GAH 409 Posted April 10, 2019 11 hours ago, orion said: First of all its a good track but it's hardly the best ever ..it's good racing but hardly any skill is needed so you need to steady down ,I would hardly say taking in gate money and not paying bills well intended in fact a lot people would say it's almost stealing . Not sure what makes your opinion more valid than the next person and trust me I know plenty about what went on to quailed to hold such an opinion ..the bottom line is no matter how you dress it up they have kick out of the sport because they never paid there bills because there business plan was hopeless .and doomed to fail . oh dear yet another pathetic post Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skidder1 7,631 Posted April 10, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, waytogo28 said: I can't see any professional speedway running in the UK in 20 years time. Possibly semi-pro but more likely another defunct UK sport. With a fanbase now so low there is nowhere it can go other than down. Surely if a fanbase is so low - the only way it can go is up?! or so Yazz says....... Edited April 10, 2019 by Skidder1 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Long Eye 278 Posted April 10, 2019 13 hours ago, orion said: First of all its a good track but it's hardly the best ever ..it's good racing but hardly any skill is needed so you need to steady down ,I would hardly say taking in gate money and not paying bills well intended in fact a lot people would say it's almost stealing . Not sure what makes your opinion more valid than the next person and trust me I know plenty about what went on to quailed to hold such an opinion ..the bottom line is no matter how you dress it up they have kick out of the sport because they never paid there bills because there business plan was hopeless .and doomed to fail . Wow! You dumber than I gave you credit for. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GWC 495 Posted April 10, 2019 5 hours ago, waytogo28 said: I can't see any professional speedway running in the UK in 20 years time. Possibly semi-pro but more likely another defunct UK sport. With a fanbase now so low there is nowhere it can go other than down. Different forms of motor sport exist in the UK when most people never look beyond F1. It ultimately depends on the quality of the arenas in use in today’s world first and foremost not who is on the track. Maybe that’s why Poland are where they are now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Shovlar 10,439 Posted April 10, 2019 7 hours ago, ouch said: He’ll be off to Rome again with talk like that. No, a bit further north this time. Off to Italian Alps in mid May, then French Alps for a couple of weeks in June. Lovely. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RPNY 608 Posted April 10, 2019 7 hours ago, waytogo28 said: I can't see any professional speedway running in the UK in 20 years time. Possibly semi-pro but more likely another defunct UK sport. With a fanbase now so low there is nowhere it can go other than down. Been hearing that for a long time now. Its far from great but its in better shape now then 20 years ago. It is absolutely crying out for a Barry Hearne type figure tho Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bald Bloke 3,281 Posted April 10, 2019 3 hours ago, RPNY said: Been hearing that for a long time now. Its far from great but its in better shape now then 20 years ago. It is absolutely crying out for a Barry Hearne type figure tho Ermmm .You sure Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fromafar 10,332 Posted April 10, 2019 4 hours ago, RPNY said: Been hearing that for a long time now. Its far from great but its in better shape now then 20 years ago. It is absolutely crying out for a Barry Hearne type figure tho Better shape, think you are confused ,don’t think you would get many agreeing with that theory.IMO It is crying out for Independant body to run the sport though,not many takers on that front .Imo 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waytogo28 2,054 Posted April 11, 2019 12 hours ago, RPNY said: Been hearing that for a long time now. Its far from great but its in better shape now then 20 years ago. It is absolutely crying out for a Barry Hearne type figure tho 20 years ago there were many more clubs, league fixtures and at least 50% more regular paying supporters on the UK terraces, so I am not quite sure what the better shape is. Thinner? It isn't better quality racing, not from where I have been standing anyway. As for a Barry Hearne type figure, I can't think anyone would appear as there is no way to make promoting UK speedway profitable again. Is it Buster Chapman, when he increases his ownership to 8 - 10 clubs? Do you know, although I do not like his operating methods, he could be the saviour by cutting down costs and increasing the likelihood of semi-pro racing here if he did increase his holdings? No-one else is likely to do anything like that unless some 70 year old diehard fan wins £100 million on the Euro lottery and wants to blow it on wine, women ( or men ), song and speedway. Instead of doing something useful with it! 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris116 755 Posted April 11, 2019 23 hours ago, Steve Shovlar said: This women’s football is poor imo. Many won’t agree but the standard is not good. About 3 or 4 divisions below league 2 at best. Can’t understand the appeal. Now, if they played in high heel and skimpy bikinis............ They tried that in Beach Volleyball, and without the high heels it works! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RPNY 608 Posted April 11, 2019 13 hours ago, Fromafar said: Better shape, think you are confused ,don’t think you would get many agreeing with that theory.IMO It is crying out for Independant body to run the sport though,not many takers on that front .Imo Maybe I'm wrong but my memories of mid/late nineties are, all the top foreign riders left the British league (we had a few British 'stars' in the GP's so made the league look a little stronger than today) tracks closing, crowd sizes similar to today, no TV coverage, no national stadium, very antiquated presentation. Im not saying things are great today by any means but I believe the opportunity is there to get better not just assume its 100% doomed to fail. Maybe Im just being a stupid optimist tho... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
89buttons 749 Posted April 11, 2019 53 minutes ago, RPNY said: Maybe I'm wrong but my memories of mid/late nineties are, all the top foreign riders left the British league (we had a few British 'stars' in the GP's so made the league look a little stronger than today) tracks closing, crowd sizes similar to today, no TV coverage, no national stadium, very antiquated presentation. Im not saying things are great today by any means but I believe the opportunity is there to get better not just assume its 100% doomed to fail. Maybe Im just being a stupid optimist tho... i think your timeline is a little skewed it was well into the 2000’s before the top boys all upped and left. To illustrate here’s a list of a few riders that rode in the elite league in 2005: tony rickardsson, Chris Louis, hans Andersen, Leigh adams, Ryan Sullivan, Antonio Lindback, Pepe Protasiewicz, Billy Hamill, Greg Hancock, Jason crump, Nicki Pedersen, lee Richardson, Scott Nicholls, Sebastian ulamek, Greg Walasek, Freddie Lindgren, Peter Karlsson, Michael max, ales & Lukas Dryml, Mark Loram, Andreas Jonsson, Kenneth Bjerre, Joe screen, David norris, Chris Harris, Kris kascperzak, many others that arguably worth a mention, Troy Batchelor, Matej Ferjan, Jason Lyons, Mads Korneliussen, Martin Smolinski my memories of the late 90’s as a witches fan is the team of 98 - gollob, rickardsson, Louis, Svab, nicholls & clouting! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RPNY 608 Posted April 11, 2019 I hear you but those riders were either A. English B. Still there because they had been in the league since the days of it being the #1 league in the world C. Not regularly in the league but rather a season or 2 then leave, then come back... Even PK and Max left for a few years. My original statement was not meant to be the league is much better than it was 20 years ago, more that we have been saying the same thing (Speedway in the UK is dying) since the late 80s. Yes crowds are poor but it's on TV now which it never was when I was growing up, we have a national stadium with maybe the best track in the world, we have a showcase event every year that attracts over 40k people... The potential is there to make it a popular spectator sport again. But again Im aware things arent great! More importantly for this thread,I hope the new Swindon track is a good un and they have a great season. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grachan 7,314 Posted April 11, 2019 It was 2008 when speedway began its current decline. Before that is was having something of a minor revival, with radio 5 even running a report on how Speedway had become "cool" at one point. Then, with crowds relatively healthy, the introduced low points limits and "cost cutting" measures time after time, and each time they did it the crowds dropped. So, each time the crowds dropped, they did it again. So they dropped again. It always amazes me when people say that the future is about cost cutting. That is what caused the trouble in the first place. 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RPNY 608 Posted April 11, 2019 18 minutes ago, Grachan said: It was 2008 when speedway began its current decline. Before that is was having something of a minor revival, with radio 5 even running a report on how Speedway had become "cool" at one point. Then, with crowds relatively healthy, the introduced low points limits and "cost cutting" measures time after time, and each time they did it the crowds dropped. So, each time the crowds dropped, they did it again. So they dropped again. It always amazes me when people say that the future is about cost cutting. That is what caused the trouble in the first place. And at some point there will be no more costs to cut... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites