BRING ON THE BULLETS!

There’s been a fair bit of movement in the speedway world since last I annoyed you, eh?

Boris and his Cast of Idiots (sounds like a ‘sixties pop band) have – currently — given the nod for speedway to begin mid-May.

Thus, the Championship fixture-list we were earlier handed should be OK to go ahead with the first fortnightsworth of matches set for rescheduling later in the year.

Last year, I had intended to try to attend every Bandits’ match at home and away – even working out a deal with Crystal FM to allow me to give them pre-recorded programmes for the Sundays we would be at Newcastle, Leicester and Eastbourne….

Fat lot of good that did…

I’ll see what can be arranged this time around – I certainly want to go to Kent for the first time, as well as back to Plymouth — and although it’s a long time since I watched the Bandits win at Poole (last time was in 1991) I see no reason for the Bonny Bouncers not to be doing so again.

I mentioned Plymouth, where they’re back in the best league, and with a bang too – how about the team they’ve recruited?

Crumpie, Bjarne, Ruml the Younger, an exotic new Frenchie (they wouldn’t let me say Frog), Zach Cook from Oz – they ain’t half pushing the boat out down there, eh?

It even adds fuel to the scurrilous rumour their promoter Mark Phillips might be Terry Lindon in disguise, having gone up a league and announced such illustrious names! But on reflection, I admit it would be one hell of a disguise….

However, just as I was poring over the fixture-list and looking out my cancelled-flight vouchers from last season, in came the marvellous news that there will be even more away trips to plan – bring on the Bullets!

As one who has always been interested in producing young talent – my involvement in the original Scottish Junior League and our current NJL bears witness – to see a Berwick side returning to whatever they want to call it (I just say Third Division) is pure magic.

It has been a full quarter of a century since we last had a team in this league, but colour me delighted to have both Bandits and Bullets to follow in 2021….

Not only that, the structure of the Bullets is just right – two Berwicker boys, three Scots — and the other two are hardly soft southerners, Kyle being from Cumbria and scoop signing Ben Rathbone arriving from Tees-side.

Six of the seven are official “rising stars” on the BSPA list – the other is Ryan Mac, who might well be another who was left off the original rolled-out roster but since added in, as have a couple of others.

You can tell I’m excited by all this, can’t you?

Further, I believe your promotion are handling the run-up to the new season – at both Championship and National level – in just the right way.

No wild claims, none of the information getting dumped out too early and I can sense the – ten – weeks between now and our opening matches will see some further tempting tit-bits of news and information emerging at just the right time.

Some clubs – no names, no pack-drill – tend to make too big a song and dance about what they’ve got planned, only to have to pull in their horns a bit when push comes to shove.

I’d rather see things done the Berwick way – under-promising, then over-delivering!

So no promises about results just yet, but I do remember season 1995, when we contested the Academy League (as Bandits) which was more or less the same level as the current NL – and cleaned it up!

We won the league title, the KO Cup and Kevin Little scooped the ALRC!

No pressure, Bullets……………….

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Disagree with Dick – as so many do? He is always be happy to hear from interesting people at dick@crystalfm.co.uk