Grachan

To be honest the BBC would probably avoid having nominees from sports like Squash and Speedway as they are the type of sports that might encourage orchestrated voting campaigns and the nominees might end up winning. Then you'd have a SPOTY winner that hardly anybody has heard of!

Update on World Squash Championship. The winner was Nick Matthew. Nick Clegg even wrote a letter to the BBC in support of him getting a nomination. So he was probably above Tai in the reckoning. http://www.psaworldtour.com/news/20131120/nick-clegg-backs-nick-matthew-for-bbc-award_2281852_3543909

I didn't say the figures would be higher or lower. Just that you're not comparing like-for-like events. I'm neutral me! Remember when Tai won and featured on BBC breakfast? The following week they featured a Brit who won the World Squash Championship. He hasn't been nominated either. Anyone know his name? This British winner of the World Squash Championship? I don't. I'm sure in the world of squash there are plenty of people going into swearing fits on Facebook about how HE should have been nominated too. I'm sure there's plenty of others out there. The Ben Ainslie nomination is maybe a bit tenuous, but even if he hadn't been nominated the next in line wouldn't have been Tai Woffinden.

Actually, we're not comparing like-for-like here. If we're taking viewing figures from when the America's Cup was won then it needs to be compared with the GP viewing figure when Tai won it. Just saying. The thing with Ben Ainslie is people know who he is. I saw The One Show last night when they were doing drawings of each nominee. I think people need to be realistic here. Had they announced Tai Woffinden as a nominee and done their little sketch most of the people watching would have gone: "Who the hell is that?" In 1976 Peter Collins' World Final win made the front page of the Daily Mirror - and he still came nowhere.

That's because you are very very stupid. No he didn't. He had no choice what he did. That's because he was a.. what's the word?.. oh yeah, slave. What you describe may not be ideal, but it sure ain't slavery. The riders do this out of choice and they have a choice not to do it if they prefer not to.

So earning £600 a week now qualifies as slavery does it? Kunta Kinte definitely missed out on that one.

This certainly hints at it - although it could be a reference to the NL reserves ruling. http://www.swindonrobins.co/news.php?extend.2101

I think it's far too silly an idea. My idea. Scrap the TR completely. No need to a TS. Just stick with the league points scoring system for wins/draws etc.

Yeah. I think we all miss the glory days of the "let's try to get speedway on the telly" campaign.

I would have done a reply saying that by God I meant Matt Ford - but I got beaten to it!

They still have play-offs though. And the play-offs aren't pathetic either. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but they are actually quite popular.

I don't understand the negative connotations that go with "chequebook speedway". There's a points limit in place and teams work around that as best hey can. If a team such as Poole has the resources to bring in replacements then surely that is a god thing. Would it not be better if all teams could bring in replacements rather than using R/R or guests? Why should a team be penalised just because they're not broke all the time? They are restricted by the points limit. Surely the top sides must have some leeway to remain at the top.

Can I just take this opportunity to point out that I haven't commented on this topic yet and don't intend to in the near furture. I may reply in the more distant future. I'll post in the near future to let people know if I intend to post in the more distant future. #michaellevellanddarcyward

The irony being, of course, that you hark back to a time when speedway riders had greased back hair, fags hanging out their mouths and wore black leather. Hardly a sign of being a member of mensa, was it?

Ah right. In any case, Tai rode the last two rounds knowing what he needed to do. It was interesting on Polish tv when they interviewed Tai (in English) after he won. The interviewer said to him: "I'll tell you the difference between your championshp and Mark Loram's championship. The difference is YOU were the man to beat."

Tai's GP average was 13.40 Emil's was 12.67. Plus Tai's injuries came in GP's and would have hampered his average through lost points resulting from that. Totally deserving Wotld champion despite injuries to other conteners. Also, he had the highest average and was leading at the time of Emil's injury.

He's 50-1 to finish second. Same odds as Christine Ohuruogu. http://sports.ladbrokes.com/en-gb/Awards/BBC-Sports-Personality/Sports-Personality-of-the-YearAwards/BBC-Sports-Personality/Sports-Personality-of-the-Year-s794

There's much excitement on the BBC Breakfast sofa this morning, because World Speedway Champion Tai Woffinden is coming in, and he's bringing his bike.

Re-tweeted by Tai Woffinden.

I watched the GP with Polish commentary last night. At one point, just after Tai won the title, the commentator reeldd off a list of riders. It went something like this: Mark Loram, Gary Havelock, Michael Lee, Peter Collins, Barry Briggs, Ronnie Moore, Freddie Williams... Not sure what the list was meant to be!

To be fair, I think he actually managed to stay on when he demolished the flower beds!

I recall that happening to Swindon at Oxford once courtesy of Nielsen and Wigg.

Yes.

The first ever meeting I went to at Swindon was Swindon v Wolves in 1974. At that meeting they announced that Graham Guthrie had died! The presenter that night and for a long time after was called John Sutton I think.