Aries Posted Saturday at 06:52 PM Report Share Posted Saturday at 06:52 PM (edited) 22 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said: Personally just don't think people have the appetite for that amount of meetings anymore Aries I just think it would be less repetition and as mentioned losses should be less they would need to get a meeting at home at least once a fortnight and try and get things finished by the end of August say. Is Polish top division once home and away ? Not sure I agree mate. One of the biggest complaints on here over the last few years is not enough meetings, and far too stop start with big gaps between fixtures. Many have constantly trotted out the old “people will just find other things to do and lose interest” reasoning for wanting more meetings. Once home and away in an eight team league, gives you only seven home league meetings, plus a couple of cup fixtures between March and September. Thats nowhere near enough IMO. Edited Saturday at 06:54 PM by Aries 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted Saturday at 06:55 PM Report Share Posted Saturday at 06:55 PM 1 minute ago, Aries said: Not sure I agree mate. One of the biggest complaints on here over the last few years is not enough meetings, and far too stop start with big gaps between meetings. Many have constantly trotted out the old “people will just find other things to do and lose interest” reasoning for wanting more meetings. Once home and away in an eight team league, gives you only seven home league meetings, plus a couple of cup fixtures between March and September. Thats nowhere near enough IMO. Home every fortnight, would mean all know when the meetings take place.... And, given the costs involved, may mean its affordable?... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aries Posted Saturday at 07:47 PM Report Share Posted Saturday at 07:47 PM 51 minutes ago, mikebv said: Home every fortnight, would mean all know when the meetings take place.... And, given the costs involved, may mean its affordable?... We talking one or two home and away in an eight team league? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveWayne Posted Saturday at 10:00 PM Report Share Posted Saturday at 10:00 PM 3 hours ago, mikebv said: Home every fortnight, would mean all know when the meetings take place.... And, given the costs involved, may mean its affordable?... But what about shift workers ? When I first went with my uncle in the 80s we only went every 2nd week as he alternated between days and afters. If you went to a rigid 'once a fortnight' people on shift patterns like that could potentially miss a full season if it fell wrong for them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin bass Posted Sunday at 07:09 AM Report Share Posted Sunday at 07:09 AM 9 hours ago, DaveWayne said: But what about shift workers ? When I first went with my uncle in the 80s we only went every 2nd week as he alternated between days and afters. If you went to a rigid 'once a fortnight' people on shift patterns like that could potentially miss a full season if it fell wrong for them. This was always my problem when i worked shifts, mornings 6-2 were fine, lates 2-10 were a no no, and tbf a night shift 10-6 were sometimes a mad rush getting into work on time, the joys of shift work, luckily im retired so no longer a problem, biggest problem now is actually lack of fixtures with to many breaks in between meetings, back in the day Ipswich always had two home meetings a month, and more often then not 3 a month, now its all over the place and all kind of gaps between fixtures, you can see why regular fans drift away after a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aries Posted Sunday at 07:38 AM Report Share Posted Sunday at 07:38 AM (edited) 31 minutes ago, kevin bass said: This was always my problem when i worked shifts, mornings 6-2 were fine, lates 2-10 were a no no, and tbf a night shift 10-6 were sometimes a mad rush getting into work on time, the joys of shift work, luckily im retired so no longer a problem, biggest problem now is actually lack of fixtures with to many breaks in between meetings, back in the day Ipswich always had two home meetings a month, and more often then not 3 a month, now its all over the place and all kind of gaps between fixtures, you can see why regular fans drift away after a while. This is what I was talking about Kevin. So many on here like you have bemoaned the lack of fixtures these days so going for one home and away instead of two giving you only seven home League fixtures in an eight team league, just won’t cut it. There isn’t enough fixtures now with ten home league fixtures, we certainly can’t reduce that further! Eight team league, twice home and away giving you 14 home league fixtures and three KOC fixtures giving you a guaranteed 17, seems ideal to me. Start the season a tad earlier in March like we always used to as well to accommodate the extra few meetings. We always used to start middle of March but that’s now slipped to April starts. Probably due to a reduced fixture list. Edited Sunday at 07:40 AM by Aries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin bass Posted Sunday at 08:18 AM Report Share Posted Sunday at 08:18 AM 29 minutes ago, Aries said: This is what I was talking about Kevin. So many on here like you have bemoaned the lack of fixtures these days so going for one home and away instead of two giving you only seven home League fixtures in an eight team league, just won’t cut it. There isn’t enough fixtures now with ten home league fixtures, we certainly can’t reduce that further! Eight team league, twice home and away giving you 14 home league fixtures and three KOC fixtures giving you a guaranteed 17, seems ideal to me. Start the season a tad earlier in March like we always used to as well to accommodate the extra few meetings. We always used to start middle of March but that’s now slipped to April starts. Probably due to a reduced fixture list. No we deffo need more meetings rather then less, biggest problem i see is whilst having the top riders riding in the UK is great it means we always end up playing second, third or even forth fiddle to Poland, Denmark and Sweden and alike, and then have to squeeze in the UK fixtures around rider availability, it might all change if this Poland one league rule kicks in next season, and yeah the season does now start later compared to a few yrs back, but still amazes me that we have less meetings to fit in during the season these days but we still end up trying to fit meetings in at the end of the season Sept/Oct yet we've had countless blank wks during the summer months, but yet again that's due to rider availability and playing second fiddle to other countries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted Sunday at 08:40 AM Report Share Posted Sunday at 08:40 AM (edited) 22 minutes ago, kevin bass said: No we deffo need more meetings rather then less, biggest problem i see is whilst having the top riders riding in the UK is great it means we always end up playing second, third or even forth fiddle to Poland, Denmark and Sweden and alike, and then have to squeeze in the UK fixtures around rider availability, it might all change if this Poland one league rule kicks in next season, and yeah the season does now start later compared to a few yrs back, but still amazes me that we have less meetings to fit in during the season these days but we still end up trying to fit meetings in at the end of the season Sept/Oct yet we've had countless blank wks during the summer months, but yet again that's due to rider availability and playing second fiddle to other countries. It is an unfathomable system they use. They don't schedule meetings in during some of the months where we get the best weather, due to rider unavailability.... Yet on the majority of the nights they do schedule meetings in, at least one rider, and usually more, are always missing!!! Over 200 guests will be used this season so just schedule meetings in during the best months for the weather, and use even more guests if they need to.. I am pretty sure a "Guestfest" in July will get more people watching than a "Guestfest" for some dead rubber at the back end of September or early October... Edited Sunday at 08:41 AM by mikebv 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattB Posted Sunday at 01:02 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 01:02 PM Promoters attitude towards fans who stop attending seems to "Well they're no great loss". When the sport is hemorrhaging clubs and fans at an ever increasing rate of knots, the last they should be is half-soaked about lapsed fans. Instead of having slopy-shoulders or even worse, criticising fans for not coming, FIND OUT why they don't come anymore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattB Posted Sunday at 01:02 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 01:02 PM Promoters attitude towards fans who stop attending seems to "Well they're no great loss". When the sport is hemorrhaging clubs and fans at an ever increasing rate of knots, the last they should be is half-soaked about lapsed fans. Instead of having slopy-shoulders or even worse, criticising fans for not coming, FIND OUT why they don't come anymore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin bass Posted Sunday at 05:18 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 05:18 PM The biggest problem will be available riders to run the so called Premiership if Poland bring in the one league only in '27, not just all the riders that ride in the Polish leagues who ride over here, but also the amount of British senior riders who DU more often then not during the season at some point, their all getting on age wise and cant go on forever. Nicholls 48, Harris 44, King/Lawson 40, Cook 39, Barker 38, Wright 37, Kerr 36, to name a few. Yeah there's a few decent youngsters coming thru but not enough atm to replace those mentioned above when they finally retire. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 valve Posted Sunday at 05:25 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 05:25 PM 9 hours ago, Aries said: This is what I was talking about Kevin. So many on here like you have bemoaned the lack of fixtures these days so going for one home and away instead of two giving you only seven home League fixtures in an eight team league, just won’t cut it. There isn’t enough fixtures now with ten home league fixtures, we certainly can’t reduce that further! Eight team league, twice home and away giving you 14 home league fixtures and three KOC fixtures giving you a guaranteed 17, seems ideal to me. Start the season a tad earlier in March like we always used to as well to accommodate the extra few meetings. We always used to start middle of March but that’s now slipped to April starts. Probably due to a reduced fixture list. Why would a league of eight teams mean less fixtures during the season than the current league of six? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 valve Posted Sunday at 05:32 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 05:32 PM 19 hours ago, DaveWayne said: But what about shift workers ? When I first went with my uncle in the 80s we only went every 2nd week as he alternated between days and afters. If you went to a rigid 'once a fortnight' people on shift patterns like that could potentially miss a full season if it fell wrong for them. Being brutal, maybe shift workers will miss meetings. The reality is that the majority of speedway fans are not shift workers and its impossible to facilitate any form of fixture list which can accommodate all eventualities. FYI, back in the day, when I worked shifts, where possible I arranged swaps or even had to have my fingers crossed that the meeting finished on time to enable me to get to work on time for the 22h start. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 valve Posted Sunday at 05:35 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 05:35 PM On 8/1/2026 at 2:58 PM, Aries said: They’d still have to do twice home and away IMO otherwise we’d have even less meetings than we do now. We currently have 10 home league meetings, a league of 8 teams once home and away would give you just 7 home league meetings. What else would you fill the season with to have the “home meetings at the minimum every other week” that you mention? Eight team league, twice home and away giving you 14 home league fixtures plus the KOC fixtures would help plug some of the annoying gaps in fixtures that we currently have. KOC could continue the same format as this year. Two groups of four instead of three in a north/south split, giving a guaranteed three home cup fixtures in the group stage, group winners meet in final. 17 guaranteed home fixtures in total. Sounds much better to me. Poland has eight teams in their top flight and seem to do rather well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin bass Posted Sunday at 05:40 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 05:40 PM 5 minutes ago, 1 valve said: Being brutal, maybe shift workers will miss meetings. The reality is that the majority of speedway fans are not shift workers and its impossible to facilitate any form of fixture list which can accommodate all eventualities. FYI, back in the day, when I worked shifts, where possible I arranged swaps or even had to have my fingers crossed that the meeting finished on time to enable me to get to work on time for the 22h start. The reality is that most speedway fans are retired/pensioners. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aries Posted Sunday at 05:50 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 05:50 PM 24 minutes ago, 1 valve said: Why would a league of eight teams mean less fixtures during the season than the current league of six? Because the idea put forward that I was responding to was to do one home and away fixture with eight teams, instead of the two home and away we currently have with six teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted Sunday at 06:18 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 06:18 PM (edited) Dan T's excellent latest Vlog on YT covers off plenty of fan questions... Including money... In Poland, in his league, 700/800 quid per point is the going rate, with a grand a point for a No1.. Poland also give a very sizeable signing on fee, but over there you pay for tyres, and can use a new one each race... They also expect you to buy two new engines with your signing on fee, and they provide travel costs inc hotels... You can see why riders go over there and prioritise it, with some top league riders rumored to be on £3k a point... Over here, reserves in the Championship get £60 a point, going up to £100 for a No1.... In the Premiership, RS's get £85 a point, number six then gets £100, with the money moving up through the team, he didn't say what a No1 got.. All figures are "circa" as obviously riders get different deals with some having a guarantee and some choosing not to have one, but more per point... As Dan says, if riders didn't have to lay out so much to keep the bikes running then the need to earn so much wouldn't be there.. It will be interesting next season if Poland's contracted riders cannot DU over here, as I presume they won't give up their spot there.. Edited Sunday at 06:20 PM by mikebv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin bass Posted Sunday at 06:27 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 06:27 PM 6 minutes ago, mikebv said: Dan T's excellent latest Vlog on YT covers off plenty of fan questions... Including money... In Poland, in his league, 700/800 quid per point is the going rate, with a grand a point for a No1.. Poland also give a very sizeable signing on fee, but over there you pay for tyres, and can use a new one each race... They also expect you to buy two new engines with your signing on fee, and they provide travel costs inc hotels... You can see why riders go over there and prioritise it, with some top league riders rumored to be on £3k a point... Over here, reserves in the Championship get £60 a point, going up to £100 for a No1.... In the Premiership, RS's get £85 a point, number six then gets £100, with the money moving up through the team, he didn't say what a No1 got.. All figures are "circa" as obviously riders get different deals with some having a guarantee and some choosing not to have one, but more per point... As Dan says, if riders didn't have to lay out so much to keep the bikes running then the need to earn so much wouldn't be there.. It will be interesting next season if Poland's contracted riders cannot DU over here, as I presume they won't give up their spot there.. They wont give up their rides in Poland unless they can get the same payment and perks with their Britsh clubs, which aint never going to happen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted Sunday at 06:29 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 06:29 PM Just now, kevin bass said: They wont give up their rides in Poland unless they can get the same payment and perks with their Britsh clubs, which aint never going to happen. Just one race win in Poland can earn you more than double what you get for a 15 point max in the Championship... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTT Posted Sunday at 06:33 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 06:33 PM 12 minutes ago, mikebv said: Dan T's excellent latest Vlog on YT covers off plenty of fan questions... Including money... In Poland, in his league, 700/800 quid per point is the going rate, with a grand a point for a No1.. Poland also give a very sizeable signing on fee, but over there you pay for tyres, and can use a new one each race... They also expect you to buy two new engines with your signing on fee, and they provide travel costs inc hotels... You can see why riders go over there and prioritise it, with some top league riders rumored to be on £3k a point... Over here, reserves in the Championship get £60 a point, going up to £100 for a No1.... In the Premiership, RS's get £85 a point, number six then gets £100, with the money moving up through the team, he didn't say what a No1 got.. All figures are "circa" as obviously riders get different deals with some having a guarantee and some choosing not to have one, but more per point... As Dan says, if riders didn't have to lay out so much to keep the bikes running then the need to earn so much wouldn't be there.. It will be interesting next season if Poland's contracted riders cannot DU over here, as I presume they won't give up their spot there.. Problem in Dan's case though is that Lodz barely give him any rides to earn money, Kemp was in the same boat and eventually signed for Workington. I think the Championship may be watered down drastically next season to exclude anyone riding for a Polish Club. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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