The continuing decline of Speedway

[Grachan 7,314]

36 minutes ago, iris123 said:

Ice hockey I think use the league places to decide the play-off games and the winner of the play-offs are the champs.This seems to be the universal system in ice hockey,as far as I have seen

 

17 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

Yes I think you are right...used to follow the Ice Hockey scene in the UK (Oxford City 'Stars') but can you imagine the uproar in footballing circles if the team that finished top didn't end up as champions!

Ice Hockey has play-offs, but they don't decide the league champions.

The league champions are the team who finish top of the league table, and the winners of the play-offs are the Play Off Champions.

For example: 2016-17: Cardiff were League Champions and Sheffield were Play-Off Champions. Last year Cardiff won both.

 

[Skid Sprocket 243]

41 minutes ago, Grachan said:

 

Ice Hockey has play-offs, but they don't decide the league champions.

The league champions are the team who finish top of the league table, and the winners of the play-offs are the Play Off Champions.

For example: 2016-17: Cardiff were League Champions and Sheffield were Play-Off Champions. Last year Cardiff won both.

 

Exactly as it should be in speedway.  It is a travesty of justice for a team to fight all season to get to the top and have it all taken away in one meeting.  League Champions top Play Off Champions second.

[Spl77 337]

Speedway star 28th July had a couple of fabulous quotes from Rob Godfrey. "you can't have 99% of the league clubs all racing on the same night, it's ludicrous. Followed by" people can slag me off but it's BSPA protocol that's needs to be adhered to." 

Now two points if the BSPA hadn't made the sport so reliant on guests you could have most teams running on the same day the guest rule in itself is ludicrous. Second BSPA protocol? Didn't realise that such a thing existed! 

[Pieman72 588]

After reading the banter I can only come to one conclusion speedway as we know it is finished. 

[moxey63 1,785]

I have always disliked the Play-Offs. For starters, they bullied the once prestigious Knock-Out Cup from its slot as speedway's showpiece aggregate competition. As the KOC Final always had October billing, another aggregate competition (the POs) carrying more clout and at the same time of the season, naturally dwarfed it. The POs all but killed the KOC. Secondly, and it's only a personal slant, they sort of made most of the league fixtures for the first two to three months sort of practice sessions, as Poole have proved this season, to fine-tune your side with the sole aim of making the top four, and then being as strong as possible once there. It is all about timing. A third thing I think Play-offs have taken away is the surety that all clubs actually have meaningful fixture plans in the last month of the season. As I see it, since the POs were introduced, the season is like a cinema after the main show has ended and all the pieces of popcorn and candy wrappers lie on the floor. They are the speedway fixtures of October. That is what the final month of the season seems like to me. Just seems a bit unbalanced to have Play-Offs and then a whole month of unimportant fixtures to try to temp fans from their warm homes on the chilly nights. I always forget other fixtures are taking place in October. And, as has been mentioned on here, speedway must be one of the only sports where the league title is decided by Play-Offs, even possibly by sides who didn't even finish first or second.    

Edited August 6, 2018 by moxey63

[Grachan 7,314]

Rugby Union has play-offs to decide the champions.

[ouch 1,191]

With regards to the play offs you cannot compare speedway to any other team sport. 

Common practise now is for teams to (purposely?) start slow, thus reducing their team average which then offers them the opportunity to build back up. In other sports this wouldn’t happen as they aren’t ruled by points and anyway if say Stockport County signed Ronaldo then they wouldn’t suddenly become favourites as in that sport it’s very much a collective effort - simultaneously. 

In speedway you can replace a low scorer with a high scorer and the difference is instant with a massive impact. 

Speedway is a different beast and this is unfortunately lost on those who wield the power who come up with ideas without fully investigating there impact. 

 

[moxey63 1,785]

9 minutes ago, ouch said:

With regards to the play offs you cannot compare speedway to any other team sport. 

Common practise now is for teams to (purposely?) start slow, thus reducing their team average which then offers them the opportunity to build back up. In other sports this wouldn’t happen as they aren’t ruled by points and anyway if say Stockport County signed Ronaldo then they wouldn’t suddenly become favourites as in that sport it’s very much a collective effort - simultaneously. 

In speedway you can replace a low scorer with a high scorer and the difference is instant with a massive impact. 

Speedway is a different beast and this is unfortunately lost on those who wield the power who come up with ideas without fully investigating there impact. 

 

I never watch the garbage, but it's a bit like those talent shows that Simon Cowell cranks out. You start off with acts that have no chance of winning the series and then, as the weeks go on, the better acts lie in wait. Then the serious stuff begins, the weak tail off and, as if scripted, the winner comes from... er.. usually Poole.

Edited August 6, 2018 by moxey63

[topaz325 1,853]

Will all the Speedway fixtures be completed by September 9th to meet the Play off criteria.

[mikebv 10,227]

8 hours ago, Spl77 said:

Speedway star 28th July had a couple of fabulous quotes from Rob Godfrey. "you can't have 99% of the league clubs all racing on the same night, it's ludicrous. Followed by" people can slag me off but it's BSPA protocol that's needs to be adhered to." 

Now two points if the BSPA hadn't made the sport so reliant on guests you could have most teams running on the same day the guest rule in itself is ludicrous. Second BSPA protocol? Didn't realise that such a thing existed! 

Surely more 'ludicrous' is facilitating a fixture list to allow teams to race on different nights to simply just allow teams to share competitors, as well as let ringers be brought in for or a myriad of reasons, with all the nonsense that this comes with...?

If nothing else though, these comments do tend to confirm that those who run the Sport in Britain have effectively given up on ever running its various competitions with credibility...

Its probably 'ludicrous' too for fans of the Sport to expect it to be ran like a 'proper Sport' would be...?

Still, at least those who still attend now know what to expect and shouldnt therefore complain....

As, by attending, you give 100% endorsement to what you are having put out in front of you...

[orion 7,610]

13 hours ago, Skid Sprocket said:

Exactly as it should be in speedway.  It is a travesty of justice for a team to fight all season to get to the top and have it all taken away in one meeting.  League Champions top Play Off Champions second.

They all know rules in the first so it's not ...no one is upset or feels it's  a travesty anymore ….As for a place off cup it's been said a million times that no fans turn for them and clubs lose money ..we have  had the craven shield and the jack young cup at pl level and both were a financial disaster .

The trouble with these subjects is that the normal suspects turn up ..people who have not gone for 15 years who are between 60 -70 years old .they try to make out they want the best for speedway but really want the rules and things back when they went  like no plays off and one off world finals etc etc 

 

[KevH 257]

On 8/5/2018 at 10:07 PM, Starman2006 said:

What you failed to mention though was the play off's weather permitting bring in clubs biggest crowds of the season, so they clearly do work. Problem is, enticing people through the gate for the rest of it.

Just a thought, but if the rest of the season had meaningful meetings (i.e. not play-off qualifiers), crowds could be increased in twelve (not two) meetings throughout the season :/

[orion 7,610]

6 minutes ago, KevH said:

Just a thought, but if the rest of the season had meaningful meetings (i.e. not play-off qualifiers), crowds could be increased in twelve (not two) meetings throughout the season :/

Why would they  be more meaningful ? it's stands to reason with out play offs there would  be a lot less ..if team went clear after 6 weeks there would nothing more to race for and crowds would be even lower 

Edited August 6, 2018 by orion

[KevH 257]

3 minutes ago, orion said:

Why would they  be more meaningful ? it's stands to reason with out play offs there would  be a lot less ..if team went clear after 6 weeks there would nothing more to race for and crowds would be even lower 

I was just playing devils advocate.......I have no idea what the answer is, or even if there is one!!

[steve roberts 9,242]

9 hours ago, orion said:

They all know rules in the first so it's not ...no one is upset or feels it's  a travesty anymore ….As for a place off cup it's been said a million times that no fans turn for them and clubs lose money ..we have  had the craven shield and the jack young cup at pl level and both were a financial disaster .

The trouble with these subjects is that the normal suspects turn up ..people who have not gone for 15 years who are between 60 -70 years old .they try to make out they want the best for speedway but really want the rules and things back when they went  like no plays off and one off world finals etc etc 

 

...yes the seventies when speedway enjoyed coverage in the mass media and terrestrial TV and attracted thousands of people instead of hundreds and England ruled and teams filled with British riders and the Second Division was a conveyor belt for developing talent. 

Comparing speedway to football and the Play-Off system as your earlier post highlighted is a totally different scenario as has been pointed out. Tweaking and playing about with rules and the unavailability, or indeed unwillingness, of some riders from competing in Britain won't encourage new fans to the sport hence the continuing decline. Not forgetting the impact that the GP's have created regarding the domestic programme over the years despite it's good (?) intentions.

Edited August 7, 2018 by steve roberts