June

bw.........No No No! The National league must remain just that. Its where the youngsters start to grow, racing against older more experienced riders. Scunny have twice proved that the system works. I doubt the junior league will be as competative. I love NL and the best thing about it is to watch these youngsters progress to the likes of Tai, Josh, Tully. Joe and the Saints of last year. I think some of our NL teams should be in the prem with some of last years riders. You'd think that with 3 leagues riders could and should progress upwards.

Thank goodness for Scunny who have operated a system for british youngsters to progress in their chosen sport. These lads deserve this opportunity. Scunny have the facilities and for about 5 years we've seen riders come through this system which has been successful. There is now a good band of british riders coming through in all leagues. The N/L was a development league, not sure what it is now? I watched the young new Saints in last weeks Amateur meeting race against 4 of our last years Saints. I was impressed so dont write them off!

Montie......Brill post. Good meeting, but didn't see you there. we were in the 2nd stand. ( out of the cold ) Really impressed with the new Saints and it was good to see them all racing together with the old Saints.

Montie....I agree with you, money is always the decider once a rider feels he's in a position to negoiate a deal. Iv'e accepted the fact (sad for us supporters though) Scunny will give a start to the youngsters only to loose them. Our consolation is that we have a Prem team and this year is a brill one!. However I still think this is the way to go to get young British kids onto the ladder. I just hope that at some stage in the riders career they will return and race for us.

Well done Mr Godfrey/Mr Parnaby!....way to go and a pity other clubs can't/won't do likewise. Good luck to all our british kids. message to them; "Go out there, show them you want to do it and need the chance"

Kev. Thanks for your reply. Firstly , I'm not on here to quarrel with you or any speedway fan. Were all in it together! You are talking in a different manner regarding the NL. though. No way could I and others get away with calling it a developement league last year, you just wouldn't have it. so you've softened a little . We at Scunny do nothing different to other clubs, excepting that, Rob Godfrey goes along doing his best to bring british youngsters on. That doesn't mean to say that as a club we have to use all british riders. Our Premier team has got to be competative like others. Rob is doing a great job trying to satisfy us fans who want the best of both worlds. can't be easy for him! As for your comment referring to the Aussies and we have one next year ( Tom Armstrong ) for the Prem team, come on, the difference in J Jacobs and the 5 or 6 others out there now compared to about 30ish to come into our leagues isn't exactly two way traffic. Befor everyone says I'm against foreigners, I'm not, just dont want our sport over-run with them. Just call me Patriotic! Would I go to watch an all foreign team of riders. Definately not!

Kev. You do seem to have changed from last year. All you seemed to want then was riders who could put bums on seats. being a ^ stand alone club " Suddenly your talk is all of bringing on the british youngsters, your talkng more of my language now!......you converted?

Gosh this thread has excited me (Haven't been able to get down to practice).....Things looking good for the Saints......I like the look of your team bullet-some good youngsters whos names I recognise and I think is well capable of making the grade with plenty of practice and encouragement from the Scunny crew of helpers.

Good on ya Mr Silver for giving the youngsters a go this year. If you, along with Mr Godfrey can do it so can others.... way to go !!!! It can be done this way Scunny has proved it. Our british kids should be first and foremost in the minds of promoters....rant over!

Got to have a say on this subject seeing as its one closest to my heart. It cannot be easy to run 2 teams, as not many clubs do. Thanks to Mr godfrey we've had 4 years with both N/L and P/L racing. Ever increasing costs plus the Stock cars, weekend practice sessions. all take loads of effort. I will miss watching NL but I felt as though I'd lost my team when it was announced we'd see only 5 meetings at Scunny. so this comes as no surprise. Cannot agree with some of the comments though; When we come back to speedway in the C/L we only ever had the odd elder rider. As already mentioned Wayne & Buzz acting as coaches to very young riders. Iv'e hardly missed a meeting ( only for hols ) and have to say that mainly our teams were always very young riders. and looking back at those days I have to say they were some of the best days of watching speedway, be it at Quibel Park, Ashbyville and EWR. The years of 2006/2007 will never be forgotten. As a family we still watch these DVDs over and over again. If a certain Richie Dennis reads this. " you are still as popular in this household now as you was then " Thanks to Mr Godfrey a lot of youngsters have been given a good start. I shudder to think where the young ones will get similar chances now. COME ON YOU SAINTS YOU STILL HAVE THE JOB TO FINISH.!

Forgot about the track record.....Stevie got it first, didn't keep it long before Ashley got it. goes to show how good the track was! congratulations Ashley. Which brings me to ask " who held it before?"

A huge well done to both teams who gave us a brilliant meeting, tooth and nail stuff all the way through the match. By releasing Stevie and Richie ( thanks for that ) we had our proper play off. Shame some of the riders missed out through injury, I would have liked to see Byron riding, as it was good to see Scott and Kyle back on the EWR track again. Congratulations Saints.....You have done us proud to have come so far in such a short time. may it continue and you win the final. GOOD LUCK! Just a mention for Graham & Co. the track was good and fast ( heat times don't lie ) No falls WELL DONE!

Got to agree with your choice montie. that would have to be my favourite race of recent times at Scunny. I said at the time it was worth the entrance fee alone.brill meeting!

I agree, that meeting Bell Vue was without Garrity and you loaned Greenwood, however it was still a good meeting depleted teams on both sides. Some excellent racing!Backless, normally I accept our team with riders short in league matches, thats the sacrifice we pay to see our youngsters progress, not a problem. I just want to see our kids win! no doubt you feel the same for your team. I will "suck-it-up" as you say, whatever team we go with I'll be there shouting them on! COME ON SAINTS!

I understand and agree with this and thats exactly why I posted. A PL reserve would probably score many more points in the NL than he would in the PL. would he still be so much out of pocket? Nothing can be done about riders who get injured and those who have exams but with the system we have now are we giving the fans a " Play Off " with depleted sides ? Plus I'm sure all the youngsters want to win this competion, are they getting a fair chance, the likes of Adam and Stefan ( ever present ) must feel gutted when as many as 3 riders are missing from the team. This week at Poole people were turned away, the stadium packed. They fielded proper teams and that was a real Play off.

This competion is becoming a laugh!......In my opinion Saints being one of the the strongest teams in the NL ( all youngsters whos ridden their hearts out to get where they are now ) (through no fault of Saints ) promoters seem to deliberately select dates when members of the team would be missing. Whats the point of play offs when it ends up where teams do not contest the best? Isn't that what its suppose to be all about? Surely for this competion (in all leagues) riders should be released to compete, otherwise dont bother, let teams race for the 1st places to become league champion!

I would just like to say that what Scunny has been able to do to help bring on the youngsters over tha past few years through lots of very hard work by; Mr Godfrey, Richard and Anne Hollingsworth, Graham and all other helpers in extremely cold weather through the winters has been amazing. This is what I call "developing youth" seeing is beleiving! Most weekends me & hubby have been there watching the kids. seems like we've been watching the likes of young Robert Lambert for ages. (thats just singling one out ) Nothing gives us more pleasure than to see how these kids improve by the week. Admittedly Mr Godfrey can use his stadium whenever he wants and has done. Watching the likes of the Worrall twins, Birks, Irvin and Wrathall etc ( who can get loads of practice ) develop makes me feel proud of the Scunny gang. I'm sure there are other tracks where work of this nature takes place. ( I hope so anyway ) The problem is where do these youngsters progress? surely it has to be in the N/L maybe stand alone clubs who show no interest in giving these kids team places should aim to be in the prem league? unsure. I'd like to see at least one, preferably 2 british reserves for a full season, be a good start! Its certainly worked for Stevie Worrall at Scunny. some of his passes in his last match at Scunny was brill.

Thanks for the updates gisatrack...can't you do anymore?

Are there any updates to this meeting please.

The team is made up of mostly Scunny trained youngsters who's progressed at Scunny. Are sponsered by Local "Joton Company" and from day one have always been the "SAINTS".... TELL ME; " WHY DO THE NAME HAVE TO CHANGE?"........dont say to please Sheffield fans. As I can then say it upsets the Scunny fans! My feelings on this has nothing to do with how riders progress, they will whatever. ( these are determined riders ) At the end of the day I wish every one of these lads the best of luck and I'm sure they all have a fantastic future in the sport. Thats it from me.my point in the matter ends here.

Brill win for SAINTS!.....Didn't Benji do well after being out for so long.( bet he's knackered today lol. ) Well done to all riders and I hope our guest L Kerr is OK after his fall and has no serious injury.

From a fan point of view I'm gutted at this merger. We were told the team would be known as Scunthorpe /Sheffield Saints. 4 meetings at Sheffield and 5 at Scunthorpe. Bought the DVD of the dbl header at Sheffield because I'm not in agreement of having to travel from Scunny 60 miles to a home meeting. What did the DVD reveal. The matches headed as the Sheffield Prowlers and riders wearing the said named team jackets So upset of the loss of my team I didn't bring myself to watch the DVD. As I love this level of speedway and have watched these kids progress I will turn out to support them, but only at Scunny. Shock horror a lot will say, but tough. I feel hard done by. So UP THE SCORPIONS!

Special thanks for the free meeting ( is that the 3rd or 4th now ) it brought back some old fans to speedway. hope they return to the EWR for future meetings! Well done to the Saints on their win. A very good meeting with some excellent racing from both teams. I agree montie. A very good guest in L Kerr who thoroughly deserved his paid 11 pts. Another 3 pts in the bag!

Firstly I'd like to wish John Oliver full and speedy recovery. John who was having a brilliant meeting and was riding a correct line when suddenly got thrown into the fence through no fault of his own, such bad luck! my thoughts are with him and his family at this very stressful time.....On to the meeting, like everyone eles I was waiting for a rider to be announced to take the TR that never come.....slipped up there Mildenhall, we'll never know now whether you could have got a point from the meeting. The Mildy fans deserved to see tacical rides - sometimes they dont work, but often do. there was a couple of incidents looking back at the scores when you could have gained some TR points.... Well done Saints on your win! special mention for Stefan. very impressed with you tonight coming back after a nasty accident. you was brill! huge well done!!

Kev. As you singled me out in your last post I will answer, but quite frankly this discussion goes round in circles. We had a lengthy thread on it last year. I am not racist, I do not mind foreigners in our leagues, I always support the ones in the Scunny teams. As Ive said numerous times I am a paying fan, nothing to do with the club or running of it. What I say or think is purely from genuine interest in the sport. Its only my opinion, which I know differs to some other fans. Yes I agree at the mo there probably are not enough british riders to fill spots in the NL but just ask yourself why! Our youngsters appear then disappear. because not enough is being done to help them onto the ladder. As to whos fault that is I have no clue. I remember in the CL league days there used to be a very lengthy list of riders names and grades. Seemed then to be loads of riders. Where are they now? Had some of them been helped with sponsership training etc. british speedway may look to have a brigter future. I'm sorry Kev but the one thing I do believe is that the NL has to be a breeding league for the prem otherwise we may just as well forget BRITISH in the sport of speedway. Dont forget this is only MY opinion!