Blimey..speedway on BBC1!

[iainb 4,994]

On 9/23/2018 at 9:20 AM, Halifaxtiger said:

I wonder if he will get a place in the Sports Personality of the Year ? 

Depends if he becomes transgender... Then almost certainly yes!

[Halifaxtiger 5,318]

On ‎9‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 4:52 PM, Steve Shovlar said:

He could win it 5 times on the bounce and will never get a nomination. Some woman footballer, a woman golfer, a rugby player, athletic person, swimmer, footballer, cricketer, cyclist, netballer, gymnast, tennis player, snooker ........no room for speedway. The main issue is the people who pick the shortlist do not know the sport. 

It’s called “bbc” sports personality. So if the beeb don’t cover it, forget it. Imagine if all speedway fans blocked voted Tai. He could easily end up third. How would the bbc talk that one off?

Sadly, I think you are absolutely right and it exposes the programme for the fit up it is.

On ‎9‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 8:44 PM, falcace said:

Probably some women I imagine....what do they know? Ruddy BBC...grrrrr.

Where's my Sun newspaper? Ah, that's better...women who know their place...right there on page 3. 

Anyway, back in the real world....

A speedway rider would have to do something utterly exceptional and totally out of the ordinary to ever have a hope of a nod for BBC SPOTY.  In my totally biased opinion, it is a great sport, but the reality it that is is a minority sport and of utter irrelevance to non speedway supporters.

Whether you are interested in them or not, it will always be important who wins Wimbledon, who wins the Olympic 100m title, who wins the Formula One World Title, who is the World Heavyweight Champion, etc. and I get that. The best tennis player, the fastest runner in the world, the best driver in the world and the toughest fighter in the world - those have real global status.

You can't even say the Speedway World Champion is the best motorcyclist in the world, the consensus would be that's the MotoGP Champion.

Get out of your speedway supporters shoes for a minute and think about it. Do we really expect a rider who is the best at sliding round a dirt track for a minute to be regarded as one of the UK's best sportsmen in the public's eyes?  There have been UK sportsmen and women who have internationally dominated in sports like squash -  would you really expect them to be recognised too? 

That's not to say Tai Woffinden couldn't get nominated one day, but it's a long way off yet. I think Carl Fogarty once got in the top three when he was winning World Superbike Titles and he made the British Superbike GP  a pilgrimage for bikers across the UK - Phil Taylor also was recognised when his World Title winning streak in darts reached freakish proportions.

So, just a decade more Tai...and you might just have a shot  

 

The fact that speedway is a minority sport is utterly irrelevant - or at least it should be. The fact of the matter is that if Woffinden does win again - and that looks very likely - he can reasonably be called the greatest British speedway rider of all time. Personally, it doesn't matter what sport -within reason - you are in, that's worthy of a nomination. 

I'd also point out that a couple of years ago a yachtsman was nominated. To my knowledge, he wasn't even competing at the time. In addition - and to use Steve's example - I wouldn't back against a woman cricketer being selected. I somehow doubt that she would be seen as one of the country's best.

Steve is absolutely right. Its not a question of how good you are, what records you have broken or titles won. Its a matter of whether your face (or more accurately your sport) fits, which makes the programme a sham.

Edited September 25, 2018 by Halifaxtiger

[TesarRacing 1,825]

5 hours ago, Baldyman said:

Didn't Rea get second or third last year on sports personality?  So ya never know..    How his personality was seen through his helmet I will never know. It's about time it was re named

Yes he came second last year!

[fatface 2,552]

51 minutes ago, Halifaxtiger said:

Sadly, I think you are absolutely right and it exposes the programme for the fit up it is.

The fact that speedway is a minority sport is utterly irrelevant - or at least it should be. The fact of the matter is that if Woffinden does win again - and that looks very likely - he can reasonably be called the greatest British speedway rider of all time. Personally, it doesn't matter what sport -within reason - you are in, that's worthy of a nomination. 

I'd also point out that a couple of years ago a yachtsman was nominated. To my knowledge, he wasn't even competing at the time. In addition - and to use Steve's example - I wouldn't back against a woman cricketer being selected. I somehow doubt that she would be seen as one of the country's best.

Steve is absolutely right. Its not a question of how good you are, what records you have broken or titles won. Its a matter of whether your face (or more accurately your sport) fits, which makes the programme a sham.

Well, it is relevant.

The greater the popularity of a sport, the greater the number of participants then the greater the achievement in being the best. I'm no sailing fan, but there are around 900,000 sailors in England, according to Sport England's data. How many speedway riders are there?

I think Tai Woffinden is an exceptional talent, probably Britain's best ever rider. But in wider sporting terms, beyond speedway, it has very little significance.

[BWitcher 12,453]

9 minutes ago, falcace said:

Well, it is relevant.

The greater the popularity of a sport, the greater the number of participants then the greater the achievement in being the best. I'm no sailing fan, but there are around 900,000 sailors in England, according to Sport England's data. How many speedway riders are there?

I think Tai Woffinden is an exceptional talent, probably Britain's best ever rider. But in wider sporting terms, beyond speedway, it has very little significance.

That's like comparing Lewis Hamilton to the number of people that drive a car.

[Steve Shovlar 10,439]

Whilst speedway may be a small sport compared to football etc, it is still much bigger than many sports people who do get nominated. Speedway is huge compared to netball, womens cricket, womens swimming. It’s down to what sports the bbc covers and the make up of the panel who chooses the finalists.

If Woffinden was chosen as a finalist he would outscore the Peatys, and the bloke who spins around on a wooden horse, by the proverbial mile. The get to be a finalist in a tiny sport. Speedway as a sport is vastly bigger in every way. But that has no impact on who is picked.

The bbc is now obligated to shows the voting. Woffinden is more than capable of getter enough votes to make third with the amount of fans in the uk. They just won’t have the opportunity to vote for him.

[fatface 2,552]

3 hours ago, BWitcher said:

That's like comparing Lewis Hamilton to the number of people that drive a car.

Not in any way.

Those figures don’t include every single person who has been on a boat in a year. There’s no pedalo users or ferry passengers. 

It does include every person who has taken part in sailing in a single year and er, that’s it.

[fatface 2,552]

3 hours ago, Steve Shovlar said:

Whilst speedway may be a small sport compared to football etc, it is still much bigger than many sports people who do get nominated. Speedway is huge compared to netball, womens cricket, womens swimming. It’s down to what sports the bbc covers and the make up of the panel who chooses the finalists.

If Woffinden was chosen as a finalist he would outscore the Peatys, and the bloke who spins around on a wooden horse, by the proverbial mile. The get to be a finalist in a tiny sport. Speedway as a sport is vastly bigger in every way. But that has no impact on who is picked.

The bbc is now obligated to shows the voting. Woffinden is more than capable of getter enough votes to make third with the amount of fans in the uk. They just won’t have the opportunity to vote for him.

I am a bit puzzled why you bundled up women’s sport as examples of sports that speedway is ‘huge’ in comparison to. You must have your reasons.

Women’s cricket is still in relatively formative stages, but netball and swimming are definitely comparative or bigger.

We can all throw out sweeping statements based on nothing but opinion. But without any facts to back it up, it’s nothing but noise. Then again, there’s a lot of it about these days..

Let’s take netball. How is speedway huge in comparison? Number of participants? League spectators? TV ratings? Social media followers? Sponsorship revenue? What are you basing it on?

Even the most rudimentary bit of internet research demonstrates netball compares favourably to speedway.

Just because we like speedway doesn’t make it relevant to the British public. That might be unpalatable, but it’s a fact.

[teaboy279 1,038]

Think the name of the award is in older speech, as in the sports personality of the year, in today's abbreviated society would just be called "sports person of the year". Look at some of the great sportspeople that have won, who have had no personality at all.

 

On the minority sports, didn't some royal win it by making her horse walk around a sandy square. So minority sports can win as long as the beeb shows it.

[iainb 4,994]

10 hours ago, falcace said:

I am a bit puzzled why you bundled up women’s sport as examples of sports that speedway is ‘huge’ in comparison to. You must have your reasons.

Women’s cricket is still in relatively formative stages, but netball and swimming are definitely comparative or bigger.

We can all throw out sweeping statements based on nothing but opinion. But without any facts to back it up, it’s nothing but noise. Then again, there’s a lot of it about these days..

Let’s take netball. How is speedway huge in comparison? Number of participants? League spectators? TV ratings? Social media followers? Sponsorship revenue? What are you basing it on?

Even the most rudimentary bit of internet research demonstrates netball compares favourably to speedway.

Just because we like speedway doesn’t make it relevant to the British public. That might be unpalatable, but it’s a fact.

The thing is though who decides what is relevant to the British public. I've no problem at all watching women in sport, atheletcs, tennis, cycling, swimming, gymnastics... Whatever. What I object to are the sports that are being force fed to us as part of a movement. It's quite clear that there is an agenda in certain quarters when you're getting women's version of certain sports (football & cricket especially) leading the sports headlines compared to the men's equivalent, despite playing in front of huge empty stadiums. Speedway already manages to do this without the help of the media

Edited September 26, 2018 by iainb

[Big Al 708]

BT Sport could always produce their own rival programme. But would Woffinden & Speedway get much of a chance? More than with Auntie, but they would just kowtow to those sports they pay the highest fees to! It's all a pointless irrelevance

[moxey63 1,785]

Some people really do need a little restraining. So what, speedway on the BBC? Now we're talking about Woffinden even getting a mention on SPOTY. The sport is at an all-time low. The Beeb did not want to know when it was at an all-time high and apparently did everything in their power to stop speedway winning the top prize, all the big big stars back then. What makes you think they'll change now when the sport is so void of character and genuine star names, that riders who would have never had a chance of being Champion are winning it like it were Scott Nicholls and his British Championship haul? I have slowly drifted away from speedway, not just in the UK, but globally. Be honest, speedway is the ugly boy in the class. Every so often he'll have an hair cut and hope the pretty girl in the corner will notice him.   

Edited September 26, 2018 by moxey63

[TesarRacing 1,825]

But I wouldn't say World Superbikes is that much more known than speedway and it is also on BT Sport and Jonathon Rea came second last year?

[fatface 2,552]

8 hours ago, teaboy279 said:

Think the name of the award is in older speech, as in the sports personality of the year, in today's abbreviated society would just be called "sports person of the year". Look at some of the great sportspeople that have won, who have had no personality at all.

 

On the minority sports, didn't some royal win it by making her horse walk around a sandy square. So minority sports can win as long as the beeb shows it.

Fair do's 

I'll give you that. Zara Phillips' winning was a joke. But a big portion of the blame falls on the public who go doe-eyed at the sight of a royal and duly voted based on her celebrity status. All we need to do is get Megan Markle on a Speedway Bike now...  

The challenge for the BBC with SPOTY...and indeed everything else it does...is that it has to be all things to all people. Unlike other prominent media outlets which have a clear agenda beyond pure objectivity. The BBC has to take the wider view and although it isn't perfect, it does a pretty damn good job for what is an impossible task of trying to please all of the people all of the time.

Edited September 26, 2018 by falcace

[teaboy279 1,038]

21 hours ago, Big Al said:

BT Sport could always produce their own rival programme. But would Woffinden & Speedway get much of a chance? More than with Auntie, but they would just kowtow to those sports they pay the highest fees to! It's all a pointless irrelevance

They do, Tai won alternative sports person of the year. Maybe 2015, but certainly before bt sports were showing speedway.

Edited September 27, 2018 by teaboy279