The Rush For The Play-offs (and other things)

ITEM: All our leagues stuttered to some sort of climax, at least of part one of the campaign (the bit made redundant by everything that comes after it) at any rate, and it’s the usual story of not quite getting it right.

All four (if we include the MDL) leagues still have fixtures outstanding after the cut-off date to decide play-offs, despite the season opening on March 10^th, twenty-seven weeks ago. And all this in a summer when we’ve had some glorious weather, with a below-average number of rain-offs!

Still, at least the National League and, just about, the Elite League managed to race all relevant fixtures, unlike the Premier League where Leicester have missed out on the play-offs because Rye House and Redcar have yet to complete their fixtures. Sound odd? It’s because if Redcar were to get heavily beaten at Rye, their points difference would have seen Leicester progress ahead of them. As it is, Uncle Len’s itchy call-off finger has done them a favour, although they may have avoided defeat by the margin required in the end, anyway.

The play-offs were foisted upon the Elite League by Sky, eager for a season-ending blockbuster. They were adopted in the other leagues, I assume, as a way of extending interest in a season which might have runaway leaders. There’s nothing wrong with a play-off system – most sports utilise them to decide their champions, with football being the exception (a big enough sell in its own right to avoid the pressures of television, and with an ingrained fanbase that treats every match as important, however pointless it may be).

But few of those sports are as dependent on the weather as speedway, and none of them have such a clusterfuck pile-up at the end, or go with fixtures uncompleted before the vital places are decided.

The solution is a simple one – instead of one cut-off date at the end of the season, have a number (four sounds about right), spread throughout the year, by which clubs have to have completed a percentage of their home meetings. Furthermore, there should be no  league fixtures scheduled for the final week before the cut-off, as a safety feature. This should ensure that, as the season comes to a climax, no side is rushing to complete its fixtures, and that farces like we saw at Belle Vue last week need never happen.

Of course, this being speedway, I’m sure they’d find a way to mess even that up, but in years when the weather is not so kind something has to be done to avoid the ridiculous situation we find ourselves in time and time again.

ITEM: Now we know the teams taking part in the play-offs, I can look back at the predictions I made pre-season with a little smile. Making predictions before the season starts, when injuries or avoiding them can play such a big part in a team’s success or failure, is a fool’s errand, but I’m nothing if not a fool, and so I plunged in, feet first, and if I’d put money on would probably have come out ahead.

In the Premier League I got five of the top six right, with the one I missed out on being Leicester – who, as written above, may end up in that top six by season’s end anyway. I also predicted the bottom two – there was no way on Earth Sheffield and Glasgow were going to be anywhere else with the teams they put together – and win a personal bet with Scunthorpe’s press officer, Rob Peasley, about their lower table finish.

I had similar success in the National League, getting three of the top four right. Who knew Stoke would be so bad? Obviously not me, because I had them 3^rd. I did have Mildenhall 5^th, though, so again I picked pretty well.

The same can’t be said of the Elite League, where I only got two of the four play-off participants spot on. Having said that, Poole’s season-ending 1-7 bears no resemblance to the one they started the season with, and I think if they’d stayed with that team my prediction of 7^th might even have been a bit generous. I had Lakeside in the mix, but that was before they lost Worrall, who would have been a key man for them.

My biggest errors were placing Wolves so low (although even the Speedway Star’s Wolves fan, Steve Nock, didn’t see much of a season for them), and Coventry so high. In my defence, Wolves have been awful away since Ty Proctor got injured, and it was his points that propelled them to such success early on. And Coventry? Got it wrong, just like Mick Horton. I did think that everyone in the team had improvement in them, but Roynon’s injury seemed to knock all potential out of the side and our gradual slide to the bottom is probably about right.

So, having shown just how good I am at this prediction lark, let’s make some more, shall we? In the National League I really can’t see past Dudley making a clean sweep of the trophies, emulating Mildenhall’s feat of 2012. And in the Premier League Somerset look to have just enough to see them over the line, especially if Charles Wright continues his NL form in the PL play-offs.

In the EL I’m torn between who I want to win (Wolves, the only “clean” team in the mix this season), and who I think will win. I think it will be a repeat for Swindon, if I’m honest, and it wouldn’t be unearned after a torrid few seasons before last year’s victory.

So there you have it, that’s my three for the titles. As always, the margin for error is MASSIVE but you’ve got to have a go, haven’t you? After all, if you don’t, what reason can people have for pointing and laughing at you? Okay, there is buying a season ticket for Perry Barr and still being expected to pay extra for the play-offs, but that’s a story for another day…

ITEM: Last weekend was a bit odd, with no speedway at Brandon, and not feeling like seeking any out elsewhere. Weekly speedway at Coventry has been a huge positive in a season that hasn’t exactly been full of them and I hope it continues next year. It’s true that you can get out of the habit of going and all clubs should look at how they can do it, even if it means starting late and finishing early.

This weekend, though, I’m spoiled, with two pretty special meetings on the agenda, both of them featuring the stars of the future. First up is the British Under-19 Championship, at Brandon, with Stefan Nielsen in great form ahead of defending his title.

Although, on the world stage, we’re a little behind Poland and Denmark (Sweden are in just as much difficulty as we are lately when it comes to producing future stars it seems), we do have a fine crop of youngsters, and most of them will be on display on Rugby Road on Friday night. Kyle Howarth has to start an early favourite, but there’s realistically half-a-dozen riders who could take the title, such is the strength of the field. It’s only £12 so, if you’re twiddling your thumbs with nothing to do, point the satnav towards Coventry and I’ll see you there.

The following night I’ll be at Rye House for the National League Riders’ Championship, the big night for the stars of the third tier. It may be because it’s been a rotten season in the top league (and not just because the Bees have been awful), but the National League has been brilliant this year.

Having a team in the league has meant I’ve gotten really involved, and found heroes and villains waiting for me. I’ve enjoyed every meeting I’ve seen at this level, and come away from all of them with a warm feeling about the lads I’ve seen scrapping for points and the tiny amount of money on offer. The NLRC is the culmination of that for me (with the Storm having missed out on the play-offs), and I’ll be there, with one ear also on the news from Stockholm and (hopefully) a British World Champion.

In fact, I might even dress up the car and drive it onto the track, grabbing a random woman on my way, kicking it old school like the good old days of the NLRC at Brandon, with the Miss National League and Best Dressed Coach competitions. Join me?

ITEM: Last week’s blog was the most widely read since I started this thing. While I’m extremely humbled and grateful for all the views, and especially the kind words people have said about it, I just wish it was because I’d written about something brilliant happening to the sport.

It’s still too early to properly gauge the fallout from last Monday – or from the fact that some of our top clubs are practically bankrupt yet still pursuing success on the track – but I’m encouraged by the solidarity most fans feel against the shenanigans that will do more to damage our sport than any poorly-prepared track or contretemps between two riders on the track.

You can only hope that the promoters feel the same way – and I know some of them do – and that steps are taken in the winter to ensure that we can feel proud of our sport again, rather than be relegated to tiny columns in newspapers and no coverage on the TV because we’re a dinky little sport bent on self-destruction.

I’ve never felt less positive about speedway than in the last ten days or so, and have probably taken each hit harder than I should do, knowing what I know and having a life outside of the sport. But you know what? It does hurt, and I make no apologies for that. I care about the wellbeing of the sport because its bigger than any one club, any one rider, any one fan. I don’t care who wins (well, not Poole, obviously) as long as it’s done right. Let’s try and see if we can sort that, yeah?