Premiership 2027 - Are You Interested??

[RS50]

37 minutes ago, Bagpuss said:

I personally don't think that any rider who is going to be absent for a certain percentage of meetings in a season should be permitted to ride in a league whoever they are.

Injury can't be helped but one of the things which gets up people's noses more than anything IMO is facilities for riders who are raving elsewhere and not for the team they signed for.

Would be annoying if they went to a rave instead of speedway.😀

[FishersGate]

I've given up, posted not long ago about how I haven't attended any meetings this year.  Shame and sad. 

Reason one is money, I'm saving and losing speedway hasn't bothered me too much in the slightest, I only miss the chit chat. Speedway is now expensive to attend. 

Reason two is the lack of importance, Its sad that I don't care if my team wins the cup this year. I honestly couldn't give a monkeys about it. 

I could probably put another dozen reasons why I've given up but all of it has been mentioned previously. Until they implement real change I'm not going back. What does the change look like? I'm not sure but I want them to TRY something new at least. Its still the same boring usual suspects in the play offs with the same teams on crap tracks followed by tractor racing. God I could rant on but you don't need to read it. 

Oh and for those supporters still claiming the premiership is necessary, just look at your attendances, how many clubs are closing or losing money and if the sport is better off with it. I personally have completely given up with it. The premiership DOESNT WORK. 

[Tim G]

56 minutes ago, Bagpuss said:

I personally don't think that any rider who is going to be absent for a certain percentage of meetings in a season should be permitted to ride in a league whoever they are.

Injury can't be helped but one of the things which gets up people's noses more than anything IMO is facilities for riders who are raving elsewhere and not for the team they signed for.

I do agree with you as it annoys me that my team Oxford have rarely ran the original 1 to 7 that was announced for the last 2 seasons. My interest as definitely waned due to knowing we are not going to be competitive.

Maybe the championship needs a rule that a team can only have one rider riding in Polands top flight that is at an under 21. Then work the fixtures so these riders can turn up on a Friday at the away tracks. It’s been ridiculous how many away meetings Mitch has missed but a lot of that is down to poor fixture planning.

It would be a major shame if British youngsters like Cairns,Rushen wouldn’t be riding in the Championship because they wouldn’t be able to make every meeting because they are progressing internationally in our sport.

Edited yesterday at 01:27 PM by Tim G

[DaveWayne]

26 minutes ago, RS50 said:

Would be annoying if they went to a rave instead of speedway.😀

Tai has retired now so we should be OK. 😉

[Daniel Smith]

4 hours ago, Bagpuss said:

I personally don't think that any rider who is going to be absent for a certain percentage of meetings in a season should be permitted to ride in a league whoever they are.

Injury can't be helped but one of the things which gets up people's noses more than anything IMO is facilities for riders who are raving elsewhere and not for the team they signed for.

Is that right though? Foreigners yes but we should be encouraging & proud if our own young lads can get gigs in Poland, Sweden, Denmark & SGPs?

All thing's go well, Cairns & Rushen look to be our big hopes and we MUST NOT stand in their way of their futures.

In 1 big league, if a team is happy to sign a Brit knowing they will miss a high proportion of weekend fixtures then so be it.

British Speedway could help itself by waiting for the Polish & SGP fixture lists & each club working around them. 

[marko]

As an Arena Essex fan, not been to a meeting since 2018, still buy the star every week, and sub to BSN or just stuck to watching highlights or whatever has been put on youtube from around Europe.

I quite like watching meetings at home whilst i can go a make a cup when they do tractor racing etc.

Said it before on another thread, speedway needs to forget about the top riders, start bringing youngsters in, you have that little track near Manchester that is used for ride and slide days, its perfect, in a field, no fence, we need tons of them all around the country, just using 125cc bikes, perfect to get a new generation interested.

If there was one in Essex i would go and have a go myself, im 53 and its been nearly 15 years since i last put my leg over a speedway bike as i used to go and have a little spin around Iwade just for fun.

But as for the title of this thread, NO just scrap it, your going to have to sooner rather than later anyway.

[IainB]

1 hour ago, Daniel Smith said:

Is that right though? Foreigners yes but we should be encouraging & proud if our own young lads can get gigs in Poland, Sweden, Denmark & SGPs?

All thing's go well, Cairns & Rushen look to be our big hopes and we MUST NOT stand in their way of their futures.

Why? For 1 or 2 SWC/SoN meetings held every few years in this country 🤷‍♂️

If they want to go to Poland let em but not at the expense of British Speedway.

[Daniel Smith]

2 hours ago, IainB said:

Why? For 1 or 2 SWC/SoN meetings held every few years in this country 🤷‍♂️

If they want to go to Poland let em but not at the expense of British Speedway.

Representing your Country should be the pinnacle outside of individual World Champion.

Being forced / blackmailed to prioritise British Speedway that is constantly downgrading is so shortsighted. Even more so if it ends up one league in 2026.

One league will push British Speedway on a par or lower than the German Bundesliga & Poland's Liga 2 and our young boys don't deserve that pressed upon them.

[IainB]

11 hours ago, Daniel Smith said:

Representing your Country should be the pinnacle outside of individual World Champion.

Being forced / blackmailed to prioritise British Speedway that is constantly downgrading is so shortsighted. Even more so if it ends up one league in 2026.

One league will push British Speedway on a par or lower than the German Bundesliga & Poland's Liga 2 and our young boys don't deserve that pressed upon them.

Okay let's unpack and examine what you and some others are saying here...

British Speedway develops these riders by providing them with team spots in at least 2 and sometimes 3 leagues in the UK, regular meetings across the the country at different tracks offering different conditions, points scoring opportunities, bike time and a chance to earn some money... but then we allow them to regularly miss those meetings to go and ride either individually, for their country or even for clubs in other country's... but to what end? How does this benefit British Speedway, I'm yet to hear a single valid reason from anybody who is in favour of letting this kind of thing continue 🤷‍♂️

The senior and junior GB Speedway teams have only ridden in the UK a handful of times over the last 10-15 years, they have been quite successful yet have got pretty much zero media coverage from this and certainly little to no extra bums on seats. In fact exactly the opposite due to the regular gaps in domestic team line-up's and meetings due to this folly!

We've had a 3 x World Champion, a World No 2, a World No 3, an SoN gold, an SoN silver, has this benefited British Speedway? At junior level pretty much zilch! The junior level events are not even covered on TV anymore and when they were, they were tucked away on obscure streaming channels... the only way to follow these young lads escapades on the continent now is on the Speedway Updates website if you're lucky! And if these kids do make it to a decent standard and clear off leaving British Speedway behind like DJ Woffy and Lambot...How does any of that benefit British Speedway?

International Speedway is almost dead in this country, the GP has gone from 40,000 attending Cardiff to barely 6,000 in Manchester, no test matches, nothing for the U21's. That is the reality of all of our success at the World level.

To advocate the continuation of this behaviour is very much in the Business As Usual camp. The only other team sport, that I can think of, that follows this model is Cricket... but they have the luxury of a massive TV contract and full house crowds following a national team that regularly appears at home and abroad in Test, ODI & T20 matches. They have a backup domestic competition that is superbly promoted with The Hundred and T20 Blast, players regularly miss matches for "their clubs", especially when on international duty... unfortunately we're missing all of that and just have what would be the equivalent of the County Championship with hardly anybody attending or really caring who wins, except for a few die hard social misfits. It is little more of a proving ground for up and coming players and a chance for journeymen to keep their hand in.

If these Speedway riders want to put the odd continental meeting ahead of a full campaign in the UK, absolutely good luck to them 👍but it cannot continue at the expense of British Speedway and not just Team GB riders but any rider that decides he wants to top his earnings up by doing the occasional meeting in the UK.

Don't get me wrong I am not laying the blame for all of this at the riders, the governing bodies in the country have allowed this to happen and often encouraged it, I cannot understand for the life of me why though, but one thing is for definite, the fans have said a resounding Nope!

Edited 9 hours ago by IainB

[CTRSports]

The issue is ten-fold unfortunately...

How many riders in the past 10 years have held down a regular World level position not having a ride in Poland etc.

If we are to develop riders that have to put the UK first, then that development will stop as riders, young riders will have ambition to race in Poland, they will have ambition to race at GP level - it was the same many moons ago where you had Italians, Hungarians, Poles etc all with the ambition to race in the UK and compete at International level - the only thing that has changed is the destination now which is Poland

Currently, the issue is that riders that have good grounding, good sponsorship, good equipment and above all, good ability and attitude are and will find their way to the top, you've seen in recent years with Robert Lambert, Dan Bewley etc. and I think although its an early assessment - Cooper Rushen could be next...

What we are not doing is giving enough opportunity to develop riders of a standard fit for British Championship level, for every Robert Lambert that we hope to produce, we need 10x Chris Harris, Scott Nicholls etc. and for me there is just not the opportunity, and support for these riders to develop a domestic career

Just plucking a few names out of the hat, JPB being one, Ashton Boughen being another, plus many more that come into the sport show promise, they might not make world level racing but seems that a domestic career is given up for many reasons....

I still believe a Grand Prix style British Championship format should be created inline with a sponsor and TV coverage where riders whom compete can earn a decent prize money over 7 or 8 championship rounds, and this should act as a potential achievable ambition to those riders who don't have that X Factor of making Poland and/or World Level 

I still marketing a domestic British Championship is easier, a one-off event in a town/city is easier to promote, more than likely as a "British" championship round has more meaning to get old fans and encourage new fans to attend - it is then down to that "host" club to maximise any further potential  from on-site attendees

I have gone a bit off-topic so I shall stop there...

[Fromafar]

On 7/15/2026 at 1:19 PM, IainB said:

👋

Surely the likes of Dan Thompson can't make a living from watching Speedway sat in the pits in Poland? And he needs to remember that when signing his contracts. 

We need to call the average British Speedway riders bluff.Practicing in Poland to sit in the pits won’t further their career.Plus is the promised wage actually paid on time.