uk_martin

I like the way that Stal Gorzow use Facebook to post pictures of their fans who have bought season tickets. Can't help but think that images like that encourage other fans to buy season tickets by getting in on that "me too feeling" Neigh on 2500 season tickets sold with more than 2 months to go til the start of the season. Can't be harming the cause can it? Not exactly the sort of rocket science that can't be repeated over here either is it?

How many clubs will have gone under between now and when SloSpeed get their act together? How many fans will lose their teams? But who cares about them eh? As long as the establishment looks after the establishment and the bureaucracy looks after the bureaucracy and Terry Russell's pockets contain all the pieces of silver that they should then all will be well with the world won't it? WHAT A MESS!

So what you are basically saying is that os that SkySports control the sport and how it's allowed to present itself to the population at large? They have nothing else to do to pass the time of day right? And if SkySports don't want a team to be promoted then they have the right, as controllers of media rights, to strangle the life out of the media exposure that a club can be given? Are you serious? This is what you say is "in the best interests of British Speedway" right? So there's one for you...BBC and ITV, whose sports coverage everyone says is not nearly enough, the fault lies not with the BBC or ITV, it's all SkySports's fault, according to what you are saying. SkySport control what's able to get out there. That's what the impact of what you are saying isn't it? It's up to SkySports whether ITV and BBC can show speedway on their local and national news and sports programmes??? IF that's right, why isn't it the fault of SloSpeed who agreed to the handing over of control of media exposure, in return for the big proportion of the pieces of silver that were handed over by SkySports. Terry Russell is OK Jack isn't he? He has been getting his pieces of silver in his pocket every year, To hell with everyone else eh? All in the best interests of British Speedway Terry Russell...

Not to mention the Super7: So shouldn't the Super7 now be a Super6? Was the ELRC changed to ERC for last year when it became an "invite who you can and mess people around with the dates championship"? Or did they forget to change it, and out of luck rather than judgement, it's gone back to being an ELRC agin for 2015? TOTAL TOSH. Let me quote you from GoSpeed's own web site: GoSpeed are in control. End of. There is no way that you can palm off blame onto SkySports for witholding the use of independently produced audio and video footage. GoSpeed claim to own all the copyrights of all media shot in speedway stadiums (what a little monopoly that is, for nobody's benefit !) so it was Ronnie Russells's say-so and no-one else's that was needed. The only thing that was stopping Ronnie Russell from giving permission, in my opinion, was that there was no profit to him in it for doing so. A hallmark of everything that's wrong with the sport in this country.

One thing's for sure. There is a ZERO chance of there ever being an SGP in Glasgow now.

If stating the facts is being negative, then you have to examine why the facts are negative, not why they are being stated. Also, on your point about the best interests of British Speedway (I love that phrase - are you CVS in real life?) answer me this, Firstly, WHY did GoSpeed prevent Birmingham Brummies from having a fantastic publicity opportunity in the City Centre in 2011? Secondly, is this why GoSpeed have bought the worldwide broadcast rights to Polish Speedway, just so that the Polish product could be embargo'd from being seen by the British public, in case it shows up the British product on a Monday as a pale shadow of what happens in Poland on the Sunday?

Ben Barker + Lewis Bridger haven't even been mentioned yet, and it's already starting to look like the current crop of riders have inherited the totally inept attitudes of their governing body. Examples of Professionalism, Organisation and Discipline needs to be set at the top...hardly a surprise then when the riders turn out like this then, is it?

There have been "exciting things" planned ever since 1) every team had to have Columbian registered web sites and 2) every web site had to agree to prime site advertising space being dedicated to GoSpeed, exactly for their exciting plans that would be the next big thing. That was some years ago. It's still not happened. See, it's as simple as that. One lady in the middle of Norfolk does a better job of promoting her team than the massed ranks of the BSPA / SCB / AP Mafia / GoSport / Orville et all, all put together. Good job these people aren't running the NHS or commanding troops on the battlefield then isn't it? Now that bit I can well believe. The first thing that a burocracy has to do is to protect the burocracy. Good luck with getting your "nods" lol. I recall in 2011 when there was a World Cup on, plus Wimbledon, plus a Royal Wedding, plus, plus, plus...etc the Birmingham promotion needed "the nod" from GoSpeed to show a promotional video for Brummies Speedway in the advert breaks on "The Big Screen" in Birmingham's Victoria Square, where tens of thousands of people would have seen it. Anyone who was at the Birmingham City ground at the start of that season would have seen something similar...but according to what Mick Bratley told me at the time, all was ready, but as copyright holders, GoSpeed needed to give their permission to show the video...and it never came.

Now there's interesting. Birmingham denied "official" e-mails for several years for sending bulk e-mails but Berwick allowed to get away with sending bulk e-mails to this day. No wonder Alan Philips contended that "the establishment" was out to get him. But hey ho, that's another story. Coming back to the point, does anyone here subscribe to any Polish or Swedish Facebook pages? I keep tabs on the Stal Gorzow Facebook Page, and I have to say, I'm well impressed with their output. I have to say I think that they are light years ahead of what teams do in the UK. There are plenty of lessons to be learned from them, I just wonder if anyone will...or do we carry on with our heads in the sand in this country and leave Facebook to the younger generation, who we don't encourage into the sport anyway? Let's face it, the fans in the 90's never had Facebook, and the fathers of the fans of the 90's never had Facebook and the fathers of the fathers of the fans of the 90's never had Facebook. Whjy should speedway dabble with this new fangled technology now eh? Anyone would think it would want to succeed or something.

Language Timothy!!!

What it seems to me is that there is a combination of a few issues. Firstly, feelings in Argentina towards the British are not exactly caudial, so maybe there is something to what the riders are saying... Secondly, where the hell was the advice and assistance from the Foreign Office and/or the BSPA/SCB to the British riders who were, rightly or wrongly, going to represent their country and fly our flag? If you want to go to some parts of Africa or Asia or a remote country, you can get advice from the Foreign Office about what to expect when you go there, what to look out for, what the dangers are etc etc. My money is that these two riders are so internationally inexperienced that they didn't even think to ask for advice or guidance and that the lack of international street-wisdom is a direct result of the lack of international exposure that British riders get compared to foreign riders who cross borders several times a week. That said, if they did ask for advice though, I'd hate to think what they'd have got from the authorities. Thirdly, were they on their own or did they have a "tour manager" there to look after their interests, look after the paperwork, and to make sure that they had a base of operations, equipment, support services etc?

The problem with e-newsletters as I found out from Birmingham's experience is that "the establishment" don't like clubs using them. Birmingham had all it's "@birminghambrummies.co" e-mail facilities blocked during the Philips regime because the volume of e-mail traffic that the Commercial Department was putting out in order to promote the club was in danger of being identified as "SPAM" and therefore black-balling the BSPA server, causing everyone in British Speedway to be affected. You'll notice that Berwick can produce their e-Newsletters because they run an independent web site and are in control of their own e-mail deliveries free of interferance from "the establishment".

I agree Deano. Marketing the sport NEEDS doing at all levels. At a national level where we are in the safe hands of Terry Russell t/a GoSpeed International and of course Keith Harris and Orville. So we are in safe hand there aren't we? And they really care about spreading the word about the National League don't they? Like, Buxton have really benefited from them in past years haven't they? Also we need to increase our exposure on Social Media, which is why "the establishment" banning speedway videos from YouTube, and speedway photos from Flickr and Instagram etc etc just makes SO MUCH sense, doesn't it? No, sorry to have to say this, but charity (or marketing as the case may be) is going to have to start at home. We can't rely on "the establishment" to look after us. We have to show that we are Birmingham Speedway, NOT Benefits Street. Birmingham has to sink or swim on its own merits. If we get a helping hand from national initiatives, then that'll be a nice Brucie Bonus, but don't hold your breath whilst waiting for it.

So hopefully there will soon be announcements about new initiatives to attract a new generation of fans to the sport. I fear that the same old recipe served up in smaller portions won't be the answer.

Injuries won't be the problem. Premier League teams poaching the best riders will be the problem. If Ellis and Perry are as good as is being said, then what's the betting a struggling PL team comes and takes one or both of these riders away? And then what? Remembering how fans reacted during "Birkogate", there may be all sorts of disquiet especially amongst the forum afficionados if the Brummies team is decimated. I think that it's going to take some getting used to that at NL level, winning the league isn't everything. Feeding riders to the upper leagues should be a mark of success as well. But who will see it that way? How many arguements and fall outs will happen along the way? And who will think that their hard earned cash is worth spending on a team that could struggle if the big guns are taken away from it? It's a fact of life that's not been faced before, and I think that fans need to be reconciled to it before making great expectations for themselves. I think that in true olympian spirit, the NL is all about the taking part, not the winning. The bigger picture is going to hang around whether there will be more fans on the terraces at the end of the season than at the beginning. If there are the season has been a success. Where the Brummies finish in the league will be very much secondary.

4.00 points left to spend...how best to spend it?

The governing body needs to pay for representation in international matches. The fans already pay their share with the admission money, part of which pays for teams and riders registration fees to the governing bodies. There's money in the BSPA / SCB coffers, it just needs to be spent. It's a shame when your governing body isn't interested in international competitions as you then get to the situation that the Russians are in. Their top riders (the Lagutas and Emil Saturdayjob especially) will not ride for Russia because their governing body refuses to pay the bills. So the BSPA / SCB aren't alone in having their heads in the sand, but it's not great company that they keep is it?

There's always a cost of doing something...but there again there's always a cost of NOT doing something. I also agree with E I Addio - our riders need to get their butts over to Poland and Sweden. HOWEVER it's been made all too comfortable for them to dumb down between leagues in Great Britain hasn't it? The result is going to be Ben Barkeresque career stagnation. Craig Cook is going the same way, preferring to stay in Scotland rather than developing himself abroad. All too McComfy for him up there. It's where he says his heart is, you know. Mind you, he can't afford to travel can he? I'd guess that until all the dumbing down riders have done their two year stint (starting from now and not from when they started doubling up, in some cases 2-3 years ago) nothing will happen on that score. And when their leases on dumbing down spots has run out, they's all be 2 years older and 2 years further behind the development curve that their competitors are on. Oh deep joy.

Is he any relation to either Sir Thomas Chapman or Colin Chapman?

I rwspect those opinions but we are faced with a real world situation where the BSPA / SCB is only entering one person into either the World or European u21 tournament and no pairs or teams into any under-21 World or European Pairs or Team events. In any case, many of our "juniors" are over 21 and would not qualify for the events anyway. There are, to my knowledge, no u.23, u25 or in the case of some of our "Fast Track Reserves" no u29 tournaments either. So where else do these riders gain international experience? Rob Lambert and Kyle Newman have gigs in Germany and Poland respectively, and all credit to them for it, but the rest are opting for the option made so easy for them by the BSPA's cost cutting measures, of dumbing down between the British Leagues, so where's it going to happen for the next generation then?

OK, so now back to the theme of the thread. If YOU were tasked with picking a GB team / squad for next season, who'd be in it? Fantasy Speedway if you like, but don't just criticise other people's selections, that's easy. Let's see your picks as well.

My bad! Error corrected. I had Vetlanda in one post and Piraterna (2013 champions) in the second post...now both show the right team.

I gather that due to a bout of pneumonia, the Archbishop of Canterbury was unable to give his Christmas sermon this year, and that a homily was given by the Dean of Canterbury instead http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30604249 I'm assuming that this wasn't either of you two. Not unless either the Dean of Sutton Coldfiled or the Dean of Crewe has quietly and secretly been promoted to this new position???

It seems many of us do. I was also told that Liam was Les's son...then someone on here says he was his grandson...now we're told that there is no relationship at all. Whatever.