing only one win and one draw out of 13 meeting home and away. As the new owner, Wladyslaw Gollob found the club in an extremely bad situation, in terms of sport and finances. In sport terms he took over the club which was relegated to the lower Nice 1 Liga Zuzlowa division and in financial terms press reports at the time were saying that the club was 1 million Pound Sterling in debts.. Many were doubtful whether the club would ever get straight. Crushing defeats with the top 1 Polska liga zuzlowa teams showed that there was a class difference The two Russians, Andrei Kudriashov and Viktor Kulakov were not so bad last season but in 2017 they lowered their performances for which they apologised. The club chairman is trying to see some advantages. These include timely payments and debt reduction. With over five million zlotys of debt, only 1.5 million left to be settled. " … Wladyslaw Gollob was born in Gdynia in 1937. He came to Bydgoszcz with his parents after the war. They settled in Bydgoszcz run down district called “Londynek”. Wladyslaw had his first contact with a motorbike when he was still a pupil at the Technical College in Gdansk, and it became his passion for life. In order to avoid three years compulsory military service in the navy, Wladyslaw obtained a glider pilot license. The reason was simple - compulsory service in the Air Force took only 2 years . He completed army service in the famous VI Airborne Division. Old residents living near the Gollob family remember the motobikes in the backyard or on the pavements. They all belonged to Wladylaw Gollob and his two sons, whom he had implanted his passion for bikes Tomasz rode on bikes before he even started primary school. As a thirteen / fourteen year old the Gollob boys were already winners of medals in the Polish motocross championships in the 50, 80 and 125 ccm classes. Tomasz and his older brother were spending most of their time with their father,, watching how he prepared their engines. In 1987 Polonia Bydgoszcz coach and trainer, Ryszard Nieścieruk, heard about the extremely talented boys riding for the motor-cross club just outside Bydgoszcz. He also heard that the boys father was very inaccessible, cautious and mistrustful. The Polonia club former rider knew somebody within his family who was on familiar terms with Mr Gollob. His mission persuading the father was successful and the Gollob brothers made appearance on the Bydgoszcz speedway track. They took to it like a fish to the water. At the turn of the 80s and 90s, the Gollob era began in the Polonia club, where the clan had almost always enemies, real or imaginary one - also in its own team. The first was Ryszard Dolomisiewicz. who according to the “Papa” Gollob was treated more favourable than his sons. Later the "enemy" was American Sam Ermolenko - "because he assembled coalition of foreign riders against young Gollob", and the longest one was Piotr Protasiewicz. The Gollob Brothers era in Polonia Bydgoszcz ended fourteen years ago. At that time, the former BKS Polonia multi sport Bydgoszcz club broke up, and the speedway section was taken over by new entity, BTZ Polonia. The Gollob brothers decided to leave Bydgoszcz and signed for the wealthy Tarnów in the south of Poland. In the press interviws Jacek Gollob said that the reason it happened was because their father, Wladyslaw, was badly treated: “ for me and Tomasz our father is a leader, us three have been together for many years now, we are a team" What could they have against a distinguished old genteleman who always played fair in Bydgoszcz? And that - not the money - is the main reason for the change of the club "- explained Jacek Gollob. Since then, none of Władysław Gollob's sons have ever competed in Polonia colours. In Bydgoszcz, however, they were still important personalities. In 2010 Tomasz firmly supported local politician for the mayor post, After his victorious campaign, Wladyslaw Gollob was even mentioned among the candidates for the speedway club chairman. Five years later, at the age of 78 he returned as the owner of Polonia Bydgoszcz club.