Make Your Minds Up! (and other things)

ITEM: The fragile truce between the Speedway Grand Prix (SGP) series and the European Championships (SEC) has been shattered, as - out of the blue - the FIM sent a letter to the organisers informing them that no permanent SGP competitors could also occupy a permanent place in the SEC. SGP riders are able, as a one-off, to take a wild card bookings for SEC events, and vice versa, but no rider can appear in all events of both competitions. As it stands, that affects Emil Sayfutdinov, Andreas Jonsson, Nicki Pedersen, but others already secure in an SGP berth may become embroiled in the situation.

This had seemed likely a few months ago, but then appeared to have been resolved, a tentative understanding on behalf of the FIM that they could not enforce such a ban in the face of European competition regulations resulting in the status quo being maintained. Whether or not the FIM have since received legal advice that backs up their tough stance, or just decided to chance their arm, isn't clear. OneSport, who organise the SEC on behalf of FIM-Europe (who, to complicate matters, aren't really a part of the FIM at all), have said that they will take legal action to prevent the decision being implemented, but in the face of a complicated, and possibly lengthy, legal battle, riders will possibly be forced to choose sides.

Emil Sayfutdinov, who had already sided with the SEC when the first clash occurred, reiterated that stance, claiming that the contract he signed to ride in the SGP series was null and void because at the time he signed it it didn't prohibit his entry into the SEC. With SGP penetration into Russia very shallow, and the majority of the Polish fans and sponsors also backing the European series, it made sense for Sayfutdinov to err on the side of locality. While this may prevent him becoming world champion in the short-term (therefore joining a list that includes Adrian Miedzinski's poor decision-making), he has time on his side for a resolution between the two competitions.

Tomasz Gollob, on the other hand, has already been world champion, and so his decision to drop out of the SGP series, despite being offered a series wild card, was more straightforward. He made the decision at the time of the first conflict, but seemed content enough with that decision to not reverse it when the times two sides (temporarily) made up. Now, however, he has also said he will not take up the offer of a wild card for the Bydgoszcz GP in protest, much to the chagrin of the local promoter. Andreas Jonsson, grateful recipient of what some consider an undeserved wild card for 2014, decided to dance with the one what brung him and stay loyal to the SGP. No-one cared.

Entering the SGP series is the only way a rider will become world champion, and that should be the ultimate aim of anyone who ever pulls on a steel shoe, even if they are quickly disavowed of it by reality and gravity, not usually in that order. Two things, however, have made the SGP a less-than-desirable prospect. Firstly, although it should, as a season-long campaign, ensure that the best rider becomes champion each year, it's as much at the whim of the fates as the old one-off finals ever were. Yes, we'll never get an Egon Muller or Jerzy Szczackiel lifting the trophy again, but neither can we truly, hand-on-heart, say that the best rider in any year will necessarily become world champion.

Secondly, the money that riders earn for winning the world title, in prize money at least (you'd expect a knock-on with sponsorship and increased earning power in domestic leagues), is shocking. In figures detailed in the latest issue of the Friends Of Speedway's quarterly publication, The Voice, Charles McKay revealed that Tai Woffinden took home just $75,000 for his efforts, less than third-placed Jarek Hampel and much less per GP than Emil Sayfutdinov. Worse still, riders are not paid expenses, and so that $75,000 also had to cover travel and accommodation for rider, crew, and equipment, as well as lost income from any Elite League meetings he may have missed due to SGP commitments. It's not inconceivable that Woffinden would have paid money to become world champion - a sorry state fr a professional sport.

The SEC, on the other hand, pays well compared to the SGP, and that's without also factoring in OneSport's other big money earner, the Best Pairs. Without the lure of the world title, and with a schedule further freed up for other lucrative open bookings, it wouldn't be too surprising to see others follow Sayfutdinov and Gollob and choose the SEC over the SGP before this fight is settled. Already Polish sponsors Nice and Fogo have withdrawn their backing from the SGP, and Nice have put that money into further backing the SEC, increasing the money for winning an individual round to $10,000 (as opposed to around $7000 for the SGP). There are also the usual noises from within Poland of staging league meetings opposite SGP rounds and really forcing the riders to choose where their money comes from...

Britain, as always, remains an impassioned and amused onlooker, wary of any further encroaching onto the domestic calendar (thus not backing the Best Pairs), but also not overtly throwing their load in with BSI - though, of course, if asked I'm sure they would reaffirm their commitment to the FIM as a loyal member of that organisation. Personally, as an outsider with a keen interest in troublemaking, this is all pretty hilarious stuff. I'm sure there are others more concerned than I, but for the moment it's fun to sit back and watch two wealthy companies fight a proxy war using two organisations reaching above their status in a series of poorly-translated press releases. Ding ding! Let's a good, dirty fight!

ITEM: In other international news, Freddie Lindgren became the latest rider to decide he no longer wanted to ride for his country, whilst also enjoying the benefits of an international license granted by that country. Lindgren is being all secretive about the reason for his falling out with SVEMO, saying, SVEMO knows "what they have to do to" to get him to reverse his decision, like a Swedish version of Kevin the teenager. Meanwhile, he'll still take the position offered to him, for no other reason than he was a Swede (and therefore, by the good graces of SVEMO), in the SGP series.

New Sweden team manager Stefan Andersson, who took over from Bo Wirebrand in the winter, at least has enough backbone to declare that if Lindgren doesn't want to represent Sweden in the Speedway World Cup then he won't be welcome in the Best Pairs competition organised by OneSport. And neither will he, should the situation be resolved between the SGP and the SEC, be able to take part in the latter series. Furthermore, and most damaging, Lindgren will not be able to take part in Grand Prix qualifying, meaning that if he once again fails to make the top eight in the SGP series he will once again have to rely on a handout from BSI.

I don't know what SVEMO have done to upset Lindgren, because he won't tell us, but even though I'm usually the first to point fingers at the BSPA, the FIM, and the like, I give short shrift to those who don't represent their country. Nothing grates on me more than a footballer announcing an international retirement - you play until you're no longer asked to - and the same is true of speedway. I was incredibly disappointed with Scott Nicholls's hissy fit last season, especially when we're not exactly blessed with international-level talent at the moment. The same can be said for the Swedes, and although Lindgren's (temporary?) retirement from international speedway strengthens us as rivals, I can't help but feel for the Swedish me.

And the fact that he'll quite willingly trade on his Swedish nationality to take part in the SGP makes it worse, like Darcy Ward skipping the Australian championships for a jolly to the USA but still expecting Motorcycling Australia to back his SP campaign (to rub salt into the wounds, he did find the time to return to Australia and injure himself in a muckabout...). If a rider no longer wants to be considered for his national side, that should be the end of their international career, period. No SGP, no SWC, no SEC, or anything else where the qualifying factor is their nationality.

Or Lindgren could go public with the reason for his woes - as Nicholls did - and we can judge him on that. You never know, there might be some sympathy ad it might just help others who could find themselves in his position.

ITEM: Last Sunday saw a rare break in the rain that's been persisting down these past few weeks, and it coincided with the annual Celebration of Speedway, held for the last few years at the Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. The park, owned and operated by former speedway rider Pete Sampson, is also home to the National Speedway Museum, and the sunny weather brought a great opportunity to visit the museum, take in the celebration, and stare at a few caged animals (incidentally, there have been Lions, Tigers, Cheetahs, Panthers, Pumas, and Cougars in speedway but a distinct lack of Leopards... why is that?).

The crowd at the Celebration could be politely said to be of the older generation, with a fair few London-based fans with no local track anymore. Their passion for the sport - or at least as it's presented through a nostalgic sheen - seems as strong as ever, and it was interesting to eavesdrop on a few conversations and find out that the BSPA/SCB/ACU/promoters (delete where applicable) have always been useless! Both Peterborough and Rye House, of the current sides, had stands (of varying quality) and there was a massive feeling of enjoyment permeating the air. With all proceeds going to the World Speedway Riders' Association (previously the Veteran Speedway Riders' Association), a fair sum must have been raised to fund their various activities, including grants to former riders in need of assistance, and I'm pleased to have played a small part in it.

The National Speedway Museum is a curious thing. Full of wonder for the long-time fan, and with enough curiosities for any of the newer breed with a keen eye on the history of the sport, but I do wonder if it's not entirely incomprehensible to those who know little or nothing of speedway. Still, it's a grand thing, compact and bijou in its current premises, but growing all the time. It did set me thinking, however, about how speedway ignores its history for the large part. None of the clubs I've visited have very much in the way of their own "museums", despite the glory years for many of them - and therefore something to celebrate - being a long way back. I've visited football clubs with average attendances in single figures that have more historical information and memorabilia than any speedway club, and it's a missed opportunity to remind people how great this sport once was - and can still be.

Each club should, if room can be found at their stadia, have a display of old team photographs, old stadium pictures, trophies and other ephemera, celebrating the fact that - for a good many of them - they've been here for over 80 years. In an ideal world we'd have statues outside of each stadium, featuring a key figure in that club's history (Charles Ochiltree at Coventry, Peter Craven at Belle Vue, Elizabeth Taylor - not that one - at Berwick, and so on), but with money tight for most of our clubs a single room would suffice. While we're a long way off Premier League football, and its stadium tours packed with curious locals and photo-snapping visitors from the Far East, we could do more to make people feel part of their club - proud of it even.

See what you can do. I'll talk to a few people at my club and see what we can work out. If you do the same we might be in a different position in a year's time, and the history of our sport might open up to all who walk through the gates, and not just a pleasant few hundred attending the Celebration each year.

No Class? No Way!

ITEM: The Polish news site, Sportowefakty, last week ran a feature entitled, "British Speedway In Crisis!", the crux of which was that our speedway is a mess. They came up with several reasons for our "crisis", chief amongst them being a lack of stars in the league. They also highlighted a restrictive points limit, problems with stadium availability, too many fixtures, and low salaries. They also asked their readers what they thought the biggest problem with British speedway was, helpfully including a "British Speedway has no class" option - their readers, incidentally, thought that low wages were the big issue.

Most, if not all, are explained away with the simple answer that British speedway operates under clearly different conditions to speedway in Poland, and in Sweden. British clubs do not operate in the same way as clubs in Poland, nor can they, and from that starting point the rest is pointless. Polish clubs are fortunate to be in receipt of sponsorship and philanthropy from companies and individuals working under (how shall I put this politely?) more lax conditions than their British counterparts, race in stadiums built by or with the support of their local councils, and are largely situated in areas where speedway is by far the number one sport - Britain is unique in the world in the extent to which football pervades society, and even Poole - the club held up to be most in control of their sporting location - will be coming under competition for sponsorship and fans from Bournemouth, Southampton, and the traditional big clubs.

And that's before you consider how much money is owed by how many Polish clubs to how many riders! The same is true in Sweden, with the financial stability of many of their clubs far more parlous than any of ours. You also might want to consider how the Polish season ended last year, with their play-off final abandoned because one side refused to ride, before you allow that particular speedway nation to begin throwing stones from their glass stadiums...

In the spirit of proving that article to be misguided, if not completely inaccurate, it's perhaps time to look at some of the positives about British speedway - things we can be proud of, building blocks for us to stabilise and progress the sport beyond any thoughts of a crisis. There are so many good news stories, even if the salacious tidbits are more fun to rake over, and they sometimes slip through the net, and certainly go without fanfare. So here, in a rare moment of not moaning or pointing out the obvious faults, are the things that make me optimistic about the future of British speedway:

*** We have a thriving amateur scene. In previous years this allowed weekend hobbyists the chance to live out their dreams, with sliding experiences provided by the likes of Olle Nygren, or retired riders to carry on doing something they were probably not going to be paid to do anymore. Recently, however, it has become the first step on the ladder for prospective talents, with training schools and practice days at Buxton, Scunthorpe, Northside, Rye House, Leicester, Coventry, and Iwade feeding talent into the Midland Development and Northern Junior Leagues, and beyond into the National League. Scunthorpe even promote a well-subscribed and well-attended Winter Series, and will fill their 2014 National League side from the best of the unsigned competitors from the series, and on recent evidence it would be no surprise to see some of those riders become Elite League regulars by the end of the decade.

*** We have 32 clubs competing across three leagues, more than any other speedway nation. Despite the (hopefully temporary) loss of the Isle of Wight over the winter, we actually have one more team coming to the tapes in 2014 than in 2013. With Plymouth and Scunthorpe re-entering the National League, and Leicester and Peterborough switching places, it's a solid foundation to once again be proud of. The overall number of clubs has held up well in recent seasons - we've lost 9 (Exeter, Hull, Isle of Wight, Newport, Oxford, Reading, Sittingbourne/Iwade, Weymouth & Wimbledon) but gained 7 (Berwick, Birmingham, Cradley [sharing at Wolves], Kent, Leicester, Plymouth & Redcar), but increased the number of "non-league" tracks from 1 (Lydd) to 3 (Northside & Iwade). Poland had 22 tracks in 2005, and still has 22 today, although it has been has high as 24 teams (albeit with the help of clubs from Latvia, Ukraine, Hungary, and the Czech Republic). Sweden had a high of 23 tracks operating in 2008, but will go into 2014 with just 18 (and one of those is in Finland!)

*** Whatever you think of him and whether, as Leigh Adams spitefully suggests, he owes his success to the Australian junior system, we have the World Champion! Plenty of young Australians go through their junior programmes and don't make it to our shores. Fewer still break into club sides, and you can count those that make it to the very top level on one hand. I would argue that Woffinden's success owes more to the opportunities afforded by racing at all three levels in this country than the start he got in Western Australia - how many come over fully-formed? None, and that's because a racing career in Britain is paramount to succeeding at the highest level for the majority of the world's stars, whether they be Australian, Swedish, Danish, Polish, or - whisper it - British. And now, just like once in a blue moon, that's paid off and its British speedway that can boast the world champion.

*** We're going into a brave new world this season, giving youth a chance at the top level for the first time in a generation. This builds on the good work that the National League has done over the past dozen years to turn itself into both a nursery for emerging talent and a competitive, commercially-viable league in its own regard. The twenty riders taking to the track next month for their Elite League teams will not all make the grade. Most likely, 75-80% of them will find their level is more Premier or National League but for the sake of progressing four or five decent talents a season, the fast track draft is an exciting development in British speedway. Sweden, too, is embarking on the same path, and Poland has been doing it for years. Are we late to the party? Yes. Is that a bad thing? Not if we do it right from now on. It's a massive positive and the majority of fans have treated it as such.

Now I hope you're feeling as positive as I am about British speedway in 2014, maybe we can address Sportowefakty's specific concerns?

*** Restrictive points limit: by this they mean any points limit, because the Polish EkstraLiga has just abandoned theirs for the 2014 season, leading to the ludicrous prospect of a Torun team (the very same club that walked out on the play-off final last year, incidentally) with Holder, Ward, Gollob, Sayfutdinov, and Miedzinski as their top 5. A points limit of any kind is essential when there is a league of unequals, financially-speaking, and while Poole have dominated in recent years (through fair means and foul) but 8 clubs have made the play-offs in the last 4 seasons (only Belle Vue, absent since 2005, have been truly cut adrift but hope springs eternal). Furthermore, despite some close calls, only one top flight club has closed down for financial reasons in the history of the Elite League - it remains to be seen what effect abandoning the points limit has in Poland at season's end...

*** Problems with stadium availability: I presume they mean we can't get together and agree on a single raceday for our league, ignoring two very good reasons why we probably wouldn't even if we could. Firstly, when would we have that raceday? Speedway was traditionally a weekend sport, with the top flight when I first started watching racing on Friday and Saturday (and two Monday tracks), but Sundays are the Polish raceday and the majority of Fridays and Saturdays taken up with FIM competitions. League speedway on any other night would be a non-starter, at least in my opinion. Secondly, Polish (and Swedish) clubs also seem content to promote only a handful of home meetings a season - a minimum of seven but scarcely many more - and that's because they are sporting clubs, and always have been/ By contrast, British speedway grew out of promoters (retaining the title) staging speedway for commercial gain, and to restrict them to a handful of meetings across a viable season of 7-8 months is folly (well, for anyone other than Bob Dugard). If clubs do have a problem with stadiums, it's that they are tenants, not owners, and this is something that needs to be addressed by all promoters (even those happy with their current arrangements, because things can change in a heartbeat) but I don't see it as a stick to beat us with. As I said, Poland is fortunate in that its culture is of providing municipal arenas for its sporting clubs - we no longer have that, if we ever had it at all...

*** Too many fixtures: the simple answer to this is, "for whom?" Because I don't know about you, but I want weekly speedway at my local track, and I'm fortunate enough - with the addition of National League speedway last season - to get it. Sportowefakty estimated a top racer would get 30 meetings in the UK (a very conservative estimate - upwards of 40, more like) and thus struggle to fit them in with the SGP, Poland, and Sweden. As I explained above, there's a good reason why we have so many fixtures - they expand to fill the calendar. There is the possibility that an Elite Elite League could be formed, with a handful of fixtures by a handful of teams, who run regular Elite League fixtures the rest of the time, but that plays into the hands of those looking to pick their meetings and all kinds of other associated issues.

*** Low salaries: clubs (should) pay what they can afford. If a rider wants more than they can afford, the club says no, or finds a sponsor willing to make up the difference. To inflate salaries to the level riders are getting in Poland, where there's no guarantee they'll actually receive it, is stupid. No, it's worse than stupid, it's suicidal. While their should be some wiggle room within a budget, to completely abandon it because riders can get more in another country is not the act of any competent promoter. Despite claiming their budget for 2013 was comparatively low, it was clearly more than Birmingham could afford, and the future of the club was at risk for nothing more than runners-up - best loser, as I call it. Far better to keep British speedway sensibly budgeted, and if that means paying far less than the fantasy speedway of the Polish leagues, so be it. Riders can still make a very good living from riding in Britain, and those that can't should perhaps consider whether "full-time speedway rider" is a title they can afford to give themselves. After all, when British speedway was at the top of the tree, in the 1960s and 1970s, only a handful of top flight riders in each team were full-time professionals...

*** A lack of stars: All but one of the 15 regular Grand Prix riders will ride in the EkstraLiga this season, with just 6 riding in the Elite League. However, all but two of those SGP riders have ridden in the EL in the past three years, and there are nine EL riders who have ridden as SGP regulars in that same time period. It's undoubted that certain SGP stars put bums on seats - witness the reaction to Emil Sayfutdinov's appearances for Coventry in 2011 - but equally the visits of Peter Karlsson, Przemyslaw Pawlicki, and Craig Cook will be just as keenly anticipated by EL fans this season. The concept of "stars", when you are dealing with a minority sport such as speedway, is entirely subjective - it shouldn't be beyond the ken of the collective brain of the BSPA to create new stars from the putty they have to work with, and the first step towards that is to stop fetishising those who, for whatever reason, we don't see every week.

There you have it. This year's reasons to be cheerful. British speedway isn't perfect but I'll take Birmingham versus Swindon over Torun versus Czestochowa any day (although Lakeside versus Eastbourne might be a different prospect...). If we had an equivalent of Sportowefakty (and how I wish we did!) I would like to think that we would be above taking potshots at our rival leagues. British speedway, despite what 18% of Sportowefakty's readers think, definitely does have class!

The Long Goodbye (and other things)

ITEM: If I felt anything towards Gary Havelock as a rider it was probably slightly negative. In my first full year following the sport, he was persona non grata, serving a ban for failing a drug test. I have no definite position on drugs in sport, and certainly not "social" drugs, although the effects of marijuana on the reactions of a speedway rider may be more serious than a footballer taking the same drug. When he returned, it was to a Bradford team I despised - mainly because their Odsal home was the last place a Bees team of that era would win away, and also because they employed Paul Thorp, the el-Hadj Diouf of speedway, and thus Havelock was tainted by association.

I didn't much care when he won the world title - that Bradford thing again, although a win for a Brit was as welcome as it was wasted - and as I drifted away from the sport in the mid-90s I didn't give him so much as a second thought. When I drifted back again, he was riding in the second division and not really forefront in my attentions and his career-ending crash, although serious, did not garner the headlines subsequent and similar events have. He has spent the last year stinking up the Brandon pits as the worst team manager in living history, and will get another chance to do that again this season. I've adopted an "ignoring the fact he's even there" approach to that, which is probably the only sane thing to do.

All this is a long-winded way of saying that I don't really care much for Gary Havelock one way or another, although I'm aware that there are those that do, on both sides of the moral spectrum. So the extreme reaction to the clash of his farewell meeting with a rearranged Elite Riders' Championship, mostly on the pro-Havelock side it must be said, is puzzling to me, especially given the bigger picture, and perhaps its worth looking at the whole situation point by point.

After a twenty-odd year career which was ended prematurely by injury, no-one could argue that Havelock doesn't deserve some kind of farewell meeting. What is odd is that he chose to have it at Poole, a club he hasn't ridden for (other than a handful of double-up appearances) in 12 years, and not at Redcar, where he spent the last 7 seasons of his career and a club connected to Middlesbrough, for whom he made his debut in 1985. You can only assume that, besides Coventry (where he is unlikely to find many sympathetic wallets), he picked the club with the biggest fanbase that he had some connection to, eager to maximise his revenues. Or maybe Poole are his favourite and best (which is a kick in the teeth for Redcar and Coventry fans!)?

Having accepted the validity of the meeting - if not the choice of venue - the date he picked was a good one, as shown by similar meetings being staged the next night (testimonials for Kylmakopi, Risager, and - initially - Korneliussen), and by the initial date chosen for the new curtain raiser to the Elite League season, the Elite Riders' Championship. A week before the Grand Prix riders leave for New Zealand, and with them eager for competitive action as a warm-up (I treat suggestions that they test engines in these meetings with the disdain they deserve), all the meetings staged that weekend should attract a smattering of top-line talent, and Havelock's was no different, with Holder and Ward accepting invitations to ride.

However, picking such an attractive date has worked against the riders staging meetings that weekend, with Mads Korneliussen moving his to the week before to avoid clashing with the ERC, and both Risager and Kylmakorpi's bound to be hit by the announcement of the International Cup at Kings Lynn (more on that later!). Havelock seemed to have escaped such trouble until Sky entered the fray, looking to launch their season of speedway with the ERC, showcasing the best of the EL and the best of the rest. You may have thought that the original Sunday afternoon staging would be a good time to show the ERC, but Sky - who, it has to be said, know more about these things than you or I - decided Friday night would be a better slot. This is the slot they wanted to move the Grands Prix to last season, and chose not to renew their deal when that proved impossible, so it's obviously something they've had their eye on for some time. There is also talk that they may be showing the International Cup (that again!) on the Sunday, but this is yet to be confirmed.

The choice between honouring Havelock's date and placating Sky TV should be simple, and in a perfect it would be - people over corporations every time. But the world we live in is far from black and white, far from simple, and there are so many things to be considered ahead of a straight, moral choice. Chief amongst them is money, and keeping Sky happy. If - and it's a massive if - Sky get the promotion and presentation of the ERC broadcast right, it should attract both TV viewers and fans through the turnstiles for the regular season, at all three levels. Even if they make a half-arsed job of it - and I'll leave it to you to decide how likely that is - there's still the not inconsiderable benefit of pleasing sponsors and keeping your key (only!) broadcast partner happy.

This puts the BSPA in an impossible situation - they're either going to disrupt the year-long planning of Havelock's farewell meeting or risk losing the positive benefits of staging the ERC in a prime-time Friday slot, with Sky (who picked the slot) keen to showcase what they've got to offer. If you think long-term (which they don't usually do), and with the benefit of the whole of the sport in mind (again, an unusual occurrence), it's upsetting Havelock and his fans every time - the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, despite the gutwrench I'm sure many at BSPA Towers felt when they realised the consequences for Havelock.

BSPA vice-chairman Jon Cook has gone on record - after initially blaming Terry Russell and Go Speed International for the clash - as saying they didn't realise just how much planning had gone into the meeting already and presumed that, with two months' notice, Havelock could move his meeting with little difficulty. There was also some chatter over the weekend that Russell assumed the date was free because Havelock's meeting, despite the advertising in the Speedway Star, had not been lodged in the draft fixture list he had possession of (it appears on the BSPA site but wasn't in the list published in the Star).

Whatever the reasons, the date for the ERC is now set, and the disruptive energy wielded by Havelock and his supporters would be better used trying to ensure that the transition to a new date, whenever that may be, is as smooth and as painless as possible. The power lies with the BSPA and if they decide to go in heavy-handed they can ensure that no meeting takes place on the same day as the ERC. For the moment at least, the BSPA have promised to aid the switch of Havelocks meeting, and I can imagine that, behind the scenes at least, there'll be some financial compensation agreed where necessary. What needs to happen now is for both meetings to go ahead with all the fanfare they deserve and for the schisms to be healed as best as possible. Speedway must come first and anything else is a distraction - its vital that this new Backing British era of the EL gets off to a good start and if Havelock can play a part in that I can think of no better legacy.

ITEM: So, as expected (and as blabbed by Matt Ford before Christmas) the Sky deal was renewed for another five years, which will see at least 25 live meetings beamed into your houses from Elite League (and the odd token Premier League) tracks from March to October. Added to Eurosport's 23 live presentations (SGP, SWC, SEC, and Best Pairs), this will see a record number of live speedway meetings available on satellite and cable TV (with the prospect of more should British Eurosport carry the Swedish Elitserien, as their European counterparts are).

There's also a little something else planned, which hasn't been trumpeted with quite the same gusto as the 5-year deal, which will see even more live speedway available for those who know where to find it. Go Speed International, representing the BSPA, have signed an agreement with At The Races (Sky's horse and dog racing arm) to present live and recorded speedway meetings from the Elite and Premier Leagues for the purposes of online and shop-based betting. The initial plan was for a live PL meeting every Saturday night, although that may have changed in the evolution of the deal.

One possible reason for the low key announcement of the deal - the BSPA's own site are still not carrying details and I don't expect the Speedway Star to this week, either - is that I believe they haven't as yet secured a partner for the deal that is willing to carry the pictures, although Bet365 are thought to be interested. Certainly, enquiries to insiders at William Hill and Ladbrokes turned up nothing, although commercial confidentiality could always account for that.

On the surface of it, it's not a bad idea. It can only enhance awareness of the sport amongst a new demographic (and the image of the traditional gambler is far from the truth these days, despite how alluring the idea of smoke-filled shops attended by the half-drunk dregs of society may be), and bring a new revenue stream into the coffers. Privately, there have been concerns expressed by some at the BSPA about getting into bed with bookmakers and what - real or imagined - effect that may have on race-fixing (the old adage of "you never see a poor bookmaker" has never been more true) but these have either been ignored or allayed.

The biggest positive is that it may prove that streaming is not only extremely do-able but also desirable for a sport which hasn't found the jump into the 21st century the easiest thing to do. According to those who handle such things, the revenue brought in by subscription streaming to British ice hockey clubs is not inconsiderable and would go some way to eating into the losses or - perish the thought - earning a profit for many a promoter, with those fans who do attend regularly unlikely to swap their fix of the sights, sounds, and smells of live speedway for sitting behind a computer screen.

This is a brave new world (at least for speedway, the rest of the sporting world have been wading in for some time) and any new approach to getting the unique appeal of our sport out to a wider audience has to be applauded. It's a brave move, that has accompanying risks and drawbacks, but we should encourage the enterprise at least. The betting industry is everywhere these days and if we can hitch a ride without selling too much of our soul we have everything to gain.

ITEM: That International Cup thingy, then! This is the mini-tournament that was proposed for Peterborough before the panthers withdrew from the Elite League, and was originally envisioned as having two Polish sides (Zielona Gora and one other) and two British sides (Peterborough and one other) facing off over a weekend at Alwalton. With Peterborough no longer in (nominally) the same league as the Polish champions, an alternative had to be found and so the idea has washed up at King's Lynn, on the weekend of March 22nd-23rd.

As well as Zielona Gora and the host club, also taking part are German side Wolfslake Berlin - the capital side have a talent-sharing agreement with the Polish champions, and both use the name Falubaz - and a select side, the make-up of which has yet to be announced. Details are scarce and contradictory at the moment, with the Saturday meeting either being two semi-finals (with the winners meeting on Sunday) or a four-team tournament (the top two sides of which will face off for the trophy the next day). With Zielona Gora having a squad much bigger than even a seven man team, you'd have to err on the side of the former, perhaps with Wolfslake absorbing the extra Polish teamsters.

As someone much quicker than I suggested on Twitter, the select side would seem to provide a perfect opportunity for an early-season get-together for TeamGB, with a seven-man team made up of established team members and promising youngsters selected to match an Elite League quality side. This would give Alun Rossiter an early look at his charges, given the lack of them at Swindon this year (and at Elite Shield opponents Poole), and a good run out for potential team members ahead of the SWC at Saddlebow Road in July.

There is also talk that the tournament - or at least the "final" on Sunday - will be shown on Sky, possibly in conjunction with a Polish broadcaster. Some have suggested this is why the ERC was moved to a Friday night, although Sky's schedules on Sunday afternoons are full of mainstream sport, and it's unlikely that even if room were to be found for speedway it would get much of a fanfare, certainly not that befitting a banner meeting. Still, as a curiosity, it might find its audience, and can only add to the rich tapestry of speedway on TV this year.

We're certainly not going to be short of curiosities this season, with a dozen testimonials and farewells taking place, as well as the usual assortment of challenges, individual meetings, pairs meetings, and four-team tournaments, which belies the usual wisdom that we're beholden to league speedway, I guess. Long may it continue, because if variety is the spice of life, speedway needs its seasoning!

Conspiracy Theories (and other things)

ITEM: I have a friend who is into conspiracy theories. I mean really into them. Not quite to the level of Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory or David Icke, but he still believes that nothing is quite as it seems, and who am I to disagree with that? I spent some time with him last week, and around the same time something happened in speedway that I thought might be fun to approach from his world view. So here it is, speedway’s X-Files…

Until the middle of last week, Nick Morris wasn’t a Swindon rider. Due to the colossal clusterfunk over Brady Kurtz’s starting average, he had found himself out of a Premier League job at Somerset, and with the only PL club able to accommodate him racing on the same night as the Robins, he’d served notice that he wanted to leave the Abbey Stadium.

At that time it looked very much like he would be going to Sheffield – the aforementioned Thursday PL club – and doubling-up with Leicester, the only Elite League club with space for him, an arrangement which suited everyone except Swindon, who seemed to have been outmanoeuvred by the rider and his advisors.

Now here’s where serendipity comes into play. Swindon had chosen, as part of the fast track draft of young British reserve riders in the EL, Steve Worrall and Josh Bates. Many had criticised the choices, believing that it had left them weaker than some of their rivals. It would turn out, however, to be an accidental stroke of genius…

Josh Bates is from Barnsley, in south Yorkshire. He expressed doubts over the distance he’d have to travel to Swindon (180 miles – although he seemed entirely comfortable with the 150 miles to Mildenhall), and asked to move to a club closer to home. Swindon, in an entirely altruistic move, released Bates from his obligation, and from the fast track draft, allowing him to join Sheffield. The Robins will now have to pick a replacement from those left over from the draft (Daryl Ritchings, Ben Hopwood or Dan Greenwood) or from those with an NL average below Bates’s 7.49 (Liam Carr or Tom Young, most likely).

On the surface of it, it looks like Swindon have done a young British lad a solid, hurting their own chances of success in the process, and perhaps co-promoter Alun Rossiter’s new role as TeamGB manager played a part in that. But let’s enter the shadowy world of conspiracies for a moment, shall we, and see what we come up with…

Josh Bates is not just local to Sheffield, his grandfather is a member of the (still unannounced publicly) consortium that have taken over at the south Yorkshire club, and in a perfect world they’d have named Bates as a team member for their predominantly British side. One problem – that shared race night with Swindon, and the contract that Bates signed with the BSPA promising to honour whichever EL club he was drafted by. Without Swindon’s agreement, there was no way Bates could have ridden for the Tigers, but do we honestly think – with our Fox Mulder heads on – that the Robins would do that with nothing in return?

Coincidentally, at the same time Sheffield signed Bates, they ended their interest in Nick Morris, leaving him with no reason to leave Swindon, who have insisted that he is going nowhere and remains a fundamental part of their team and, as an asset, future plans.

So far, so simple, and really not much of a conspiracy, more a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” arrangement, the like of which I’m sure are carried out up and down the country in this great (under-investigated) sport of ours. But what if you look a little deeper, and look at what else might have happened, installing Sheffield promoter David Hoggart as a shadowy figure, akin to the X-Files’ Cigarette Smoking Man.

Hoggart, as well as part of the consortium that runs the Tigers, is a member of the BSPA management committee, the go-to cabal that officiates over the finer details of the sport. One decision they’ve had to make in recent days – and it’s still not been announced just how they’re going to go on this one – is whether to allow Jason Doyle to ride in the UK this year on a different type of visa to those usually used by Australian speedway riders. Doyle, as has been documented, is unable to secure the usual visa, and the tier 5 visa is his last chance to take his place in the EL with Leicester.

Doyle has also got a contract with Somerset in the PL, and without the BSPA accepting his tier 5, he will also be unable to ride there. Having released Nick Morris earlier in the winter (as explained above), you’d imagine that – should Doyle fail in his application – Morris would be top of their list to replace him. It certainly wouldn’t be beyond my pal’s conspiracy-riddled imagination to make a leap there. Could Doyle be sacrificed to enable Morris to double-up with Swindon and Somerset? Would Hoggart abuse his power on the MC to help out the Robins, as payback for allowing them to take Bates?

Of course not! That would be ridiculous, and I only mention it out of a sense of fun, and as an example that, while they remain a shadowy cabal, their decisions obfuscated by a cloud of (cigarette?) smoke, the BSPA MC (and the SCB, with whom they share members) will always be open to such madness, along with other, more believable accusations. We’ve cried out for openness for so many years, and it doesn’t look like coming any time soon, despite an increased level of communication with the fans over the winter. Maybe one day, maybe one day…

Afterword: When I told my friend of my application of his usual nonsense to this situation, he thought of something further (and even more steeped in paranoia), that could also have gone down in the secret bunker miles beneath ACU House… The BSPA MC was given the responsibility of deciding between Alun Rossiter and Phil Morris for the TeamGB job. The early indications were that the two EL promoters on the committee favoured Rossiter, while the three PL promoters had plumped for Morris. In the process of the vote, one of the PL promoters seemingly switched his vote to Rossiter, and he was duly named national manager. What if, suggested my friend, that PL promoter was Dave Hoggart? Don’t mind my friend, though, he’s crazy…

ITEM: OneSport, the Polish marketing company behind speedway’s European Championship, also dipped their toe into the Pairs arena last season, with a one-off Eurosport Best Pairs meeting, held at Torun. The meeting was beset by problems, notably the mixed Slovakia-Slovenia pairing and the broadcast delay while some meaningless tennis match finished up, but was enough of a winner for all parties to do it all over again this year.

Buoyed by the success of the four-round European Championship, OneSport have expanded the pairs into a three-round affair, held early in the season to ensure maximum availability, and staged in Sweden and Germany, as well as Poland. Although it is not an official FIM competition (or even an FIM-Europe backed championship – they run their own pairs competition), the line-up is expected to be strong, with all the major speedway nations represented. Except one.

The BSPA have declined to send a pairing, and forbidden (although I’m sure that’s too strong a term) British riders from taking part unofficially. This robs the series of having the World Champion lining up, and also prevents our boys from earning some quick cash and the experience of further international competition.

I’m sure the BSPA have very good reasons for opting out. The three dates are held on two Fridays and a Saturday while the EL is in full swing, and clubs would have no facility to replace riders taking part. There is also a reluctance to countenance further intrusions into the British speedway calendar, with the SGP series, SWC, and other assorted official FIM competitions already causing terrible disruption to our season – being seen to approve of the FIM-Europe, and further unofficial competitions, would be a stretch too far. There is also the thorny issue of recompense – the BSPA and its member club wouldn’t receive a penny from the series and, if they aren’t obligated to do so by the FIM, can be forgiven for thinking with their wallets.

However, if you look a little deeper, there really aren’t all that many reasons why they shouldn’t have approached it with a little more enthusiasm, and sent a pairing out to each meeting, without too much disruption to the calendar.

The first event, on March 28^th, clashes with just one EL fixture – Poole’s visit to Lakeside – and so only Richard Lawson and Lewis Bridger would be unavailable. Even if you allow for the two EL fixtures on Saturday 29^th, in case of flight problems, a pairing of Chris Harris and Scott Nicholls would be available, and I’d dare say acceptable to the organisers.

The next date, May 10^th, is held at the same time as Poole’s visit to Eastbourne, and Leicester a round of the World Under-21 Championship. With Poland in full swing by that point, there are no clashes the next day, and so a full-strength British pairing would be available, including world champion Tai Woffinden, perhaps with Chris Harris. For the final event, held on May 23^rd, only Coventry and Eastbourne are in action, although the next day also sees Swindon, Lakeside, Poole, Leicester, and Birmingham in EL competition. Still, a pairing of Woffinden and Nicholls could still take part with no issues.

Availability still leaves the thorny issue of supporting a competitor, with the televised rounds on Eurosport eating into attendance figures, and approving their position in the international calendar eating away at available weekend fixture slots. Like Canute ably demonstrated to his subjects, you can’t fight the impossible, and with European competition law firmly on the side of self-employed speedway riders, there is only going to be one winner when it comes to clashes like this down the line. The individual federations could come down heavy on their license holders, but they are as likely to find European law on restraint of trade standing in their way (and an exodus of speedway riders to ride on a Luxembourgish license to boot). Thinking creatively, rather than hiding one’s head in the sand, is always the way to approach these problems.

Although the Best Pairs – and the European Championship, and SGP, and SWC – eat into the finances, attendances, and rider availability of British speedway, they are all also shown on (practically) free-to-air television in the UK. Just as other forms of entertainment rely on other people’s TV as free advertising, so too should the BSPA. They should take a, “like those riders you see on Eurosport? You can see them LIVE at your local track!” approach, and other such tactics. Working with OneSport and Eurosport, and their dedicated English-language commentary team, could pay off down the line, with choice fixtures trailed as part of an agreement for British riders taking part, for instance.

I wrote recently that the new TeamGB manager needed to ape what other, successful nations are doing, and having their top riders ride in a competitive international series of meetings like the Best Pairs is certainly one of those things. There needs to be a longview taken, with the benefits of having Danny King, Richie Worrall, and others on the cusp of the SWC side, taking part in these meetings, if we are going to succeed at international level once more. I’m not sure if it’s too late to change their minds, but I’d urge the BSPA to rethink on this one, and when I tune into Eurosport on March 28^th (although more likely watch it the next day, having recorded it while I’m out at speedway) I’d like to see two riders wearing the Union Jack. Make it so.

ITEM: It’s curtains, then, for the Isle of Wight, at least for the 2014 season. At a meeting last week, attended by just 53 of the 200 shareholders, they voted 45 to 8 not to enter the National League this season, and so eighteen seasons of speedway have come to an end on the island.

There are appears to be some conflict between the shareholders, with the chairman of a speedway club seemingly not keen to run speedway, but the truth seems to be that passion for the Islanders is more keenly felt by those who visited as away fans than those on the island. Although the task of raising £20,000 for an air-fence was a daunting one, it wasn’t impossible, and it seems to be the dwindling attendance figures that have put the club into (hopefully temporary) dry-dock.

Whatever the ins and outs of the decision, it can’t be left to stand, at least not completely. Entering a team into the National League at this late stage, and with an already shallow pool at the top end of that level of rider, would have been difficult, and Scunthorpe’s late entry has been undertaken on the understanding that they will field an initially weak side to bring through talent from their training school. As a second team, with the support of an Elite League team (ironically the Isle of Wight’s closest EL team…), they can afford to do that. To attempt that on the island would risk further diluting their already low gates, and so it’s a non-starter.

But it needn’t be the end of speedway on the island. We’ve seen on so many occasions that one year out of the sport turns into two, and then three, and then forever. Speedway has never enjoyed the best of relationships with its neighbours, and a discontinuation of the sport at Smallbrook would be fuel for the fires of those annoyed by a minimum amount of noise on a dozen evenings a year, the big twats.

Last year the Southern Track Riders held a successful amateur event on the island, and I’m sure that all concerned would be keen to do it again. Amateur events, and training days, do not require an airfence under the current SCB regulations, and so the initial outlay for that piece of equipment can be discounted from the cost of continuing speedway. Currently, there are only a handful of tracks that allow amateur racing to take place, and that number dwindles during the speedway season. The addition of the Isle of Wight to their number, on five or six occasions during the season, would enhance those opportunities, especially for southern-based amateurs, and the cost of the ferry to the island would be offset by the difference in fuel to Ryde and Scunthorpe or Northside.

It also might be desirable for training schools to be held at the track, to try and entice some of the locals into trying the sport, making it cheaper to enter a team in league competition in future years. If those training schools were overseen – or even visited – by ex-Islanders, such as former World Champion Chris Holder, the opportunities for positive news stories and raising some much-needed cash for the club open up.

Furthermore, it is not impossible to consider that the club might loan an airfence for a handful of professional meetings, held during the summer season, whether it be team challenges or open meetings. The BSPA might even like to support such an endeavour to test whether there is an appetite for non-league speedway at venues that cannot support a full season, to strengthen the sport beyond its league-centric current outlook.

I hope that something happens. The opportunities for speedway to continue is some form, while not endless are certainly considerable. It takes some forethought and, yes, a little bit of cash to make it happen but we can’t afford to lose another track, let alone one as unique as Smallbrook. Besides, it keeps Bryn Williams out of trouble, and that’s invaluable!

Putting The ________ In Scunthorpe (and other things)

ITEM: The announcement yesterday that the Elite League Riders' Championship would take place in late March, rather than the traditional end-of-season slot it has occupied for - ooh - ever, took us all by surprise, and it took a few minutes of moaning about the loss of a great tradition before anyone noticed that the L had been dropped from ELRC. This is rather more significant that the loss of a letter usually is - unless that letter is the o in count - and changes the whole ball game.

The Elite Riders' Championship resurrects an idea from 2010, whereby the top riders from the 10 Elite League clubs - and I still can't believe they're sticking with that horrible name, but I digress - are joined by a select few from outside the league. It failed in 2010 because it was near the end of the season and the top riders were unwilling or unable to fit it into their schedule. In the end, that edition went ahead as normal, with no riders from outside the league taking part. The thinking on this occasion is that, by holding it before the Grand Prix riders depart for New Zealand, some of the GP riders will use it as a pre-season tune-up, and thus deign to honour us with their presence.

Outside the 10 EL number ones, there are just two GP riders riding in the Elite League this season and of those Chris Harris happens to be captaining Coventry, hosts for the meeting, and his appearance in the line-up therefore wouldn't be a surprise. Equally, Chris Holder and Nicki Pedersen continue to base themselves in the UK despite choosing richer pickings elsewhere and they, too, should be considered solid favourites to appear. Rory Schlein is the current holder of the ELRC title, and although this is a different kettle of fish, it would be harsh on him not to get to defend that title. That leaves two slots open, and seven GP riders who may be willing to take them, which should at least ensure that the organisers aren't paying over the top for their services. Of those, only Hampel, Sayfutdinov, and Jonsson are rare visitors to these shores and could draw a crowd - God knows we've all seen enough of Bjerre, Kasprzak, Lindgren, and Smolinski!

This is an event that can be sold to the general public as the very best of British speedway and, unlike the GP at Cardiff, it is entirely under the control of the BSPA. They can reap what they sow, get the rewards - and I don't necessarily mean financially - that some hard work and clever promotion would bring. A central location, on a weekend and at a convenient time for travelling fans, and most of the best riders in the world? What a fantastic opportunity to sell the sport!

Key to the success of the event is the ticket price, and this is where the BSPA can earn themselves some goodwill, and reward fans for backing their cost-cutting plans made at the AGM. However you dress it up - and you know I'm a big fan - the introduction of the fast track draft at reserve for the 2014 EL season is cost-cutting, but hasn't been accompanied by a corresponding reduction in ticket price for regular EL action. This is understandable, because the league was already operating beyond its means, and the vast majority of fans have accepted the reduction (for the best of reasons) and will turn up in numbers for their weekly fix of speedway. While the individual clubs may not be able to reduce the ticket price for their own meetings, the collective mass of the BSPA can afford to be charitable, especially given the fiasco that was last year's ELRC at Swindon.

The price for this kind of event has crept up to £25 of late, which is a lot of money at the best of times but never more than now, and with the cheapest tickets at the British GP only the price of a pint on top of that, it doesn't look much like value for money. With that in mind, and the poor PR that resulted from the 2013 ELRC and the reduction in quality of the 2014 EL without anything being given back to the fans, I would suggest £20 is the very most they should charge, with anything under that being a massive late Christmas for the loyal fans that have stuck with British speedway through thin and thin. It's also a price that wouldn't make too many new fans baulk at paying.

Just how the BSPA choose to play this will set their stall out for the rest of the season. Get it right and the current positive feeling that most people have about the 2014 season will continue into the summer. Get it wrong and the consequences could be worrying for the whole sport...

ITEM: There's always a but. There shouldn't be, but there always is. Scunthorpe Stags are to ride in the 2014 National League, which is fantastic news after they sat out 2013. Scunthorpe have been a mainstay of the third tier, even after the senior Scorpions side took the step up into the Premier League, and a season without them was an interruption in the flow of talent that has come through the Eddie Wright Raceway, although recent graduates Olly Greenwood, Max Clegg, and Danny Phillips found rides elsewhere, and the presence of the Castleford Kings in the MDL, operating out of Scunthorpe ensured it wasn't too broken.

Between them, Buxton and Scunthorpe can account for much of the young British talent in both senior leagues, and have given many of the National League's mainstays their first outings on a speedway bike. That they have struggled to finance their league campaigns in recent years is concerning, and reflects very badly on the rest of British speedway, and thus it is with some credit that Matt Ford - he of perennial pantomime villains the Poole Pirates - has stepped in to help finance the Stags' NL foray for 2014 (and hopefully beyond).

But - I told you - there's more to this than Ford stepping in to help a National League compete this season. If that was his intention, he has a club right on his doorstep (well, over the water a bit...) that is in desperate need of a saviour, and one that he has used as a pathway for young Australians on more than one occasion. And more than just enabling a Premier League club to run in the National League as well, an intercession at the Isle of Wight would save a whole club. But - there it is again - the Isle of Wight has no track record of producing its own talent - the logistics of travel to the island, and a smaller catchment area than north Lincolnshire/east Yorkshire, combining to prevent the same conveyor belt that operates at Scunthorpe, and therein lies the real reason for Ford's magnanimity.

Of course, nobody expects something for nothing these days, and if the price of Ford's involvement at Scunthorpe is cherry-picking the best talent coming through Richard Hollingsworth & Wayne Carter's training schools, then that's the way the business cookie must crumble. But - and there it is, for last time - it means nothing if there isn't a sea change at Wimborne Road in their use of British riders, both in actually using them in the first place and treating those they do use with a little more respect, patience, and care. This is the worrying aspect of the deal, not that Ford gets first pick of the best boys. What we absolutely don't want is a situation like that in Premier League football, whereby the big clubs are signing up the best young players and not using them, when other clubs would offer them far better opportunities.

Still, it's early days, and I'm willing to give anybody a chance. Well, almost anybody and usually Poole would be one of the exceptions, but for the future of British speedway I'm willing to play a waiting game and hope against hope that this all works out for the best. I'm sure it will - after all, they have a team manager who knows "what all kids do these days", so who better to mentor them?

ITEM: By now you'll have seen the 2014 fixtures and slotted them into your diaries. I hope you used a pencil, though, because they seem far from the finished article, aas visitors to this blog over the weekend may have discovered. Whilst Kings Lynn, Lakeside, and Poole can certainly be happy with their schedules, I'm not sure fans of Belle Vue, Birmingham, Coventry, Ipswich and Leicester can feel the same way, and I'd imagine there's a fair amount of tinkering still to be done until all concerned are happy.

One team I really feel for are Redcar, who signed Richard Lawson as their number one expecting his availability for all their fixtures this season, only for his contract to be transferred to his Elite League club Lakeside, and now have to go into almost a third of their fixtures without him. It's a risk you take when you sign a rider on loan, of course, but I can't help but feel there should be a cut-off for this kind of thing.

With 34 clubs racing every week, and far less than the 228 riders it would need for no rider to be duplicated in any team list, there are bound to be times when riders have to find themselves in two places at once. However, with all 7 weekdays being utilised somewhere, and Bank Holidays and weekends affording a variety of start times, the amount of clashes should be far less than it currently stands at, notwithstanding the massive job compiling this fixture list in the first instance. The majority of clubs with Grand Prix riders have managed to avoid any clashes, and you could forgive Coventry to a degree given Chris Harris wasn't a GP rider when this process was started (and I'll be disappointed if he misses a single fixture given how irreplaceable he is on that average), but for Belle Vue to travel to Coventry and Lakeside on GP weekends seems silly and you can only wonder what went through Mssrs Morton & Gordon's head when they agreed to that!

The majority of the rest of the clashes are with fast track draft riders, and you'd expect these to lessen once clubs learn the value of investing in young British talent (see Poole, above!), and of course if the draft continues (and the MDL, NJL, and NL continue to unearth talent) the number of available riders to fill those 228 slots should grow year on year, and thus the clashes reduce. For now, we have to put up with a certain amount of inconvenience and trust in the powers-that-be to smooth the ride as far as possible. Still some work to do on that front.

ITEM: Eurosport can't get enough of speedway! Having picked up the SGP series after Sky dropped it last year, and added the European Championships and their own Best Pairs competition to the schedule, they've announced that - in Europe at least - they'll be showing Swedish Elitserien speedway in 2014. With the Best Pairs expanding to three rounds, this should take the number of live speedway meetings on Eurosport to well over 30. If the UK arm of the channel is showing the Spedish sweedway (sic), too, then Eurosport would eclipse Sky as the premier broadcaster for speedway in this country, a complete switcharound on just two years ago.

All this makes you wonder if the BSPA might not have thought outside the box a little when it came to the broadcast of speedway on British TV. With a little investment it's not beyond the realms of possibility for the league to have produced its own broadcast-ready for Eurosport (or any other interested party) to show. There may be added complications with showing it live, but the beauty of a small-scale, off the radar sport like speedway is that not showing it live isn't going to impact its audience figures too much. It's not like a football match, with its every second revealed in full glory on news, social media, and in newspapers - a speedway meeting, for the casual audience, could have happened months ago, for all they know, and still retain its freshness.

All this is conjecture, of course, because as far as I'm aware, the 5-year deal with Sky blabbed to the media by Matt Ford still stands, whatever the delay in announcing it may be. A missed opportunity, then, but certainly something that - should the landscape look anywhere similar in 2019 - needs to be investigated, if new markets and new fans are to be found through TV.

The Rights and Wrongs of Rossiter (and other things)

ITEM: The wait is over and we have a new TeamGB manager. I've fallen into the dirty habit of calling it TeamGB for no other reason than everyone else seems to do so, always reluctantly, and that's the worst possible reason. It should be England, of course - no rider from any other nation has ridden for the representative squad for quite some time now, but the inclusion of Scottish (and, latterly, Welsh) clubs in the BSPA - and with the national team farmed out to that organisation like a naughty stepchild - means that it really should be just Great Britain. But that sounds odd, and unwieldy in the face of Poland, Russia, Sweden and the rest. But I digress.

So, yes, Alun Rossiter is the new Great Britain manager, and the news of his appointment was met with almost total positivity, with some reservations and exclusions. Rossiter is the right man for the job in all the ways Neil Middleditch was the wrong one. Over the last half dozen years he has shown he is willing to include homegrown riders in his club sides, and has actively lobbied for them on occasion. Contrast that with a team manager whose club sides have been shockingly, abjectly defined by the absence of British riders - if you are charitable you could argue that Middleditch had no input into Matt Ford's Poole teams because anything else looks like he deliberately favours riders from his rivals on the international scene. Middleditch wasn't unique in his seeming reticence to use British riders whilst occupying the national team manager's job - Rob Lyon, in his brief spell at the helm, filled his King's Lynn sides with all kinds of non-Brits, although he, at least, had the defence that he was managing a second division side at the time.

Rossiter, on the other hand, has a decent record when it comes to using - and therefore trusting in - British riders. This season is some kind of aberration - his two mandated youngsters are his only homegrown riders - but he has worked with, and with some success, Chris Harris, Edward Kennett, Ben Barker, Lewis Bridger, Simon Stead, Kyle Howarth, Josh Auty, and Ashley Birks, as well as the late Lee Richardson. He has also mentored Nick Morris, who may well have been a mainstay of the British SWC side but for a tough decision made by Alex Harkess in the spring of 2011.

There have been slight reservations expressed by some - myself included - that Rossiter got the job ahead of the outstanding candidate, Phil Morris, but that should not denigrate Rossiter's suitability for the role. Quite why the BSPA management committee decided against the Welshman will probably never be revealed but, let's face it, they've hardly covered themselves in glory over the years. Luckily, this is one situation where the second most-suitable candidate, in my opinion at least, is very much up to the job. That won't please the folks down Poole way, though - they're waiting for Rossiter to slip up, certain he will, because their beloved team manager wasn't up to scratch. One thing's for sure, Rossiter would have to try very hard to have a season as bad as Middleditch had last year - all he has to do is finish ahead of Latvia and he'll be the most successful Great Britain manager for quite some time...

ITEM: Regardless of who got the job, the task ahead is a big one. For whatever reason you’d like to choose, Great Britain’s standing in world speedway – Tai Woffinden notwithstanding – is close to an all-time low. Being beaten in the SWC by Latvia and the USA was an humiliation it will be hard to come back from, but the path is clear – because other countries have already lain it for us.

Poland are the reigning world champions. They take their national side very seriously and have just announced a get together for their senior and junior national sides. Not for practice, like the Danes do twice a season, but to help the riders bond as a unit. Rob Lyon did get the British lads together for a training session a few years back – one that resulted in an unfortunate injury for Adam Roynon, not that that should stop it happening again – and if the top two sides in the world are doing it, who are we to say its not essential in today’s speedway?

The Poles also planned ahead for their SWC Final triumph by taking a full test side to the Czech Republic, annihilating the hosts on the Prague track where the final (and race-off) were to be staged. This year’s final and race-off are hosted by Bydgoszcz, and one of the first points of order for Alun Rossiter should be arranging a test match – against Poland or a Polish Select – at the Bydgoszcz venue. Funding may not be readily available from the BSPA, but an enterprising sponsor could reap the benefits of such an endeavour.

The Poles, Danes, Russians, and the rest of the continentals, also take the supplementary competitions available to them very seriously. The BSPA sanction British entry into the World Championship, SWC, and its under-21 counterparts, but largely ignore those events under the auspices of FIM-Europe. The European Championship, a junior version, a senior pairs competition, and a junior team event are all open to British entries, should we be interested, and there is little doubt that continental competition, with the experience of riding abroad and against unfamiliar opposition, is invaluable to those riders on the fringe of the British squad.

These are all things that other nations are doing – nations who have deserved every moment of their successes over the years because they’ve worked for it. They represent the very minimum that we have to do to catch up with, and hopefully supplant, those teams at the top of the world rankings.

I’d also look to some events staged on home soil, whether it be full test matches or a series of SWC-formula four-team events, designed to ease the riders – and the new manager – into the role, by familiarising themselves with the format and conditions of racing.

If we don’t look to our rivals, and ape what they’ve been doing, we may as well not bother, regardless of who we have in charge of the national side. A successful Great Britain, on the world stage, will pay off down the line, and a little investment up front is nothing compared to the potential rewards. Time to think big.

ITEM: I feel like an overgrown child the night before Christmas right now because tomorrow, at 9am, the 2014 fixtures are released! I'm hoping for some common sense this year because, God knows, last year's were a mess! Coventry had ridden a quarter of their fixtures before Birmingham had even really started, and an imbalance of fixtures spread throughout the season meant most clubs had gaps of three weeks to a month between home meetings, and Lakeside completed their season before August had finished! Hopefully the addition of four extra home meetings this year, plus some sensible scheduling, will mean that is a thing of the past, and most fans can look forward once more to regular fixtures at their local track.

Like me, I'm sure many fans will be poised over their computers with a diary in hand, copying the fixtures in, and marking the most attractive for special attention. Some of my best times last year came watching the Storm on the road, and although the National League fixtures won't be ready until after the January 31st deadline for new applications, I can see this being the case again. Leicester will be a new away trip for most Elite league fans, and Peterborough a welcome return to the itinerary of Premier League supporters. With Mick Horton and Neil Watson promoting teams in all three leagues, it will be interesting to see if there are any occasions when they are expected to be in three places at once - last year, with only two sides, a rain-off delayed fixture at Kent meant that both Coventry sides took to the track on the same night, with the Bees at Belle Vue of far less interest to most fans.

Compiling the fixture list can't be an easy job - no other sport has to cope with competitors appearing for two, or even three, teams at the same time, and I would be interested to see a diary piece of just how the horse-trading takes place, if a particularly-open promoter were so inclined. I imagine there's some conniving and stubbornness in amidst a huge heap of accommodation and coöperation, and to see it play out would be nothing short of fascinating.

9am, then, and Twitter will be abuzz. Me? I'm looking out for Coventry’s visits to Birmingham and Leicester, and when Peterborough are north of the border. Oh, and who Poole have got in the middle of June when I'm on my holidays down there - perfect chance to test out whether it is possible to see the track from the multi-story car park...

ITEM: Still no news on who has – and who hasn’t – got their visas to race in the UK in 2014, with Jason Doyle, Rohan Tungate, and Alex Davies amongst those possibly caught out by a technical hitch in their applications. The fault lies in the timing of the applications, rather than the merits on which they should be granted, and the clubs involved really have no excuse given the well-publicised issues surrounding Sam Masters and Mason Campton last season.

With Australians, Americans, and Russians the last of the speedway nations to actually need visas, it might be worth considering whether the BSPA can adopt a similar approach to that taken by Scottish football and apply, as an organisation, for a certain number of visas each year, with the BSPA as sponsor, to ensure that this situation does not occur too often. These visas would then be divvied up according to the merits of each application, with the clubs unable to apply for further visas. In one swoop, a limit on the number of non-EU riders and ensuring that those who do come have few problems doing so.

As it is, with riders changing clubs – and therefore sponsors – these hitches are bound to happen from time to time, and fans of the clubs affected may miss out on worthy additions to our leagues. Still, what does it matter if Jason Doyle has to stay home if Joey Ringwood gets to ride?

Australian League? (and other things)

Welcome back! Hope you all enjoyed your holiday season, however you choose to celebrate it. With it being a slow news period, I asked for requests for topics to be discussed, so this week is a readers' special!

ITEM: League racing dominates speedway in the UK, and in most of the major speedway nations in Europe. Elsewhere in the world - in Argentina, New Zealand, and South Africa, for instance - it's individual competition that rules the roost. That's especially true in Australia, which is ironic given their riders' predilection for league racing in this country. For all the talented stars they've produced over the years, the Australian scene has never established a system of league racing - and Jamie Wood wanted to know why...

League competition dominates spectator sports in Europe, and especially in the UK. The roots lie in sport's professionalism in the late 19th century, when the simplest way to ensure that players you paid to play for you didn't turn out for someone else - and have enough guaranteed fixtures to ensure it is worthwhile to contract the players in the first instance - was to form a league. Members of that league would adhere to rules forbidding the poaching and moonlighting of players, and agree to a certain number of fixtures, the results of which would decide a champion. It sounds simple enough to us now but when William McGregor proposed it for football in 1888, more than one Victorian gent fell off his penny farthing. The Football League (never the English Football League, because it was the first) wasn't the earliest organised sporting competition along those lines - some baseball had had leagues prior to that - but it was the first big league, and gave birth to everything that followed, good and bad.

Where football went, team sport fell into line. Rugby League gained its name from the league that was formed when the Northern Rugby Football Union broke away from its southern, amateur counterparts in 1895. Six years earlier, cricket inaugurated its County Championship, although amateurs and professionals played alongside one another until the 1960s. English Rugby Union organised into league competitions as late as 1987, heralding the collapse of "shamateurism", an illusion of non-professionalism which fooled no-one, which eventually happened in 1995.

Early speedway was promoted as a spectacle, and its overseers still retain the title of "promoter", unique in a team sport and more often found in boxing or wrestling. They would stage competitions as a boxing promoter staged "cards", with the best riders of the day brought in to draw the crowds. Pretty quickly, and with speedway tracks opening the length and breadth of Great Britain, promoters sought to protect their best assets - no sense in promoting a star rider for your card if he could appear the next day ten miles down the road - and the formation of the English Dirt-Track League in 1929, quickly followed by the Southern League the same year, ensued that wouldn't happen - at least not without non de plumes and tracks "running black". Being part of a league also means that every fixture should be "not to be missed", with every ride counting towards glory at the end of the season.

And that's pretty much the story of British speedway, league competitions all the way, save for the odd blockbuster open meeting here and there, and - of course - the League Riders' Championships, often seen as more competitive than world finals. Internationally, speedway remains predominantly an individual sport, which perhaps explains why it isn't more a source of pain that our world champions have been few and far between - we are so focussed on league competition that our failings on an individual level just don't amount to a hill of beans. At least, it's a comforting thought to cling to!

In Australia, however, league racing never took off. There are a number of reasons that might explain this, chief amongst them that their premier talent - exactly the ones you might expect to keep hold of by forming a professional league - jumped on a ship to the mother country, where there were richer pickings to be found. It also doesn't help that Australia is a huge country, and its major settlements few and far between. The top league of one of its national games - Australian Rules Football - was predominantly a Victoria State league until the recent past, and without the backing of major sponsors and television contracts, it's unlikely that national leagues would have taken off in any sport down under.

With the decline in interest in our sport worldwide (and, yes, even Polish crowds are down on Communist times, even if today's sponsorship and revenue would have been beyond the wildest dreams of Zenon Plech and his compatriots), a simple answer to "why isn't there league speedway in Australia?" is, "if it were possible, it would have happened before now." Although distance is something of an issue, at least inter-state, there are enough meetings promoted in most states that a league campaign could be viable. In New South Wales, Kurri Kurri staged over a dozen meetings in the 2012/13 season, with Nepean and Gosford also promoting speedway in that state. Down in Victoria, Mildura and Undera Park stage full seasons, with Broadford chipping in to make a decent amount of meetings in that state. The real issue, then, must be of an unwillingness on the part of promoters to stage league meetings, and an assumption - correct or not - that the fans will not turn out for such events. It should also be noted that, unlike the UK and Europe, speedway in Australia (and New Zealand) is rarely bikes only, with the rest of the card often filled by sidecars (especially) and also sprint cars and other four-wheeled machines.

Australian tracks active in the last 5 years

So that’s it, then - no league in Australia so they all come over here, cap in hand. A decent speedway rider in the UK can expect to be paid for a good 50 meetings season, if not more, and with the slim pickings available at home its not hard to see why young Australians pack up and make their way half-way across the world to our leagues to make a living. There's a myth that this makes them hungrier and more deserving of a chance than our local, lazy youngsters, but it's just that, a fallacy. It's a simple equation - if you want to make a living at riding a bike, you have to leave Australia. They should be given no extra chances because of their "sacrifice" and we should only accept the best. Perhaps then, if there were half-decent riders still knocking about down under, they might make something of their scene after all...

ITEM: Monster Energy staged their second Monster Invitational meeting over the holiday period – an event deemed so important that Darcy Ward would miss his national championship for it (although still gratefully claim the support of Motorcycling Australia in his Grand Prix endeavours, no doubt), and won by Britain’s own Scott Nicholls, a non-GP, non-Monster-sponsored rider, which must have pleased the sponsors no end.

The field was seeded with GP stars and international quality riders, as well as the pick of the home talent, and with the US proving that they can stage a meeting of this quality year-on-year, Matt Davis wondered if it augurs well for a US GP before too long…

The simple answer is “yes”. There are three things you need to stage a grand prix in the modern era – a local promoter willing to pony up the cash to series leeches BSI, good sponsorship to help recoup some of that cash, and a track to stage it on. On the first two counts, California looks a great bet to stage the next non-European GP, with former rider Kelly Inman, race director at Industry speedway, doing a sterling organisational job on the Invitational events, and Monster Energy willing to back him with walking cash, but it’s the lack of a European-size track in a stadium-style venue that will hold them back.

Previous FIM events in the US have been held at the Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach and at the LA Coliseum, but it’s been over 25 years since either were used for our sport. Existing tracks in the US tend to be on the small and “homely” side, unlikely to impress the corporate suits BSI would be eager to attract to a showpiece event on the west coast (although they still go to Vojens, so what do I know?). According to SGP mouthpiece Philip Rising, efforts have been made to find a stadium large enough to accommodate a European-style track and satisfy the needs of the organisers, but have so far come up empty, with all suitable venues pricing themselves out of the market if they were interested at all.

This is where Monster Energy – and BSI – could really put their money where their mouths are. Kevin Costner was told by a ghost that “if you build it, they will come,” and if the combined bank balances and enthusiasm for speedway that those two giant corporations appear to have can just think outside the box for a moment, they might find that building a purpose-built venue might just have the long-term benefits that such an investment requires.

To make stadiums pay in the modern era they have to be multi-use, and that would be especially true in a nation where speedway is – for now, at least – a sideshow. But it isn’t beyond even the most rudimentary architect to develop a speedway stadium that is easily converted to stage other events, which would bring in the revenue required. It’s a brave step, and would require a hefty initial outlay, but surely not too much more than the total rental costs for four or five GPs in a large stadium in that area?

So, given all that, the answer isn’t an immediate “yes”, but I don’t think it will be too long before one obstacle or another is overcome and the US sits somewhere between New Zealand and the first of a billion Polish GPs on the GP calendar. Just who that will be good for is another question entirely…

ITEM: Regular readers will know that if there’s one team I have absolutely no time for it’s Poole Pirates and their scheming owner, Matt Ford. But Nick Wellstead challenged me to reveal my secret hidden love for the Pirates and so here, in no particular order, are the 10 Things I Love About Poole Speedway:

1. The chippy at the top of Wimborne Road

2. That one of their fans was literally a tramp

3. Erm…

4. Struggling now…

5. Ooh, I used to quite like Lars Gunnestad!

6. …

7. No, that’s it

8.

9.

10.

ITEM: There was one other request, from Seamus O’Robson, who asked, “if you were a promoter, how would you attract new customers, what entertainment would you add to a meet and still make a profit?”

Now if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past couple of years writing this blog, and talking to promoters who read it, it’s that this promoting game is a lot harder than it looks. Like anyone who attends speedway, I have my own ideas about what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong, and that has filled countless blogs over the months.

There is still more that promoters could do, and things they should stop doing, and probably – somewhere between them all – is a near-perfect set-up. And that’s the first step I’d make in speedway promoting – get together and share ideas, adopting what works and getting rid of what doesn’t. There’s a good example of everything somewhere in this country – it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise how effective Porky at Wolves and Dudley is at energising a crowd and keeping them involved between the races, for example – but somehow bad practice still pervades, in some areas, at every track.

So, yeah, cop-out answer, but get together and share ideas!