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james1234

Grand Prix Calendar and Venues 2019

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Many non-speedway folk have heard of Mauger, not sure too many have heard of Ross. Happy to be proved wrong though.

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30 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

Larry Ross

I hate to intervene in your never ending spats with Humphrey ... But surely you cannot be serious in comparing Larry's public profile with Ivans.

I will assume you are just joking.

 

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Barry Butterfield was almost as famous,according to one ex-editor of the Spar:P

Some peoples fame does go beyond their chosen sport,but some really are just famous within a small circle.An English cricketer has just retired,i think and was named the best national cricketer for decades if not ever,but I had honestly never heard of him,seeing as I haven't followed cricket since the days of Botham and Viv Richards.But even then I do remember their being a pretty good cricketer who came from South Africa,though can't remember his name.Might be the fact that he came from SA that caused a bit of fuss outside the sport?

Edited by iris123

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55 minutes ago, customhouseregular said:

Many non-speedway folk have heard of Mauger, not sure too many have heard of Ross. Happy to be proved wrong though.

IN New Zealand they had, which was the point. Another Christchurch boy who at least kept the flag flying for a while. But there are less than five million people in NZ ... 350 million in the USA. 

Edited by PHILIPRISING

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18 minutes ago, Grand Central said:

I hate to intervene in your never ending spats with Humphrey ... But surely you cannot be serious in comparing Larry's public profile with Ivans.

I will assume you are just joking.

 

THAT wasn't his point. He said that no NZ rider since Mauger was well known in NZ. Larry was and, in the South Island at least, still is.

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3 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

THAT wasn't his point. He said that no NZ rider since Mauger was well known in NZ. Larry was and, in the South Island at least, still is.

This was his quote 

3 hours ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

For that matter, which Kiwi rider has been a household name since Ivan Mauger?

Honestly Larry may be 'well known' in NZ but could never be called a Household name. 

Anywhere.

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2 minutes ago, Grand Central said:

This was his quote 

Honestly Larry may be 'well known' in NZ but could never be called a Household name. 

Anywhere.

IT was in the context of riders having a high profile in their own country not the world at large. As I wrote earlier, very few Americans had heard of Penhall when he rode speedway, it was CHiPS that made him famous. How many in California let alone the US know who Greg Hancock is? 

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2 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

IT was in the context of riders having a high profile in their own country not the world at large. As I wrote earlier, very few Americans had heard of Penhall when he rode speedway, it was CHiPS that made him famous. How many in California let alone the US know who Greg Hancock is? 

Fair enough to all that.

But the real answer to the 'Ivan Mauger question' was NO Speedway has been a household name since him. Not even remotely close. In NZ or anywhere.

And never will be to be honest.

To answer 'Larry Ross' just sounded ... a bit weird.

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2 minutes ago, Grand Central said:

Fair enough to all that.

But the real answer to the 'Ivan Mauger question' was NO Speedway has been a household name since him. Not even remotely close. In NZ or anywhere.

And never will be to be honest.

To answer 'Larry Ross' just sounded ... a bit weird.

IN my opinion even Ivan couldn't match Briggo as a household name or a recognisable figure, certainly outside of NZ. BB was twice runner-up in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, was the subject of This Is Your Life with Eamonn Andrews, was on Desert Island Discs with Roy Plumley.  Travelled a lot with Barry outside of speedway and at soccer matches, airports, restaurants, was frequently recognised and asked for an autograph. 

En route back to Southampton from King's KLynn one night he was stopped for speeding (not unusual). When he got out of the car the traffic cops recognised him, asked for his autograph and sent us on our way. Wouldn't happen now.

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Another speedway 'household' name on tv a couple of weeks back

But we are losing the plot a bit if we are comparing Briggo's popularity in the UK,which has nothing to do with NZ and any rider since Ivan......

Edited by iris123

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5 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

IN my opinion even Ivan couldn't match Briggo as a household name or a recognisable figure, certainly outside of NZ. BB was twice runner-up in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, was the subject of This Is Your Life with Eamonn Andrews, was on Desert Island Discs with Roy Plumley.  Travelled a lot with Barry outside of speedway and at soccer matches, airports, restaurants, was frequently recognised and asked for an autograph. 

En route back to Southampton from King's KLynn one night he was stopped for speeding (not unusual). When he got out of the car the traffic cops recognised him, asked for his autograph and sent us on our way. Wouldn't happen now.

Funny you should say that a rider was telling me recently he was stopped for doing 60 on a stretch of motorway with roadworks and a reduced limit of 40. The traffic cops seemed very interested in the fact that he was a Speedway rider and even saying they would be watching out for him on tv now they had met him. Whilst they didn't recognise him to begin with he was sent on his way without being booked!

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1 hour ago, PHILIPRISING said:

IN my opinion even Ivan couldn't match Briggo as a household name or a recognisable figure, certainly outside of NZ. BB was twice runner-up in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, was the subject of This Is Your Life with Eamonn Andrews, was on Desert Island Discs with Roy Plumley.  Travelled a lot with Barry outside of speedway and at soccer matches, airports, restaurants, was frequently recognised and asked for an autograph. 

En route back to Southampton from King's KLynn one night he was stopped for speeding (not unusual). When he got out of the car the traffic cops recognised him, asked for his autograph and sent us on our way. Wouldn't happen now.

Oh you're right about that. No doubt.

But I think BB is just a bit too far back in time for most, now. 45 years since TIYL.

Ivan's name still has a decent currency today that I would say is higher that Briggo.

But It will be gone soon sadly. And will not be replaced by any other.

But as Iris said ... Not even Alastair Cook is a household name. This week he was the answer at our pub quiz because of all the news around his test retirement and amazing scoring. Half the teams did not get his name right. And one put down Ian Botham.

Edited by Grand Central

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IVAN never really got involved with much outside of the speedway bubble but when the sport was popular he was rightly so too.

Barry was much more adventurous, rode for Yamaha at Madison Square Gardens in New York (cannot have a much higher profile than that) and made a name for himself by continually knocking off his opponents. He rode various other forms off motorcycles, played golf in many pro-ams, taught Steve McQueen how to slide a speedway bike, etc, etc. And the literation of his name (BB) helped too. Used to tell him it was like Micky Mouse. 

My wife was watching a TV quiz programme recently (think it was Tenancy) and I was tasked with naming the top ten batsmen who had scored the most runs for England. Only managed six and for my sins forgot Boycott. How the memory fades ...

Edited by PHILIPRISING

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7 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

IVAN never really got involved with much outside of the speedway bubble but when the sport was popular he was rightly so too.

Barry was much more adventurous, rode for Yamaha at Madison Square Gardens in New York (cannot have a much higher profile than that) and made a name for himself by continually knocking off his opponents. He rode various other forms off motorcycles, played golf in many pro-ams, taught Steve McQueen how to slide a speedway bike, etc, etc. And the literation of his name (BB) helped too. Used to tell him it was like Micky Mouse. 

My wife was watching a TV quiz programme recently (think it was Tenancy) and I was tasked with naming the top ten batsmen who had scored the most runs for England. Only managed six and for my sins forgot Boycott. How the memory fades ...

At least you and i have heard of Alastair Cook who only played for England for 12 years and a certain Hamburg resident has never heard of him :)

It`s like me having never heard of Beckenbauer :D

Edited by racers and royals

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As I said,i have had no interest in cricket for decades and only a scandal or something brings the sport outside its own circle.The guy who was bowling illegally I remember and as I said some guy who had previously played for South Africa then changing to England

I doubt any cricket player has the world profile of Beckenbauer,so have another guess:blink: 

Add to that the lack of attention cricket gets in this country.One of my local football teams started out playing cricket as well,but that soon got dropped:D

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altonaer_FC_von_1893

Edited by iris123

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