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Don't make any apologies for having an opinion mate. The social media "blackout" is just token bandwagon jumping. Some things do get very personal on here I agree and the perpetrators are a small minority of keyboard warriors. Criticism is a good thing as long as it's constructive. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but it is becoming the norm now that you are not allowed to have one unless it is the correct one and on the approved playlist. Unfortunately everything now has to be this sugar coated world of unicorns and rainbows.

Bradford Dukes won the first Elite League in 1997 with an awesome team featuring Havelock, Loram and Screen yet most of the crowds were below 1000 even some I believe were below 500. British speedway crowds in 1997 were bigger than crowd figures from 2019. Probably the biggest game changer in West Yorkshire speedway was when League speedway finished at the Shay Grounds, Halifax at the end of 1985. I know there was circumstances there with having to move floodlight pylons in order to comply with new regulations and then being offered Odsal rent free, but Halifax Dukes speedway were an institution in the Town and had a decent hardcore support, indeed the speedway was the Towns best supported sport. Apparently Halifax averaged 3000 in 85 at the Shay while Bradford averaged 1000 in 86 at Odsal. I'm sure if speedway could have stayed at the Shay after 1985 then maybe the ground changes that took place there in the 1990's wouldn't have happened and the sport would still be staged there up to present times. I'm sure that speedway in Halifax would likely still be attracting some of the best crowds in Britsh speedway. If only Odsal could be transported over to Halifax. To summarise staging League speedway at Odsal would almost certainly not attract viable crowds but certainly with the shale track in place it could be viable for one off events, while a track in Halifax is the best hope for League racing in that part of the World.

Yes just think of all the promoters/stadium owners over the years who have sold their clubs for building projects, the fans never meant much to them ..... The foundations for the future of the sport should've been laid down in the early days when the cash was flowing big time, it wasn't .......

Personally, I thought it was a very well written article with numerous very salient points. It was neither patronising nor scornful, and I enjoyed reading an "outsider's" view of our sport.

OFFICIAL BACKING FOR WIGHTLINK WARRIORS The Isle of Wight Shale Track Racing Club has been given the green light to push ahead with their summer of sensational two wheeled sport. Warriors’ bosses Martin Widman and Barry Bishop are celebrating and relieved after the British Speedway Promoters’ Limited (BSPL) Board of Directors backed their plans for a full programme of events at Ryde’s Smallbrook Stadium. Warriors’ co-owner Barry Bishop revealed: “Martin (Widman) and I are absolutely delighted to have secured the support of the BSPL for 2021 which goes some way to easing the pain of the last months. The Island club withdrew from the National Development League (NDL) and the BSPL earlier this year after a fall-out over decisions made over the NDL’s future which, they believed, impacted severely on speedway’s future at Smallbrook, however the co-owners affiliated to the Island club to the NORA Motorsport organisation who licence clubs and riders in a variety of different forms of off-road disciplines on two and four wheels. Bishop added: “We have received an email that confirmed ‘at a recent Board meeting the Directors and the BSP Ltd discussed your advertised amateur events.....The BSP fully support you running amateur and practice events with Nora 92.’ “In my view this is a huge step forward for the Isle of Wight and the sport in general. We are of course saddened that we had to leave the Speedway Control Board (SCB) and BSPL but we feel this is a good start to improving our relationship with each other for the betterment of the sport, our riders, fans and overall product. “Martin and I, along with I am sure everyone else associated with our club, fully welcome their decision and we have informed the SCB, Auto-Cycle Union and BSPL of the amateur NL standard team we intend to have, that BSPL fixtures will be given priority over ours in the event of a fixture clash, and that we remain fully open to an SCB/ACU track inspection at any time that will enable the Isle of Wight to host the fantastic Great Britain Young Lions training camp in February annually and a round of the ACU British 1000cc Sidecar Championships should either express an interest to use Smallbrook Stadium. “Now we fully look forward to opening on Thursday, June 24 with an excellent season ahead, and we wish everyone involved in speedway and shale track racing the most wonderful of seasons and I implore all fans to get behind their clubs in 2021.” The Warriors have already announced an 11-meeting season, racing every Thursday (with one Tuesday exception) between June 24 and September 2. Events will include five National League level challenge matches; three rounds of the Island Masters Championship, two American-style handicap meetings and a Best Pairs. In additional to conventional speedway there will be additional attractions at every meeting, including sidecars, Formula 2 speedway, youth events for riders aged from 5 to 16, and challenges between riders on a variety of different engines, both lay-down and upright. Full information on the calendar of meetings is available at www.warriorsspeedway.com

HOPE this link works ... https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-did-britain-fall-out-of-love-with-speedway

Pleased to see that British Speedway is joining the social media boycott against online abuse and discrimination. This forum has sadly been a hotbed for insults against others both riders and others involved within the sport. I myself am certainly no angel in that respect and have often allowed emotions and personal opinions of people affect what i have posted about individuals/organisations. Therefore from now on i pledge to only comment upon riding performances, issues and incidents. To ratify that any of my comments are solely noted as my opinion on a particular matter. Perhaps most importantly to not making any sweeping statements but rather offer the my suggested course of action that may be required e.g replacing "he won't make a league speedway rider all the while its a two wheeled sport" with "i think that particular rider would benefit from additional time at a lower level and coaching on the techniques required to be a safe and successful speedway rider" With any fortune my pledge lasts and a few others follow suit.

Interesting article. It was actually sent to me by a long time friend who had previously no interest in speedway however knew that I was a fan. he found it really interesting and is now talking to me about attending a meeting when we can....

Exactly, they're the people that the Isle of Wight rely on surely? They need to promote a show/good night out not a league basically. Every promoter needs to strive to "put on a show" around their main meeting. It's easier to do that particularly for the kids on a Sunday afternoon or Saturday evening with no time restrictions .....

What do you mean? The AFA is still in Saddlebow Road .... For me, it's great to even have our sport mentioned in/on The Spectator

If Jake Allen ends up at Redcar alongside Charles Wright thats two Heat15s we can kiss goodbye to now ! Home & Away ! So somewhere in the preceeding 14 Heats were are going to need to find a way somehow ? To have sufficient leeway in those meeting to take a 1-5 and still be in front ! ..Mmmmmm ??? I know !!! can Jordan Palin take 7 rides because I seriously fancy Jordan to be our Scorpion of most resistence this season !

I agree, weekly speedway at Odsal would be instant failure but a season of perhaps individual, showcase events, like stock cars, could be the answer, an independant neutral track for play off's or the fours meeting etc, do both leagues on the same day, mind you that would lead to some riders riding for two teams, could get complicated. Odsal needs to think outside the current, severely dated speedway box.

Mickey Mouse events? A few seasons ago the Premier League Play Off Final (the flagship event of the whole UK Speedway season) was set to have two riders guesting who were actually going to 'swap' teams after the first leg... Meaning each would ride for BOTH teams... Whatever the IOW do in the coming season I would suggest that they would be very hard pushed to be more 'Mickey Mouse' than that. .. In fact, I would think even Disney would struggle to be so... Best of luck to the IOW this season...

Glad to have the benefit of your expert knowledge. I'm sure Godden Engine Builders will appreciate your advice.

I think that most Speedways already use lots of volunteer labour already. What extra ones would make it all viable Sings ? And a volunteer who gets free entry is actually being paid whatever the cost of entry is, so the club pay one way or. another. If Sings does not consider the "Use or Lose it" philosophy to be true, he must come from another Planet. If we stopped going to Speedway, the sport would die...as it has in so many places in the past. If the "end user" does not pay the costs, then who does ? Every business is only viable so long as the income from the end user pays all the costs plus a little more for a profit margin. What other way could there possibly be ???

Well written and not aimed at the anoraks of the sport. It is for those who probably know nothing about speedway and unlikely to have ever heard of the riders or tracks mentioned. From an outsiders perspective, it might encourage a few to take a look on YouTube to see what it is all about and the exposure cannot do any harm. Given where the sport is any publicity outside the normal channels has to be a good thing.

If truth were told, I think Warriors fans (and I think you have to take all circumstances into account before forming a view) would prefer league racing. Having said that, I am not aware of one of them that does not fully support the decision to pull out of the NL. Its a view shared by many others across the sport, including Peter Oakes, Bruce Cribb, Bert Harkins and James Easter as well as fans from other clubs. At the very, very least, it is completely understandable. That's because of the particular way Isle of Wight have been treated, which is shabby at best. Forced to accept a points limit that they believe - entirely reasonably - will damage their business without any consideration whatsoever and at the behest of and by clubs who have no involvement in the NL whatsoever, they have had enough and that's scarcely surprising. Perhaps what sticks in the craw most is if there had indeed been a vote by NL clubs alone - I doubt if anyone does not accept that that was not the correct way forward (after all why should Glasgow have more say about the Warriors future than the Warriors themselves) - the 34 point limit would almost certainly have been thrown out, which is probably why it was imposed. They now at least have far more choice over their own destiny, and its not difficult to argue that that is better than being subject to the incompetent, selfish and inept control of the BSPL - because if there is indeed anything 'Mickey Mouse' about Speedway, its that. I'd say a major part of Speedway's problems have stemmed from the fact that there has been so little attempt to make it entertaining and a reliance on taking its fans for granted because its a sport. The two, in my view, are indelibly linked.

Interesting article!

Well written article I thought.

A worthwhile article for the 'Spectator' and worth the read. Maybe it will encourage a few folk who have never heard of Speedway to visit a Track out of curiosity and maybe get hooked as I did all those years ago. I, for one, certainly hope so. Thanks for the Link Philip.

An excellent article for the audience it is aimed at. I will be interested to see the book when it emerges.

Well crafted, a nice comfortable read. The political link was one I hadn't considered before. Thank you for the link.

You see I dont view any meeting as "Mickey Mouse", although I admit some maybe more attractive than others. However we put on a show, week in, week out... and this is what people want to see now. It's true to say in my view we risk having a sport where the only entertainment is whether your team gets the league points or not and not the "show" on the track. For me, it's showtime every time. All the best

Well Scott Nicholls was definitely at KingsLynn .... looked very quick.trying out a new Godden Engine.

Unlikely the reporter, a professional trained journalist, would give up so easily.