The Slow Death Of Speedway (and other things)

ITEM: Well, where do you start?

What happened on Monday night will have repercussions far beyond Poole (in all likelihood) making the play-offs. The anger and sadness felt by pretty much everyone outside of Dorset will pay off down the line as yet more people walk away from the sport - fans, sponsors, and promoters - at a time when it needs everyone working together.

Simply put it was disgusting. What's worse is that we all knew it was going to happen, yet like a car crash unfolding before our eyes it was hard to look away. Because of that, because of the fact that it played out so very publicly, everyone involved in Monday night's farce will be tainted by it - from plotting broadcasters and amoral promoters, to pliant team managers and enthusiastic, cheerleading commentators, and including bullied riders, weak officials, and the companies whose money props up such crap. All of them have to wear the stink, and I suspect of them won't even care.

The stench of absolute desperation coming from Poole and the Sky team was palpable. Not making the play-offs, especially after "investing" (or, more correctly, taking a dent out of the promoters' dividend) in several team reshuffles, would be unthinkable for a Poole promotion who have seen crowds of under 800 this season and have risked wrecking an entire sport in the past to maximise their chances of winning what is a token prize at best.

Sky, who still remain uncommitted to any sort of future for the sport on their channels, have been hoodwinked into thinking that showing, and continuing to show to the exclusion of all others, one dominant team will not damage their product, perhaps looking at Premier League football, which has thrived on a small cabal of successful clubs. What small difference, however - for every fan that gives up on football (and, let's not forget, it is a far more ingrained passion for most than speedway can ever hope to be) there are thousands waiting in the wings. Speedway doesn't have that luxury. If one team is seen to be dominating, and through less than wholesome means, fans walk away and are not replaced.

Speedway's various manners of levelling the playing field have always meant that, for the majority of clubs, next season really is another year, full of hope that every team starts from scratch. Start messing with that, as Poole (and now Sky) seem to have been intent to do over the years, and you upset the delicate eco-system that our unique sport survives in. My gut feeling is that Sky don't care - this is their last hurrah with the sport and they will manipulate it to the best of their ability, and that doesn't make me feel better even one iota.

Kelvin Tatum said that this season had been "vintage" but it's hard to see how he could be more wrong. Assuming Poole make the play-offs, only Wolverhampton can claim their qualification is anything but tainted. Poole have pushed the regulations to the limit (and even broken them, seemingly without censure), and both Birmingham and Swindon have very public financial issues, spending beyond their means, however their cashflow problems can be explained away.

But back to Monday, and to those last few heats which saw the best rider on display fall unmolested and a serious crash which, thankfully, resulted in only minor injuries. It was clear to all watching that this would continue until Poole had secured all four points needed for their play-off push and, even if you weren't paying full attention and didn't realise, "Scoop" made it very obvious, stating it several times in the clearest of language. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt, and say that this was his own small protest at the events unfolding before him, but I'm loathe - on his previous performances and "editorial judgments" - to give him that much credit.

Once ten heats had been completed (although at no point could you describe anything we saw as "speedway", resembling more my tottering around the training track at Scunthorpe last December than actual racing), and Poole had that vital 7 point gap, a stage-managed and poorly scripted meeting took place backstage - sorry, in the pits - between team managers, captains, and the meeting steward, Tony Steele. For Belle Vue, Jason Atwood remained silent, resembling for all the world a nightclub doorman attempting to ignore abuse from a drunken ejectee, while Magnus Zetterstrom, a Poole asset who hadn't looked interested all night, suddenly found his voice. On the Poole side Darcy Ward couldn't hide his amusement as Neil Middleditch expressed his concerns about a dangerous track - "it's sticky", he kept repeating - losing any modicum of respect he may still have had after the SWC debacle in the summer. Meanwhile, Tony Steele just looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but Belle Vue, although he still found time to humiliate himself further when on the 'phone to meeting referee and nominated moppet, Graham Flint, by telling him that "the damp is coming out of the track" like that was a real thing.

It was then left to the broadcast team to mop up the vomit that had been spewed all over our sport, and they still found time to interview Matt Ford, who - of course - had expressed his concern at the dangerous conditions on track all night but never showed any sign of, you know, actually doing anything about it. That they remained professional is either a testament to their loyalty to their paymasters or a sign that we really have the wrong people in such important jobs.

Social media had exploded long before the end of the meeting, as it is wont to do. But rarely have I seen such anger and such a hopelessness for the future infused in every tweet, post, or text message I read. Promoters, team managers, riders, and fans all stood united, for only the second time I can remember. The first time involved the death of someone greatly loved in speedway, a poor omen for the future of the sport. What's worse is that some riders who have had suffered very serious, life-changing injuries could be counted amongst the host. If they are of the opinion that something is dangerous, I'd say they probably know.

For some fans it was the final straw. For most of us, we'll hang on in because what else would we do with our summer evenings? And perhaps this is the problem. If we walk away, we kill the sport we love. If we stay, we have no say in how it is run. It's a horrible Catch 22 situation, and one that will not be changed in the near future, perhaps until the sport has been brought right down to amateur level and built back up. None of us wants to see that happen but the promoters - custodians, not owners of the sport - need to realise it's an increasingly likely proposition.

So what happens now? Poole - with their chief pornmeister in spin mode on the British Speedway Forum and their team manager gloating on Twitter (even going so far - and this is the TeamGB manager, remember, to tell fans that them walking away from the sport is "no great loss") - will get the prize they have long sought, but may find it less valuable than they thought. The sport's authorities will pretend that nothing untoward has happened, as they did when Poole broke the rules and called off their meeting with a rampant Lakeside earlier this season, and stumble blindly towards oblivion. Sky will take their money and run, leaving a damaged product behind them, with no remorse or compensation for the destruction they have caused, and the rest of us will pick up the pieces and try and regain some love for our tarnished sport.

I'm still angry about what happened. I'm still sad. I might need a winter to get over it. But it's a long winter, and there's a change coming, if the promoters want it. What happens next will decide if most of us are still here in March.

ITEM: And now for something positive... On Sunday September 29th, Buxton are staging a fundraising meeting towards getting the money to buy an airfence for the Hi-Edge circuit. Earlier this season, the SCB mandated that all tracks staging competitive speedway in the UK had to have an "Additional Protective Device", usually taking the form of an air- or foam-fence.

For most of the dozen or so tracks that don't already have such devices, it's going to be hard to raise the cash to upgrade their facilities to the level demanded. For a track like Buxton, which exists on thin air and the good graces of a small, dedicated team of volunteers and well-wishers, it is nigh-on impossible. However, hope springs eternal, and amongst the plans to raise the funds needed was a gem of an idea from former Hitman Dean Felton.

With some gentle nudging and probably the promise of a few beers, Felton has put together a field of former stars of the sport, with a little something for everyone. Alongside 1980s National League giants such as Martin Dixon and Ian Barney, and entertainers from the same era like Gary O'Hare and Rob Grant, he's secured the services of two former world champions - Jan O. Pedersen and Sam Ermolenko - and can expect a big turnout from (fairly) local Cradley and Wolverhampton fans. As a Coventry fan of a twenty-odd year vintage, it's good to see Andy Meredith's name in the field, back on a bike after a career-ending injury and hopefully up for riding even a tenth as fast as that day he beat Hans Nielsen around Brandon.

The key thing here is fun. Fun and a very good cause. Buxton has been the training ground for Premier League Riders Championship winners and TeamGB internationals, as well as the odd Aussie international making their first steps in league speedway. It's a facility that, for its beauteous surroundings alone, we can't afford to lose.

I hope, if you've no plans that or at least plans you can easily cancel, you'll get along and support Dean's efforts. Even if you can't, chuck a tenner into the fund at gofundme.com/buxton-air-fence-fund. You'd only spend it on sweets and pop otherwise...

ITEM: So, after a terrible Slovenian Grand Prix, Tai Woffinden needs just a handful of points to secure the world title, and will be the first British world champion since Mark Loram in 2000, the only one of the Grand Prix era.

Much has been written of Woffinden's change of attitude this season, most of it surrounding his fitness regime (mocked, however kind-heartedly, by Australian rivals who trail in his wake), but I'd wager it's a change in how he handles himself off the track that will pay the richest dividends for the Lincolnshire-born racer.

I wrote Tai off earlier this season, predicting a basement finish, probably because I just didn't like him more than honest appraisal of his talents. I can't say he's totally won me around, or that I'll get behind him in the same way I will some of the other British riders, but he's certainly entered that neutral zone of me not particularly being bothered by him (other than those ear plug things), and that's a sea change.

Not that he cares, but if he does take the title in Stockholm or Torun, I will congratulate him and celebrate a British world champion. None of us should be afraid to admit when we're wrong, and Tai - through hard work towards his goal - has begun to win me over. No-one expected him to win the title, or probably even finish in the top six, but he's stuck to his task admirably. He deserves everything he gets.

Now as to whether a British world champion could create more problems than it solves... that's for another day!

ITEM: I make lots of plans. Most of them never come off. This isn't always my fault but it mostly is. However, it doesn't stop me making more plans. My latest one is a review of the season. Which isn't too ambitious, right? But I need YOU to help me...

What I'm looking for is a set of responses, ideally one per club, to a short list of questions - How did your club do? Best & Worst Visitors? etc - and I'll put them all together and we'll get some sort of picture of the season, as viewed by us, the fans. If you fancy helping, contact me at alan.boon@gmail.com or on twitter (@alan_boon). You know you want to...