INSIDE LINES

PUTTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT - AND CLOSING THE DOOR ON A DISAPPOINTING YEAR - posted 29 December 2009

Recent events at the national cycle speedway conference where top-table voices suggested that spokesman-online has a vendetta against British Cycling cannot go unchallenged.   spokesman-online has no quarrel with cycling's governing body or its Cycle Speedway Commission.   To the contrary. Like so many people involved in this great sport of ours, we want to see cycle speedway develop, flourish and move collectively forward to a better future.

British Cycling's staff are professional, capable and competent.   Individually the members of the Cycle Speedway Commission are some of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet.   They give freely of their time and really do have the best interests of the sport at heart.   But that doesn't mean that the editorial team, or the sport for that matter, agrees with everything they say or do.  

Contrasting views do not constitute a vendetta.

Yes - there have been some big disappointments for cycle speedway followers this year, especially   those of us urging   the sport to move   progressively forward.   The long drawn out saga over the Bury/Coventry match fixing scandal should have been put to bed months ago. Instead it is still festering almost two years after the event.   The sport breathed a huge sigh of relief at the 2007 annual general meeting when acting chairman Bob Prince made an inevociable apology to both clubs for the way the disciplinary procedure was handled, only for the official minutes to further "muddy the waters" and extend the debate.

The Commission's own regulations were under the microscope again when they failed to apply very clear rules relating to the use of ineligible riders in the Premier League.   Then came the famously controversial "Wadhams ruling", proving that nationality is for Christmas not just for life, which was also widely condemmed, even more so when it later transpired that the item was not on the formal agenda and was only added at the eleventh hour, leading to widespread suggestions within the sport that it's "not what you know but who you know" that counts in cycle speedway.

The Commission's failure to broker a one match, let alone three match, series between Great Britain and Poland was another huge disappointment.   The corresponding two matches in 2007 were unbelievable events, as good as anything you'll ever see on a cycle speedway track.   The Great British cycle speedway viewing public felt cheated - even more so when it transpired that the event will go ahead in 2009 - on Thursday 19 February in Salisbury, South Australia!!!

And talking of being mugged, the Commission also came in for criticism for their "relaxed" view on clubs and individuals honouring competition entries.   No event suffered more that the Club Championship which saw one age-category programme completely rescheduled and another marred by the absence of a Premier League team who had been "excused competing" by some anonymous person at British Cycling "so they could prepare their track for a match the following day"   Even six months on, that decision still wrankels - even more so if you had travelled 250 miles to watch them!!!  

Sadly another club championship, this time the Euro Club champs at Leicester, was affected by call-offs and poor planning which meant that in 110 of the 240 races up to the semi-finals, only two or three riders came to the start tapes.

The loss of Spokesman magazine was another disappointment.   Even the suggestion that British Cycling would replace it with a Spokesman Annual came to nothing.   But when it came to cycle speedway coverage, then the lack of any preview or report of the new-style Finals weekend on the British Cycling website was lamentable.   Imagine that happening at the British cyclo-cross or the national track championships!!

For the first time in four years, there were no British finals highlights on Sky Sports.   That was another giant backward step for the sport, another publicity disappointment.   Let's hope British Cycling is already in advanced discussions with Sky Sports to secure coverage of the 2009 final from Leicester.

Ok - we know it's difficult.   Ok - we don't always get it right either.   On a handful of occasions, our reports, accepted in good faith, have proved incorrect and have either been immediately withdrawn or clarified by way of an apology.   Sometimes a well considered report has been taken up by the regional press.   We have all learned from that experience!   And perhaps the public infighting between members of the Commission about a variety of issues ranging from discipline to publicity, from the composition of the Commission to the role of the chairman, would have best been kept behind closed doors.

Let's all learn from these experiences.   Let's all put a disappointing 2008 behind us.  

On behalf of everyone connected with cycle speedway, whether it be riders, referees, officials, or simply spectators like us, thanks to everyone at British Cycling headquarters and on the Cycle Speedway Commission for all their efforts on our behalf in 2008.   As one Commissioner rightly put it on this very website earlier in the week, here's to a happy and harmonious 2009.