IainB

Made a very rare trip to Peterborough this evening, only 2nd visit of the year, used to be a bit of a regular. I knew the "teams" looked a bit of a joke but that's Speedway in 2017, the quality of riders on view though tempted me along. What a mistake! In all of my years attending Speedway (since 1977) this is the lamest abandonment I have EVER seen. The track was not the best it's ever been but if riders don't want to ride or can't ride the track the way it was tonight they really ought to question whether they should be Speedway riders at all. Yes the track did look a tiny bit tricky before the blade came out. After it had been bladed though it didn't look to be a problem at all, no riders were getting into difficulty, no riders fell or even looked like they were going to, no rearing, no locking up, nothing! The promoter addressed the crowd stating that the track had been a problem because it hadn't been used for 5 and a half week... I've heard a lot of excuses in my 40 years of Speedway but even this was a new one! As somebody said earlier the ref should have not called this one off there was absolutely nothing wrong with the track, she should have forced the teams to ride and anybody that didn't should have faced the consequences. I normally have a bit of time for Rory Schlein but if what has been said about him on here tonight is true and judging by all the pointing at the first bend he was doing before not taking his last ride, it was... then the man is a disgrace and should retire and go and work 9 to 5 for a living. That's me pretty much done with Speedway in the UK until it sorts its house out

1 minute! 30 seconds for me

For me the switch to 15 heats was the last good thing to happen in British Speedway. No reason not to have 15 heats and a 2nd half

Was it any good?

a team competing at a so called professional level, in a so called Premiership

You don't have to... don't go, simple

Yes I thought that too, but I presume that the referee knows the rules better than you and I. It wouldn't surprise me if they've done away with that rule with the constant tinkering that goes on every close season. The trouble with running a professional sport with common sense is that what may be common sense to you or to me or to Buster may be three completely different things. That is why we have rules

The point is, is there a rule that says a team can't start with just 3 riders?

Anybody that still thinks that DU is a good idea should take a look at the "Somerset" team being put out tonight! Unbelievable!

That's the trouble with rules... break one and you may as well break them all

Why are people questioning the ref? The ref is working to the rules... who makes the rules up?

SteveZodiac... please look through the rule book and look for the rule that says "Where 2 teams can't plan out to have enough riders available to start a match, the 2 teams, if in agreement, can just do what they want" Rules are there for a reason and if a promotion can't plan effectively enough to be in a position to start a match with enough riders why have a rule book at all? Like I've said earlier, Wolves were kind of lucky they didn't have the same problem, it could easily have happened to them. It was down to the KL and Wolves promotions to make sure they had enough riders there to complete 2 matches... even more so when both teams were a rider down to start with (even though KL only found out about MPT at 7pm)

No

Perhaps because the rules allowed it? The ref would have had a rulebook to follow... unlike the make it up as you go along promoters

I can't believe that some of you are looking to blame the ref! It's the refs job to make sure that matches are run according to the rules, it's the promotions job to field a competitive and complete team. Fair enough blame the ref if rules were broken i.e. minimum team strength not met, but do we know that this is still a rule? I'm guessing by some of the teams that have been put out this season that it's not. Does anybody know? You can't just cancel a match because you have failed to plan properly. Only an idiot would go into a double header against the same team twice operating R/R and not having any cover... KL were unlucky, yes but it could also have happened to Wolves... either way one thing is for sure, it's the paying punter that is being taken for a mug as ususal

Haha! Thread closed then... next

Anybody any idea what selection of riders can be bothered to turn up for this match?

8 clubs with crowds of 2000-3000 is better than 10 clubs with crowds of 800-1000

Only a matter of time at the current rate! Wouldn't it be nice for a rider to say no I'm not doubling up as I can't show the commitment that is needed to my club... But on the other hand promoters are very quick to drop riders not in form, so it works both ways, why should riders show commitment. I think it just shows what a total mess the game is in

And why is that I wonder? Maybe because a lot of riders are denying opportunities to others by doubling up? It does seem a bit catch 22

But by allowing DU aren't you effectively halving the number of available team spaces? And don't some riders TU (triple up)?

Surely clubs have to look at the bigger picture, why are they running 2 teams when they don't have enough riders for 1?

still has plenty of time... look at Gollob and Hancock

To continue your analogy, it seems to me that clubs are currently at the food bank

I don't know how many riders are licensed to ride in the UK but it's obvious that there are not enough. The first thing I'd do is not allow the likes of Belle Vue and King's Lynn to run National League teams... why on earth should they be running 2 teams when they don't have enough riders for 1! There's 14 riders freed up straight away (assuming they only rider for 1 NL club) I'd also place some sort of cap on who can ride in an NL team, allow 1 "experienced" rider (based on number of official matches ridden) as a coach but the rest have to be inexperienced, no more than say 100 matches unless they continue to ride for the same team There are too many riders in the NL, who to be brutally honest, are never going to make it beyond the level they are currently at and ride as a hobby, these riders should not stand in the way of riders with genuine talent and ambition. It may mean an initial period of rider and pay control.