Saturday Night Racing...The Rye House Predicament!

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

5 hours ago, waytogo28 said:

Whatever the reason the BSPA got it wrong again, another season is blighted by ill thought through ideas. I am genuinely beginning to believe that there is some way that promoters here will benefit from the death of fully professional  speedway. Those who own their stadiums might somehow get automatic planning permission and be quids in? Or is it true that they are just a group of dimwits? I will have to go for the dimwits theory for now.

Times have probably changed since I had direct experience but the promoters I encountered tended to be speedway enthusiasts who'd made a fair bit of cash from a small to medium-sized business and either fancied having a go at the speedway off-track power game or wanted to save their tracks from closure after the failure of the previous promotion.

Few I encountered could be described as 'dimwits' but they weren't exactly from the business elite. I would even say that most seemed well-meaning although you could scent the odd all-out rogue. Petty rows though seemed to cloud matters when they met at BSPA level. Feuds would then resurface and decisions made to spike a rival rather than in the best interests of the sport.

Many would talk reasonably about key decisions, then somehow a totally unreasonable decision would be taken by the BSPA which of course nobody had voted for ;-)

So no, not dimwits individually but I suspect that 'power game' really is at the heart of the problems. 

[Midland Red 2,383]

7 hours ago, waytogo28 said:

Whatever the reason the BSPA got it wrong again, another season is blighted by ill thought through ideas. I am genuinely beginning to believe that there is some way that promoters here will benefit from the death of fully professional  speedway. Those who own their stadiums might somehow get automatic planning permission and be quids in? Or is it true that they are just a group of dimwits? I will have to go for the dimwits theory for now.

"Fully professional speedway"

That's been the downfall here in the UK

Remember the amalgamation between the National League and the Provincial League in 1965, how successful that was in forming the British League

That wonderful first meeting, ex-NL Coventry v ex-PL Cradley Heath, bumper crowd, the forerunner of many such meetings all around the UK

Just how many of those 14 riders in that first meeting were "fully professional"?  Answer = none

So the pay-rates were affordable from the relatively low admission prices, the amalgamated league provided sufficient meetings for all riders to earn some decent money to cover their costs and supplement their "proper jobs", whilst the regular programme and the admission prices kept attendances at good levels - yes, it was semi-pro, and it worked - the big league meant a varied list of visiting teams, unlike today's mini Premiership

Guests were few and far between, rider replacement unheard of, doubling up only came along when BL2 arrived and some juniors in that league made it into BL1 teams