uk_martin

Yes, you naughty naughty Polish people...how dare you look after your own interests. We British, who won the war, remember (and the World Cup in 1966) and who are just too good for you EU types, who can race on any day of the week that suits us, and even on Wednesdays, just to keep the riders flying backwards and forwards all week long, INSIST that you restrict yourselves to one day a week only. So there. Ner!

The idea would be for schools to get their media / arts students to use their school equipment at the tracks, during race nights during the season. Someone said that kids are like sheep, so if you get a team of 8 or 9 involved with the production, their mates will probably come into the stands, some parents and teachers will be there, interest will grow amongst the peers of the kids involved. On the video production / education side of it, It'll be up to the students to work out their angles, their footage, who does the camerawork, etc, they can do their own interviews, see what goes on from the moment a rider unloads his van to the moment the lights go down. One school one week, another school another week and so on til everyone has had a turn, then they can see what they do with their endeavours. Getting under the skin of the sport is what is most likely to get them hooked in after their video project is over. Much better than getting young people bored listening to Abba for 10 minutes between races like most other promotions inflict on them. And if some of these kids develop into long term speedway fans, they are at an age when they will be coming into the stadiums at full prices, not concessions. That's a top consideration to the promotions who currently have 60% - 70% of their crowd paying their concessionary admission prices.

And when the BSPA effectively tell British riders "thou shallt not ride in the very lucrative SEC" - that's somehow different?

I'm glad that you have had an encouraging response...let the proof of the pudding be in the eating. Like you, I envisaged that individual competitions could be done in the locality of each of the clubs, on a scale managable at club level, involving several schools/colleges local to each club, but that's not to dismiss the possibility of local winners going on to a national competition too.

Won't it come down to if a Polish rider wants to ride in Poland under a Polish licence, then he is subject to the terms and conditions of that license? "Exclusivity" restrictions occur everywhere. If you want to sell Coca Cola, you'll know that you'll only get the contract from Coca Cola on the condition that you don't sell Pepsi. Those are the terms and conditions, and you have to live with them and get on with it.

Trains run regularly, but an even faster service is offered by Polski Bus Their coaches are very modern, run every few hours and if memory serves me correctly, the journey time is about an hour less. Have a look at their web site. If timings suit, then give them a try.

Rumours from a weekend in Gorzow include: Matej Zagar will be released by Stal Gorzow Piotr Pawlicki will be signed by Stal Gorzow Jepsen Jensen will be released by Stal Gorzow Adrian Cyfer will be released by Stal Gorzow Rafał Karczmarz to become one of the Stal Gorzow juniors Marek Cheescake and Jarek Hampel will both move from Mickey Mouse to Sparta Wroclaw.

Sadly time has proven that Terry Russell's only interest, duty and loyalty is to his own wallet.

How about this for an idea... Put on a competition between local schools/colleges for who can produce the best promotional video. Allow groups of students access to the pits, the centre green and anywhere else where they need to go. Schools / colleges can enter as many teams as their arts / media dept can support. Whilst filming, their classmates can also enjoy free admission to the tracks too. Teams can get top tips by having "field trips" to speedway video production studios (e.g. ReRun, Clean Cut etc etc) and maybe Tatum & Pearson can pull some strings and arrange visits to the local BBC / Sky production facilities. Winning videos can be shown on speedway web sites, and maybe also the local BBC and SkySports TV and web sites too. There'll be plenty there to get the educational value that the schools / colleges would want and plenty of opportunities for the students to get hooked on the sport. Most importantly also is that these students are in the age group that are a year or two from being full fare admission payers, which is what the promoters need to make the sport sustainable. A big plus compared to the usual "kids in pushchairs go free" schemes. Only snag I see with this plan is that Terry Russell (Slow Speed International Ltd) will play his copyright hand, won't he, as he owns the media rights of all audio and video shot at speedway tracks? Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't I recall that this was the intention of the FIM a year or two ago? Perhaps the Poles are the first to announce their compliance with some FIM directive that has been passed since the announcement of their intention? http://sportowefakty...-wybieraja-dwie Don't be surprised if other national bodies make similar announcements in the near future.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't I recall that this was the intention of the FIM a year or two ago? Perhaps the Poles are the first to announce their compliance with some FIM directive that has been passed since the announcement of their intention? http://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/499248/fim-moze-ograniczyc-zawodnikom-liczbe-startow-marek-cieslak-niech-wybieraja-dwie By all means have a dig at the Poles if you are that way inclinded, but don't be surprised if other national bodies make similar announcements in the near future.

Glad that Buxton have honoured their commitment to host the Brummies this season...I wonder if Belle Vue will do us the honours too?

Investigative journalism by the SS? Are you serious? Once the SCB's press release has been copied and pasted in place...

So the truth is out...guitar_art is a Wolf !!!

C'est la vie.... the life and times of running a team on a NL budget.

See the other thread...apart from the danger of all the fans staying at home to watch the enthralling Elite League meeting on TV, it seems that Birmingham's track staff double up with Wolverhampton and Wolves would have first call on them.

Can we think of any track staff who complain if riders double-up or triple-up between the leagues?

Obviously highly impressed by the BSPA saying that British riders can't race in the SEC. Nothing new really. The Swedish authorities flexed their muscles in the 1970's resulting in Anders Michanek & co being prevented from racing in Britain for a time.

Good job it's a local derby. Fixture jiggery pokery for long distance fans isn't much fun if hotel bookings, time off work etc all go to waste.

Oops..

Yeah, we couldn't believe it either. Chalk it down to karma to make up for the 5-1 that was lost thanks to Gomolski's "tactical tumble", maybe?

Lost count...(hic) wow. What a night!

I'm a happy bunny. Got no voice left. Got no nerves left. Nothing there that a few Tyskie's on the beer boat can't cure though 😀

I'm a happy bunny. Got no voice left. Got no nerves left. Nothing there that a few Tyskie's on the beer boat can't cure though 😀

To quote Sir Alex Ferguson..."there is plenty of time for some more twists and turns..."