Speedway Star, 26th January
(Posted 24/01/08)

The following article appeared in the Speedway Star 26th January 2008.

The full article reads:-

Angry Pairman

Angry Glasgow co-promoter Gordon Pairman has hit back at suggestions that Birmingham's Phil Morris has been given the all-clear for his part in the crash which ended David McAllan's career last season.

Pairman was concerned by a headline in last week's Speedway Star which, he believes, created the impression that Morris was not guilty.

Morris was thrown out of the Glasgow v Birmingham clash in October and was also banned from a guest appearance in the second part of a double header for his part in the incident.

SCB boss Graham Reeve clarified the matter in last week's article by saying the board's view was of sufficient punishment for the Welshman.

He said: "The board looked at the evidence and came to the conclusion that no further action was necessary. There was no malice in the incident on Phil's part, it was quite simply one of those very unfortunate situations that can happen in our sport".

But the headline 'Morris Gets SCB All-Clear' is what has caused Pairman most concern.

He said: 'I thought the headline was misleading as it seemed to imply the SCB had rules that Phil Morris was not to blame for the accident which ended David McAllan's speedway career.

My understanding is that the SCB ruled that being banned from the remainder of the Glasgow v Birmingham meeting and then being stopped from riding a a guest for Stoke in the second part of the double header was sufficient financial penalty, and that any additional fine or sanction was not necessary. That surely is far from being given the all-clear.

It is not up to me to comment one way or another on the SCB's ruling - to do so would undermine its authority - but I think the article gave the wrong impression both in terms of the SCB's action and of the accident itself.

I was also disappointed that there seemed to be no expression of remorse from Phil about what happened. I don't expect him to apologise for something he sees as a racing incident, but it would have been good to read somewhere that he regrets what has happened to David.

I do not believe for one moment that Phil had any intentions of hurting David but, having looked at the video several times I do think a collision either between the two riders or between one of them and the safety fence was inevitable after Phil 'shut the door' on David.

I am aware of some ill-feeling towards Phil because of this incident but I believe that is more to do with the consequences than the incident itself.

Had David been less severely injured, Phil would still not be popular at Ashfield, but there would not be the level of hostility which there appears to be.

Alan Dick and I discussed this last week as we are concerned about the reaction that Phil will get when he next races at Glasgow, we have come up with what we believe will be a workable solution.

Alan will speak to Graham Drury at the next General Council Meeting in the hope that we can all find a way to put this unfortunate event behind us.'