ITEM: Before a wheel has even been turned in anger in the Elite League, the Fast Track Draft system is coming under attack. This is no surprise - there were always going to be people whose blinkers would not allow them to see the greater benefit of the move, but it's not the addition of two young British reserves to each EL side that's being attacked, it's the mechanics of the draft itself. Forgetting for a minute that this is year zero for the project, and that allowances always have to be made for bugs in new systems, what they are complaining about is what happens when a rider drops out of his drafted position, and whether he should be allowed back into the draft after that...
Josh Bates was drafted by Swindon. Ranked 15 on the list of 23, he was a surprise second pick for a Swindon team who could have chosen the riders ranked 9th, 11th, 13th and 14th ahead of him. With Steve Worrall as their first choice, the Robins seemed to go for potential over experience, and with Bates having no Premier League berth there were also no potential clashes that might rob them of his services. Everything was fine until Bates's uncle became part of the consortium that took over at Sheffield, and understandably wanted his nephew in the team. The major sticking point was that Sheffield and Swindon share a racenight, and thus doubling-up with both teams was out of the question. Not wishing to hinder a young lad's development, Swindon reluctantly released him, coincidentally around the time Sheffield ended their interest in Swindon's wantaway Aussie, Nick Morris. The Robins then picked up local boy Daryl Ritchings, 22 on the list ahead of Ben Hopwood in 19th, again presumably looking at potential to improve.
Quite away from all of this, there have been murmurs that Poole were unhappy with their second draft pick. They chose Lee Smart, at number 13 the "best of the rest" in the rankings, but were rumoured to have immediately begun finding a way to replace him with a better, less seasoned option. Of course, whenever Poole seem to get the sticky end of the wicket there are always rumours that they will soon find a way around it, and the recent past has proved most of this to be far from idle talk. From the Pirates' public perspective, however, Lee Smart is their confirmed number 7 and their PR has quietly talked him up as a worthy recipient of that racesuit.
With Bates available, and rated by many who regularly watch National League racing as a better long-term prospect than Smart, who has struggled with injury in the last few years, the rumour mill has gone into overdrive, not helped by someone who is obviously very close to the promotion posting on the British Speedway Forum that Bates had advised Poole of his availability. Having opted out of the draft after being chosen, Bates would be unable to replace Smart until May 1st, by which time the Pirates will have raced 6 of their league meetings. The naysayers are of the opinion that, having rejected his place in the draft, Bates should be frozen out of EL racing all season, a draconian response to a perceived threat that may never come to pass. It's a punishment imposed on an 18-year old beginning his speedway career because the presumed benefactor of any wrongdoing has been guilty as sin of such crimes in the past. It's the wrong tack to take, and for a number of reasons.
It was Bates's own decision to leave Swindon for Sheffield. The lad and his advisers obviously weighed things up before deciding that 28-plus Premier League meetings would be of greater value to his development than 36 Elite League outings, and the merits of that argument can be debated until the cows come home. Obviously, the Tigers are his local club (he's based in Barnsley) and the added attraction of riding for his uncle's promotion cannot be overlooked. Having made that decision for what do appear to be genuine reasons, is it fair to punish him for it? Speedway does have a habit of doing this - how many riders have been scared of standing up to promoters who have owed them money for fear of incurring a 28-day ban from the BSPA? - but there's no case for doing so on this occasion, surely? As stated above, he will be barred from the first six weeks of the EL season as it is, and surely that is hindrance enough?
Furthermore, and I can't believe I'm about to say this, Bates and Poole should not be punished for any misdemeanours the Pirates may have committed in the past. Yes, Matt Ford is never shy of bending, breaking or just plain ignoring the rules, but I can't see any foul play here, and believe me I'm pretty good at spotting it (and even imagining it, some would say!). If Poole decide, at some point in the next few weeks, to replace Smart with another rider from the draft longlist, then that is their right. It may not be fair on Smart, but it in no way undermines the spirit of the draft, and no rules are broken.
Lastly, and taking a "bigger picture" view of the Fast Track Draft, if Smart were replaced by Bates - or if any rider currently occupying one of the EL reserve slots is replaced by any other eligible rider - the principle still holds. At least 2,016 rides in this year's Elite League will be taken by young British riders thanks to the Fast Track Draft. That's the kind of invaluable experience that will benefit everyone who participates in it, whether they start the season in a team or end it there. There will be lads who complete all 36 fixtures for their EL team. There will be others who, for one reason or another, do not. But every time one of them misses a fixture, for whatever reason, another British youngster gets that spot. That's the beauty of the draft system as it currently stands, and why it should be expanded, not abandoned in 2015.
Everything is conjecture at this point. Other than Bates, no-one has left their drafted club, either by jumping or being pushed, and so there are no slots for Bates to fill. But when there are - because of injury, absence, or any other reason - I cannot see the logic of suspending Bates from the list of riders who can fill those slots, when the reason for the draft in the first instance is to bring on the development of riders like Bates! Tribalism and strict adherence to the rules are admirable in some cases, but this is one where anyone who would deny Josh Bates an EL outing is definitely barking up the wrong tree.
ITEM: And now a couple of words about promotions - not the management teams which we deign to run our speedways, but the special offers they sometimes come up with to get us through the turnstiles. The good and the bad of such things has been displayed this past week, with a fantastic offer for the Elite Riders' Championship - half-price entry through Sky Sports' advance ticket facility - going unheralded, and with a uncertain amount available (and an unclear time frame in which to buy them), and an even better offer - £10 entry to both Coventry and Peterborough for holders of season tickets at other senior tracks - getting all the plaudits it deserves.
The ERC, as I have written on a couple of occasions, is over-priced. That's about the only thing people can agree on about the event, supposed to be a showcase of the EL's finest against a sprinkling of international talent but actually just EL riders and a rider who'd ridden in the EL for 10 seasons until this year, and for a tiny moment it appeared that the powers-that-be had seen sense, and at least tried to swell the attendance with a clever bit of cross-promotional marketing. Only no-one I spoke to involved in any managerial capacity in the sport knew much about it after it appeared on Sky's website, and even those who were vaguely aware didn't know the finer details of the offer. Maybe I spoke to the wrong people, or maybe it's the usual story...
There is a danger in deep discounting what should be a marquee attraction - that it could bring into question the value for money offered by ordinary league meetings is one understandable fear - but as a one-off meeting, with the backing of Sky (who are showing the event live), a special case could be made to ensure a bumper crowd. As it is, I have no idea how many people bought tickets at £25 before the offer materialised, how many managed to get hold of one at £12.50 (I did, thankfully), and how many will still bother paying full price knowing they could have paid half that if they were more "in the know". What should have been a very special offer, advertised properly and creating a buzz for the event in its wake, has fallen flat. A massive shame.
In much more positive news, the announcement by the Coventry and Peterborough management teams this morning that they will offer £10 entry to season ticket holders from any other Elite or Premier League club (save for those occasions when your own club is the opponents) is a reward for those fans who have stayed loyal to the sport over the winter and once again backed their clubs by paying up front for a season ticket. Although not everyone can afford to shell out a season's worth of ticket money in one go (and Coventry at least offers £10 National League speedway for those people), those that can are a vital source of cashflow for clubs waking up after the winter break and in need of some handy cash.
In recent seasons the benefits of season tickets have been hotly debated, with some clubs (through inclement weather or just not being bothered) not staging enough fixtures to offer any kind of discount on the season ticket price when compared to buying on the gate on a meeting by meeting basis, but the savings are still genuinely there to be made if that is your prime reason for getting one. Speaking only for myself, I like that I help the club out a little, and also that I don't have to find the money for meetings through a busy summer of other distractions. Now there is another reason to get a season ticket, especially if you live in the old ATV or Anglia regions. This offer from Coventry and Peterborough will mean that I can visit Alwalton more often than I had planned to, and holders of season tickets for Wolves, Birmingham, Leicester (especially Leicester!), and King's Lynn will benefit considerably. ST holders from other clubs will also be able to make unscheduled visits, and the end result should be money flowing into the coffers at Coventry and Peterborough that they wouldn't normally see.
What's more remarkable is that the man behind the two teams leading the way with this promotion (and I'm aware its not the first of its kind, but it is the only one currently operating, I believe) is the much-maligned Mick Horton, who is proving to be quite the astute promoter at Brandon after a few hiccoughs his first year at the club. What we need now is for the rest of the BSPA to follow his lead, and see what happens. If the net result is a positive in financial as well as public relations terms, we might just have found the way to make speedway a bit more affordable for those who want more than their weekly/bi-weekly dose, and a way for cash-strapped clubs to bring a few more people through the turnstiles.
ITEM: Polish champions Zielona Gora pitch up at King's Lynn's Saddlebow Road stadium on Wednesday night for a one-off international challenge match. With the Stars augmented by World Champion Tai Woffinden, guesting in place of the still-too-young for senior action (and think about that) Robert Lambert, it's not strictly a mano a mano contest between the Elite league and the EkstraLiga, but it's as near as we'll get for the time being. It used to be, of course, that touring sides from far-flung places would often venture to these shores as a warm-up for their domestic season, and I have fond memories of the USSR team that visited several (old style) National League clubs in 1990.
The touring side seems to have become another relic of a bygone era, which only lessens speedway's uniquely anachronistic appeal. Such tours were commonplace in football in the 1950s, with the best club sides from behind the Iron Curtain venturing out to give our best teams a footballing lesson, but disappeared from the roundball game some time ago, to be replaced by pointless pre-season tournaments and expanded European competitions not worth the metal the trophies are smelted from. It would be sad to think that speedway, often so good at keeping some of those nostalgic touches that football fans miss from their modern game (like delapidated stadiums, no squad numbers (yet!), and being able to stand wherever you like to watch the action), had also consigned such things to its dustbin of history.
In recent years the only touring sides that have darkened our stadium doors are the Team Viking Academy sides (although not since 2011) and the USA Dream Team (or its equivalents), who came over last year but don't seem to have anything scheduled for this season. Both relied on the generosity of UK-based friends and supporters to make a tour of third-tier clubs viable, and even with that much-appreciated and much-valued aid it was often a struggle. The days of tours being sponsored by rich backers or national federations seem a long time ago...
You might hope, though, with Poland (for now, at least) the wealthiest speedway nation in Europe (and therefore the world), and with the Elite League deliberately taking a step back from competing, even nominally, with the strength of the Polish clubs, that such tours may once again become viable, off the back of Zielona Gora's foray into Norfolk this week. If the marketing men behind Polish speedway have any nous about them, they will not stop at their own borders in their ambitions to sell their league. While this obviously has consequences for our own leagues down the line, in the short term we may benefit - as fans, at least - in the way US supporters are able to see top European club sides visit their local Major League Soccer clubs.
If nothing else it would a little variety to the fixture list, which cannot be allowed to fall into a league-only affair. That way lies mundanity and the slow death of everything that makes our sport interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment