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Spl77

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Posts posted by Spl77

  1. Posted

    Last night I watched the TV meeting from Lynn followed by Zielona Gora v Leszno no contest in which was better. Polish league any day not just because of the bi names but for the simple reasons that you could feel the atmosphere coming over though the TV fans chanting making noise. I think that there was more noise coming from the field over the road than in the stadium at Lynn. The whole polish set up just looks so professional from the way the whole thing is presented. 

    As a side note the it was also interesting to hear how many heat wins the riders have had individually during the season. 

  3. Posted

    3 hours ago, moxey63 said:

    I know where you're coming from.

    But, personally, I'd have egg and chips every day... so long as the place was run properly and open when it said on the door and didn't keep you waiting hours before the dish was finally served.

    Imagine if the eggs were not available because they were doubling up in the cafe over the road so beans were brought in as a guest meanwhile chips were forced to appear at mcdonalds to be rearranged as French fries so chip replacement was used..... You'd end up with a plate of beans instead of egg and chips. Surely this is British speedway all over? 

    • Like 2

  4. Posted

    1 minute ago, MattK said:

    Can you give some examples of decisions an independent body would have made which would have been different to the BSPA?

    How would an independent body give someone like Guy Nicholls the autonomy to run a club the way he see fit?

    I very much doubt that an independent body would have allowed doubling up and down the golden double and the constant rule changes every winter and sometimes mid season for the benefit of one or two clubs let alone what appears to be change of heart on averages every other month. They would however form a league structure and a rule book that wouldn't change every year. This wouldn't allow total  autonomy for someone like Guy Nicholls but would at least allow for a 4 5 or even 10 year business plan to be put in place at those tracks that wished to run their business that way.

  5. Posted

    18 hours ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

    Guy Nicholls has been quite clear that the reason he hasnt bought a speedway club is that he doesnt feel he would have the autonomy to run it the way he feels would be best due to the structure and decision making process as it is

    Is that likely to change?

    Speedway is lucky to have the likes of Guy in whatever form that investment takes

    That's what I was getting at the BSPA need to wake up and accept that they can no longer run the sport and that an independent body is required to control the sport. That way you may be people like Guy Nicholls would look at being more involved knowing the framework wouldn't change each year due to self interest. I know the argument that the promoter's put the money up and so they should control it to protect their investment. However we are now at the point that if the bsap carry on the sport will be dead money so their money is lost. Let an independent body take over best case they turn the sport around there by the promoter's still have a business to run worse case? Well they can't save it the sport dies and the promoter's no longer have a business.... We'll they are well on the road to that anyway seems they have nothing to loose. 

    • Like 2

  6. Posted

    The most annoying aspect of all is clearly there are people out there who are happy and want to be involved in the sport so they must see a future. We have Guy Nicholls who is very successful in his field at Ipswich as a sponsor aswell as supporting a host of riders. Love him or hate Ford at Poole BT sport who made that cracking true grit documentary and the guy interviewed in the speedway star who was involved with Olympics sorry his name escapes me. The point is surely there are enough people with the desire because they are fans of the sport to rescue it. I think this winter will truly be last chance salon. 

  7. Posted

    22 hours ago, ChrisSimpson said:

    In my opinion, which is not that highly regarded.....

    Speedway needs to become staged and treated as a form of  entertainment more so than a sport.  Not necessarily from a results point of view but definitely from a rivalry point of view with staged banter, fights between riders / team managers, pre match enticing, after match aggro etc. Virtually the same as wrestling which is thriving all over the world packing the likes of Cardiff on a weekly basis in the USA.

    Most importantly new fans need to be found to support speedway. If you say the average age of a speedway fan is about 50, then the life of the sport here in the UK is 30 years max.

    Without new fans flocking in, and I do mean flocking in then the sport is doomed.  If we can't compete with what's on offer entertainment wise in 2018 what hope do we have in another 5 or 10 years.

    Time for big changes or time to accept the best days are behind us and thank the lord that we have the memories of better times, when we were kids etc and went to busy stadiums with atmospheres and craved the next visit.

    Nothing else to add, but nice to be slightly involved again this year and I've actually booked the day off next year to take the family to Cardiff to show them what speedway used to be like and the buzz it gave you.

    There used to be plenty of inter team rivalry and riders having fisty cuffs however that difficult for that to happen when the following night those riders could be in the same team. For that to happen you need to return to 7 riders 1 team end of. 

    • Like 6

  8. Posted

    I have to say that when Ipswich ran the John Berry memorial meeting several years ago under the old 13 heat format with the old regulations I quite enjoyed it. Team managers being able to select what gate their riders went from naming your top 5 in any order all added an element of tactics that is sadly missing now. As for the 13 heat format and second half yes I enjoyed it however my personal favourite was the old National League 16 heat  with 6 heat junior league match from the late 80s. Sadly the sport is way beyond what heat format should we use.... Major changes are required. 

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1

  12. Posted

    The best solution would be for the average for an overseas rider not failing below his assessed. So if a rider comes in on a 5.00 at the start of the season but is only averaging 3.0 he keeps the 5.00 until which time he averages over 5.00. If he ends the season as a 3 point rider he would keep his assessed average of 5 for the following season. That should stop promoter's going down the overseas route unless they are a true talent. 

    • Like 1

  15. Posted

    This may sum it all up. I live and work in Ipswich my place of work has 66 employees. Out of that 66 one goes to Foxhall every week and one goes to more than half the meetings. Another 15 or so used to go in the time frame of early 80s to early 90s. Alot of what they remember about the riders from that era seems to have as much about their off track personality and antics than it does rider and club results. One story they all remember is cook riding his speedway bike on the public highway to his local pub. One thing they all come out with is the guys who ride these days are not committed club men they don't live locally ride for others teams and so have zero chance of building a relationship with the town. As for the so called big name riders they all know woffinden and Hancock other than that the other GP riders are met with who? 

    In short the big names in speedway mean very little to those who don't attend so would not put bums on seats. There is a massive disconnect between your team and the local area mainly down to the fact they are not your team but riders on hire. 

     

     

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    On 7/7/2018 at 4:21 PM, Thornaby48 said:

    Speed way, like cricket , is very focused on averages---batting, bowling, riding.Historically in speed way the two lowest averaged riders occupy nos. 6 and 7.THis could mean a rider yo-yo into and out of the main team. At times a rider in the main team can ride below his average due to loss of form or recovering from injury and needs a boost to get back into it. The 7th in the averages must be a reserve but why not allow the team manager decide which of the 4,5,6 riders in the averages to take the other reserve position? A recent example of how this would work  is the Red car v Scunthorpe meeting.Tobias Busch returned from injury for this match ,  he is 4th in the averages,___  .48 higher than M B Andersen in 6th place. The team manager would have the option to use him at no.6 to allow him to ride back  to match fitness, then put him back in the main body of the team when he sees fit. This also means the team manager has more say in the selection of the team rather than  being a servant to the averages.

    I like this idea I'm all for bringing tactics back into the sport. I would also allow the team manager to pick where his 1, 2 & 3 in the averages ride in the top 5 and maybe doing away with fixed gate positions. 

    • Like 1

  17. Posted

    1 hour ago, waytogo28 said:

    I hope that you are not so well informed on this as you are on other things!? Less than 25,000 If it's much less than that then it's "game over" without a doubt.

    Take suffolk for example I have no idea of the average gates at Ipswich and Mildenhall. I no longer go but have 5 friends who still go to ipswich most weeks but they also go to Mildenhall every week without fail.

  20. Posted

    19 hours ago, New Science said:

    I can't be having this idea that's fans can't identify with their team because they ride for other clubs. Its 2018 riders ride all over Europe for various clubs. Bartosz Zmarzlik is hero worshiped in Gorzow. Do anybody have a problem that he rides for Elit Vetlanda ? No , its just part of modern speedway. The days of top British riders like Michael Lee just riding in Britain for 1 team are gone, we need to get used to it, its not going to change.

    But Zmarzlik doesn't guest for every other polish top flight club while also holding down a place in the Polish 2nd tier. 

  21. Posted

    6 hours ago, waytogo28 said:

    I thought Oh No! Another poor old disillusioned 65 - 80 years old fan ( just like me ), walking away after 50+ years of watching UK speedway until I read your last sentence. Now I think Oh No! We are in the mire for sure now!

    It is in the mire! I'm just hopeful those in power will do something now and address the problems otherwise I really fear for the future! 

  22. Posted

    What the sport needs in place for this winter so that it's in place for next season is an independent person or body who sets the rules points limit etc and for the top two leagues to form one big league. The strength of the league is set by the independent body based on averages and economics of the sport as a whole and not what the rich clubs want either ride in the league or don't. 

    This will hopefully lead to a better fixture list than this year and finish the doubling up that has become a farce and scrap guests once and for all. 

    Once the sport is stabilised over the next couple of years then relaunch the whole thing. The independent body would be able to work on the blue print over the next couple of years. 

    • Like 1

  23. Posted

    As a former fan I have kept an eye on this forum over the years and this topic is very interesting but at the same time sad as it appears that the sport I once loved is close to the end. I was driven away 10 years ago but mid season rule changes the farce of guests and tactical rules. I made one trip last season to my local track Ipswich and that was it one trip in 9 seasons! What drove me away was still there guests daft tactical rules and then you got to add in the double up down shake it all around rule. 

    As an ex supporter looking in it appears that the main issues facing the sport are that it's to expensive for the fans riders and every one involved. The bikes are to fast the tracks to slick the racing not great. Add in all the daft rules the fact that you no longer have your team because they ride for everyone else the local community cannot form a bond with these guys. You need to cut costs for all provide value for money and have seven guys contacted to your club and your club only. 

    I think I read somewhere that Jonathan Chapman suggests a franchise and draft approach didn't the late great John Berry suggest something along those lines in one of his books years ago.? The BSPA need to wake up or this once great sport will be gone by 2020. Work on getting the product and rules right then try and intice the list supporters back and then go out after new ones. While I'm a used to go to speedway man I'm only 42 so not an old stuck in my ways chap. 

    • Like 8

  24. Posted

    4 hours ago, New Science said:

    Didn't Hackney have a purpose built stadium in the 90's. That team went belly up, how many do Lakeside get now on a favoured Friday night ?. This idea that there is a huge market of speedway fans in London is a fallacy 

    Hackney started the 91campaign at the wick but they were known as the Hawkes.

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