ALUN Rossiter says that British speedway’s current eligibility crisis could be considered a blessing in disguise as the sport looks to fall in line with the country’s immigration rules.

Swindon Robins manager Rossiter is one of a host of speedway bosses meeting with UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) representatives at British Speedway Promoters’ Association (BPSA) headquarters today to attempt to thrash out a solution to the eligibility issues facing non-EU riders.

Last week, riders from outside Europe, including Swindon Robins’ Troy Batchelor, had their visas revoked whilst British clubs lost their sponsorship licenses after the Home Office discovered that the sport’s employment of non-EU athletes didn’t comply with their rules.

Speedway chiefs and the UKVI are hoping to reach an amicable solution at a workshop at the BPSA offices in Rugby and Rossiter, who had an Italian skiing holiday rudely interrupted by news of the eligibility controversy, is confident of a positive conclusion.

“I didn’t really know anything about it. I got a text off Matt Ford (Poole Pirates owner) saying ‘what do you think of today’s news?’ and I said ‘I don’t know, I’m out on the piste’. Then my phone went into meltdown at the end of the day,” said the Robins boss.

“We’re going to discuss all about the little bits and bobs and what we have to do. They did say that they would try and help us and push it on quickly.

“Looking at it, I think it’s probably right, what’s happening now. We need a sound footing and we need to know where we’re going with the border agency.

“It’s not all doom and gloom. Whilst it’s put the frighteners on a few people and stuff like that, I think it’s good that we’ve got to get in line and make sure things are done properly.

“We’re being guided in the right direction, I think.

“It’s one of those things that has just been going for years and it’s rattled along but to find out you’re doing something wrong and they can just take someone away; I’m kind of all for this.

“I’m all for it, that they’re actually going to get it sorted, and we’ve got a line – we know what the rules are, we know what we can do.

“It is a little bit of a worry for some people but the bottom line is that we need to make sure that we know the rules and which line to follow.

“There’s no good putting a rider in that isn’t going to achieve a certain average but in the mean time, we still need Australian riders and we still need American riders out there because they base themselves from Great Britain.

“I think we’ve all got to re-do our sponsorship forms but once we’ve done that, we’ve been given assurances that they will work with us to move things along swiftly and quickly.”