2027 - 8 Team Premiership

[TB1]

26 minutes ago, Aries said:

Has to be the full seven surely? Top five and two under 21’s at reserve.

Coleman all but confirmed the two under 21’s thing didn’t he so seems that one is a goer.

I don't really care how we get extra riders just as long as we get them. As I said previously regardless of 1, 2 or 3 leagues, a sport with no competitors is no longer a sport. If Richard Coleman doesn't rock the boat then the boat will sink!

[Daniel Smith]

Intrigued to know the long term process of 2x U21s. For me, there is no long term. The numbers available now, the potential of more youngsters taking up the game in 5 years whose U21 just isn't there. With the financial position of British Speedway as a whole just can't sustain U21s long term.

The U21s (Rising Stars now) is a process that should be just in the Championship. 

The Premiership, if they want an "inexperienced" reserve system, should be U24. As I've said many times, the pinnacle of our sport SHOULD NOT be a training ground. I don't think you should be a Premiership No7 until you've achieved a 7.00 in the 2nd tier. 

We've seen far to often, young lads now want to sprint before they can even walk and their careers get killed.

We need to protect, slow down and try to get them ready by 25.

[YeOldPitGate]

2 hours ago, mikebv said:

A major contributory factor to the current situation is that so many promoters and owners are either ex sponsors of riders, or ex riders...

Hence, they come from within the Speedway Bubble...

Therefore, they just see the nonsense that pervades as either "perfectly normal" or accept that "there is no other way" as that is all they have been used to...

This then becomes custom and practice, and no one then sees the harm it is doing to the sport long term...

New ideas, new pairs of eyes, and a new operating model, all coming into the sport, is long, long overdue..

Spot on for many its not their main business but as fans they are happy to subsidise a certain amount of annual losses and work on the basis of open the gates for home meetings and 90% of the die hards will turn up with near zero additional local promotion.

This can continue to the point where the losses reach an unacceptable level and in most cases a new semi rich fan with deep pockets which haven't yet been emptied is required to come on board and rinse and repeat.

Coleman is really saying all the right things really hope he succeeds as I think he is the final roll of the dice for the sport.

[Arthur73]

9 hours ago, Daniel Smith said:

Intrigued to know the long term process of 2x U21s. For me, there is no long term. The numbers available now, the potential of more youngsters taking up the game in 5 years whose U21 just isn't there. With the financial position of British Speedway as a whole just can't sustain U21s long term.

Speedway Fan Club

 

The U21s (Rising Stars now) is a process that should be just in the Championship. 

The Premiership, if they want an "inexperienced" reserve system, should be U24. As I've said many times, the pinnacle of our sport SHOULD NOT be a training ground. I don't think you should be a Premiership No7 until you've achieved a 7.00 in the 2nd tier. 

We've seen far to often, young lads now want to sprint before they can even walk and their careers get killed.

We need to protect, slow down and try to get them ready by 25.

I think what this ruling does instead is become an incentive for premiership clubs to be involved in rider development.

If it comes in, it is likely Cooper Rushen will go to Kings Lynn and Will Cairns to the Aces. It is not a coincidence that both riders also came through those clubs respective junior teams. Both riders have 3-4 years as an U21 so will massively help their team for years. 

I think this ruling could see the return of the Belle Vue Colts, maybe Sheffield will strike a deal with Buxton. Could Ipswich want mildenhall back so they can foster a junior team? 

Also maybe the British youth championship will come to more premiership clubs as the managers there want to find the next big rider before the other clubs do. 

With an U21 system you could have a 6+ average rider at reserve for a whole year if you sign a superstar. Personally I think teams will have to invest in youth for this chance.

[Steve Irving]

A relief the 2026 season is coming to a close. Its been a difficult year but it’s done it’s job. 
 

Lets not have another winter like the last one. However many teams are assembled, get it rubber-stamped in November. Let all clubs build their teams fairly and on an equal footing to give the league some integrity, get the fixture list published in the new year at the latest, and let clubs get their season tickets out on sale in good time. 
 

Lets all hope also that Richard Coleman has managed to get the old farts to at least implement some kind of change to start the green shoots of recovery. 

[CTRSports]

9 hours ago, Daniel Smith said:

Intrigued to know the long term process of 2x U21s. For me, there is no long term. The numbers available now, the potential of more youngsters taking up the game in 5 years whose U21 just isn't there. With the financial position of British Speedway as a whole just can't sustain U21s long term.

Speedway Fan Club

 

The U21s (Rising Stars now) is a process that should be just in the Championship. 

The Premiership, if they want an "inexperienced" reserve system, should be U24. As I've said many times, the pinnacle of our sport SHOULD NOT be a training ground. I don't think you should be a Premiership No7 until you've achieved a 7.00 in the 2nd tier. 

We've seen far to often, young lads now want to sprint before they can even walk and their careers get killed.

We need to protect, slow down and try to get them ready by 25.

100% should be U24 for the reserve slots

I know not many would agree but I think the national development league should stop, where those few individual clubs go i don't know the answer but there are riders in the development league that are not the future of the sport

I'd like to see a youth programme made up primarily of an individual series, riders can attach themselves to a "parent" club as an entry title and perhaps that parent club can offer rider-coaching and these young riders race for themselves, they dont in my opinion need to be in a team environment 

You could have an Elite 500 class even if its 12-16 riders who are the group most likely to progress quicker

You could have a national class for those just moving onto 500s 

You can have a mixed class of 250/500

3 or 4 different championships, all run at weekends on various tracks that offer availability and make it a good day out for spectators with plenty of speedway for both rider and spectator

Riders could even enter more than one event or wild card where applicable

 

[SPEEDY69]

10 hours ago, Daniel Smith said:

Intrigued to know the long term process of 2x U21s. For me, there is no long term. The numbers available now, the potential of more youngsters taking up the game in 5 years whose U21 just isn't there. With the financial position of British Speedway as a whole just can't sustain U21s long term.

Speedway Team Jerseys

 

The U21s (Rising Stars now) is a process that should be just in the Championship. 

The Premiership, if they want an "inexperienced" reserve system, should be U24. As I've said many times, the pinnacle of our sport SHOULD NOT be a training ground. I don't think you should be a Premiership No7 until you've achieved a 7.00 in the 2nd tier. 

We've seen far to often, young lads now want to sprint before they can even walk and their careers get killed.

We need to protect, slow down and try to get them ready by 25.

Several riders have been top league standard and even world class before 21 years old.  I don't like age restrictions as the sport should cater for talent so your suggestion of of achievement before being placed in the top league has merit as so many do struggle, but we have also seen success stories there (Loram and Screen spring to mind).  If they're talented enough they will shine through. 

[ouch]

2 hours ago, Arthur73 said:

I think what this ruling does instead is become an incentive for premiership clubs to be involved in rider development.

If it comes in, it is likely Cooper Rushen will go to Kings Lynn and Will Cairns to the Aces. It is not a coincidence that both riders also came through those clubs respective junior teams. Both riders have 3-4 years as an U21 so will massively help their team for years. 

I think this ruling could see the return of the Belle Vue Colts, maybe Sheffield will strike a deal with Buxton. Could Ipswich want mildenhall back so they can foster a junior team? 

Also maybe the British youth championship will come to more premiership clubs as the managers there want to find the next big rider before the other clubs do. 

With an U21 system you could have a 6+ average rider at reserve for a whole year if you sign a superstar. Personally I think teams will have to invest in youth for this chance.

The Colts will return IF we have a developmental league. I’ve seen Colts at 6 & 7 literally wobbling at the beginning of the season but by the end they are a lot more proficient. What we can’t have and was the reason for our withdrawal this year was a situation where a junior team had a high average age than The Aces. Granted we have been addressing the average age of our squad for a number of years and it looks to be another thing Richard Coleman wants to emulate. The fact the team with the higher age, prefixes its team with the word young adds insult to injury. I have though enjoyed the junior events we have put on with over 30 heats run efficiently on sunny Sundays but I do prefer the team events. 

 

Note. This is even in a season where The Aces replaced a 27 year old (due to the rules) with 37 year old.

[Colinspeedway]

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Edited 1 hour ago by Colinspeedway

[TheScotsman]

17 hours ago, mikebv said:

100%, and that will be the objective of Richard Coleman and the rest of the top tier..

Make it a "serious sport"...

Hopefully there are enough who want to run it as such...

For the rest then the current last several years of 100's of adhoc septets turning up will be fine...

But you don't try and sell that division to the TV or potential major sponsors..

It will interesting to see how they make their intended clear demarcation between the leagues...

 

 

I'm sure many mean well.

But do they have answers to the micky mouse levels of team speedway?

- Guest riders everywhere - seriously?

- Last minute match cancellations - seriously?

- Match presentation - seriously?

- Fixture planning (!!) - seriously?

- Track preparation - seriously?

- etc

 

[Daniel Smith]

2 hours ago, SPEEDY69 said:

Several riders have been top league standard and even world class before 21 years old.  I don't like age restrictions as the sport should cater for talent so your suggestion of of achievement before being placed in the top league has merit as so many do struggle, but we have also seen success stories there (Loram and Screen spring to mind).  If they're talented enough they will shine through. 

Of course, but if these rider's are "top league standard", between 16-18, shouldn't they manage a 7.00+ average at Championship level?? If they're exceptional, they should be hitting 9.00+.

Age shouldn't be restricted to U21 as that forces the Premiership to be a training ground due to the numbers available now, and that shouldn't be acceptable in the top league. 

At least with U24, all rider's would mainly be fully developed and safe in ability.

The Premiership is about getting our own to that next level by their 30s, which is now (in general) the peak of a rider's career.

We must, in the main, slow the process down of our kids and make them 'Work' for Premiership spots. 

[SPEEDY69]

9 minutes ago, Daniel Smith said:

Of course, but if these rider's are "top league standard", between 16-18, shouldn't they manage a 7.00+ average at Championship level?? If they're exceptional, they should be hitting 9.00+.

Age shouldn't be restricted to U21 as that forces the Premiership to be a training ground due to the numbers available now, and that shouldn't be acceptable in the top league. 

At least with U24, all rider's would mainly be fully developed and safe in ability.

The Premiership is about getting our own to that next level by their 30s, which is now (in general) the peak of a rider's career.

We must, in the main, slow the process down of our kids and make them 'Work' for Premiership spots. 

But if they never ride in the Championship then that's irrelevant as they'd be doing well in the top league.  I think you're now falling into the trap of focusing on age and relating that to ability, which is the mistake with any age restriction.

Edited 24 minutes ago by SPEEDY69

[mikebv]

33 minutes ago, TheScotsman said:

I'm sure many mean well.

But do they have answers to the micky mouse levels of team speedway?

- Guest riders everywhere - seriously?

- Last minute match cancellations - seriously?

- Match presentation - seriously?

- Fixture planning (!!) - seriously?

- Track preparation - seriously?

- etc

 

Do you mean running the sport like other leagues do?..

The blueprint is there to be used, Poland, Denmark, and Sweden use it without issues....

Denmark and Sweden do focus massively on their top tier, and ensure that the top league is the league that sells their Speedway to sponsors and investors..

That is where UK Speedway needs to be...

One "professional league" and one "semi pro league", with the top league being ran properly, and profitably, with credibility and also becoming an aspirational entity to join..

Interesting how Richard Coleman used the term "investors" in his interview, as "sponsors" are invariably fans from already inside the Speedway Bubble, who don't grow the sport organically, and are quite happy to use their support to offset other main businesses costs...

Investors are what is desperately needed, and to get them, they will need to believe that the operating model and business plan going forward will deliver something for their investment...

Edited 10 minutes ago by mikebv