Who’s in Charge ?
Well what a season - its got a good chance of being
remembered for a while probably for all the wrong reasons
!
First it was all about the sky deal. In true
speedway fashion lots of rumour and speculation, various talk about whether or
not sky wanted to keep speedway particularly in view of some of the lack lustre
stuff that was on show. Anyway deal done we move on - was it a good deal was it
bad / where does the money go anyway? who knows apart from the men in black - no
no not the riders who do second halves on vintage machines - what are second halves anyway ? – I’m
showin’ me age now ! - no those behind the scenes – the ones with violin cases
phnaar phnaar !
Us - the ones on
the terraces who pay for this extravaganza don’t get to know.
Then all the
interesting stuff starts out in a fairly laid back fashion with a certain Mr
Pedersen claiming he was wrongly excluded in a meeting and a suggestion that
there should be some mechanism in which such decisions can be appealed and
results altered – not a good idea - whoever the independent body is could end up
with more work than the incredible hulk’s tailor – in any event in that sport
that rules the world in which 22 overpaid blokes kick a bag of wind about the
powers that be would never dream of altering a result even if the 500 replays
proved that the ref had got it wrong. Once the decision has been made and the
final whistle has gone that’s it. And lets face it football must be doing
something right!
Anyway in speedway
what reference does the ref have to what is an illegal move and what isn’t
?
I ‘ve never seen anything written down
about who has the right to do whatever “he’s in front so its his line” where’s
that then in the gospel according to the BSPA/SCB etc?- anyway who are the SCB
these days – try putting it in your search engine ! In football the offside rule
– what can be simpler than that ? – many’s the time I have had it explained to
me with two pints and ashtray in the pub – of course in speedway it’s not that
easy ! Basically if get hit by another rider and stay on it’s all ok – if you
fall off he gets excluded ……no its not that simple or at least it shouldn’t be
but you are left wondering sometimes !!
Anyway then
followed the first punch up. Luke Priest in the Red corner v Sam Hurst don’t
think either of these had past form but the best was yet to come
……………
Then of course,
the main story - average fixing – allegedly. And who does decide if a teams legal or not
?
There was talk of
a principle and this was used previously against clubs who tried to strengthen –
It’s not in the rule book we heard the cry and no it’s not, but as my learned
friend Mr S. Bear will tell you it is of course in the unwritten rule book !! In
fact regulation SR 17.4.2 in the written rule book points us in that direction.
It says “The BSPA MC
shall monitor all proposed moves and be satisfied they are in the best interests
of the sport and have sole responsibility to approve all Declared and
Re-Declared Team Line-Ups, notifying all such approvals on the appropriate
paperwork”
Well there you are
then – the rules that govern this decision are not written down – some may say
they are made up as you go along – but that can’t be true – speedway is a
professional sport !
Going back to the
original theme of average fixing – does it go on ? who knows - we on the terraces have to
believe that every rider is trying
to win races otherwise its all a charade. In any event we are told that if a
rider doesn’t score any points he gets no money – what do points make ? How sure can we be that this is the case
? The only thing we can be sure of is for the most part promoters haven’t that
much money to throw around. But then there’s the rules, they are framed in such
a way that averages are everything and their fluctuations can allow team changes
– how important is 0.01 of a point or whether some one has ridden an extra match
or not anyway ?
The whole idea was
to prevent teams getting too strong and stopping what was referred to as
cheque-book speedway - probably now it would be credit card speedway. You have
to wonder which teams have got the money these days or at least the biggest
overdraft !!
One way round this
would be rider grading - I know
this has been tried in the past but it was never given a chance – was it because
there was less scope for shinnanigans ?
Keep it fairly
simple Heat leader, second strings and reserves. Gradings would be based on the
previous year’s performance and reviewed at the end of each season. Each team
would be allowed two main heat leaders three second strings etc – I’m sure the
detail could be sorted and doubtless some people will be unhappy but it would
give less scope for all the present messing about and the people on the terraces
– you know the ones who keep this sport going, may have a sporting chance of
knowing what’s going on.
Oh and while we
are at it guest riders and rider replacement - why do two teams racing against
each other use rider replacement ? Why shouldn’t they have to use their
respective no 8’s ? And the use of
guests seems to be back on the rise- it’s no good -it’s supposed to be a team
sport. What other sports league allows teams to borrow members from opposing
teams in the same league ? - maybe
it would happen at a WRVS whist drive but that’s not a professional sport like what this is
!!
One way or another
if we are going to have team speedway that’s what it has to be – other leagues –
Poland is one where teams operate with a squad system – if speedway is ever to
gain any kind of status as a team sport it has to be just that. As the number of
guests increases and the number of different teams they ride for increase s the
less meaningful the league becomes.
Anyway the
attempted team changes at
I know some might
trot out the old “no publicity is bad publicity” and to some extent this may
well be true. But these events while creating some publicity for the sport are
not what we want to see on a regular basis surely. The fact that such things
have happened should not give the impression that this is the norm. Otherwise we
may be going down the same path as professional wrestling - yes it may bring in
some new fans but if it does, it’s for the wrong reasons.
Something else –
curfews, at least two meetings have been affected by these and in my
understanding both tracks have had these inflicted upon them by the local
planning department. We have no reason to think that at either venue there have
been any particular problems and on 99% of occasions all events are finished by
the requisite time. If they weren’t and the planning authority received
complaints they would investigate and make take enforcement action. Planning
authorities are unlikely to consider taking action for one minor transgression.
After all a speedway race only lasts a minute and on one occasion a meeting was
cancelled one race away from a result being declared – couldn’t have anything to
do with the home team being behind could it ? no of course not !! The second
incident involved a rather bigger meeting and the failure to run a particular
race. In the past in one individual event I remember the curfew was blamed for
not having the full 20 heats this was mentiones in the programme – the local
planning authority apparently had given the track a 9.30pm curfew – funny as the
meeting went on until nearly 10 pm even with the reduced number of races !!
And then the big
news - a meeting of minds - declared by one of the promoters as being “a major
step forward for the sport” and securing its future . What’s the big news ?
Er well of course we don’t know
just that an independent person may join the management committee and it may be
referee Tony Steele – watch this space …………………
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