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INSIDE LINE STRANGE BUT TRUE - posted 2 November 2011 Norwich finished top of South-East League Division One but came second! Strange? In the South-East there is a rule that if two teams finish on level points then the combined results over the matches are used to split teams, rather than conventional rules that see league table decided by points difference over the whole season. Statistically Norwich finished top of the league on points difference. However Ipswich have a one point advantage over the four matches against Norwich, so are South-East League champions. Has any other team ever won the league but finished second? Autumn not only brings shorter days and colder mornings but it's traditionally the time of year to congratulate and acknowledge the great and the good. Presented to the sport in 1979 by the Wilkinson Sword company, reknown for its high performance razors, the award has been presented annually to the person or persons making a significant contribution to the sport of cycle speedway. The list of winners reads like a cycle speedway Who's Who. Fittingly the first winner was Derek Garnett, still seen by a generation of cycle speedway aficionados as the greatest rider ever. The names of some other all-time greats grace the giant trophy, legends like Dave Hemsley, Roger Ellis, Pete Young and Jim Varnish. Sadly some of the sport's most loyal servants, men like Dave Blinston and Harry Glover, never did win the coveted prize but thankfully the sport did recognise Roger Nicholson for his photographic talents before his untimely death. So who's in the running for the 2011? Although British Cycling doesn't announce a short-list, some of those expected to be under consideration are Archie and Karl Wilkinson who have virtually single-handedly safeguarded the availability and supply of cycle speedway equipment, Andy Schofield mastermind behind the success of the Hull club whose status is now at an all-time high, club kingpin Paul Bodley ahead of Wednesfield's 50th anniversary and Gavin Kennedy for his outstanding contribution to Scottish international cycle speedway. Closer to home the Commission may consider the contribution of one of its own, Ian Brown, not only for his philanthropic support but the various initiatives he's involved in to raise the sport's profile and status. While those prospective nominations are all worthy in their own right, most of the smart money is on Colin Wheeler. Twice British champion (1977-1979), Colin's unbridled enthusiasm for the sports seems unwavering. Only last weekend he topped Southampton's scorechart, scoring 20 points in the South-West match at Newport - despite being closer to 70 than 60! Off-track his commitment to his beloved Southampton club is renown. Surely there could be no more deserving winner - unless of course, you know better. Who do you think will be a worthy winner of the Wilkinson Sword Award 2011? Drop us a line to let us know your nomination together with a paragraph or two why you think he or she should be honoured and we'll share it with other Spokesman readers. Wilkinson Sword Award - previous winners Football has its weekly Match of the Day - now cycle speedway could have its regular Match of the Month. Following Sky Sports screening of the British Finals on specialist programme Cycle Sports World later this month, that dream could become a reality. Thanks to the negotiating skills of professional promoter Joe McLaughlin and the technical expertise of Rob Haywood at Venture Video, supported by Shift Studios, having a Premier League match screened each month between April and September is a real possibility. Financially the figures stack up. It was always going to be a struggle to secure the £60,000 PL managers were seeking to attract television coverage but now the cost is much more affordable. The chances of attracting a corporate sponsor for a fraction of the orginal asking price is now achievable. Spokesman-Online has been privileged to see the first cut which is really excellent, especially the closing shots accompanied Heather Small's Proud music. Congratulations to everyone involved. Let's hope the screening later this month (date to be advised) is equally well received by the general public. Let's hope too that the Commission seizes this opportunity to really develop cycle speedway through the media. The television breakthrough we have all dreamed about is within grasp! There is growing speculation that Wales could host cycle speedway's blue riband event for the first time. The Cycle Speedway Commission will consider an application from the Welsh association to stage the 2012 Finals Weekend in the Principality. If British Cycling sanction the proposal, it will be the first time in the competition's 60 year history, that the 'Nationals', seen by many as the most important weekend on the cycle speedway calendar, will be held in Wales. It is expected that racing will centre on three venues, the Wales National Velodrome and Larch Grove Playing Fields in Newport and Filton Sports Centre in South Gloucestershire. East Newport and Filton would stage the senior qualifying rounds with the under-10s and under-16s final scheduled for the 'Polo'. Action on Bank Holiday Monday would switch to Newport for the Women's and Men's finals. Whether the 2012 FIM British Speedway Grand Prix which will be staged at the Millenium Stadium, Cardiff on Saturday 25 August, will have any impact remains to be seen although senior officials have indicated that this will not affect the cycle speedway schedule. Cycle speedway's injury list shows no sign of abating with several injuries reported this week alone. Some commentators are of the view that the sport is more aggressive these days, resulting in more and more injuries. Judging by comments on Viewpoint, others disagree, arguing that cycle speedway is no more dangerous than it has ever been. One leading rider told Spokesman that "There have been to many injuries lately as a result of big crashes and crazy pass attempts. Many are kamikaze dives up the inside. If you can get away with it, why not do a ram? A lot of the junior riders all shout "chuck it in" but that's not cycle speedway and it's really worrying the direction the sport seems to be going on that front." The news that British Cycling has invested £7,200 in refurbishing the Sheffield cycle speedway track is welcome news indeed. Cycle speedway deserves better facilities across the piste. At the top end it warrants a national centre on par with other cycling disciplines. British Cycling merits praise for its efforts in facility development, both in terms of the money it has invested and its expertise in developing partnership working with local authorties and other agencies to deliver these projects. Sadly, until now, cycle speedway has not featured on that programme. Lets hope Sheffield will literally be the cornerstone to better facilities throughout the sport. Clearly Ian Brown, in his role as club chairman and the Commissioner responsible for cycle speedway development, has built up good working relationships with Dave Cockram, BC Facilities Manager. The news that Sport England has launched the Inspired Facilities funding stream to give clubs a chance to improve their facilities is a huge boost. The new funding programme will see a £50million National Lottery investment in up to 1000 community sports projects between 2011 and 2014. Let's hope cycling's full-time officials will work closely with our clubs to ensure that cycle speedway gets a fair slice of the cake to improve its facilities. Why did one of the top matches of the season start 90 minutes behind schedule? That's the question facing officials after the British under-19 championship final at Ipswich, scheduled to start at 3pm didn't get underway until 4.30pm leaving several spectators grumbling, invited guests waiting patiently for the main event to begin and athletes twiddling their thumbs. The decision to switch the Women's and Girls League from neighbouring Kesgrave to Whitton was sensible, one that should have been taken weeks ago given the clash of fixtures and potential for splitting the audience, indeed in hindsight it should never have been scheduled to clash in the first place. But why didn't someone in authority give more consideration to the timing of Saturday's programme and why did the women's event take precedence over a national championship? Only a day before, in a widely circulated newsletter, British Cycling reaffirmed that the under-19 qualifying rounds would begin at 1pm with the final starting at 3pm. People arrived shortly before 3pm expecting to see the main attraction. Instead they had to wait another hour and a half - if they waited at all! Scheduling the Women's and Girls League to start at 12noon was always going to cause delay. Trying to stage 24 races in an hour was totally unrealistic, let alone fitting in the numerous Women's individual grand prix races. Not surprisingly the rest the schedule nose-dived into free-fall as the programme fell further and further behind. This is certainly no criticism of the Ipswich club who did a good job in promoting the event but why can't cycle speedway get start times right? Is it really too much to ask? Norwich pulling out of the Club Fours, the Eastern region failing to field a team in the Women's League, curtailment of the Veterans League, lowest ever entry in the under-19 individual, just eight riders contesting the 50-59 veterans championship - the alarm bells should be ringing. With the spiralling cost of fuel and an ever-expanding fixture list, it is hardly surprising that clubs as well as individual riders are struggling to make ends meet. On the other side of the coin, 117 entries in the first BYJL national round and what seems to be healthy support for the Finals weekend, suggests that more one-day and weekend events could be the answer. Over the winter cycle speedway's fixture planning needs a fundemental root-and-branch review. Do we need so many matches? Can they be justified? How can we cut down on travelling? Could we double-up fixtures? How can we make racing more affordable? All these questions need serious thought and open debate. Consideration should be given to holding multiple championships on the same day or over the same weekend, the geographical location of big matches needs revisiting, the fixture list needs condensing - in short, anything that would reduce the cost of cycle speedway to individuals and hard-pressed families can only be good for the long term future of the sport.
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