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QUESTION TIME NEWPORT RELISHING ELITE LEAGUE CHALLENGE
Yes, 2013 was indeed Newports best ever year. We remained unbeaten in both divisions in our region and we also retained the leagues Gold Cup.
The reasons why we were so successful was primarily that we benefitted from several East Newport riders returning to the club. This, together with the improvement of our 2012 squad, were the main reasons we lifted so much silverware. Club coach Stuart Raven was also a key person who helped us gain success.
Newport make their debut in the Elite League this year. Why did you decide that was the best route for the club?
The reasons behind our decision were that with our current crop of promising riders, together with some new additions which we were confident of attracting to the Principality, we felt we could be competitive. Our circuit was another big reason why we went Elite League as we felt the track lends itself to top class racing.
You have significantly strengthened your squad. Tell us about you winter signings.
We have made three Elite signings. Shaun Rudman and Oli Sidwick return to race in the Newport colours. Both are very accomplished riders with Elite League experience. Adam Bozejewicz has signed from Torun in Poland. Adam impressed the watching Welsh management in Australia and comes highly recommended.
We have also signed several riders on an Elite League licence. Jamie Ball, David Ball, Jack HIbberd and Will Cartwright join from East Park, Craig Nethercott and Aaron Herbert will be coming up from Exeter with Nathan Groves from BIrmingham.
Not only is the Elite League a big step up competitively but its a big financial commitment. How much do you think a season in the Elite League will cost and how will you fund it?
The cost of competing in the league will run into a few thousand pounds but our excellent sponsors, Dig It Landscapes, have helped us out a lot .
What would be Elite League success?
Being competitive in all our matches would be success. If we can be competitive, we could then well shock a few sides.
Many clubs have only survived a short time in the Elite League and then struggled after coming out of it? Do you think Newport will fall into this category or is the club hoping to be in the top flight for many years?
Hopefully 2014 will be the first of many years in the Elite League. It takes time to build a successful squad but with our own Newport riders improving all the time, I can see a real battle for team places in the next few years.
Of course, the season is not just about the Elite League. Newport also host this years Home International. How are preparations going for that?
Preparations are going well for our staging of this years Home internationals. We have attracted a match sponsor, shop local company The Best of Newport who are delighted to put their name to this prestigious event. On the downside we were saddened to hear that Wales team manager NIck Evans will not continue in his post even though he wanted to.
It really does. Newport CSC have come a long way in seven or eight years from just racing challenge matches after losing so many riders, to racing in the top tier of racing. This has all happened because of the hard working club committee members over the past decade as well as all the parents, coaches, helpers and of course the riders who have improved immensely. During the winter months there has been real concern for the future of the British Youth and Junior League. With manager Mel Perkins stepping down after fourteen years and sponsors Wosskow Brown withdrawing their support, the future for cycle speedways premier youth competition looked bleak.
But as things have turned out, those fears have proved unfounded. In fact the league will move forward in 2014 with renewed vigour and optimism. A new manager has been appointed, Wosskow Brown have agreed to extend their sponsorship for another year and the competition has continued to attract the support of its regional organisers and host clubs.
Heres what the 44 year old Engagement Officer at YMCA Suffolk had to say.
I am the current chairman of Kesgrave Panthers and I am also Suffolk Association chairman and South East region vice chairman.
How did I get involved in the sport?
My kids started disappearing on a Monday evening down to our local cycle speedway track in Kesgrave. I was happy enough to allow them to do this as, at this time, my primary sport was football and I was heavily involved in running my sons club. However they kept going and my middle son Matt was invited to an individual meeting so I thought I had better give it a look!
At my first meeting I was impressed with what I saw and kept going back and gradually helped within the club. Before I knew it I was on the committee and within 18 months I was chairman! This coming from a person who was determined not to get involved!
In the few years I have been involved within the sport I have already experienced the massive highs and lows with my daughter Bekky becoming national under-10 girls champion in 2010 and, on the flipside, in 2012 my son Matt breaking his leg which was to see an end to his racing career.
Kesgrave have firmly established themselves as one of the top youth-orientated clubs in the country. Whats the plan for the clubs future?
I inherited the club at a good time as Dave Hunting had made major strides in the restructuring of a club that was in decline. The base Dave had created has allowed the club to flourish in the last five years and the statistics show our success in the junior events (British under-10`s and also Youth & Junior).
We have seen how our near neighbours Ipswich CSC have progressed over the last few years, having originally adopted the Youth & Junior as there competition and then carrying their talented riders through to the Elite League. We use them as our motivation and inspiration to follow the same path. We are very much a junior club as things stand and hope over the next four to five years to bring our riders through to a high level.
Running the BYJL is one of the toughest jobs in the game. What made you take it on?
Funny enough I originally did not intend to take the role. My kids have passed through the competition now (although my daughter may come back in the future) so personally I dont have any direct involvement. However I was concerned that the competition may die and thought I should do something about it.
My club has adopted the competition as their main focus over the last few years and it is a valuable tool for the whole team racing and development of an aspiring club and riders so could not be lost from the calendar. Also I had concerns that with the changes that have happened over the last few years then any further changes would probably finish the competition.
Since its inception, the competition has been indelibly linked with Mel Perkins. Will he be a hard act to follow?
Being the type of person Mel Perkins is, following him is not going to be as difficult as it would seem. Mel has retained his position as regional coordinator and is sharing all of his previous youth and junior knowledge with me, so that the transition is smooth. Knowing that Mel is in the background ready to advise is a very comforting thought.
Mel is known for his love of statistics and spreadsheets! Will you be producing the same level of statistical information?
Statistics are an important piece of information in any walk of life to try and improve upon what has happened before. Start times can be reviewed and age groups can be adjusted based on this information, so my intention is to retain all relevant statistics to try and move the competition forward. There would be nothing more satisfying than seeing in excess of 24 riders competing in each of the age groups and this is what I am hoping to achieve.
Why do you think the BYJL has been so successful down the years?
In my view the success of the competition has been its ability to combine the team competition with the individual competition. It allows those riders who would not ordinarily be selected for their team to race and contribute towards their teams success whilst the most successful riders get the chance to test their skills against riders from around the country on a regular basis which is a good grounding for future elite league racing.
Are there any plans in the pipeline to replace Wosskow Brown as principal sponsors now that the Sheffield solicitors have stepped back from sponsoring the league?
Not only has the principal organiser left the completion (Mel) then Wosskow also announced they were pulling out. However like Mel who is helping me, I am happy to say the same in respect of Ian Brown. As you all know in cycle speedway, Ian is a person who will never leave you in the lurch. He has agreed to support the competition for one more season whilst I am finding my bearings which has proved to be a big relief. This buys me time to look for alternative sponsors for the 2015 season.
The leagues success depends on the help and support of many people, especially regional organisers and host clubs. Who are the key players who will be helping you this year?
The four regional reps are the principal helpers Lynne Parker (South), Mel Perkins (East), Peter Ward (North) & Ross Mee (Midlands). Having discussed the Y&J with Paul West, unfortunately there is not a need for the manager to travel to each of the national rounds, so the reps will be responsible for their own regional and national rounds. There is more than enough experience within these individuals to keep their meetings running smoothly and provide the statistics required.
Do you envisage any changes in the years ahead? For example there has been talk of not carrying regional grand prix points forward to the national rounds and condensing the four national rounds into one gala BYJL final day.
Four nationals is my view. Although a one off final would be a great event we already have this with the British individuals. What the competition provides over four national rounds is the opportunity for our youngsters to race new riders outside of their region on a regular basis to test and improve their skills against riders they do not see week in week out. This can only be a benefit for the riders if they have aspirations to ride Elite or Combination in the future.
The key to the competition is not to make any further drastic changes ! Yes I have my views on how I would like to competition to improve. However my views are not the most important. It is the views of the four regions that will count the most and in due course I will seek the views of the four regional reps for ways to carry the competition forward and the consensus of that opinion will be the one I present to the Commission when decisions for 2015 season are made.
Saturday's meeting to discuss the future of cycle speedway has certainly created considerable interest throughout the sport.
Unique in itself, the independently organised forum offers clubs a rare opportunity to have an open debate about the sport's future, in particular the escalating cost of cycle speedway and its governance.
In response to growing concerns about a variety of issues, Tim Jarvis and Ross Mee have facilitated the meeting. So what's the purpose of the meeting, what really are the big issues and is there a realistic chance of returning the governance of the sport to an independent body?
Spokesman went in search of answers to some of the biggest questions facing cycle speedway.
In our exclusive interview, we ask Ross Mee (pictured) more about his, and Tim Jarviss, plans and aspirations for the sport as they launch The Future of Cycle Speedway debate.
Regrettably, despite having lived in Leicester all my life and being a supporter of both speedway and track cycling for over 30 years, I did not discover cycle speedway until five years ago. But I was soon hooked.
Wil Burns was always good at spotting a new face and it wasn't long before he came over for a chat and to share his love for the sport, and through him I got to meet and become friends with Tim Jarvis. When Wil died I volunteered to become Leicester's treasurer, only later realising that if you volunteer for one job in cycle speedway, you soon find yourself doing lots of other things as well! Tim and I work together well, as I hope that anyone who has been to Leicester will have seen.
We understand you have a strong financial background?
Yes, I am a Chartered Accountant of over 30 years standing and I now co-own a practice based in Coalville, looking after clients in Leicester and Leicestershire. These are mainly owner managed businesses but over the years I have become the leader in the auditing of Working Men's Clubs, now acting for over a quarter of the county's clubs, which can be interesting at times!
So what's the main driver for a calling a general meeting - is it purely financial?
For me that was not the real reason for my involvement. Without wishing to speak for Tim, I know he felt for a while cycle speedway was not getting a fair deal finance-wise, and the announcement of the new fees certainly made him think about the issue once again. On my part I was not aware of the agreement made when the sport joined British Cycling and whilst I thought that the manner of the announcement did British Cycling no favours and that collecting the fees was going to be a nightmare, I was not really outraged as some were.
What happened was in discussing things with Tim I said to him that in my opinion it was 'shut up or put up time'. By that I meant that whilst cycle speedway could quite rightly defend its corner where appropriate, it did have to accept that if it was part of British Cycling there would be times when that organisation had to take decisions for the benefit of the whole body that weren't necessarily what cycle speedway wanted, and it could not keep on complaining everytime that happened. That was the price of being a member. If they weren't willing to 'shut up', then they had to investigate what other options were out there. The 'put up' was somebody actually doing something rather than just complaining.
Within 24 hours Tim had found a reasonable quote for insurance and discovered a cycling body which quite happily operated outside of British Cycling, at which point I felt I had to follow my own advice and help him expand the idea further to see if it was workable.
So whilst finance is an important issue, there is also clearly a feeling in the sport that British Cycling doesn't really understand or support us as it should. If that is the case, continually moaning about it doesn't achieve much, so it needs to be addressed in a more positive way.
Do you think cycle speedway could 'go it alone' and form its own governing body?
I would not wish to underestimate the task, but I honestly do not see why it could not do so if that is what the majority wants. Whilst British Cycling provides a framework and administrative support, the reality is that the actual running of the sport is already done by people in the sport. We would not be asking people to do something with which they were not already familiar. On the administrative side we thing that this could be simplified and the paperwork reduced.
What do you see as being the main advantages?
Clearly costs are important to people and we feel that on a standalone basis we can control these better. The accountant in me meant I looked at the British Cycling Annual Report and found that the organisation had sustained combined losses of £870k in 2012/2013. Clearly it cannot do that indefinitely and so I can only see charges rising. As an independent body we will only have to bear our own costs.
Apart from that it will mean that the sport will be run by people within the sport. That is not to belittle what British Cycling has done but the response to this issue has clearly shown that people within the sport really want it to work, and I feel there will be more enthusiasm if it were self governed.
And disadvantages?
British Cycling is a well known respected body. It would be foolish to deny there is no benefit to the connection, though clearly people have different views on the value of that. Coaching qualifications, Go-Ride programmes etc have all been good for the sport. We would need to look to come up with alternatives to these. The biggest downside would be that as a new governing body it would be two years before clubs would be eligible to claim National Lottery funding.
How would a new body operate? How would it be funded, managed and administered?
The body would be set up as a company limited by guarantee, as is the Time Trials Association.
Funding would come from membership fees from both clubs and riders, with membership for everyone being renewed on 1 January, plus competition entry fees.
In general terms there would be an executive/management committee with representation from all the regions. Clearly there would need to be a Chairman and Treasurer. The regions would run their own competitions as they do now and there would be managers for the Elite League, Knock-out Cup, BYJL, Ladies League and competitions who would be responsible for those areas.
We would need to develop policies on and control areas such as safeguarding, discipline, rules etc
A part time administrator would be employed, but solely to do the administration and not to be involved in the management of the sport or decision taking.
Historically, in the days before British Cycling, cycle speedway's main income stream came from Sports Council grant, membership fees and commercial sponsorship. With Sports Council funding unlikely and less emphasis on commercial support, can membership fees alone fund the sport's administration?
Obviously this is a fundamental question, but in my opinion it is possible. As you would expect I have had my calculator out on this and the figures show that the income raised from membership and competition income will be more than adequate in meeting the cost of administering the sport.
The idea is that our administrator will do just what the title says - administration, and that will be simplified as far as possible to keep the workload, and therefore the cost, to a minimum. Clearly as part of British Cycling the sport quite rightly have to bear a share of their overall costs including higher salary costs. Nowadays e-mail, the internet, on-line banking etc removes much of the costs that would have been present when the sport previously ran itself.
Insurance is an emotive issue. Do you think an independent organisation can negotiate cost-effective terms for cycle speedway?
From what we have done, the answer is a resounding yes. This was clearly the main issue and had it not been possible then we would not be where we are. Tim has obtained quotes from several different insurance companies, all of which were very affordable.
I know that there was a belief that it would not be possible to obtain affordable cover but all I can say is that we actually asked the question and we now have the figures. The price aside it has been a very instructive exercise in discussing what cover is needed and what is available and our knowledge now is much improved. Should we move forward on this, we have agreed that there would be a meeting with the insurers to ensure that we have full understanding of what is a very complicated area. Irrespective of what happens, I feel that the sport as a whole need to better understand this issue.
Are you in danger of being labelled as 'mavericks' and be seen as anti-British Cycling?
Clearly some may think it serves their interest to label us so, but hopefully most will see that this is not the case. Whilst as you said earlier I am not well known, I think most people will know that Tim has given the sport years of service both on behalf of Leicester and through his role on the Commission. In my case I have only ever known the sport as being run under the BC umbrella, and have no grievance with them. I appreciate that there are those within the sport who don't look favourably on BC, but in our case it is rather that we are pro Cycle Speedway, rather than anti British Cycling.
How well supported do you think Saturday's meeting will be?
At the latest count 17 clubs will be represented, which I think has exceeded our expectations. I think the fact that people are willing to travel the distances they are doing shows the level of interest people have in the future of the sport.
Is there a danger that there could be split which could be potentially damaging to the sport at this difficult time?
Obviously there will be differences in opinion, but Tim and myself felt that not addressing issues which were clearly concerning many people in the sport was equally damaging. As shown by the interest that this has raised in such a short space of time, there still is plenty of enthusiasm within the sport and we felt that this was in danger of being eroded if we simply continued as we were without doing something positive.
What do you hope to achieve by having this meeting, and what happens next?
Once we had developed our ideas, we spoke to a few people whose opinion we valued and there was enough enthusiasm that we felt they were worth giving a wider airing.
Initially we decided to invite representatives from each region to a meeting, but the response from the clubs was such that we felt that we needed to widen the invite. It was suggested that we should also invite Graham Elliott to attend, but we felt that as he was apparently visiting each region this was a more appropriate way for him to meet and discuss issues with a wider range of members.
What I would like to emphasise is that whilst we have started the ball rolling, this is not Tim and Ross's masterplan for cycle speedway. Nor is it a cure for cycle speedways ills. We just wanted to put forward what we thought were valid ideas and see what people had to say, both positive and negative.
If the general feeling is that there is something worthwhile, then we want to then incorporate all suggestions and criticisms and develop the idea into something more structured that can be discussed by the sport as a whole.
What happens then, or whether we continue to be involved, will be down to the sport and not us.
Editors Note Thank you Ross for your open and candid reply to our questions. It promises to be a fascinating debate on Saturday.
If your club has not yet asked to join the meeting and would like to do so, please contact Tim Jarvis at [email protected] without delay.
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