ITEM: So Poole Pirates are the 2013 Elite League champions. Well done them. From the moment they reached the play-offs they were obviously the best team in it, and from that point on deserved to win the title, and I'll congratulate them on their application and professionalism. The story of how they got to those play-offs has been told so many times that if you haven't picked a side (plucky underdogs or cheating scum) yet, you're probably not likely to. So, yeah, they won the league. But just what did they win? The Elite League has just finished its seventeenth season. In that time it's had its fair share of ups and downs but never has it looked in worse shape than it does right now. For Poole to triumph in the last days of a dying competition has no real worth, like bald men fighting over a comb. That is covered in dead, flaky skin.
And what of the teams who don't even get to pretend they've won something worth winning? Birmingham, as has been detailed in this blog on a number of occasions, have experienced massive financial problems this season, choosing to ignore payment demands from other teams rather than cut costs, and all in pursuit of a title they didn't win. As it is, the 2013 season for Birmingham looks exactly the same as it does for eight other teams - trophyless. And, unless something miraculous happens, 2013 also sees the end of Alan Phillips and Chris Luty's time at the club, with the promotional rights reportedly reverting back to Tony Mole. Although Mole would never see the Brummies close, if it was within his power to ensure otherwise, he's not a fan of EL speedway, and certainly never was for Birmingham, and so it's unlikely that they will take their place in the top league in 2014 unless new blood - with fresh money to be bled by carny promoters - is found to take over. Was it worth it, Brummies?
The league's most northern club, Belle Vue, also had a season-to-forget, publicly shamed by being caught with their trousers down trying to postpone a fixture against Poole for all the wrong reasons. As a result, they were fined heavily, and lost the ability to call off their own meetings without SCB approval. This had a massive knock-on at the televised meeting with Poole later in the season, when the Aces were forced to stand by, looking like spare parts, as the TV people, the SCB, and the Pirates carved up a contrived result. The repercussions of that night will echo down the years, and it will be Belle Vue, as the staging club, that may feel them more heavily than others. The Aces finished ninth, only three points above a woeful Coventry, and were rumoured to be paying their number one a guaranteed £3-4000 a meeting. With crowds not the best, a good chunk of that money (and some overdue bills) was probably paid by wealthy backer George Carswell, but you can't help but think it might have better used for when they eventually move into the fantastic new stadium down the road. Farcical waterloggings, paying over the odds... was it worth it, Aces?
Bob Dugard revealed last week that Eastbourne's average crowd was a worrying 770 people (even under Poole's season low of 784 against Lakeside), and that he'd lost £5000 per meeting this season. Dugard has a similar story every winter, which makes you wonder why he continues to promote EL speedway at Arlington. I'm sure his love for the sport is as strong as it ever was, and perhaps he dreams of seeing another generation of Dugards (Connor & Kelsey are almost ready for senior speedway) pull on an Eagles' race-jacket, but with an average take per punter at EL tracks being around £13 he's missed his break-even attendance by 400 people per meeting, a ludicrous/super-optimistic budget error. This can only have been compounded by an all-foreign EL-only line-up, flying in riders from Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Russia rather than paying petrol money for a drive from the Midlands. Even faced with an opportunity to lower costs when Lukas Dryml got injured (again), the Eagles chose to fly over a young Dane rather than use a young Englishman. They finished eighth, and will continue into 2014 only through Bob Dugard's continued charity. Was it worth it, Eagles?
Like Dugard and the Eagles, Peterborough's continued existence (at least at the level of spending they currently "enjoy") is down to one man - Rick Frost. Frost's cash was used to assemble a side to win the EL at last, gambling heavily on a septet of riders focussed solely (in the UK, at least) on racing in the EL for the Panthers. A mid-season reshuffle, which claimed the scalp of Jan Staechmann - undoubedly a nice man but with one of the worst records of any team manager in speedway - and several riders, tells you all you need to know about how [i]that[/i] turned out, but a subsequent increase in form almost saw them sneak into the play-offs. Until, that is, an SCB appeal committee and an SCB-backed farce at Belle Vue combined to wreck their hopes on the very same day. As it is, Peterborough finished in seventh place, and Frost must be wondering why he keeps throwing his money at a sport which seems determined to keep him off the honours list. More money spent, no real results - was it worth it, Panthers?
I could go on - fans and promoters of just about every club has to be asking themselves the same question, whether publicly or privately, and just about everyone bar a handful of Pirates fans agrees that there has be big changes made this winter. For once speedway has to look to the long-term, and ensure that all the leagues are fit for purpose well into the 2020s. We can't go on with a league structure that allows wealthy men to prop up unprofitable clubs, even if they're happy to do so, and we can't allow clubs to leech off others in pursuit of success. Contracts have to be transparent at the point of registration - and rejected if they do not make financial sense - and regulations have to be transparent to all. Unlike many other professional sports, speedway is almost entirely dependent on its fans' generosity, and those fans have to be included rather than excluded as far as possible.
The Elite League - and I'd start by scrapping that name and re-branding afresh, for one - has to be worthy of its position as one of the top leagues in the world. It has to have strong competition, strong governance, and a strong selling point. Get all three right and whoever wins the title in 2014 - even if it is Poole - can genuinely call themselves champions of something worth winning.
ITEM: It's usually around this time that they announce the wild cards for next season's Grand Prix series. Last year they took an unprecedented amount of time - ironically, I'm told, because there was some discussion over whether the Britain should receive a wild card, and if they did whether Tai Woffinden was the right man for it - but there's nothing to suggest that this year won't be a mostly straightforward decision.
Chris Holder, injured partway through the series as reigning champion, is one hundred percent, nailed-on to receive one, and if you can find a bookmaker willing to give you any sort of odds on him [i]not]/i] getting one, bite their hands off. Similarly, Tomasz Gollob has competed in sixteen straight SGP series, was world champion only three years ago, and finished in ninth place, just one outside the top eight seeds. Although age counts against him, he is not the oldest man in the field, and as long as he retains his enthusiasm (and popularity in the important Polish market), he'll be welcome in BSI's house.
The third choice has to be a Swede, although none made the top eight in 2013. Sweden will once again have two Grands Prix in 2014 and it's unthinkable to consider there won't be a permanent wild card wearing the blue & yellow flag next year. Just who will be gifted that place is less certain. Freddie Lindgren finished eleventh in the series standings, two places and nineteen points ahead of Andreas Jonsson. However, Jonsson missed two rounds due to injury, and it's thought that this might give him the upper hand on his compatriot. Antonio Lindback, marketable but frustratingly erratic, came last of the series' fifteen regular riders, and faces a season in limbo, since he didn't qualify for qualifying (if you know what I mean!) in 2014. The other outside chance, perennial event wild card Thomas H Jonasson, is injury-prone and unproven at this level. Interestingly, Jonsson has aleady been announced as a series wild card for the 2014 European Championships - as have SGP regulars Nicki Pedersen and Emil Sayfutdinov - and whether the bubbling tensions between BSI and SEC break out full-scale war may have a bearing on BSI's decision.
Also nominated as a wild card for the European Championships is the man widely tipped to be in the driving seat for the final wild card nomination - Grigorij Laguta. Laguta is arguably one of the top riders outside of the current SGP series, with consistently good performances in the Swedish and Polish leagues not going unnoticed by the organisers. Laguta is also popular in Latvia, who again will stage a GP in 2014, and was once reported to have been seeking citizenship (it is thought he would not pass their stringent language tests). However, the Lagutas have had all kinds of issues with visas to ride in western European nations (brother Artem, a GP rider in 2011, missed the British and Italian rounds through visa problems, and both men have missed several other FIM commitments due to this issue), and the Russians have firmly thrown themselves behind SEC. These aside, it should be hard to ignore Laguta's claim.
Other long-odds contenders include Michael Jepsen Jensen (disappointing year by his early standards, and with two Danes already in), Patryk Dudek (World Under-21 Champion, but would be a fourth Polish rider), and Martin Vaculik (who never really got going in 2013, and has expressed a desire for a year out). Beyond that, a second British rider seems implausible, and there is no-one at the required level from any nation outside the top two who wouldn't look out of place in that company. You might, as an extremely outside bet, look to Finland's Joonas Kylmakorpi, who has won several world titles in the Longrack discipline, is a capable speedway rider in good competition, and would help sell the inaugural Finnish GP to a new market. Worth a quid, at least.
Whoever gets the nod, it's another SGP series with far too many rounds to sustain serious interest but should be competitive, at least at the top end. Although it has received minor tweaks over its eighteen season history, and has doubled the amount of rounds in a bid to expand its appeal, you have to wonder whether it's not time for something a little bit different. Still, a lot of fans seem happy with what they're being served up, so I will err on the side of their happiness, for once. For me, though (and others like me), the politics behind the series will always be far more interesting than what takes place on the track.
ITEM: Australians don't arrive on these shores as novice riders, never having ridden a speedway bike, and find themselves handily in possession of the necessary talent to fill half the team slots available in British speedway. There is a thriving youth speedway scene down under, and it is this - and a parallel flat track scene - that provides these future world champions with the skills they put to such good use in the northern hemisphere. Similarly, the Danes, Swedes, and Poles - all of whom have dominated world speedway at various points over the last two decades - have their own junior speedway competitions, with pre-teen youngsters riding scaled-down bikes in Europe-wide championships, gaining a solid grounding to become the stars - and second-strings - of the future.
Britain has been slow to put any kind of structure in place that would ape the success of its rivals, previously relying on the generosity of parents, individual clubs, and the grasstrack scene (which [i]has[/i] looked to youth for some time) for its new blood. For the large part, promoters - and fans - have expected the finished article to appear at the pits gate at 16, ready to race and eager to please, without thinking where this production line actually started. When it began to dry up - and, it must be remembered, even our first world champion for thirteen years is largely a product of the Australian youth system - they scratched their heads and looked to ever more average Europeans and Antipodeans to fill the gap. The result? Less and less British riders in team slots, and less and less able to compete on the world stage. Oh, and Lubos Tomicek.
I'm not here to bury youth speedway in this country, however, but to praise it. In recent years, steps have been taken - and fully supported by the BSPA and the majority of its member clubs - to arrest this chain of events, and youth speedway is firmly back on the agenda in the UK. The British Youth Championships encompasses half a dozen rounds, and is staged on Elite, Premier, National, and non-league tracks, and graduates from that system have begun to filter into 1-7s, alongside their more traditionally-recruited compatriots. With EL team managers Phil Morris and Neil Vatcher overseeing things, there is a clear path for youngsters to follow (or there will be once the PL gets its house in order, [i]vis a vis[/i] British riders), and if we aren't competing on the biggest stages in years to come it won't be for lack of effort on their part.
Clubs that aren't directly party to supporting the Youth Championships have also played their part, by including youngsters as "souped-up mascots", familiarising fans who are perhaps unwilling to give a chance to lads starting out with the names they'll be watching in future years, but I'd like to see it formalised a little more, if it is in any way possible. At Leicester for the Midland Development League Riders' Championship the other week, in between blocks of four races, we were treated to four races featuring under-16s, on 125cc bikes. The lads took to the track with increasing confidence, and the times got faster, and it helped break up the boredom between those "two rides on the trot" breaks in individual meetings. In the German second division they go a step further, and include the scores of 125cc races (with one rider per club in a four-team format) in the final meeting result. Something similar was tried at last weekend's free meeting at Redcar, and if it all possible it should be encouraged here.
More and better British speedway riders benefits every one of us, down the line. They will make British speedway cheaper to run, enable more clubs to thrive and survive, and give our kids local heroes to idolise. It's up to all of us to support it, wherever we can, because if nothing else I'm sick of these Australians doing it right when we're not. That's just not cricket!
ITEM: Redcar face Somerset tonight in the final Premier League play-off semi-final meeting, the semi-finals in the second division being run in a mini-league format. Any one of the three teams in the mini-league - Newcastle are the other one - could progress to the final, but it's going to take a freak result for it to be anyone other than the Rebels*. Allowing for the quite reasonable assumption that either Somerset or - their opponents in the final - Edinburgh will be unable to stage a meeting tomorrow night, that leaves just 13 days to fit in - and promote! - a two-legged final, where both participants race on a Friday. Obviously one of them is going to have switch race-days - easier for the Rebels than the Monarchs, who share their stadium with some flea-bitten mutts - but even so, and allowing for the weather at this time of year, it's going to be quite a squeeze.
This situation has been brought about by the unwieldy format, as much as by some inclement weather, and it's obvious that it's not a workable solution to include six teams in the end-of-season play-offs. It doubles the amount of fixtures required to find a winner, and allows the prospect of the sixth-placed team winning the title when fourth place is stretches credibility to its limit. It also requires an earlier cut-off date, plunging the rest of the league into staging fixture fillers or shutting down early, with most teams having shut up shop before the leaves start to turn orange on the trees.
In the Elite League, the demands of Sky TV have seen the play-offs stretched out over a four-week period, with clubs forced to run on Monday nights to suit the broadcaster. There's no doubt that play-offs are good for the sport - they provide an end-of-season bang when, in most years, the season might just whimper out, but allowing clubs to stage their home legs on their regular race nights would not only help them maximise revenues, it would also squeeze the play-off meetings closer together, and allow for a later cut-off date in the EL, too. Hopefully, if Sky finally deign to tell us whether they're going to be showing the EL in 2014 or not, this can be taken into consideration, and the season can truly end in a suitable fashion.
There's no simple answer to scheduling meetings in a sport so vulnerable to the extremes of British weather, but we're not helping it at all. A little more thought, and a little more care taken over the placing of cut-off dates and play-off reserved dates, and we might just get there. Another thing to sort out - I'll add it ot the list!
[* Redcar win by 36 points or more - Redcar progress. Redcar win by 21-35 points - Newcastle progress. Redcar win by less than 20, or any other result - Somerset progress]
Thursday, 17 October 2013
Thursday, 10 October 2013
Tai Woffinden, World Champion (and other things)
ITEM: Tai Woffinden is the World Speedway Champion. If you'd told me I'd be typing that seven months ago I'd have laughed at you and tried to sell you some invisible clothes. However, far from floundering down around the Drymls and Lindbacks, Woffinden has plugged away, consistently, and through a couple of (what were once thought of as, before he made a mockery of them) serious injuries to claim the world title. Would Sayfutdinov have pipped him to the post if he'd not been horribly injured by a dangerous Adrian Miedzinski? Perhaps. Would Darcy Ward have taken the title if he'd raced a full season? Maybe. And would Chris Holder have had more of a say in retaining his title if he hadn't ridden so hard (to be fair, the only way he knows to or wants to) at Brandon in the summer? Possibly. The truth is that history isn't written by ifs, buts, and maybes, it's a tale of certainties, and one thing is certain - Tai Woffinden rode well enough season-long to win the title. That's all the history books will say and anything else demeans his achievement.
It does make you wonder, with Tai only actually winning one Grand Prix on his way to the title, whether he'd have achieved this honour in under the old system, with a one-off world final at the end of a series of qualifying rounds. The simple answer is we can never know, but it does raise a question of just how valuable it is to win one of these damn things! Mathematically, you could win every round and still not be guaranteed to win the world title, although it's difficult to imagine that ever coming to pass. The GP series rewards the most consistent rider over a six-month period and, while it occasionally serves up some dull champions, there's certainly an argument to be had for that, even if it does lose a little something of the excitement of the olden days.
So what happens now? Well, it has to be said that Woffinden's victory couldn't have come at a worse time for British speedway. Our first champion in thirteen years represents a sport that is, organisationally, on its knees. At a time when we should be shouting from the roof tops about our great sport, and how people can get in on the ground floor and support their local team, a lot of them have already closed up for the winter, and there's no clear picture of how next season will look. How wonderful it would have been to have been able to say, "If you want to try this speedway thing, get down to [insert local track here] on [next possible date here] to see [name of celebration event here]!" As it is, we can't even say when the 2014 season will start, what teams will be in what leagues (or even if those teams will be here at all!), and who will be on show to thrill these potential new fans! It used to be that the new World Champion was crowned in the last week of August/first week of September, allowing everyone - Europe-wide, but especially this country - to capitalise on the buzz. Now only a handful are in a position to make hay, and with Woffinden not in the best of shape those opportunities are diluted even further.
So where does the new World Champion fit for next season? I've written before, and Matt Ford has expressed similar concerns to his local Pravda, that to survive (in order to eventually thrive once more) speedway needs to cut costs dramatically in 2014. The simplest way to do that is to cut the top off the league, with the Grand Prix riders - and others of their ability and price range - being overlooked in favour of UK-based middle-order men. This would either mean that the World Champion does not ride in his home league next year or, if a special case is made, that he's head and shoulders above his competition for race wins. Sure, this latter scenario could make him the one everyone wants to beat, and that in itself is a good selling point for away promoters, but it would do little for Wolverhampton's home entertainment levels and bank balance! Do the promoters back-pedal on what's already been privately discussed, and more or less agreed to be necessary, because we lucked into having the World Champion? Or do they sail a straight course and try to make the best of an unfortunate situation? They could do what they usually do, of course, and just let things happen, with little or no planning, but that's how we've ended up here in the first place...
I would suggest a third option, however - one borrowed from the world of wrestling. Hey, don't stop reading - it's perfectly applicable to speedway, too! Back in the day, over in the US, there was no national wrestling company, unlike today's WWE. Instead there were dozens of smaller "territories", each running their own book, and with their own pool of wrestlers. Occasionally, wrestlers would be sent from territory to territory to freshen things up, but mostly home favourites stayed where they were, and where the style of that territory suited them best. Most of these regional territories belonged to an umbrella organisation, the National Wrestling Organisation (NWA). The NWA had its own title belts, competed for by nominated wrestlers from the territories, chief amongst which was the NWA World Heavyweight title. The holder of that belt would no longer work in his home territory (or at least not exclusively) but rather be sent around the US (and to Japan, on occasion), facing challengers on the circuit. In that way, no matter who "owned" the champion, every promoter got to share in a piece of the pie. I would argue that, if we are to see the back (a least temporarily) of riders of Woffinden's class in the British leagues, that this set-up is ideal for maximising interest in the sport. Imagine that, rather than compete in 28 league meetings for one club (14 at just one track), the opportunity was found for the World Champion to appear in meaningful fixtures at all 29 tracks currently promoting speedway! In that way, Woffinden gets to ride in his home country, the fans (old and new) get to see the champ ride, no matter where they live, and the league can restructure without the imbalance his presence might introduce.
I aleady know what you're saying - some of you said as much when I teased it on Twitter - but it's a creative solution to a thorny problem. As it is, I have little idea, and there's also very little blowing in the wind, about how the leagues will look next season, or whether Woffinden - and Ward, Holder, Iversen, or Zagar - will be welcome on these shores. I can't stress enough, though, how important it is that the right decisons are made for the whole of the sport, regardless of whether they hamper any one club's ambitions, and I hope we can trust in the custodians of our sport to do the right thing. Interesting times!
ITEM: Given that I've just supported not renewing the contract of a rider who's given good service to his club for the past half-dozen years (including riding in Coventry on a Friday night before taking a red-eye to Moscow, and onto Togliatti, for a Saturday evening European Championship meeting), it might seem a little disingenuous of me to broach the subject of loyalty. However, no-one ever accused me of being genuous, so broach it I will...
What price loyalty? What do we expect of the people who represent our clubs, and what should they expect of us? "Fickle" is a horrible word. It is used as badly and as often as such other wordcrimes as "banter", "random," and "sick". It's usually thrown at those who change their position on something because of actual events rather than the proper definition of the word, which requires a frequent change, and implies little concrete cause for such changes. It's entirely reasonable for someone to like something or someone until events make them their change their mind, often doing a 360 on their original position. That doesn't mean you are fickle, it means you are honest. As a good example, my own position on Coventry promoter Mick Horton has changed several times since he took over the club, and probably still isn't anywhere near a fixed constant. This is natural and a world away from the default position most sports' fans seem to take - that of blind loyalty. As long as I perceive him to be doing an honest job under difficult circumstances, he'll have my backing. Do something utterly at odds with the ethos of Coventry speedway, fail to take notice of the fans' concerns, or explicitly go against the wishes of the majority, and he won't.
There are certain things we expect of our clubs' representatives, and if they tick those boxes they can enjoy our full support. Chief amongst them should be an appreciation of who they are representing, and what those people care about. Riders, promoters, and team managers should understand that they are fortunate to occupy the positions they hold, and they do so at the good graces of the supporters. Unlike football which, at the top level at least, has marginalised the views of its fans in accordance with how much their ticket money keeps a club afloat, speedway cannot afford to so blindly trample on its supporters' affections. Without that backing, a club fails. So when a club employee goes so blatantly against the grain, and then repeats his misdemeanour a week later despite having been warned about it, what's to be done?
Gary Havelock spent five seasons at Poole. He didn't win anything while he was there, but still holds Wimborne Road in such high regard that you can only assume he was extremely well-paid. He's having a Farewell Meeting there next year, which seems odd considering he spent seven years at Redcar. And that Redcar was where he finished his career. And that his dad owns the place. But still. That Havelock loves Poole is obvious by looking through his Twitter feed, his public mouthpiece to the world. He also waxed lyrical about their wonderful team in interviews earlier this season, even going so far as to admit that the Bees - who he is paid to manage, remember - would struggle to beat them at home. In the Bees' programme. All that is fair enough - you can't help who you fall in love with, even if it's the dirtiest girl on the estate. Fair enough except for one thing - it's Poole, and he's employed by Coventry.
Now I'm not sure if you're aware, but there's a bit of history between the two clubs. It covers quite a few years, and quite a few incidents, but takes in accusations of cheating and threats hurled across crowded pits, through firework-hiding, champagne-stashing, and disappearing hot-water, and ending up with AGM kerfuffles, rider-poaching, and all manner of troubles at ACU House. It's safe to say that there's bad blood. Poole love to hate Coventry, and Coventry want Poole to die. Painfully. Of course, you all know this. Everyone knows this. And despite a change of promotion at Brandon, the same fans are still there, and the Ford-assisted fall from grace of the 2010 Elite League champions still rankles with the majority of those who pay their money on a Friday night. So if you were the Bees' team manager, and the one who had just guided the club to their lowest league placing for 10 seasons, you'd keep your trap shut about your love for the one thing Coventry fans are united about, wouldn't you?
I'm not sure what happens next. No-one wants to see Havelock in the Coventry pits on Sunday when we take on Leicester. To be fair, his welcome had worn out long before the past two weeks' Twitter guff, but this has added fuel to the fire. If the club have any sense, and want a good piece of PR going into the dying embers of the season, they'll get rid, just as they did with Kasprzak (who returns, like a bad smell, one Sunday, too). The least they should do is remind Havelock of his responsibilities, and give him a crash course in the history of Coventry speedway. All riders, managers, promoters, and other club representatives should understand the culture of the clubs they represent. To fail to do so is not just foolish, it's suicide.
ITEM: To cap a good year for the West Midlands - with Tai Woffinden winning the world title and the Birmingham Brummies doing their best impression of Wimpy from Popeye to get into the Elite League Play-Off Final - the Dudley Heathens finally won the National League! I say "finally" because, although it is only their fourth tilt at the title, the Heathens have been massive favourites for every one of those years, able to call upon huge support and solid home advantage, but have always fell short until now. Last night, in front of their partisan travelling support, they finished the job at King's Lynn, and lifted the trophy that their fans have slavishly desired for so long.
Last year they were seemingly robbed of the title in the last heat of the play-off final away to Mildenhall (although actually, ironically, at King's Lynn's Saddlebow Road), when the referee appeared to change a decision upon "advice" from Fen Tigers' promoter Chris Louis. The Heathens withdrew their complaint to the SCB and drew a line under the matter, although the usual handwringing dithering from NL co-ordinator Peter Morrish wasn't encouraging in terms of a decent outcome. Instead, they refocussed their efforts on this season, and it paid dividends with the Black Country side completing a clean sweep of team trophies, as Mildenhall did in 2012.
There's plenty to like about the Heathens, with their fan-oriented set-up ensuring that club and riders benefit from the largesse of some very generous individuals as well as generating a genuine feeling of belonging at the club for all involved, and also to dislike. The passion of their fans is impressive but a small minority allow it to spill over into intimidation and threats. Thankfully, the large majority - although they take it very seriously for what is cheekingly referred to as a junior league by their local rivals - are good-natured, and with a little self-policing these 1970s hangovers (and I'm not talking about the haircuts!) should be shown the door.
Where now, though, for the former Cradley side? There was talk last year of a move up into the Premier League, and a fan poll revealed 90% were in favour, despite the increased costs. Not taking that step this time around may rankle with fans who were placated with a "one last season at this level" impression, even if it was not directly stated as club policy. There's still the thorny issue of them sharing at Wolverhampton which, despite what one of the Heathens' fans at Coventry felt this season, is a big issue. Is there a future for a "squatting" club? And how long should that occupation continue? Do the Heathens continue to bank profits in anticipation of a move (and, let's not beat around the bush, running with crowds every bit as big as EL Wolves in the NL is very profitable) or do they take a step up and reduce their war-chest for a stadium of their own? And even if a suitable site was found tomorrow, it's clearly not going to be ready for 2014, so what decision do you take while it's being built? It's a difficult issue, and one I'm glad I don't have to make. One thing is certain, however - if the Heathens do step up, the rest of the NL will miss their travelling support!
Although it was less fun watching the progress of Dudley this season than in previous years, mainly because they were racing against (and beating, four times!) a Coventry team, I still want them desperately to succeed in getting home and making it work. When I look back at the British League of 1988, my first season watching speedway, only Coventry, Wolves, Swindon, Kings Lynn, and Belle Vue remain of the top flight clubs (and the Robins and the Stars have been down and come back up again). Ipswich and Sheffield are in the second division and there's no Bradford, no Oxford, no Reading or no Cradley Heath. I want them all back, and Dudley in Dudley would be a small step towards achieving that.
ITEM:I've written before about the lack of third-tier opportunities in the north, and nothing seems to have changed very much regarding that. Berwick did stage a National League level challenge match, and Scunthorpe (which is nominally in the north, but very much in the Midlands if you are looking down from Scotland) have run several, with mixed results, but there doesn't seem to be much appetite for risking an NL enterprise in a region where the Premier League clubs often face a parlous existence. Which is a crying shame because so much is being done at Development level and below, without a clear progression for those who graduate (unless they are prepared to travel hundreds of miles for almost no money).
Although it runs with three-man teams rather than the (in theory, at least) four-man teams of the Midland Development League, the Northern Junior League is still the main outlet for young (and not so young) riders based north of Sheffield. This year it expanded from four teams to five, with Glasgow and Edinburgh also staging rounds of the Northern Open Championship. After beginning the season in the NJL, Liam Carr, Luke Crang, Tommy Fenwick, and Danny Phillips all went on to secure NL team places in 2013, and Ryan MacDonald and James McBain have made the odd appearance as last-minute guests at PL level, usually for short-handed visitors to Scottish tracks.
It's a scene that grealy needs encouraging by the rest of the speedway nation, who should be mindful that the future of British speedway is at least partly in the hands of riders from the north, with Craig Cook, Richard Lawson (both Cumbria), Richie Worrall (Lancashire), and Kyle Howarth (Manchester) all representing the region. If you're of a mind to show these lads some support, and have a good time yourselves while you're at it, you could do worse than get yourself down to Redcar's South Tees Motor Park this Saturday, where you can watch the Northern Junior League Four Team Tournament - for FREE! It starts at midday, and you're promised 50 (fifty!) heats of speedway for your (lack of) money, with teams representing Redcar, Workington, Berwick, Newcastle, Northside, Castleford, Linlithgow, and the return of Barrow! If you live anywhere near Redcar you'd be a fool to miss it.
It does make you wonder, with Tai only actually winning one Grand Prix on his way to the title, whether he'd have achieved this honour in under the old system, with a one-off world final at the end of a series of qualifying rounds. The simple answer is we can never know, but it does raise a question of just how valuable it is to win one of these damn things! Mathematically, you could win every round and still not be guaranteed to win the world title, although it's difficult to imagine that ever coming to pass. The GP series rewards the most consistent rider over a six-month period and, while it occasionally serves up some dull champions, there's certainly an argument to be had for that, even if it does lose a little something of the excitement of the olden days.
So what happens now? Well, it has to be said that Woffinden's victory couldn't have come at a worse time for British speedway. Our first champion in thirteen years represents a sport that is, organisationally, on its knees. At a time when we should be shouting from the roof tops about our great sport, and how people can get in on the ground floor and support their local team, a lot of them have already closed up for the winter, and there's no clear picture of how next season will look. How wonderful it would have been to have been able to say, "If you want to try this speedway thing, get down to [insert local track here] on [next possible date here] to see [name of celebration event here]!" As it is, we can't even say when the 2014 season will start, what teams will be in what leagues (or even if those teams will be here at all!), and who will be on show to thrill these potential new fans! It used to be that the new World Champion was crowned in the last week of August/first week of September, allowing everyone - Europe-wide, but especially this country - to capitalise on the buzz. Now only a handful are in a position to make hay, and with Woffinden not in the best of shape those opportunities are diluted even further.
So where does the new World Champion fit for next season? I've written before, and Matt Ford has expressed similar concerns to his local Pravda, that to survive (in order to eventually thrive once more) speedway needs to cut costs dramatically in 2014. The simplest way to do that is to cut the top off the league, with the Grand Prix riders - and others of their ability and price range - being overlooked in favour of UK-based middle-order men. This would either mean that the World Champion does not ride in his home league next year or, if a special case is made, that he's head and shoulders above his competition for race wins. Sure, this latter scenario could make him the one everyone wants to beat, and that in itself is a good selling point for away promoters, but it would do little for Wolverhampton's home entertainment levels and bank balance! Do the promoters back-pedal on what's already been privately discussed, and more or less agreed to be necessary, because we lucked into having the World Champion? Or do they sail a straight course and try to make the best of an unfortunate situation? They could do what they usually do, of course, and just let things happen, with little or no planning, but that's how we've ended up here in the first place...
I would suggest a third option, however - one borrowed from the world of wrestling. Hey, don't stop reading - it's perfectly applicable to speedway, too! Back in the day, over in the US, there was no national wrestling company, unlike today's WWE. Instead there were dozens of smaller "territories", each running their own book, and with their own pool of wrestlers. Occasionally, wrestlers would be sent from territory to territory to freshen things up, but mostly home favourites stayed where they were, and where the style of that territory suited them best. Most of these regional territories belonged to an umbrella organisation, the National Wrestling Organisation (NWA). The NWA had its own title belts, competed for by nominated wrestlers from the territories, chief amongst which was the NWA World Heavyweight title. The holder of that belt would no longer work in his home territory (or at least not exclusively) but rather be sent around the US (and to Japan, on occasion), facing challengers on the circuit. In that way, no matter who "owned" the champion, every promoter got to share in a piece of the pie. I would argue that, if we are to see the back (a least temporarily) of riders of Woffinden's class in the British leagues, that this set-up is ideal for maximising interest in the sport. Imagine that, rather than compete in 28 league meetings for one club (14 at just one track), the opportunity was found for the World Champion to appear in meaningful fixtures at all 29 tracks currently promoting speedway! In that way, Woffinden gets to ride in his home country, the fans (old and new) get to see the champ ride, no matter where they live, and the league can restructure without the imbalance his presence might introduce.
I aleady know what you're saying - some of you said as much when I teased it on Twitter - but it's a creative solution to a thorny problem. As it is, I have little idea, and there's also very little blowing in the wind, about how the leagues will look next season, or whether Woffinden - and Ward, Holder, Iversen, or Zagar - will be welcome on these shores. I can't stress enough, though, how important it is that the right decisons are made for the whole of the sport, regardless of whether they hamper any one club's ambitions, and I hope we can trust in the custodians of our sport to do the right thing. Interesting times!
ITEM: Given that I've just supported not renewing the contract of a rider who's given good service to his club for the past half-dozen years (including riding in Coventry on a Friday night before taking a red-eye to Moscow, and onto Togliatti, for a Saturday evening European Championship meeting), it might seem a little disingenuous of me to broach the subject of loyalty. However, no-one ever accused me of being genuous, so broach it I will...
What price loyalty? What do we expect of the people who represent our clubs, and what should they expect of us? "Fickle" is a horrible word. It is used as badly and as often as such other wordcrimes as "banter", "random," and "sick". It's usually thrown at those who change their position on something because of actual events rather than the proper definition of the word, which requires a frequent change, and implies little concrete cause for such changes. It's entirely reasonable for someone to like something or someone until events make them their change their mind, often doing a 360 on their original position. That doesn't mean you are fickle, it means you are honest. As a good example, my own position on Coventry promoter Mick Horton has changed several times since he took over the club, and probably still isn't anywhere near a fixed constant. This is natural and a world away from the default position most sports' fans seem to take - that of blind loyalty. As long as I perceive him to be doing an honest job under difficult circumstances, he'll have my backing. Do something utterly at odds with the ethos of Coventry speedway, fail to take notice of the fans' concerns, or explicitly go against the wishes of the majority, and he won't.
There are certain things we expect of our clubs' representatives, and if they tick those boxes they can enjoy our full support. Chief amongst them should be an appreciation of who they are representing, and what those people care about. Riders, promoters, and team managers should understand that they are fortunate to occupy the positions they hold, and they do so at the good graces of the supporters. Unlike football which, at the top level at least, has marginalised the views of its fans in accordance with how much their ticket money keeps a club afloat, speedway cannot afford to so blindly trample on its supporters' affections. Without that backing, a club fails. So when a club employee goes so blatantly against the grain, and then repeats his misdemeanour a week later despite having been warned about it, what's to be done?
Gary Havelock spent five seasons at Poole. He didn't win anything while he was there, but still holds Wimborne Road in such high regard that you can only assume he was extremely well-paid. He's having a Farewell Meeting there next year, which seems odd considering he spent seven years at Redcar. And that Redcar was where he finished his career. And that his dad owns the place. But still. That Havelock loves Poole is obvious by looking through his Twitter feed, his public mouthpiece to the world. He also waxed lyrical about their wonderful team in interviews earlier this season, even going so far as to admit that the Bees - who he is paid to manage, remember - would struggle to beat them at home. In the Bees' programme. All that is fair enough - you can't help who you fall in love with, even if it's the dirtiest girl on the estate. Fair enough except for one thing - it's Poole, and he's employed by Coventry.
Now I'm not sure if you're aware, but there's a bit of history between the two clubs. It covers quite a few years, and quite a few incidents, but takes in accusations of cheating and threats hurled across crowded pits, through firework-hiding, champagne-stashing, and disappearing hot-water, and ending up with AGM kerfuffles, rider-poaching, and all manner of troubles at ACU House. It's safe to say that there's bad blood. Poole love to hate Coventry, and Coventry want Poole to die. Painfully. Of course, you all know this. Everyone knows this. And despite a change of promotion at Brandon, the same fans are still there, and the Ford-assisted fall from grace of the 2010 Elite League champions still rankles with the majority of those who pay their money on a Friday night. So if you were the Bees' team manager, and the one who had just guided the club to their lowest league placing for 10 seasons, you'd keep your trap shut about your love for the one thing Coventry fans are united about, wouldn't you?
I'm not sure what happens next. No-one wants to see Havelock in the Coventry pits on Sunday when we take on Leicester. To be fair, his welcome had worn out long before the past two weeks' Twitter guff, but this has added fuel to the fire. If the club have any sense, and want a good piece of PR going into the dying embers of the season, they'll get rid, just as they did with Kasprzak (who returns, like a bad smell, one Sunday, too). The least they should do is remind Havelock of his responsibilities, and give him a crash course in the history of Coventry speedway. All riders, managers, promoters, and other club representatives should understand the culture of the clubs they represent. To fail to do so is not just foolish, it's suicide.
ITEM: To cap a good year for the West Midlands - with Tai Woffinden winning the world title and the Birmingham Brummies doing their best impression of Wimpy from Popeye to get into the Elite League Play-Off Final - the Dudley Heathens finally won the National League! I say "finally" because, although it is only their fourth tilt at the title, the Heathens have been massive favourites for every one of those years, able to call upon huge support and solid home advantage, but have always fell short until now. Last night, in front of their partisan travelling support, they finished the job at King's Lynn, and lifted the trophy that their fans have slavishly desired for so long.
Last year they were seemingly robbed of the title in the last heat of the play-off final away to Mildenhall (although actually, ironically, at King's Lynn's Saddlebow Road), when the referee appeared to change a decision upon "advice" from Fen Tigers' promoter Chris Louis. The Heathens withdrew their complaint to the SCB and drew a line under the matter, although the usual handwringing dithering from NL co-ordinator Peter Morrish wasn't encouraging in terms of a decent outcome. Instead, they refocussed their efforts on this season, and it paid dividends with the Black Country side completing a clean sweep of team trophies, as Mildenhall did in 2012.
There's plenty to like about the Heathens, with their fan-oriented set-up ensuring that club and riders benefit from the largesse of some very generous individuals as well as generating a genuine feeling of belonging at the club for all involved, and also to dislike. The passion of their fans is impressive but a small minority allow it to spill over into intimidation and threats. Thankfully, the large majority - although they take it very seriously for what is cheekingly referred to as a junior league by their local rivals - are good-natured, and with a little self-policing these 1970s hangovers (and I'm not talking about the haircuts!) should be shown the door.
Where now, though, for the former Cradley side? There was talk last year of a move up into the Premier League, and a fan poll revealed 90% were in favour, despite the increased costs. Not taking that step this time around may rankle with fans who were placated with a "one last season at this level" impression, even if it was not directly stated as club policy. There's still the thorny issue of them sharing at Wolverhampton which, despite what one of the Heathens' fans at Coventry felt this season, is a big issue. Is there a future for a "squatting" club? And how long should that occupation continue? Do the Heathens continue to bank profits in anticipation of a move (and, let's not beat around the bush, running with crowds every bit as big as EL Wolves in the NL is very profitable) or do they take a step up and reduce their war-chest for a stadium of their own? And even if a suitable site was found tomorrow, it's clearly not going to be ready for 2014, so what decision do you take while it's being built? It's a difficult issue, and one I'm glad I don't have to make. One thing is certain, however - if the Heathens do step up, the rest of the NL will miss their travelling support!
Although it was less fun watching the progress of Dudley this season than in previous years, mainly because they were racing against (and beating, four times!) a Coventry team, I still want them desperately to succeed in getting home and making it work. When I look back at the British League of 1988, my first season watching speedway, only Coventry, Wolves, Swindon, Kings Lynn, and Belle Vue remain of the top flight clubs (and the Robins and the Stars have been down and come back up again). Ipswich and Sheffield are in the second division and there's no Bradford, no Oxford, no Reading or no Cradley Heath. I want them all back, and Dudley in Dudley would be a small step towards achieving that.
ITEM:I've written before about the lack of third-tier opportunities in the north, and nothing seems to have changed very much regarding that. Berwick did stage a National League level challenge match, and Scunthorpe (which is nominally in the north, but very much in the Midlands if you are looking down from Scotland) have run several, with mixed results, but there doesn't seem to be much appetite for risking an NL enterprise in a region where the Premier League clubs often face a parlous existence. Which is a crying shame because so much is being done at Development level and below, without a clear progression for those who graduate (unless they are prepared to travel hundreds of miles for almost no money).
Although it runs with three-man teams rather than the (in theory, at least) four-man teams of the Midland Development League, the Northern Junior League is still the main outlet for young (and not so young) riders based north of Sheffield. This year it expanded from four teams to five, with Glasgow and Edinburgh also staging rounds of the Northern Open Championship. After beginning the season in the NJL, Liam Carr, Luke Crang, Tommy Fenwick, and Danny Phillips all went on to secure NL team places in 2013, and Ryan MacDonald and James McBain have made the odd appearance as last-minute guests at PL level, usually for short-handed visitors to Scottish tracks.
It's a scene that grealy needs encouraging by the rest of the speedway nation, who should be mindful that the future of British speedway is at least partly in the hands of riders from the north, with Craig Cook, Richard Lawson (both Cumbria), Richie Worrall (Lancashire), and Kyle Howarth (Manchester) all representing the region. If you're of a mind to show these lads some support, and have a good time yourselves while you're at it, you could do worse than get yourself down to Redcar's South Tees Motor Park this Saturday, where you can watch the Northern Junior League Four Team Tournament - for FREE! It starts at midday, and you're promised 50 (fifty!) heats of speedway for your (lack of) money, with teams representing Redcar, Workington, Berwick, Newcastle, Northside, Castleford, Linlithgow, and the return of Barrow! If you live anywhere near Redcar you'd be a fool to miss it.
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
Wobblers (and other things)
ITEM: This is where, if I were any kind of decent human being, I'd write about the play-off semi-finals, and the upcoming final. However, there'll be plenty of stuff written about that, all of it congratulatory and masturbatory, so for once I'll err on the side of the redundancy. Suffice to say, this year's final is the nadir of the Elite League's 16-season history, and a fitting death rattle as we go into the most important winter the sport has seen for almost fifty years. Will that do?
ITEM: What entitles you to a say in how your club should be run? Note that I say "should be", because we know - from bitter experience - that speedway fans have almost zero input into the structure, wellbeing, and future of our sport, perhaps less than any other fan-supported sport. That accepted, what actually makes your opinion worthwhile, over the cacophony of rubbish spouted by people who can barely spell their own name?
Do you have to be a fan-sponsor? Putting money into clubs' and riders' pockets so that there's a little more money to waste on frivolities than there would be without you? How about a season-ticket holder, stumping up cash in advance, with no guarantee of anything other than a minimum number of meetings for your buck, yet ever filled with hope that this will be the year? Or a regular attendee, paying your £10-17 a meeting on the gate, and able to duck out of going if something better (or less worse) comes up? Maybe you're even one of those fans, who don't go any more (or just a few times a season) yet still think that they should be heard on just where their club (who they no longer support, remember) is going wrong, without offering anything positive to change it, or provide finance for those changes to happen?
The truth, as always, is a huge mass of grey, and - of course - everyone who cares enough about their club to be hurt by a defeat or lifted by a victory deserves to have their voice heard, at least a little. However, I'd argue that by going to meetings and actively supporting your team you become a stakeholder, which is one of those horrible modern words that politicians like to use for people who are affected by something without having much of a say in how that thing is run.
Worse still are those who no longer go to meetings all that much but still spend "speedway money" on overseas trips to grands prix. I've argued before about how much money is "lost" to British speedway every time the British GP is staged in Cardiff - millions of pounds, if you remember - and, while the total isn't so great, to avoid league speedway in favour of GPs abroad is worse still. It shows an utter lack of awareness for the bigger picture, and a contempt for the sport bordering on insulting. Still, better Stockholm and Prague than Swindon and Redcar, eh?
All of that, which is an unfortunate and growing phenomenon, is made worse by those people expecting a say, even at social media level where the words and ideas expressed are unusual and unrealistic and mostly illuminating for all that, in how domestic speedway is run. It's like leaving your wife for a trashier model (although ugly as sin under all that make-up) and still expecting to tell her what to do, who to see, and how she should perform in the bedroom. In that situation you'd expect to be told to "do one", although perhaps not quite in those terms, and also maybe the subject of a police enquiry into your behaviour.While no-one is calling for the police to investigate the GP whores just yet, I think the sentiment should remain the same: if you want to tell the DJ what songs he should play, you have to dance with the one what brung ya!
You'd have to be an eternal optimist to believe that, one day, we might get a say in how the sport is run. Maybe a handful of us might come into some money and buy a place at the table as club owner or promoter - currently the only way to have your voice heard - but in the event that the unthinkable happens we have to be in a position to take advantage. That means all of us with an interest in the future of the sport staying loyal to our national leagues, and playing an active role as - shudder - stakeholders.
The administration of speedway in this country is in poor shape but the product is largely right. Carry on going to meetings, keep on suggesting changes and point out the potholes that the BSPA often seem so intent on driving into, and we may get through this. Together. As it should be.
ITEM: Whatever the outcome of the 2013 World Championship, after Saturday night's final SGP at Torun, we're going to have witnessed an incredible effort of one kind or another. Either Tai Woffinden recovers enough from a re-broken collarbone to score enough points to secure his first title, or Jarek Hampel rides exceptionally well to overhaul Woffinden and win his first championship.
It's been a stop-start season, GP-wise, which is perhaps a side effect of a too-long series where each individual event means less the more they add, and the timespan between the first and last almost six and a half months, a full nine weeks longer than the inaugural series. Injuries have also played their part in the continuity of the series, with Sayfutdinov, Ward, and Holder all potential winners affected, to different degrees, by serious injury.
This has all contributed to no clear narrative, so important in telling the story of a season, and if Woffinden wins the title with anything but a blockbuster performance in Torun it will be well-deserved but anti-climactic. If Hampel triumphs, it will be a great on-the-night story, but his win will always have a "but" attached to it.
Regardless of the result, the Torun GP has become an end-of-season party for fans, and I know more than a few of you are making the trip out there (after spending lots of money on domestic speedway all season!). Enjoy the trip and don't worry too much about "narratives", "ifs, buts, and maybes", and whether we get a British world champion for the first time in thirteen years or not. There should be nights when it's about four blokes racing around a track. Make it one of those, yeah?
ITEM: In a couple of ways, I witnessed a possible future for British speedway this past Saturday. In the Midland Development League - whose Riders' Championship I attended at Leicester - we have a grass-roots organisation providing opportunity and track time for future stars and those who can turn a bike enough to race but will, in all kindness, never progress beyond this level. Also at Leicester was a demonstration of Pete Seaton's Formula2 Speedway bikes, ridden by Les & Aidan Collins, and intended to be a cheap entry into the sport for less-affluent aspirants and hobbyists alike.
If you look at the history of British speedway - and why wouldn't you? - it's, for the majority of its existence, a story of a handful of professional racers backed up by thousands of local heroes working a nine-to-five before setting off for the track. They didn't expect to earn enough from their speedway endeavours to make a living, unless they hit the very, very top - in which case their billing on a racecard probably bringing in enough extra fans to make them worth every penny. For the rest speedway was a hobby, one that earned them a bit of pocket money and the attentions of some female fans but a hobby still. John Berry wrote a few years back that, of his all-conquering Ipswich team of the mid-1970s, only two or three were full-time speedway riders, and the rest had regular jobs. That was a title-winning side in one of the sport's heydays.
For some reason, and I'm not quite sure where it changed but it probably had something to do with the wholesale introduction of foreign makeweights into the British leagues, clubs are expected to find enough cash to allow their whole team to go full-time, even in the second division, despite incomes falling across the board. I'm not arguing that the riders don't deserve it - if it were up to me we'd all be swimming in cash, and none more so than those who do a risky job - but that we need a sea change in how we view the sport in this country.
For some people even National League speedway is a joke. For wobblers, has-beens, and never-weres. Quite what those people would make of the MDL or NJL (if they bothered to stay after meetings and watch them, that is) is another thing altogether, and that's before we even get to amateur events. There is a lack of respect shown to the lower ends of speedway that just doesn't exist in other sports, and that filters upwards into the higher leagues when graduates from the grass-roots levels progress. In the last week we've seen Lewis Kerr score points in the Elite League play-offs, yet as recent as a few weeks ago he was derided by some as "just" a National League rider, ignorant of the progress he has made in the last twelve months.
I write a lot about the future of speedway in this blog because I care a great deal about it, beyond what happens to my favourite riders or how well my own club are performing. That's because my favourite riders cannot race against themselves, and my club cannot win a league of one. Every level of the sport in this country has to be cherished and encouraged and supported, because without the grass-roots we have no foundations, and a house with no foundations is likely to collapse.
So, if you're one those people with no time for lower level speedway, think about that next time you sneer at the wobblers or hobbyists, and try and imagine what kind of speedway you'll be watching in twenty years. I wouldn't mind betting it's nearer my vision of the sport than yours.
ITEM: What entitles you to a say in how your club should be run? Note that I say "should be", because we know - from bitter experience - that speedway fans have almost zero input into the structure, wellbeing, and future of our sport, perhaps less than any other fan-supported sport. That accepted, what actually makes your opinion worthwhile, over the cacophony of rubbish spouted by people who can barely spell their own name?
Do you have to be a fan-sponsor? Putting money into clubs' and riders' pockets so that there's a little more money to waste on frivolities than there would be without you? How about a season-ticket holder, stumping up cash in advance, with no guarantee of anything other than a minimum number of meetings for your buck, yet ever filled with hope that this will be the year? Or a regular attendee, paying your £10-17 a meeting on the gate, and able to duck out of going if something better (or less worse) comes up? Maybe you're even one of those fans, who don't go any more (or just a few times a season) yet still think that they should be heard on just where their club (who they no longer support, remember) is going wrong, without offering anything positive to change it, or provide finance for those changes to happen?
The truth, as always, is a huge mass of grey, and - of course - everyone who cares enough about their club to be hurt by a defeat or lifted by a victory deserves to have their voice heard, at least a little. However, I'd argue that by going to meetings and actively supporting your team you become a stakeholder, which is one of those horrible modern words that politicians like to use for people who are affected by something without having much of a say in how that thing is run.
Worse still are those who no longer go to meetings all that much but still spend "speedway money" on overseas trips to grands prix. I've argued before about how much money is "lost" to British speedway every time the British GP is staged in Cardiff - millions of pounds, if you remember - and, while the total isn't so great, to avoid league speedway in favour of GPs abroad is worse still. It shows an utter lack of awareness for the bigger picture, and a contempt for the sport bordering on insulting. Still, better Stockholm and Prague than Swindon and Redcar, eh?
All of that, which is an unfortunate and growing phenomenon, is made worse by those people expecting a say, even at social media level where the words and ideas expressed are unusual and unrealistic and mostly illuminating for all that, in how domestic speedway is run. It's like leaving your wife for a trashier model (although ugly as sin under all that make-up) and still expecting to tell her what to do, who to see, and how she should perform in the bedroom. In that situation you'd expect to be told to "do one", although perhaps not quite in those terms, and also maybe the subject of a police enquiry into your behaviour.While no-one is calling for the police to investigate the GP whores just yet, I think the sentiment should remain the same: if you want to tell the DJ what songs he should play, you have to dance with the one what brung ya!
You'd have to be an eternal optimist to believe that, one day, we might get a say in how the sport is run. Maybe a handful of us might come into some money and buy a place at the table as club owner or promoter - currently the only way to have your voice heard - but in the event that the unthinkable happens we have to be in a position to take advantage. That means all of us with an interest in the future of the sport staying loyal to our national leagues, and playing an active role as - shudder - stakeholders.
The administration of speedway in this country is in poor shape but the product is largely right. Carry on going to meetings, keep on suggesting changes and point out the potholes that the BSPA often seem so intent on driving into, and we may get through this. Together. As it should be.
ITEM: Whatever the outcome of the 2013 World Championship, after Saturday night's final SGP at Torun, we're going to have witnessed an incredible effort of one kind or another. Either Tai Woffinden recovers enough from a re-broken collarbone to score enough points to secure his first title, or Jarek Hampel rides exceptionally well to overhaul Woffinden and win his first championship.
It's been a stop-start season, GP-wise, which is perhaps a side effect of a too-long series where each individual event means less the more they add, and the timespan between the first and last almost six and a half months, a full nine weeks longer than the inaugural series. Injuries have also played their part in the continuity of the series, with Sayfutdinov, Ward, and Holder all potential winners affected, to different degrees, by serious injury.
This has all contributed to no clear narrative, so important in telling the story of a season, and if Woffinden wins the title with anything but a blockbuster performance in Torun it will be well-deserved but anti-climactic. If Hampel triumphs, it will be a great on-the-night story, but his win will always have a "but" attached to it.
Regardless of the result, the Torun GP has become an end-of-season party for fans, and I know more than a few of you are making the trip out there (after spending lots of money on domestic speedway all season!). Enjoy the trip and don't worry too much about "narratives", "ifs, buts, and maybes", and whether we get a British world champion for the first time in thirteen years or not. There should be nights when it's about four blokes racing around a track. Make it one of those, yeah?
ITEM: In a couple of ways, I witnessed a possible future for British speedway this past Saturday. In the Midland Development League - whose Riders' Championship I attended at Leicester - we have a grass-roots organisation providing opportunity and track time for future stars and those who can turn a bike enough to race but will, in all kindness, never progress beyond this level. Also at Leicester was a demonstration of Pete Seaton's Formula2 Speedway bikes, ridden by Les & Aidan Collins, and intended to be a cheap entry into the sport for less-affluent aspirants and hobbyists alike.
If you look at the history of British speedway - and why wouldn't you? - it's, for the majority of its existence, a story of a handful of professional racers backed up by thousands of local heroes working a nine-to-five before setting off for the track. They didn't expect to earn enough from their speedway endeavours to make a living, unless they hit the very, very top - in which case their billing on a racecard probably bringing in enough extra fans to make them worth every penny. For the rest speedway was a hobby, one that earned them a bit of pocket money and the attentions of some female fans but a hobby still. John Berry wrote a few years back that, of his all-conquering Ipswich team of the mid-1970s, only two or three were full-time speedway riders, and the rest had regular jobs. That was a title-winning side in one of the sport's heydays.
For some reason, and I'm not quite sure where it changed but it probably had something to do with the wholesale introduction of foreign makeweights into the British leagues, clubs are expected to find enough cash to allow their whole team to go full-time, even in the second division, despite incomes falling across the board. I'm not arguing that the riders don't deserve it - if it were up to me we'd all be swimming in cash, and none more so than those who do a risky job - but that we need a sea change in how we view the sport in this country.
For some people even National League speedway is a joke. For wobblers, has-beens, and never-weres. Quite what those people would make of the MDL or NJL (if they bothered to stay after meetings and watch them, that is) is another thing altogether, and that's before we even get to amateur events. There is a lack of respect shown to the lower ends of speedway that just doesn't exist in other sports, and that filters upwards into the higher leagues when graduates from the grass-roots levels progress. In the last week we've seen Lewis Kerr score points in the Elite League play-offs, yet as recent as a few weeks ago he was derided by some as "just" a National League rider, ignorant of the progress he has made in the last twelve months.
I write a lot about the future of speedway in this blog because I care a great deal about it, beyond what happens to my favourite riders or how well my own club are performing. That's because my favourite riders cannot race against themselves, and my club cannot win a league of one. Every level of the sport in this country has to be cherished and encouraged and supported, because without the grass-roots we have no foundations, and a house with no foundations is likely to collapse.
So, if you're one those people with no time for lower level speedway, think about that next time you sneer at the wobblers or hobbyists, and try and imagine what kind of speedway you'll be watching in twenty years. I wouldn't mind betting it's nearer my vision of the sport than yours.
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Putting The House In Order (and other things)
ITEM: Well, we're halfway through the Elite League play-off semi-finals, and the favourites in each tie look like they're in pole position to progress to the final. Assuming nothing untoward happens in the second legs (and you can never be sure, certainly where one of the participants is concerned), we'll have a decider in which both finalists have had very public money problems. Is this what the sport has come to, the problems that have been plaguing us for the past decade finally come home to roost? Well, yes. And no.
I've been a very vocal critic of what Birmingham have done this year, how they've achieved their success, and at what cost. Put simply, it stinks. They over-reached themselves, paying over the odds to attract riders that other clubs would have found team spots for at lower rates, and left a trail of debts behind them as long as Sheffield's tail. People have suggested/mitigated/pretended to themselves that this is a case of speculate to accumulate, but it is nothing of the sport. It is blatant financial mismanagement, and is anything but fair.
Allowed to happen unchecked and uncensured, it sets a terrible precedent - why budget according to what you can afford now when the rules clearly allow you to pay later, if at all? Rival teams are powerless, having to accept IOUs (which accrue interest, as if that were any consolation), and hang them if they're foolish enough to have budgeted for any money they might be owed by such a cowboy operation (such as in the case of an SCB-mandated transfer fee going unpaid because you've decide can't afford it, after all).
If you or I were owed several months' wages, we may stop turning up to work but riders that are owed money have traditionally found themselves in hot water for refusing to ride without it. There's very much a "them and us" when it comes to that sort of thing, and since Shane Parker decamped back to Oz there's been nothing in the way of rider representation that might fix it, however badly needed.
I haven't been so hard on Swindon, however. There are a few reasons for that, not least because I've always found the management there easy to approach and genuine in their application, as opposed to the Birmingham promotion's spiky aggression and nice-but-dim sob stories. (Oh, this is where I mention Phil Morris, who has stayed professional despite the house of cards tumbling down around him. That do, Phil?) But aside from differences in PR, I honestly believe the two cannot be compared.
Birmingham have spent money they haven't got, and - unless they get bumper crowds over the next few weeks - may not get. Their unpaid bills have had a knock-on effect, stretching other clubs, Swindon amongst them. By contrast, the Robins appear to have a cashflow issue, one that has been stemmed by an input of cash from the club's two main sponsors, Excalibur and Pebley Beach. Selco, the Brummies' main sponsor, seem unwilling, or unable, to do the same thing.
Swindon had money problems in 2011 that left a good number of riders and other parties owed thousands of pounds. Although it was before I began writing this blog, I was openly criticial of their affairs, but even then understood there were reasons for it. It was on the back of two terrible seasons, propping up the league and with crowds that very much reflected that. Those fans are slowly coming back, and the success of the last two season will have been budgeted for with that in mind. At Perry Barr, however, they seem to have accounted for fans that were never there, and are never going to be there. If it weren't so sad, it would be funny.
Whatever the reasons, and however they can be explained away, the 2013 EL title will be fought over by two clubs who, if they were taking part in a competition with any balls, might have found themselves forced to cut costs (and therefore hire lower scoring riders) or subject to points deductions. As it is, one of them will most likely be champion. Pause for thought.
But! It's not all bad news. As far as I'm aware (and, as always, right of reply to anyone who knows differently), several clubs will end the season in good financial shape, and some of those that have over-reached have sugar-daddies or incredibly generous sponsors to fill that gap. However, the Elite League can't rest on its laurels. A competition is only as strong as its weakest team, and a proper structure has to be put in place to ensure that ten - or eleven, or twelve - clubs can afford to compete on a level playing field, and sanctions introduced for any that break that structure, either through ambition or negligence.
Only then can our champions actually be deserving of the name.
ITEM: Okay, something positive. If you've got a big heart, if not deep pockets, this weekend is an opportunity to give something back to speedway, and to those who entertain us, especially at the lower levels of the sport.
On Saturday night, at Berwick's Shielfield Park, the Bandits will take on Sheffield Tigers (with some special guests on both sides), with all the proceeds going to help Ricky Ashworth through what will no doubt be a petty sticky period in his life. For those of you who don't know, Ashworth crashed heavily whilst riding for Berwick at Scunthorpe on August 2nd and has been in a coma ever since, although there have been encouraging signs that he is on the road to recovery.
The Bandits' landlords, Berwick Rangers Supporters' Club, have given them the stadium rent-free, and all riders and officials are donating their time to the cause. If you are anywhere near that part of the country on Saturday night, you could do worse than drop in and be entertained for a couple of hours whilst giving money to a very deserving cause. The admission fee is a minimum donation of £13 - feel free to give more if you can afford it but don't feel guilty if you can't, just showing up says more than any grand gesture ever could.
On the same night, and in a more central location, there's another event that deserves your attention and support. The second Midland Development League Riders' Championship is taking place at Leicester's Jordan Road Surfacing Stadium, and features sixteen of the sport's unsung heroes and future stars racing for nothing but the love of the game.
The MDL is in its third year of operation, and has played its part in bringing through talent for the National League and, you would hope, beyond. Ten of last year's field have had team spots in the NL this season, last year's runner-up (Ollie Greenwood) has had over a dozen outings at Premier League level, and you wouldn't bet against the same being said of a good number of this year's finalists in a year's time.
There are still some opportunities for sponsorship open (at a very basic level of financial support) but if you'd rather just watch some of the most exciting and ambitious youngsters sliding their way onto the speedway ladder, then it's just £10 to get in. With the cream of the MDL crop racing for individual glory, you won't regret it.
Lastly, Sunday afternoon brings us to Buxton, and the Air Fence Challenge. I wrote a few weeks back about the sterling job done by Dean Felton in assembling a top, top field of the stars of yesteryear, and it's no less enticing now. A title-challenging Premier League side could be put together from the riders who've passed through the Derbyshire track, and the survival of the grassroots operation depends on them raising the cash to buy the SCB-mandated airfence for 2014.
Again, it's only £10 in, and you'll be guaranteed a full afternoon of fun (and probably more competitive than they intend it to be) racing from Gary O'Hare (Stoke, Ellesmere Port, Newcastle & Long Eaton), Jan O Pedersen (Cradley Heath & Sheffield), Kevin Little (Berwick, Edinburgh, Coventry, Newcastle, Workington & Redcar), Tony Atkin (Wolves, Bradford, Sheffield, Stoke, Newport, Berwick & Buxton), Dean Felton (Long Eaton, Stoke, Berwick & Carmarthen, Sittingbourne, Mildenhall, Isle of Wight & Buxton), Glyn Taylor (Crewe, Reading, Edinburgh, Long Eaton, Sheffield, Stoke, Berwick, Bradford & Newcastle), Alan Grahame (Birmingham, Swindon, Cradley Heath, Stoke, Oxford & Hull), Rob Grant Sr (Berwick & Edinburgh), Bernie Collier (Middlesbrough, Newcastle & Belle Vue), Sam Ermolenko (Poole, Wolves, Sheffield, Belle Vue, Hull & Peterborough), Dave Harvey (Cradley Heath & Long Eaton), Aidan Collins (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Workington & Birmingham), Andy Meredith (Coventry, Stoke & Oxford), Martin Dixon (Middlesbrough, Halifax, King's Lynn, Newcastle, Long Eaton, Berwick, Swindon & Glasgow), Ian Barney (Peterborough, King's Lynn, Exeter, Sheffield & Long Eaton), and Rob Hollingworth (Berwick, Boston, Wolves, Edinburgh, King's Lynn, Coventry, Scunthorpe & Mildenhall).
With riders who have spent time at nineteen current tracks and another thirteen defunct ones, there should be a decent turnout that should go some way towards paying for the fence. I'm gutted that I can't make it but I will be donating £10 to the fund via Go Fund Me. If you can't make it it would be super nice of you to do that, too.
And now back to people making a mess of speedway, rather than propping it up...
ITEM: There are times when you think that British speedway is in such a ridiculous state that no other country could possibly run their speedway any worse. And then, probably about once a season, something happens that makes you grateful for what we have, and glad you don't live in Poland.
Walkovers aren't unusual in the Polish leagues. The most common cause is because a club, usually in the lower leagues, can't raise a team of sufficient standard to travel away, and the home club is granted a 40-0 victory. Once upon a time, and because it was a sport and results need to be genuine, the home team would be made to take to the track, racing unopposed until enough points had been scored to secure the victory, but thankfully that doesn't happen much anymore.
Occasionally, though, walkovers are gifted for other reasons, and in the top division, often with tens of thousands in attendance, and many more watching at home, such as last year's play-off semi-final farce when Greg Hancock arrived too late to sign into a meeting, and his Tarnow team disqualified (although this was overturned on appeal and the referee banned for his actions).
This year's pantomime occured on Sunday, when Torun - travelling to Zielona Gora with a narrow three-point lead over the hosts in the play-off final - suffered the loss of Tomasz Gollob, injured the previous night in the Swedish Grand Prix. Unwilling to ride with a junior taking his place (with rider-replacement already being used for the injured Chris Holder), Torun sought a two-week delay - although there was no way that Gollob would have made even that extension, they may have been able to deploy one of their squad riders, such as Edward Kennett or Ryan Sullivan - which was rejected by the home team, well within their rights to do so.
Faced with certain defeat, Torun (or their chief sponsor, depending on which reports you believe), walked out of the stadium and Zielona Gora were gifted a walkover and announced as the 2013 EkstraLiga winners, a hollow victory, even if the history books won't record as such in a list of winners.
Although Torun's actions have been deplored by everyone, the EkstraLiga clubs are already in dispute with the Polish federation over what they see as restrictive regulations placed on their business. With league sponsors ENEA very unhappy about this latest turn of events, the future for top-level speedway in Poland is very much in flux . Remind you of anything?
ITEM: I spent the weekend at two championships featuring the lesser lights of our sport, but only nominally so. That the majority of the riders in Friday's British Under-19 Championship and Saturday's National League Riders' Championship are not households names (or even what passes for that in speedway circles these days) is predominantly down to their youth and inexperience, rather than a lack of talent and drive, and both meetings were none the poorer for that. Indeed, much of the best speedway I've seen this season has been at that level, where what the riders make up for in natural ability or honed track craft is more than made up for in terms of desire and pluck.
Friday's Under-19 Championship, held in front of an encouraging rather than blockbuster crowd at Brandon, could have benefitted from a few more accomplished competitors, even at that age, to go along with the half-dozen who progressed to the latter stages. That said, there was some good racing, especially in the second-half, and a turn of events in the final that everyone except Ashley Morris and Adam Ellis saw coming, as Stefan Nielsen repeaed his 2012 success by outgating them both from trap 4 to race into a lead he wouldn't surrender.
Nielsen was a deserved winner, although Morris, especially, can count himself unlucky not to have taken the title after five straight wins in the qualifying heats. All sixteen competitors will have learned from the experience, and several of them have further chances for success at that level. Although we've been a bit thin at youth level of late, discounting Tai Woffinden, the signs are encouraging that Phil Morris and Neil Vatcher (and an army of volunteers helping them out) will soon see results from their endeavours. Despite some grumblings from over-entitled fans expecting to see 16 finished articles, the majority of the crowd seemed to enjoy what they saw and I'd imagine that most of them will be back again next year, hopefully with others in tow.
A stronger field was assembled at Rye House the next night for the NLRC, although a few of the same names were very much in the mix. As it was, experience was the telling factor, as Steve Boxall, former Rye House Rocket and now Kent King, took the honours after an aborted run-off with King's Lynn Young Star Lewis Kerr. That Kerr would race - and score points - for Swindon in the Elite League play-offs two nights later tells its own story about the growing strength of the third tier, and Boxall himself certainly wouldn't look out of place at that level.
Dudley's Lewis Blackbird was third, although he was given a helping hand by his teammate Paul Starke, who waved him through to avoid a run-off with Robert Lambert. Lambert, although beaten into third place in two of his five rides, was a joy to behold, with a beautiful style that will captivate bigger audiences than the 2,000 or so that were there on Saurday night. To see his first steps - and those of riders like him - is one of the reasons hat watching speedway at National League level is a joy, when the Elite League can often seem a chore. If I were to be given a stark choice between the two, it would be no choice at all, and I think that Dudley and Mildenhall fans will miss it hugely when they make the inevitable step up into a higher league.
As it is, I'm lucky to be able to see speedway at all levels in this country, with tracks within easy reach offering a smorgasbord of racing action. You can keep your Grands Prix, your World Cups, and your Zlata Prilbas, I'm backing British. As Alan Partridge would say, "Join Me!"
I've been a very vocal critic of what Birmingham have done this year, how they've achieved their success, and at what cost. Put simply, it stinks. They over-reached themselves, paying over the odds to attract riders that other clubs would have found team spots for at lower rates, and left a trail of debts behind them as long as Sheffield's tail. People have suggested/mitigated/pretended to themselves that this is a case of speculate to accumulate, but it is nothing of the sport. It is blatant financial mismanagement, and is anything but fair.
Allowed to happen unchecked and uncensured, it sets a terrible precedent - why budget according to what you can afford now when the rules clearly allow you to pay later, if at all? Rival teams are powerless, having to accept IOUs (which accrue interest, as if that were any consolation), and hang them if they're foolish enough to have budgeted for any money they might be owed by such a cowboy operation (such as in the case of an SCB-mandated transfer fee going unpaid because you've decide can't afford it, after all).
If you or I were owed several months' wages, we may stop turning up to work but riders that are owed money have traditionally found themselves in hot water for refusing to ride without it. There's very much a "them and us" when it comes to that sort of thing, and since Shane Parker decamped back to Oz there's been nothing in the way of rider representation that might fix it, however badly needed.
I haven't been so hard on Swindon, however. There are a few reasons for that, not least because I've always found the management there easy to approach and genuine in their application, as opposed to the Birmingham promotion's spiky aggression and nice-but-dim sob stories. (Oh, this is where I mention Phil Morris, who has stayed professional despite the house of cards tumbling down around him. That do, Phil?) But aside from differences in PR, I honestly believe the two cannot be compared.
Birmingham have spent money they haven't got, and - unless they get bumper crowds over the next few weeks - may not get. Their unpaid bills have had a knock-on effect, stretching other clubs, Swindon amongst them. By contrast, the Robins appear to have a cashflow issue, one that has been stemmed by an input of cash from the club's two main sponsors, Excalibur and Pebley Beach. Selco, the Brummies' main sponsor, seem unwilling, or unable, to do the same thing.
Swindon had money problems in 2011 that left a good number of riders and other parties owed thousands of pounds. Although it was before I began writing this blog, I was openly criticial of their affairs, but even then understood there were reasons for it. It was on the back of two terrible seasons, propping up the league and with crowds that very much reflected that. Those fans are slowly coming back, and the success of the last two season will have been budgeted for with that in mind. At Perry Barr, however, they seem to have accounted for fans that were never there, and are never going to be there. If it weren't so sad, it would be funny.
Whatever the reasons, and however they can be explained away, the 2013 EL title will be fought over by two clubs who, if they were taking part in a competition with any balls, might have found themselves forced to cut costs (and therefore hire lower scoring riders) or subject to points deductions. As it is, one of them will most likely be champion. Pause for thought.
But! It's not all bad news. As far as I'm aware (and, as always, right of reply to anyone who knows differently), several clubs will end the season in good financial shape, and some of those that have over-reached have sugar-daddies or incredibly generous sponsors to fill that gap. However, the Elite League can't rest on its laurels. A competition is only as strong as its weakest team, and a proper structure has to be put in place to ensure that ten - or eleven, or twelve - clubs can afford to compete on a level playing field, and sanctions introduced for any that break that structure, either through ambition or negligence.
Only then can our champions actually be deserving of the name.
ITEM: Okay, something positive. If you've got a big heart, if not deep pockets, this weekend is an opportunity to give something back to speedway, and to those who entertain us, especially at the lower levels of the sport.
On Saturday night, at Berwick's Shielfield Park, the Bandits will take on Sheffield Tigers (with some special guests on both sides), with all the proceeds going to help Ricky Ashworth through what will no doubt be a petty sticky period in his life. For those of you who don't know, Ashworth crashed heavily whilst riding for Berwick at Scunthorpe on August 2nd and has been in a coma ever since, although there have been encouraging signs that he is on the road to recovery.
The Bandits' landlords, Berwick Rangers Supporters' Club, have given them the stadium rent-free, and all riders and officials are donating their time to the cause. If you are anywhere near that part of the country on Saturday night, you could do worse than drop in and be entertained for a couple of hours whilst giving money to a very deserving cause. The admission fee is a minimum donation of £13 - feel free to give more if you can afford it but don't feel guilty if you can't, just showing up says more than any grand gesture ever could.
On the same night, and in a more central location, there's another event that deserves your attention and support. The second Midland Development League Riders' Championship is taking place at Leicester's Jordan Road Surfacing Stadium, and features sixteen of the sport's unsung heroes and future stars racing for nothing but the love of the game.
The MDL is in its third year of operation, and has played its part in bringing through talent for the National League and, you would hope, beyond. Ten of last year's field have had team spots in the NL this season, last year's runner-up (Ollie Greenwood) has had over a dozen outings at Premier League level, and you wouldn't bet against the same being said of a good number of this year's finalists in a year's time.
There are still some opportunities for sponsorship open (at a very basic level of financial support) but if you'd rather just watch some of the most exciting and ambitious youngsters sliding their way onto the speedway ladder, then it's just £10 to get in. With the cream of the MDL crop racing for individual glory, you won't regret it.
Lastly, Sunday afternoon brings us to Buxton, and the Air Fence Challenge. I wrote a few weeks back about the sterling job done by Dean Felton in assembling a top, top field of the stars of yesteryear, and it's no less enticing now. A title-challenging Premier League side could be put together from the riders who've passed through the Derbyshire track, and the survival of the grassroots operation depends on them raising the cash to buy the SCB-mandated airfence for 2014.
Again, it's only £10 in, and you'll be guaranteed a full afternoon of fun (and probably more competitive than they intend it to be) racing from Gary O'Hare (Stoke, Ellesmere Port, Newcastle & Long Eaton), Jan O Pedersen (Cradley Heath & Sheffield), Kevin Little (Berwick, Edinburgh, Coventry, Newcastle, Workington & Redcar), Tony Atkin (Wolves, Bradford, Sheffield, Stoke, Newport, Berwick & Buxton), Dean Felton (Long Eaton, Stoke, Berwick & Carmarthen, Sittingbourne, Mildenhall, Isle of Wight & Buxton), Glyn Taylor (Crewe, Reading, Edinburgh, Long Eaton, Sheffield, Stoke, Berwick, Bradford & Newcastle), Alan Grahame (Birmingham, Swindon, Cradley Heath, Stoke, Oxford & Hull), Rob Grant Sr (Berwick & Edinburgh), Bernie Collier (Middlesbrough, Newcastle & Belle Vue), Sam Ermolenko (Poole, Wolves, Sheffield, Belle Vue, Hull & Peterborough), Dave Harvey (Cradley Heath & Long Eaton), Aidan Collins (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Workington & Birmingham), Andy Meredith (Coventry, Stoke & Oxford), Martin Dixon (Middlesbrough, Halifax, King's Lynn, Newcastle, Long Eaton, Berwick, Swindon & Glasgow), Ian Barney (Peterborough, King's Lynn, Exeter, Sheffield & Long Eaton), and Rob Hollingworth (Berwick, Boston, Wolves, Edinburgh, King's Lynn, Coventry, Scunthorpe & Mildenhall).
With riders who have spent time at nineteen current tracks and another thirteen defunct ones, there should be a decent turnout that should go some way towards paying for the fence. I'm gutted that I can't make it but I will be donating £10 to the fund via Go Fund Me. If you can't make it it would be super nice of you to do that, too.
And now back to people making a mess of speedway, rather than propping it up...
ITEM: There are times when you think that British speedway is in such a ridiculous state that no other country could possibly run their speedway any worse. And then, probably about once a season, something happens that makes you grateful for what we have, and glad you don't live in Poland.
Walkovers aren't unusual in the Polish leagues. The most common cause is because a club, usually in the lower leagues, can't raise a team of sufficient standard to travel away, and the home club is granted a 40-0 victory. Once upon a time, and because it was a sport and results need to be genuine, the home team would be made to take to the track, racing unopposed until enough points had been scored to secure the victory, but thankfully that doesn't happen much anymore.
Occasionally, though, walkovers are gifted for other reasons, and in the top division, often with tens of thousands in attendance, and many more watching at home, such as last year's play-off semi-final farce when Greg Hancock arrived too late to sign into a meeting, and his Tarnow team disqualified (although this was overturned on appeal and the referee banned for his actions).
This year's pantomime occured on Sunday, when Torun - travelling to Zielona Gora with a narrow three-point lead over the hosts in the play-off final - suffered the loss of Tomasz Gollob, injured the previous night in the Swedish Grand Prix. Unwilling to ride with a junior taking his place (with rider-replacement already being used for the injured Chris Holder), Torun sought a two-week delay - although there was no way that Gollob would have made even that extension, they may have been able to deploy one of their squad riders, such as Edward Kennett or Ryan Sullivan - which was rejected by the home team, well within their rights to do so.
Faced with certain defeat, Torun (or their chief sponsor, depending on which reports you believe), walked out of the stadium and Zielona Gora were gifted a walkover and announced as the 2013 EkstraLiga winners, a hollow victory, even if the history books won't record as such in a list of winners.
Although Torun's actions have been deplored by everyone, the EkstraLiga clubs are already in dispute with the Polish federation over what they see as restrictive regulations placed on their business. With league sponsors ENEA very unhappy about this latest turn of events, the future for top-level speedway in Poland is very much in flux . Remind you of anything?
ITEM: I spent the weekend at two championships featuring the lesser lights of our sport, but only nominally so. That the majority of the riders in Friday's British Under-19 Championship and Saturday's National League Riders' Championship are not households names (or even what passes for that in speedway circles these days) is predominantly down to their youth and inexperience, rather than a lack of talent and drive, and both meetings were none the poorer for that. Indeed, much of the best speedway I've seen this season has been at that level, where what the riders make up for in natural ability or honed track craft is more than made up for in terms of desire and pluck.
Friday's Under-19 Championship, held in front of an encouraging rather than blockbuster crowd at Brandon, could have benefitted from a few more accomplished competitors, even at that age, to go along with the half-dozen who progressed to the latter stages. That said, there was some good racing, especially in the second-half, and a turn of events in the final that everyone except Ashley Morris and Adam Ellis saw coming, as Stefan Nielsen repeaed his 2012 success by outgating them both from trap 4 to race into a lead he wouldn't surrender.
Nielsen was a deserved winner, although Morris, especially, can count himself unlucky not to have taken the title after five straight wins in the qualifying heats. All sixteen competitors will have learned from the experience, and several of them have further chances for success at that level. Although we've been a bit thin at youth level of late, discounting Tai Woffinden, the signs are encouraging that Phil Morris and Neil Vatcher (and an army of volunteers helping them out) will soon see results from their endeavours. Despite some grumblings from over-entitled fans expecting to see 16 finished articles, the majority of the crowd seemed to enjoy what they saw and I'd imagine that most of them will be back again next year, hopefully with others in tow.
A stronger field was assembled at Rye House the next night for the NLRC, although a few of the same names were very much in the mix. As it was, experience was the telling factor, as Steve Boxall, former Rye House Rocket and now Kent King, took the honours after an aborted run-off with King's Lynn Young Star Lewis Kerr. That Kerr would race - and score points - for Swindon in the Elite League play-offs two nights later tells its own story about the growing strength of the third tier, and Boxall himself certainly wouldn't look out of place at that level.
Dudley's Lewis Blackbird was third, although he was given a helping hand by his teammate Paul Starke, who waved him through to avoid a run-off with Robert Lambert. Lambert, although beaten into third place in two of his five rides, was a joy to behold, with a beautiful style that will captivate bigger audiences than the 2,000 or so that were there on Saurday night. To see his first steps - and those of riders like him - is one of the reasons hat watching speedway at National League level is a joy, when the Elite League can often seem a chore. If I were to be given a stark choice between the two, it would be no choice at all, and I think that Dudley and Mildenhall fans will miss it hugely when they make the inevitable step up into a higher league.
As it is, I'm lucky to be able to see speedway at all levels in this country, with tracks within easy reach offering a smorgasbord of racing action. You can keep your Grands Prix, your World Cups, and your Zlata Prilbas, I'm backing British. As Alan Partridge would say, "Join Me!"
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
The Rush For The Play-offs (and other things)
ITEM: All our leagues stuttered to some sort of climax, at least of
part one of the campaign (the bit made redundant by everything that comes after
it) at any rate, and it’s the usual story of not quite getting it right.
All four (if we
include the MDL) leagues still have fixtures outstanding after the cut-off date
to decide play-offs, despite the season opening on March 10th, twenty-seven weeks ago. And all this in
a summer when we’ve had some glorious weather, with a below-average number of
rain-offs!
Still, at least the
National League and, just about, the Elite League managed to race all relevant fixtures, unlike the Premier
League where Leicester have missed out on the play-offs because Rye House and
Redcar have yet to complete their fixtures. Sound odd? It’s because if Redcar
were to get heavily beaten at Rye, their points
difference would have seen Leicester progress
ahead of them. As it is, Uncle Len’s itchy call-off finger has done them a
favour, although they may have avoided defeat by the margin required in the
end, anyway.
The play-offs were
foisted upon the Elite League by Sky, eager for a season-ending blockbuster.
They were adopted in the other leagues, I assume, as a way of extending
interest in a season which might have runaway leaders. There’s nothing wrong
with a play-off system – most sports utilise them to decide their champions,
with football being the exception (a big enough sell in its own right to avoid
the pressures of television, and with an ingrained fanbase that treats every match as important, however
pointless it may be).
But few of those
sports are as dependent on the weather as speedway, and none of them have such
a clusterfuck pile-up at the end, or go with fixtures uncompleted before the
vital places are decided.
The solution is a
simple one – instead of one cut-off date at the end of the season, have a
number (four sounds about right), spread throughout the year, by which clubs
have to have completed a percentage of their home meetings. Furthermore, there
should be no league fixtures scheduled for the final week
before the cut-off, as a safety feature. This should ensure that, as the season comes to a climax, no side is
rushing to complete its fixtures, and that farces like we saw at Belle Vue last
week need never happen.
Of course, this
being speedway, I’m sure they’d find a way to mess even that up, but in years
when the weather is not so kind something has to be done to avoid the
ridiculous situation we find ourselves in time and time again.
ITEM: Now we know the teams taking part in the play-offs, I can look
back at the predictions I made pre-season with a little smile. Making
predictions before the season starts, when injuries or avoiding them can play
such a big part in a team’s success or failure, is a fool’s errand, but I’m
nothing if not a fool, and so I plunged in, feet first, and if I’d put money on
would probably have come out ahead.
In the Premier
League I got five of the top six right, with the one I missed out on being
Leicester – who, as written above, may end up in that top six by season’s end
anyway. I also predicted the bottom two – there was no way on Earth Sheffield
and Glasgow were going to be anywhere else with the teams they put together –
and win a personal bet with Scunthorpe’s press officer, Rob Peasley, about
their lower table finish.
I had similar
success in the National League, getting three of the top four right. Who knew
Stoke would be so bad? Obviously not me, because I had them 3rd. I
did have Mildenhall 5th, though, so again I picked pretty well.
The same can’t be
said of the Elite League, where I only got two of the four play-off
participants spot on. Having said that, Poole’s
season-ending 1-7 bears no resemblance to the one they started the season with,
and I think if they’d stayed with that team my prediction of 7th might
even have been a bit generous. I had Lakeside
in the mix, but that was before they lost Worrall, who would have been a key
man for them.
My biggest errors
were placing Wolves so low (although even the Speedway Star’s Wolves fan, Steve Nock, didn’t see much of a season
for them), and Coventry so high. In my defence, Wolves have been awful away
since Ty Proctor got injured, and it was his points that propelled them to such
success early on. And Coventry?
Got it wrong, just like Mick Horton. I did
think that everyone in the team had improvement in them, but Roynon’s injury
seemed to knock all potential out of the side and our gradual slide to the
bottom is probably about right.
So, having shown
just how good I am at this prediction lark, let’s make some more, shall we? In
the National League I really can’t see past Dudley
making a clean sweep of the trophies, emulating Mildenhall’s feat of 2012. And
in the Premier League Somerset look to have just enough to see them over the
line, especially if Charles Wright continues his NL form in the PL play-offs.
In the EL I’m torn
between who I want to win (Wolves, the only “clean” team in the mix this
season), and who I think will win. I think it will be a repeat for Swindon, if I’m honest, and it wouldn’t be unearned after
a torrid few seasons before last year’s victory.
So there you have
it, that’s my three for the titles. As always, the margin for error is MASSIVE
but you’ve got to have a go, haven’t you? After all, if you don’t, what reason
can people have for pointing and laughing at you? Okay, there is buying a
season ticket for Perry Barr and still being expected to pay extra for the
play-offs, but that’s a story for another day…
ITEM: Last weekend was a bit odd, with no speedway at Brandon, and not feeling like
seeking any out elsewhere. Weekly speedway at Coventry has been a huge positive in a season
that hasn’t exactly been full of them and I hope it continues next year. It’s
true that you can get out of the habit of going and all clubs should look at how they can do it, even if it means
starting late and finishing early.
This weekend,
though, I’m spoiled, with two pretty special meetings on the agenda, both of
them featuring the stars of the future. First up is the British Under-19
Championship, at Brandon,
with Stefan Nielsen in great form ahead of defending his title.
Although, on the
world stage, we’re a little behind Poland and Denmark (Sweden are in just as
much difficulty as we are lately when it comes to producing future stars it
seems), we do have a fine crop of youngsters, and most of them will be on
display on Rugby Road on Friday night. Kyle Howarth has to start an early
favourite, but there’s realistically half-a-dozen riders who could take the
title, such is the strength of the field. It’s only £12 so, if you’re twiddling
your thumbs with nothing to do, point the satnav towards Coventry and I’ll see you there.
The following night
I’ll be at Rye House for the National League Riders’ Championship, the big
night for the stars of the third tier. It may be because it’s been a rotten
season in the top league (and not just because the Bees have been awful), but
the National League has been brilliant this year.
Having a team in
the league has meant I’ve gotten really involved, and found heroes and villains
waiting for me. I’ve enjoyed every meeting I’ve seen at this level, and come
away from all of them with a warm feeling about the lads I’ve seen scrapping
for points and the tiny amount of money on offer. The NLRC is the culmination
of that for me (with the Storm having missed out on the play-offs), and I’ll be
there, with one ear also on the news from Stockholm
and (hopefully) a British World Champion.
In fact, I might
even dress up the car and drive it onto the track, grabbing a random woman on
my way, kicking it old school like the good old days of the NLRC at Brandon, with the Miss
National League and Best Dressed Coach competitions. Join me?
ITEM: Last week’s blog was the most widely read since I started this
thing. While I’m extremely humbled and grateful for all the views, and especially
the kind words people have said about it, I just wish it was because I’d
written about something brilliant happening to the sport.
It’s still too
early to properly gauge the fallout from last Monday – or from the fact that
some of our top clubs are practically bankrupt yet still pursuing success on
the track – but I’m encouraged by the solidarity most fans feel against the
shenanigans that will do more to damage our sport than any poorly-prepared
track or contretemps between two riders on the track.
You can only hope
that the promoters feel the same way – and I know some of them do – and that steps are taken in the winter to ensure
that we can feel proud of our sport again, rather than be relegated to tiny
columns in newspapers and no coverage on the TV because we’re a dinky little
sport bent on self-destruction.
I’ve never felt
less positive about speedway than in the last ten days or so, and have probably
taken each hit harder than I should do, knowing what I know and having a life
outside of the sport. But you know what? It does hurt, and I make no apologies
for that. I care about the wellbeing of the sport because its bigger than any
one club, any one rider, any one fan. I don’t care who wins (well, not Poole, obviously) as long as it’s done right. Let’s try
and see if we can sort that, yeah?
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
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...
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...
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
Why, Sky? (and other things)
ITEM: Did you enjoy last night's televised encounter from Wimborne Road? Unless you're the most diehard, blinkered Pirates fan, I very much doubt it. Even when the competition has been somewhat closer than last night's mauling of Lakeside, the action from Wimborne Road has been less than exciting this season, and we've had plenty of chances to witness it - last night's meeting was the FIFTH to come from Poole, and the seventh to feature a team who currently lie in fifth place in the table. Meanwhile, long-time table toppers Wolves and Swindon have only welcomed Sky once each this year, despite Monmore Green perennially being voted the best track in the Elite League. Coventry, Eastbourne, and Belle Vue have also hosted the television cameras just the once, which (regardless of whether Sky switch next week's action to Belle Vue from Swindon) leaves 40% of the Elite League one meeting short of Sky's promise of 2 televised meetings per season. Still, we should be grateful, eh?
Except that, valuable injection of cash aside, what benefit does Sky actually bring to the sport? Mainstream exposure is a good thing for any sport - look at the profile of cycling since Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France - but with televised Elite League meetings seemingly randomly scheduled, skipping weeks and switching days, who is tuning in that hasn't got access to a copy of the Speedway Star or a log-in on the British Speedway Forum? To watch Sky Sports News you'd think that speedway doesn't exist - even during the massive story that was the winter of discontent we were treated to very occasional updates, delivered late at night, and revealing very little. Every other sport carried by Sky, and even those the channel does not have the rights for, is pored over in minute detail on the news channel, desperate to fill 24 hours a day, yet speedway is ignored - its best chance of attracting an outside audience editorially overlooked.
And even those broadcasts we tune into every Monday (or Wednesday, or every third Monday, or the last Wednesday in a month when you can eat oysters...) are becoming increasingly like parody. Every episode is a love-in with everything to do with Poole speedway (particularly Darcy Ward and Greg Hancock), with every story examined as to how it will affect the Pirates on the south coast. Reacting on Twitter to (much deserved) criticism of this approach, "Scoop" (who I can only assume earned that nickname on the pick & mix counter at Woolworths, such is his aversion to anything resembling journalism, never wavering from the official line) claimed it was an editorial decision he took to focus on winners - the logical extension of which implies that everyone but Ward, Holder, Hancock, and Woffinden (in the Grands Prix on Eurosport) is a loser. However Pearson may seek to justify it, it is lazy presentation which does nothing to create the stars a sport short on them desperately needs. The power of television, as proved by every reality show, is that it can create bankable celebrities, even if only in the very short term. What little exposure we have could and should be used to this purpose, advertising meetings up and down the country, discussing the talking points in the sport, and building up the minor players as very much major players.
Without this kind of assistance, and with what they have been presenting of late being very much - as someone on Twitter coined it - a #PirateWank, British speedway's involvement with Sky does nothing more for the sport than bring in cash (although even that seems to have been late to arrive), and it's increasingly hard to work out whether that injection of currency is actually a good thing, disappearing as it seems to have into the pockets of riders, and probably then into the swollen coffers of the engine tuners. It may just be that a little less money-for-nothing coming into the sport may actually be a positive catalyst, and lead to a realisation that we cannot continue to pay out what we have been, sums that have almost bankrupted one club this season and threaten the existence of many more.
The alternatives to Sky are not obvious. Eurosport have little in the way of production facilities, and ESPN have been swallowed up by BTSport, a new player and rival to Sky, who may be an option at some point, although there has been little indication they even know what speedway is. Another option would be webcasts - SpeedwayTV opened its doors this weekend, bringing us English commentary for the Polish play-offs, and I'm sure more than one promoter will have an eye on how successful it is. Pricing is obviously an issue, but the SpeedwayTV model of around £20 for a month's coverage (for 2 or 3 live meetings a week, plus access to highlights from other meetings) seems about right.
Sky haven't yet indicated whether they will renew the TV deal, which expires at the end of this season. The prevailing thought is they are unwilling to commit until they know the format of the 2014 season, but the format of the 2014 season cannot properly be decided until the BSPA know whether Sky will commit. An impasse, then, with no sense of impending climax. If only the same could be said for "Scoop" - I get the feeling of an impending climax every time he commentates on a Darcy Ward race...
ITEM: I made the plunge this week and switched from fan to sponsor, even if only in the most minor fashion. To reward the young lads for a season of Midland Development League action (of variable quality, but never less than welcome), I've sponsored the two Coventry representatives in the MDLRC at Leicester, on September 28th. It's not a massive sum - £10 per rider - but it's my little way of giving something back to novices making that first step (hopefully) to stardom.
There are opportunities of this sort all over our sport, particularly for those who really need it. I know that fans of the Dudley Heathens, although they may take the sport far too seriously for the level they're operating at, have been extremely generous with sponsporship for their riders, allowing them to buy better equipment which has aided their development. The great strides made by the likes of Lewis Blackbird, Paul Starke, Lewis Kerr, and others this season would most likely not have been possible without this kind of support, and it's not just for wealthier fans. By banding together, as I know some Heathens' fans have done, a small amount from a few individuals adds up to a significant amount presented as a lump sum.
Events such as the MDLRC present a straightforward opportunity to hand over some cash - alongside the sponsorship of individual riders (and there are still openings available for that, by the way!) you can also sponsor races, race jackets, and all manner of other things. With the event co-ordinator acting as a (hopefully!) trustworthy middleman, the sponsorship gets to those who need it, in the form of vouchers to be spent at the supplies van. But this is by no means the only way to do it - if you are interested in this sort of thing, chat to riders, their mechanics, team managers, and promoters, and see what you can do.
I don't earn a lot of money, and put a good chunk of it back into the sport every time I attend a meeting. But I can afford a bit here and there, and I'm sure you can, too. How about it?
ITEM: I travelled to Perry Barr last Wednesday not in my any hope of a Bees' away victory but because, such is the perilous state of the Brummies' finances, it might be the last time I get to see speedway there for a while. I sincerely hope that doesn't come to pass, because it's a great racetrack, even if riders race there for what amounts to late or no pay.
The highlight of the meeting - other than an angry Scott Nicholls about to land one on a fallen Ben Barker until he realised that the "brain in his toolbox" Cornishman had hurt himself in taking them both off - was reading the latest installment of Promoter Wars in the programme. It's an open secret that there has been a state of civil war at the Second City club for some time, with forces lining up behind owner Alan Phillips or his hired lackey Graham Drury. The sensible ones are the ones who've stayed well out of it, or quit the club rather than deal with one or the other or both.
The previous week's Judgement column, penned by Drury, took a potshot at Phillips over the Ben Barker transfer affair, with Drury seeimgly washing his hands of it, and claiming he had no involvement in the deal, something quite at odds with comments at the time. Drury even promised/threatened to have the BSPA take a look at certain aspects of the transfer that he felt were contrary to whatever rules are in place - the same rules that are usually ignored by promoters trying to sign other clubs' riders after those riders have already verbally agreed a deal with their parent club, I presume.
In last week's programme, Alan Phillips hit back, using his column in the programme to remind Drury that, no matter what position Drury felt he held at the club, Phillips and Chris Luty were the owners, and that was the end of the matter. It was reminiscent of a parent gently rebuking his errant child, and it remains to be seen if further Judgement columns will continue the feud, or if Drury will consider himself told off and go sit in the corner.
As funny as this all is - and, let's remind ourselves, this situation only arose because Birmingham have spent more than they can afford in the pursuit of success - it really isn't something that should be done in public, or at least not by bitching at each other through programme notes like a pair of hissy teenage girls. As always, promoters should think, "What would Charles Ochiltree do?" and try to stick as close to that as possible. As incoherent as his Talking Time programme notes were, I don't recall Ochiltree dissing Mick Bell in them...
Whatever the future is for Birmingham speedway (and I hope there is one), I can't see eith man being involved. Successive promotions have been unhappy with certain individuals behind the scenes and perhaps the Perry Barr offices need a clean sweep to sort out what seem to be longstanding issues. I wish them luck.
ITEM: With the play-offs forcing clubs to look for fixture fillers, there is often the odd interesting fixture away from the big prizes at this stage of the season. A few years back, Swindon staged a four-team tournament with the Robins taking on teams representing defunct clubs Reading, Oxford, and Cradley Heath. This, indirectly at least, led to the revival of Cradley as Dudley, and the success story that has played out at "Monmore Wood".
Sheffield, Scunthorpe, and Leicester have also looked back to the glorious past and instigated a round-robin tournament using the old 13-heat formula, with an accompanying, old-style second-half. Abandoned at the end of the 1987 season, nostalgics everywhere have called for its return, citing the reduced racecard as the perfect embodiment of a speedway meeting. The top riders met each other just once using the old formula, which meant heat 1 was the race to see - an explosive start to the meeting setting the stage for what followed. And happiness, as they used to say, is 40-38.
With an uncertain future ahead, the BSPA could do worse than consider a switch, and I'd certainly hope they keep a close eye on goings on at Owlerton, Beaumont Leys, and the Eddie Wright Raceway over the next few weeks. It might even help with prospective new tracks who have curfew issues. Nothing should be uninvestigated before the AGM, and everything considered. We're at a huge crossroads for the sport and you don't get many chances to set things right.
Except that, valuable injection of cash aside, what benefit does Sky actually bring to the sport? Mainstream exposure is a good thing for any sport - look at the profile of cycling since Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France - but with televised Elite League meetings seemingly randomly scheduled, skipping weeks and switching days, who is tuning in that hasn't got access to a copy of the Speedway Star or a log-in on the British Speedway Forum? To watch Sky Sports News you'd think that speedway doesn't exist - even during the massive story that was the winter of discontent we were treated to very occasional updates, delivered late at night, and revealing very little. Every other sport carried by Sky, and even those the channel does not have the rights for, is pored over in minute detail on the news channel, desperate to fill 24 hours a day, yet speedway is ignored - its best chance of attracting an outside audience editorially overlooked.
And even those broadcasts we tune into every Monday (or Wednesday, or every third Monday, or the last Wednesday in a month when you can eat oysters...) are becoming increasingly like parody. Every episode is a love-in with everything to do with Poole speedway (particularly Darcy Ward and Greg Hancock), with every story examined as to how it will affect the Pirates on the south coast. Reacting on Twitter to (much deserved) criticism of this approach, "Scoop" (who I can only assume earned that nickname on the pick & mix counter at Woolworths, such is his aversion to anything resembling journalism, never wavering from the official line) claimed it was an editorial decision he took to focus on winners - the logical extension of which implies that everyone but Ward, Holder, Hancock, and Woffinden (in the Grands Prix on Eurosport) is a loser. However Pearson may seek to justify it, it is lazy presentation which does nothing to create the stars a sport short on them desperately needs. The power of television, as proved by every reality show, is that it can create bankable celebrities, even if only in the very short term. What little exposure we have could and should be used to this purpose, advertising meetings up and down the country, discussing the talking points in the sport, and building up the minor players as very much major players.
Without this kind of assistance, and with what they have been presenting of late being very much - as someone on Twitter coined it - a #PirateWank, British speedway's involvement with Sky does nothing more for the sport than bring in cash (although even that seems to have been late to arrive), and it's increasingly hard to work out whether that injection of currency is actually a good thing, disappearing as it seems to have into the pockets of riders, and probably then into the swollen coffers of the engine tuners. It may just be that a little less money-for-nothing coming into the sport may actually be a positive catalyst, and lead to a realisation that we cannot continue to pay out what we have been, sums that have almost bankrupted one club this season and threaten the existence of many more.
The alternatives to Sky are not obvious. Eurosport have little in the way of production facilities, and ESPN have been swallowed up by BTSport, a new player and rival to Sky, who may be an option at some point, although there has been little indication they even know what speedway is. Another option would be webcasts - SpeedwayTV opened its doors this weekend, bringing us English commentary for the Polish play-offs, and I'm sure more than one promoter will have an eye on how successful it is. Pricing is obviously an issue, but the SpeedwayTV model of around £20 for a month's coverage (for 2 or 3 live meetings a week, plus access to highlights from other meetings) seems about right.
Sky haven't yet indicated whether they will renew the TV deal, which expires at the end of this season. The prevailing thought is they are unwilling to commit until they know the format of the 2014 season, but the format of the 2014 season cannot properly be decided until the BSPA know whether Sky will commit. An impasse, then, with no sense of impending climax. If only the same could be said for "Scoop" - I get the feeling of an impending climax every time he commentates on a Darcy Ward race...
ITEM: I made the plunge this week and switched from fan to sponsor, even if only in the most minor fashion. To reward the young lads for a season of Midland Development League action (of variable quality, but never less than welcome), I've sponsored the two Coventry representatives in the MDLRC at Leicester, on September 28th. It's not a massive sum - £10 per rider - but it's my little way of giving something back to novices making that first step (hopefully) to stardom.
There are opportunities of this sort all over our sport, particularly for those who really need it. I know that fans of the Dudley Heathens, although they may take the sport far too seriously for the level they're operating at, have been extremely generous with sponsporship for their riders, allowing them to buy better equipment which has aided their development. The great strides made by the likes of Lewis Blackbird, Paul Starke, Lewis Kerr, and others this season would most likely not have been possible without this kind of support, and it's not just for wealthier fans. By banding together, as I know some Heathens' fans have done, a small amount from a few individuals adds up to a significant amount presented as a lump sum.
Events such as the MDLRC present a straightforward opportunity to hand over some cash - alongside the sponsorship of individual riders (and there are still openings available for that, by the way!) you can also sponsor races, race jackets, and all manner of other things. With the event co-ordinator acting as a (hopefully!) trustworthy middleman, the sponsorship gets to those who need it, in the form of vouchers to be spent at the supplies van. But this is by no means the only way to do it - if you are interested in this sort of thing, chat to riders, their mechanics, team managers, and promoters, and see what you can do.
I don't earn a lot of money, and put a good chunk of it back into the sport every time I attend a meeting. But I can afford a bit here and there, and I'm sure you can, too. How about it?
ITEM: I travelled to Perry Barr last Wednesday not in my any hope of a Bees' away victory but because, such is the perilous state of the Brummies' finances, it might be the last time I get to see speedway there for a while. I sincerely hope that doesn't come to pass, because it's a great racetrack, even if riders race there for what amounts to late or no pay.
The highlight of the meeting - other than an angry Scott Nicholls about to land one on a fallen Ben Barker until he realised that the "brain in his toolbox" Cornishman had hurt himself in taking them both off - was reading the latest installment of Promoter Wars in the programme. It's an open secret that there has been a state of civil war at the Second City club for some time, with forces lining up behind owner Alan Phillips or his hired lackey Graham Drury. The sensible ones are the ones who've stayed well out of it, or quit the club rather than deal with one or the other or both.
The previous week's Judgement column, penned by Drury, took a potshot at Phillips over the Ben Barker transfer affair, with Drury seeimgly washing his hands of it, and claiming he had no involvement in the deal, something quite at odds with comments at the time. Drury even promised/threatened to have the BSPA take a look at certain aspects of the transfer that he felt were contrary to whatever rules are in place - the same rules that are usually ignored by promoters trying to sign other clubs' riders after those riders have already verbally agreed a deal with their parent club, I presume.
In last week's programme, Alan Phillips hit back, using his column in the programme to remind Drury that, no matter what position Drury felt he held at the club, Phillips and Chris Luty were the owners, and that was the end of the matter. It was reminiscent of a parent gently rebuking his errant child, and it remains to be seen if further Judgement columns will continue the feud, or if Drury will consider himself told off and go sit in the corner.
As funny as this all is - and, let's remind ourselves, this situation only arose because Birmingham have spent more than they can afford in the pursuit of success - it really isn't something that should be done in public, or at least not by bitching at each other through programme notes like a pair of hissy teenage girls. As always, promoters should think, "What would Charles Ochiltree do?" and try to stick as close to that as possible. As incoherent as his Talking Time programme notes were, I don't recall Ochiltree dissing Mick Bell in them...
Whatever the future is for Birmingham speedway (and I hope there is one), I can't see eith man being involved. Successive promotions have been unhappy with certain individuals behind the scenes and perhaps the Perry Barr offices need a clean sweep to sort out what seem to be longstanding issues. I wish them luck.
ITEM: With the play-offs forcing clubs to look for fixture fillers, there is often the odd interesting fixture away from the big prizes at this stage of the season. A few years back, Swindon staged a four-team tournament with the Robins taking on teams representing defunct clubs Reading, Oxford, and Cradley Heath. This, indirectly at least, led to the revival of Cradley as Dudley, and the success story that has played out at "Monmore Wood".
Sheffield, Scunthorpe, and Leicester have also looked back to the glorious past and instigated a round-robin tournament using the old 13-heat formula, with an accompanying, old-style second-half. Abandoned at the end of the 1987 season, nostalgics everywhere have called for its return, citing the reduced racecard as the perfect embodiment of a speedway meeting. The top riders met each other just once using the old formula, which meant heat 1 was the race to see - an explosive start to the meeting setting the stage for what followed. And happiness, as they used to say, is 40-38.
With an uncertain future ahead, the BSPA could do worse than consider a switch, and I'd certainly hope they keep a close eye on goings on at Owlerton, Beaumont Leys, and the Eddie Wright Raceway over the next few weeks. It might even help with prospective new tracks who have curfew issues. Nothing should be uninvestigated before the AGM, and everything considered. We're at a huge crossroads for the sport and you don't get many chances to set things right.
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