The Darcy Ward Invitational 2017 - Poole

[Steve Shovlar 10,439]

The place was full due to being a line up of rarely seen riders AND it being the first meeting. If you think that justifies handing over £30 for two people to watch 6 races and for Darcy to grab the lot is disgusting (yes my opinion) . It being called off DOES NOT JUSTIFY us paying fans not being entitled to reduced admission next week. If not, I or my son will not be attending next Wednesday and my further attendances will be reduced the rest of the season. I am not a fool and being spoken to the way that utter b1tch of a H&S woman spoke to me I could stick my fingers up to it all! I am on a disability Steve I don't earn thousands as you likely do. I don't care if you disagree with me. Right now I hate speedway and the ar2es that run it.

Of course you are entitled to disagree. And I wouldn't tolerate being talked down to by a h&e steward either. But it was a charity event and refunds or part refunds should not be asked for or given. Like giving a fiver to a bucket collection and asking him to give you £4 back out the bucket. It just isn't done.

 

From the Poole website.

The bad weather during the week that resulted in the club's Press and Practice day being limited to just interviews and photo-calls and no on-track action, left the circuit extremely inconsistent and, in the words of Chris Holder "like a sponge on the first turn".

 

Unfortunate and disappointing but nothing more.

[lukasdrymllukas 135]

And I wouldn't tolerate being talked down to by a h&e steward either.

 

Blimey...Not only are you carrot crunchers west of Sussex, but starkers carrot crunchers to boot!

 

I'll stick to the National League thank you very much !

[poole keith 910]

total shambles shovlar,many people in the restuarant really pixxed off,some discount on next meeting would be good gesture,though many around us not going wed anyway,bad day for fordy and poole speedway,that hartwell bloke seems to have displayed very bad manners on many occasions great pr.and steve if you feel so strongly about dw fundraising theres nothing stopping you putting an extra grand or 5k or perhaps 10k into the fund this afternoon,you have no right to try and tell others what to give though.

[Halifaxtiger 5,318]

Of course you are entitled to disagree. And I wouldn't tolerate being talked down to by a h&e steward either. But it was a charity event and refunds or part refunds should not be asked for or given. Like giving a fiver to a bucket collection and asking him to give you £4 back out the bucket. It just isn't done.

 

From the Poole website.

The bad weather during the week that resulted in the club's Press and Practice day being limited to just interviews and photo-calls and no on-track action, left the circuit extremely inconsistent and, in the words of Chris Holder "like a sponge on the first turn".

 

Unfortunate and disappointing but nothing more.

 

You need to learn the difference between a donation and a charity event.

 

With a donation, you give money and expect nothing in return. With a charity event, you pay for something in the knowledge that the money will be going to a good cause.

 

This was the latter, and those who paid their entry have every right to expect that they will get what they paid for.

[Star Lady 5,400]

Of course you are entitled to disagree. And I wouldn't tolerate being talked down to by a h&e steward either. But it was a charity event and refunds or part refunds should not be asked for or given. Like giving a fiver to a bucket collection and asking him to give you £4 back out the bucket. It just isn't done.

 

 

 

 

You dont get it do you Steve.

 

It was not a charity event. It was a speedway meeting and as such people paid good money. They paid that money to SEE a speedway meeting, If they had simply wanted to give money to Darcy they could have quite easily, via a website whilst sitting at home and donated to Comic Relief from the warmth and comfort of their own home. That way they would have been given and evenings entertainment and not taken for mugs.

 

A simple gesture to the fans of even a 10% discount on a future meeting is all that would have been required. Or did the riders till demand their full payment? did the promotion still demand full payment? but that's OK we will just fleece the fans they won't mind cos it's all for charity.

 

Last night did a massive disservice to Darcy Ward and his "need" to raise funds for his future, Even worse than that it will cloud the future intentions of any fans who might be considering attending a speedway event for stricken riders in the future.

 

The Poole promotion should hang their heads in shame.

[Steve Shovlar 10,439]

Dear oh dear over reaction to a meeting where the track was affected by all the rain.

 

It was a charity event. Get over it. Asking for a refund or part refund is ultimate bad taste.

[Star Lady 5,400]

 

It was a charity event. Get over it. Asking for a refund or part refund is ultimate bad taste.

 

 

You still don't get it. I didn't say people should ask for a refund, I said Poole should offer one. A massive difference and probably many fans wouldn't take up the offer but it would be a big plus PR wise all round. If Darcy had to take less money than expected.....well rubbish happens that's life. If he is genuine in his respect for fans, and I have no reason to doubt it, he would understand.

[Bagpuss 10,778]

Another nail in the coffin.

 

It's not really about raising money for Ward, it's about customer care and to chuck everyone out after eight wet heats with no financial gesture whatsoever is pretty poor. It's not just Poole and Ford, it's speedway in general in the UK that is guilty of this and it has to change. Since the Swindon farce last year at Lynn I've given up going to meetings where there is even the slightest risk of the track not being right for speedway as its just not worth the risk of wasting the best part of twenty hard earned notes.

Edited March 25, 2017 by Gordon Bennett

[mdmc82 2,878]

Dear oh dear over reaction to a meeting where the track was affected by all the rain.

 

It was a charity event. Get over it. Asking for a refund or part refund is ultimate bad taste.

You are coming across like a child throwing their toys out of the pram

 

The Poole track has been rubbish for years now. Holder, Ward, JK and iversen to name a few all confirmed that last year. You claim it was waterlogged, then why start the meeting so you can take everybody's money when you know it's unlikely to go ahead?

 

The track wasn't reported as waterlogged. It was deemed unfit to ride. However as Darcy stated "unfit and rubbish is standard at Poole.

 

You are embarrassing yourself with your desperation to defend all things Poole. This is no different to the belle Vue mess last year that you were quick to fault those involved over. In fact this is worse and no refund or discounts have been given

[spin king junior 394]

So what's happening next? Will the meeting be restaged? Will people get a part refund? Obviously the money is going to a good cause in helping out Darcy and the intention was there to put on a standard of meeting that wouldn't be seen in the UK with the exception of the Grand Prix at Cardiff. But for people to go home pretty much empty handed is pretty shameful and wrong, no matter what the intention of the meeting is.

 

 

At the end of the day no one's a winner from this. The public have paid a premium to see 8 heats, Poole look very amatuer and will probably lose out on a lot of potential new fans and the sport,once again, just looks garbage in the public eye.

Edited March 25, 2017 by skj

[Steve Shovlar 10,439]

You are coming across like a child throwing their toys out of the pram

 

You are coming across as someone getting joy out of the fact the track had issues due to all the rain we had. Perhaps you should worry about your own track first.

 

It has been reported the first bend was spongy, due to the water in the shale. Nothing anyone could do about it. Unfortunate. If it was an official Poole fixture I am sure Matt would have been offering part refunds but as it was a charity meeting with the money going to a Darcy, it is not Matt Fords money to refund.

 

Someone said last night Darcy was "minted". How does that work? He has 50-60 years of life in front of him where he can't work. A few hundred thousand (I doubt he has that much) stashed away now won't go very far in a lifetime. And some are demanding he refunds them because of the rain we have had which caused a spongy track.

 

Just how tight and distasteful can some people actually be? I have utter contempt for them.

[Mimmo 1,070]

This discussion is going absolutely nowhere now.

 

It really is time the BSPA looked long and hard at what is going on at times, otherwise they'll have no sport to govern soon.

 

I wasn't at Poole last night, thankfully, but was at Belle Vue and the Leicester v King's Lynn farce of 2016.

 

Whatever way you look at it, the way the paying public are being cheated and made mugs of, it's got to stop.

[steve roberts 9,242]

Oh dear! Seems like yet another public relations disaster!

[Countershaftcounter 360]

Shovvy. You really need to stop kneeling in front of MF and look at the bigger picture. You're coming across as an obsessed fan boy

[Steve Shovlar 10,439]

Shovvy. You really need to stop kneeling in front of MF and look at the bigger picture. You're coming across as an obsessed fan boy

Just giving a more balanced opinion. Easy to rant and moan when you don't want to realise what caused the problem. Easy to moan like many, when you were not there.

 

End of the day the weather this week caused the damage to the track and that's speedway for you. Main thing is a nice chunk of money for Darcy even though we only saw 8 heats.

 

Plenty of speedway to make up for it. Eurosport at 5pm, Wolves on Monday, Poole Wednesday and Somerset Friday. Forecast is decent next week so all should be hunky dory.