2027 - 8 Team Premiership

[M.D]

13 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Hi M.D any idea if the prospective new promoters have the resources to be in this for the medium too long term given in recent years Eastie struggled to get four figure crowds ?

I'm not saying it can't be done but get the feeling if the plan is going in on a shoestring budget and a cheap team that won't work in the long term here.

Obviously I'm as keen as all of us for it to be sustainable with the long term plan to get back up to an eight team top league.

Hi mate,

I have no idea who these guys are.

 

In the last season of racing championship the gate was about 800 hitting 1000 a few times, so support is there

Edited 10 hours ago by M.D

[Marky_Mark]

48 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Hi M.D any idea if the prospective new promoters have the resources to be in this for the medium too long term given in recent years Eastie struggled to get four figure crowds ?

I'm not saying it can't be done but get the feeling if the plan is going in on a shoestring budget and a cheap team that won't work in the long term here.

Obviously I'm as keen as all of us for it to be sustainable with the long term plan to get back up to an eight team top league.

IF they are successful with this then it’s not a shoestring budget and cheap team, plan is to be there for the long term 

[YeOldPitGate]

13 minutes ago, Marky_Mark said:

IF they are successful with this then it’s not a shoestring budget and cheap team, plan is to be there for the long term 

Good to hear M.M I wish them all the best in their efforts would be great if long term we can get a strong competitive eight team top league, rumors that the BSPL might chip in a bit to fund the cost of getting Lambert back over also strike me as positive.

[SteveLyric2]

1 hour ago, M.D said:

Hi mate,

I have no idea who these guys are.

 

In the last season of racing championship the gate was about 800 hitting 1000 a few times, so support is there

Correct me if i'm wrong but were those attendances at weekends rather than a weekday?

[JamesB]

The Ekstraliga have announced details of a 3 year agreement between Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Great Britain.

Highlights are:

A rider with a contract in Poland will be able to participate simultaneously in a maximum of two of the other three national leagues covered by the agreement.

Great Britain – league matches are scheduled for Mondays and Thursdays, Sweden – on Tuesdays, Denmark – on Wednesdays, and Poland (PGEE / M2E) – on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

The rules regarding youth riders will also change in the top leagues in Sweden, Denmark, and Great Britain. The team must include at least one domestic U21 rider, and the second can be a domestic or foreign rider.

Additionally, the British federation ACU will give its riders permission to compete abroad only if they are also competing in the British league.

This means that, e.g., Robert Lambert or Daniel Bewley, competing under a British license, will need to have a contract in Great Britain to compete in Poland and other foreign leagues.

[noaksey]

6 hours ago, Aries said:

I can’t see Louis dumping his beloved Ipswich just to rock up elsewhere. It wasn’t Ipswich he had an issue with, but those at the BSPL. 
 

He even gave up his co-comms work alongside Tatum and seems to have walked away from the sport entirely. 
 

He did dabble with Mildenhall years back though alongside Michael Lee. Never say never but I’d be hugely surprised.

He was at Vojens the other week I had a quick chat with him at Stansted 

[bloom89]

It’s all well and good saying have a 7 man premiership but where are the good enough riders going to come from to potentially make Eastbourne competitive? Northampton didn't have a number 1 this year, Holder got injured and they couldn’t adequately replace him. Birmingham had a rubbish team and Northampton wasn’t much better this time around and yet we want more teams in the league? Seems crazy to me just to make the numbers bigger.

[YeOldPitGate]

35 minutes ago, JamesB said:

The Ekstraliga have announced details of a 3 year agreement between Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Great Britain.

Highlights are:

A rider with a contract in Poland will be able to participate simultaneously in a maximum of two of the other three national leagues covered by the agreement.

Great Britain – league matches are scheduled for Mondays and Thursdays, Sweden – on Tuesdays, Denmark – on Wednesdays, and Poland (PGEE / M2E) – on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

 

The rules regarding youth riders will also change in the top leagues in Sweden, Denmark, and Great Britain. The team must include at least one domestic U21 rider, and the second can be a domestic or foreign rider.

Additionally, the British federation ACU will give its riders permission to compete abroad only if they are also competing in the British league.

This means that, e.g., Robert Lambert or Daniel Bewley, competing under a British license, will need to have a contract in Great Britain to compete in Poland and other foreign leagues.

Seems positive re Rob and Dan for the UK but if Eastie as back presumably its Mon or Thurs for them to run on.

[noaksey]

23 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Seems positive re Rob and Dan for the UK but if Eastie as back presumably its Mon or Thurs for them to run on.

Be interesting to see what Lambert does, bite the bullet now he's world champ or ride on a foreign licence 

[Arthur73]

51 minutes ago, JamesB said:

The Ekstraliga have announced details of a 3 year agreement between Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Great Britain.

Highlights are:

A rider with a contract in Poland will be able to participate simultaneously in a maximum of two of the other three national leagues covered by the agreement.

Great Britain – league matches are scheduled for Mondays and Thursdays, Sweden – on Tuesdays, Denmark – on Wednesdays, and Poland (PGEE / M2E) – on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

 

The rules regarding youth riders will also change in the top leagues in Sweden, Denmark, and Great Britain. The team must include at least one domestic U21 rider, and the second can be a domestic or foreign rider.

Additionally, the British federation ACU will give its riders permission to compete abroad only if they are also competing in the British league.

This means that, e.g., Robert Lambert or Daniel Bewley, competing under a British license, will need to have a contract in Great Britain to compete in Poland and other foreign leagues.

So maybe the Poland + 1 league was not happening after all? 

This is good for the UK and Denmark, if riders remain unhappy with the Swedish tyre rules many may gravitate to UK + Denmark. 

U21 rule I also like it will force teams to develop riders. It also will bring 7 likely completely new international U21 riders to the UK which may help widen the gap between Premership and Championship as I don't see those riders doubling up.

Link for those interested: https://ekstraliga.pl/en/se/news/new-rules-for-riders-in-speedway-leagues-from-2027

[SPEEDY69]

7 minutes ago, Arthur73 said:

So maybe the Poland + 1 league was not happening after all? 

This is good for the UK and Denmark, if riders remain unhappy with the Swedish tyre rules many may gravitate to UK + Denmark. 

U21 rule I also like it will force teams to develop riders. It also will bring 7 likely completely new international U21 riders to the UK which may help widen the gap between Premership and Championship as I don't see those riders doubling up.

Link for those interested: https://ekstraliga.pl/en/se/news/new-rules-for-riders-in-speedway-leagues-from-2027

Age is immaterial.  For example. they may get a place because they're 20 but end the season with a 2.5 point average and not get a place the following year as no longer u21.  It's not about development at all, just outright ageism.

[SteveLyric2]

27 minutes ago, Arthur73 said:

So maybe the Poland + 1 league was not happening after all? 

This is good for the UK and Denmark, if riders remain unhappy with the Swedish tyre rules many may gravitate to UK + Denmark. 

U21 rule I also like it will force teams to develop riders. It also will bring 7 likely completely new international U21 riders to the UK which may help widen the gap between Premership and Championship as I don't see those riders doubling up.

Link for those interested: https://ekstraliga.pl/en/se/news/new-rules-for-riders-in-speedway-leagues-from-2027

This new arrangement only applies to each country's top leagues!? Therefore riders could still ride in a Championship team without being affected by the new rules? Or is this open to interpretation...

[YeOldPitGate]

47 minutes ago, noaksey said:

Be interesting to see what Lambert does, bite the bullet now he's world champ or ride on a foreign licence 

Good point I forgot about that potential loophole for him to avoid having to come back to the UK if he doesn't fancy it.

[WookieboyDon]

41 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Good point I forgot about that potential loophole for him to avoid having to come back to the UK if he doesn't fancy it.

He did an interview with Sportowefakty last week where he said he could potentially consider it.

[M.D]

2 hours ago, SteveLyric2 said:

Correct me if i'm wrong but were those attendances at weekends rather than a weekday?

Yes, really cant remember Eastbourne riding on a week day and I first went in 1976 as a young child..

[JamesB]

1 hour ago, SteveLyric2 said:

This new arrangement only applies to each country's top leagues!? Therefore riders could still ride in a Championship team without being affected by the new rules? Or is this open to interpretation...

It covers the top two Polish leagues.

The article on the Extraliga web site is silent on the Championship although it does say that the restriction does not apply to the French, German and Czech leagues, however if there is a clash with these leagues then priority will be given to the competitions that are included in the Slot System. This is:

League days are divided into so-called slots.

Great Britain – league matches are scheduled for Mondays and Thursdays, Sweden – on Tuesdays, Denmark – on Wednesdays, and Poland (PGEE / M2E) – on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Presumably, the Championship could be exempt but subject to the same priority call?

[TigerIain]

2 hours ago, Arthur73 said:

U21 rule I also like it will force teams to develop riders. It also will bring 7 likely completely new international U21 riders to the UK which may help widen the gap between Premership and Championship as I don't see those riders doubling up.

I'll be interested to see how this works in practice. Currently not many under 21 continental Europeans ride in the UK.

Looking at the top 8 from last years, British under 21's only 4 rode Premiership. There is already a significant difference from Rushen and Cairns to Loftus, Perry and Foord who after multiple Championship seasons are still averaging around 3.5 or less in the Championship. (I haven't checked who is now no longer under 21).

Only the top 10 had Championship places, riders finishing 11-18 were NDL only riders, yet we could see them being signed to Premiership places to fit the under 21 criteria, even if they aren't good enough for the Championship.

Forcing teams to use 2 under 21s could make the u21 riders more valuable than heat leaders.

[SPEEDY69]

9 minutes ago, TigerIain said:

I'll be interested to see how this works in practice. Currently not many under 21 continental Europeans ride in the UK.

Looking at the top 8 from last years, British under 21's only 4 rode Premiership. There is already a significant difference from Rushen and Cairns to Loftus, Perry and Foord who after multiple Championship seasons are still averaging around 3.5 or less in the Championship. (I haven't checked who is now no longer under 21).

Only the top 10 had Championship places, riders finishing 11-18 were NDL only riders, yet we could see them being signed to Premiership places to fit the under 21 criteria, even if they aren't good enough for the Championship.

Forcing teams to use 2 under 21s could make the u21 riders more valuable than heat leaders.

It says only one, not two.

[szkocjasid]

3 hours ago, bloom89 said:

It’s all well and good saying have a 7 man premiership but where are the good enough riders going to come from to potentially make Eastbourne competitive? Northampton didn't have a number 1 this year, Holder got injured and they couldn’t adequately replace him. Birmingham had a rubbish team and Northampton wasn’t much better this time around and yet we want more teams in the league? Seems crazy to me just to make the numbers bigger.

I would say the most important thing is to gain teams, so if that means a weaker league, so be it.

Ideally equal strength teams, the more times newcomers end up bottom, the less likely someone will step up.

[SteveLyric2]

3 hours ago, JamesB said:

It covers the top two Polish leagues.

The article on the Extraliga web site is silent on the Championship although it does say that the restriction does not apply to the French, German and Czech leagues, however if there is a clash with these leagues then priority will be given to the competitions that are included in the Slot System. This is:

 

League days are divided into so-called slots.

Great Britain – league matches are scheduled for Mondays and Thursdays, Sweden – on Tuesdays, Denmark – on Wednesdays, and Poland (PGEE / M2E) – on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Presumably, the Championship could be exempt but subject to the same priority call?

As now!