uk_martin

If you are a fan of third league speedway and think that the future is in being third rate, then that's fine. Personally I'd like to see British speedway dining at the top table again. That means that the third league should only ever be a stepping stone onto greater things, that there should be no comfort zone, and that the cream be allowed to float to the top and not cheese-out at the lowest levels of the sport.

As I said on another thread, the likes of Bartosz Zmarzlik, Maceij Janowski, Patryk Dudek, and the Pawlicki brothers were cuttung their teeth at the deep end from age 16 in Poland. The result is that Poland won the SWC with effectively an u23 team. Not to mention the success of their u21 team in their own event. I dare say that if the Poles put out an u19 or even an u17 team they would wipe the floor with all comers in those age groups too. That's what British riders need to emulate. Being up there with the best in the world, not the toddlers who get races stopped after half a lap because they can't stay on their bikes. It's no good wrapping them up in cotton wool and making them nice and comfortable in the kindergarten league. These young men need to mature improve and develop in a competitive environment that challenges them and improves them...all the way to the top.

And there's the problem. The horse designed by committee scenario. The resulting camel that's designed to be most things to most people and ending up being useless to all.

Someone needs to establish what the aims and objectives of the NL are. Are they to: 1. Provide as strong a league as possible, competing for the attentions of CL riders thereby getting as many bums on seats as possible? OR 2. To develop young British talent, allowing a start in the sport to those with talent and determination and providing a competitive springboard into their future careers at a higher level? OR 3. To become a retirement home for low achievers at the ends of their careers or after their form or confidence has been lost, and to act as a "Seniors Tour" for the over 30's? I suspect Stoke would vote for "3", but the problem with 1 & 2 is that you have competing and conflicting interests. Teams like Belle Vue will be glad to nurture young talent as they have a stake in the bigger picture, with the Aces being one of the teams who will benefit from the throughput of talent. Other teams, such as Birmingham, with no further stake in the sport outside of the exit to their car parks will only really care about themselves, will only get aggrieved at the drain of talent that they nurture, and will therefore do what's necessary to win the league (at all costs if some accusations are to be believed) The 39 point limit seems to force a happy medium between 1 & 2, and I only wish that there was some way to compel riders with 8.00 & above averages to ride at a higher level and not block the prospects of young upstarts. I wish that some kind of scheme could be arranged whereby anyone this year finishing the NL on an 8.00 average or above was given a guaranteed CL reserve slot for an entire season, somewhere, in exchange for being barred from the NL next season. It's not penalising success, it's promoting personal development.

Bartosz Zmarzlik and Patryk Dudek were in the Ekstraliga at age 16 and didn't have the benefit of a lower league grounding in Poland. I can recall a certain Jeremy Doncaster starting the sport at the deep end too. If JPB wants to progress he won't do it in the NL. He has to move up. And this time he has to swim instead of sink. Too much British potential has been unfulfilled by being comfortable in low leagues and not being challenged at the highest level possible. Do we want JPB to do a Craig Cook and still be riding lower league speedway at age 30?

Not sure that this is a bad thing though. From the bigger picture point of view, don't you want the talent to progress up the league's? Shouldn't JPB now progress in the CL instead of treading water in the lowest league? He can't be allowed to fester in the speedway kindergarten any longer. He needs to start playing with the bigger kids in the playground.

Seems to me that only 3 things were decided: 1. The points limit was set at 39.00 2. Cradley and Lakeside leave the NL with Leicester Bees being granted a provisional place in the league. 3. The entrants of the National Trophy (including Cradley) No mention about the Swindon Sprockets today, so they must be considered out of the frame next year. Bearing in mind that the Bees inclusion is subject to confirmation, not even that can be guaranteed. Coventry's proposed joint venture this past season with Belle Vue came to nought. Who holds out greater hopes for Mick Horton's proposal for a joint venture with Leicester next year? Nothing in writing to the effect, but the absence of anything contradictory and the inclusion of the Brummies in the National Trophy seems to indicate that the BSPA have approved the new regime at Perry Barr. Masonic handshakes all round then,

I don't care if it's called Rap Crap, Hippy Hoppy, Jungle, House, Garage, Garden Shed, Grime or Slime, it's all a load of bollards. Rock lives on....

Puts the public mainstreem perspective of Speedway into focus... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/darts/42332921

With all this old time music being suggested, is it possible for the spectators to be given a pair of glasses with their admission ticket, so that they can watch the racing in black & white?

Exactly, we don't know what goes on behind the scenes. Maybe he's been getting lessons on how to act as a big fish in a small pond and how to act like the next superstar by playing the clubs off against each other...maybe?

Maybe a Thrash Metal Night, or a Rammstein Night could be fun...one way to clear the decks for a new and younger crowd to come along to see the sport.

Could we have the Steptoe & Sons music playing to accompany a rider whose bike has failed, as he pushes it back to the pits?

We will find out in the next few days whether the BSPA deem it in the best interests of British Speedway to set an average that allows JPB to be signed up by the Brummies for next year.

Great rewards brought to you by the same organisation which prevented Scott Nicholls from competing in the SEC a couple of years back, thereby preventing him from getting a nice nest egg to retire on, shortly after which he "retired from international speedway" (or rather, he effectively told the BSPA what they could do) So, with that bit of history in the background, who thinks that this will turn out well for Scott Nicholls?

He's paid his dues to the speedway circus. How about we just let the man enjoy his retirement?

Give most of them a cardiac arrest, more like...

Got to keep in touch with what the fans want and stuiff that the average fan can relate to... Glenn Miller, Val Doonican Bing Crosby Andy Williams Frank Sinatra Perry Como and maybe a bit of Barry Manilow for the younger contingent on the terraces...

The Dads Army theme tune will remind you of the fan base of most teams.

How about something really radical? How about an expectation that by the end of June, a certain number of fixtures have been run, and that by the end of July another number of fixtures have been run, with a penalty of 2 points per fixture not completed in those times? That'll make some promoters (Stoke, anybody?) sit up and pay attention to track preparation, and fixture organisation, rather than taking the easy option of chucking a postponed fixture in the TBA pile to be sorted out some time before the start of November. It may also give hope to fans that they don't need to go 3 or 4 weeks between meetings and for them to get into a rhythm of attending meetings, which may help keep some fans interested?

Sadly, not whilst the Brummies were in the Premier League. Going by your list though, you could have added Bartosz Zmarzlik too

Going to have some interesting local derby's next year... Cradley v Coventry - at Wolverhampton Coventry v Cradley - at Leicester. If I ever hear people moaning that the airports that Ryanair fly into are nowhere near the cities that they advertise them to be at, I'll mention this.

Hands up anyone who hasn't ever changed jobs to do the same thing for another employer for more money??? Keep your hands up so that I can count them... So what's an ambitious young rider supposed to do? And what's the point of ambition if the result is that they don't earn more for their talent? The NL can't be a dead end street as far as earning potential is concerned else what's the point of a rider sticking his neck out and trying to better himself? If the cream floats towards the top and the pay at the top is better somewhere else then so be it. Better that in the bigger picture, from a GB perspective, than just having a league full of UHT Skimmed Nuclear Bunker Milk.

The Police have got it down to a fine art now...they detain away fans inside the cage for about an hour after the meeting (bear that in mind if you have a train to catch), by which time the home fans will have dispersed...or at least they did when I was "in the cage" at Zielona Gora with the Stal Gorzow fans. Yeah, you could see that the Police were equipped to handle any situation, but they also believe in the prevention is better than cure ethos.

Top tip if you are flying to Berlin and then going to Poland by train, the train does NOT terminate at Berlin's main railway station. Instead, you have to take the S Bahn to Lichtenberg, and get the train from there, which is a bit like taking a train to Watford if you are travelling out of London. Anyway, the next trick is NOT to buy the ticket in advance on the Bahn.de web site. Instead, buy your ticket to Kostrzyn (the border crossing point, where you have to change trains) on the train, and then buy a second ticket from Kostrzyn to Gorzow or ZG again on the train. German Railways charge about €20 for the combined ticket as a "border crossing duty" if you buy online.