Five leading Danish Speedway Clubs: Outrup, Holsted, Herning, Slangerup and Brovst together with Swedish and German representation from Gothenburg, Gislaved and Guestrow have formed a new organization under the name Speedway Euro League. The new league has been established in order to form a European tournament as early as 2001. A board has been elected and shortly a press conference will be held where future plans will be announced, but the move is one that could prove to be positive for the sport in the long run.
According to Cycle News’ world speedway correspondent John Hipkiss, the announcement has come pursuant to rumblings that something needed to be done to shore up the independent league systems (weekly team events) that take place in the UK and across the European continent, as the talent gap between the top riders in the World Speedway Grands Prix and some of the lesser – though no less valuable – organizations in countries that play a vital role in feeding riders to the sport.
“This (Speedway Euro League) consists of leagues where there has been a minimum of activity,” Hipkiss said. “Denmark is like second-division British League, although they do have a few top riders, such as Nicki Pedersen, who is a rising star. Germany is down to about eight clubs, and they only hold meetings a few times a year. Sweden is on the upturn, but again, they don’t have that many teams. It won’t impact the Polish scene, because that’s where the money is right now, and riders don’t care if they miss meetings anywhere else to go to Poland. As for the British League, this may affect the lower order riders but not the top names.
“Overall, I think that this is a good thing, and if it ultimately can encompass all of Europe, including Poland and the UK, it will be a benefit to the sport,” Hipkiss continued. “Forming such a league could be an answer to bringing a new attraction for the fans of speedway, and might provide a bit of a rebirth. Domestic leagues are on the decline, and they cannot continue to keep up with the GP circuit, which will hold seven rounds in 2001 and eight rounds by 2002. This could be a program that would complement the GPs nicely.”
