'Scotch' but No Rye
Posted 08/10/06

With only a few hours to go to tapes up, rumours started to circulate on the internet that one of the teams due to compete in today's pairs event at Glasgow would not be turning up. The team in question was Rye House and the rumours were soon shown to be accurate.

There is currently plenty being written on various message boards about the situation and Rye House's apparent disregard for the speedway fan. It is unlikely that they are the only team to have pulled a fast one in this way this season but to claim five riders are suddenly struck down at the same time with a variety of illness and/or injury is stretching even Enid Blyton's imagination a bit.

Those of us at Glasgow may be up in arms - and rightly so - at the contempt they have shown us and our promotion but there is a far wider picture. Speedway itself gets another whack across the face by one of its own. Credibility again becomes a word that can have no association with the sport whilst things like this are allowed to happen.

Today is over with, we all know that despite the BSPA's willingness to slap a 7 day ban on Danny Bird last month for daring to try and come back too early from being physically sick that there are sadly unlikely to be recriminations of this nature against the 'Rye House Four' (one of the five was a stand in last night in fairness).

If speedway is to have a chance however, things must change behind the scenes now to prevent any more farces of this ilk. The only blessing about it being today that this stunt has been pulled is that many other promoters were present at Glasgow today having made the time and effort to pull together a team to respect the HONOUR of being selected as qualifiers for the Premier League fours Event. Mildenhall and Edinburgh spring to mind as two clubs who did all they could to make sure they could compete.

Those clubs who qualified and turned up in whatever guise today showed that their priorities - whilst rightly tinted by their own clubs colour's - are with speedway as a whole.

The insular views shown by Rye House speedway today have no place in the sport if it is to survive.

Interestingly, at the original staging of the Pairs in June, Rye House rider Edward Kennett was one of the two most vocal in getting the meeting called off.