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JamesHarris

Is Speedway still viable in the UK?

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4 hours ago, Danny Connor said:

Lynn is good too. I was going to say I think it’s still viable at some tracks.

the speedway star is bitter over track closures and rightfully so. I feel as the Coventry closure probably causes then a few hundred copies. Now lakeside too. I don’t think support is dwindling at all tracks and encouragingly at lynn when we did have a low low there was still a decent hardcore at lynn who still turned up regardless. 

 

But we will pander to the weak. Dilute the product and keep the attendance cost the same and not advertise properly at some tracks and scratch our heads wondering why it’s all going wrong. 6 rider teams in 1league won’t solve that. 

 

Id keep the current system for another year. And would only dilute the middle tier by about 5 points but reflect that in admission charges. maybe bring in the reserve draft at that level. As that’s where I’m hearing most teams are struggling. Rye house were in the wrong league with over enthusiastic promoters who lost interest so that don’t count. 

 

Sorry but the current product has to change.

I was at Lakeside last night watching Craig Cook thrash others (apart from Lawson).

Keep a top league by all means but allowing top riders into both leagues is wrong.

The sport has in the past only profited rider wise by keeping a production line of new riders and this has been stifled in previous years.

Time to change before it’s too late and if that means weakening the product then so be it.

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5 hours ago, GWC said:

Sorry but the current product has to change.

I was at Lakeside last night watching Craig Cook thrash others (apart from Lawson).

Keep a top league by all means but allowing top riders into both leagues is wrong.

The sport has in the past only profited rider wise by keeping a production line of new riders and this has been stifled in previous years.

Time to change before it’s too late and if that means weakening the product then so be it.

So we agree then!!!! 

Middle league is too strong. Stop top riders riding in it and their positions can be filled by the draft system!

Keep 7 man teams though. 

Ive said it before but the biggest problem rider strength wise started with both the double up and the changing of the conversion rate away from 50%. it opened the door for riders over the Ave of 6.00 to fit into team building plans.

 

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6 an 7 in Div 2 should be du Div 3 riders - giving them a chance to progress

DU/DD from Div1 to Div 2 should stop

the latter is just too much for those outside the speedway bubble of delusion

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The thing is we live in different times now when everything is down to money. I was lucky being an Ipswich supporter to have been able to regularly watch the likes of Thomas Gollob, Tony Rickardsson, Denis Sigalas, Peter Moore etc.  But Speedway is no different from other forms of entertainment,  As a youngster I regularly went to my local theatre and was able to watch a music show with the likes of Cliff Richard, Cilla Black, Tom Jones all on the same bill. I once saw the Beatles and Roy Orbison in the SAME show just for a few pounds,  now it costs a fortune to see an ageing rockstar (Rod Stewart) at Portman Road. Comedians like Dave Allen, Des O Connor, Harry Worth used to appear just as comperes, now to see Michael McIntyre I need to take out a mortgage and have to go to the O2 and watch him on a large TV screen.

The days of being able to see the stars at our local track will never return, so sadly No, I don' t think it is any longer viable.

 

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15 hours ago, ch958 said:

6 an 7 in Div 2 should be du Div 3 riders - giving them a chance to progress

DU/DD from Div1 to Div 2 should stop

the latter is just too much for those outside the speedway bubble of delusion

I really don't understand the objection to doubling up. It increases the pool of available riders, it makes riding exclusively in Britain a practical option and it reduces costs for clubs in both leagues as they effectively share the fixed costs of a rider.

Implementing your suggestion would mean more foreign riders in both leagues, British riders having to rider overseas (and potentially prioritising those fixtures) and an increase in costs for teams.

I'm not sure what positive outcomes it would achieve?

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2 hours ago, MattK said:

I really don't understand the objection to doubling up. It increases the pool of available riders, it makes riding exclusively in Britain a practical option and it reduces costs for clubs in both leagues as they effectively share the fixed costs of a rider.

Implementing your suggestion would mean more foreign riders in both leagues, British riders having to rider overseas (and potentially prioritising those fixtures) and an increase in costs for teams.

I'm not sure what positive outcomes it would achieve?

i accept your view mate, its just not for me. I suppose one positive would be credibility. Feel the same about guests and i accept the alternative views on that but again not for me. I would quite literally prefer teams getting mullered than using guests, which they often do anyway as guests regularly fail to perform. Just my view.

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38 minutes ago, ch958 said:

i accept your view mate, its just not for me. I suppose one positive would be credibility. Feel the same about guests and i accept the alternative views on that but again not for me. I would quite literally prefer teams getting mullered than using guests, which they often do anyway as guests regularly fail to perform. Just my view.

I agree that in an ideal world clubs would have a squad of riders which they dip into in order to cover absences and injuries, but that simply isn't financially viable in the current climate.

As for credibility, in who's eyes? Guest and doubling-up (albeit not to the extent we have today) as existed for as long as I have been following speedway. Therefore, I find it hard to believe a significant number of fans are deterred from attending due to the above and as for the wider media, guests and doubling-up are number 435th on their list of reasons not to cover speedway.

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it may be 435th on the list for the media but its top of mine - once a guest is involved i lose interest in the fixture. As a compromise i wouldn't mind D2 riders guesting for D1 and D3 for D2 with strict limitations. As a matter of interest what do you believe IS keeping people away. I think myself its a long list and guests/DU are just one.

As an aside, when i started watching speedway if riders couldn't earn a living from racing they worked as well.

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Some fascinating points of view on here and a lot of food for thought. One of the biggest gripes I have had with the sport is the lack of publicity locally. My team, Lakeside, have never really publicised the fixtures that well locally. I lived in Grays for a long time and NEVER saw posters advertising meetings. The local paper carried a small report in its sports pages every week tucked away amongst the local Rugby etc. In comparison, the local non league football teams, Grays Athletic, Aveley and Tilbury all had far better coverage despite playing to COMBINED crowds that were significantly smaller than Hammers. 

As for the TV coverage, it is great the meetings are televised, however, I am not convinced they do anything to get people through the door nowadays. It was TV that got me into the sport in 2006, the coverage then was different. There was more action and far less interviews, and , the racing in general was a lot better. Too many times this year watching televised meetings I have switched off through boredom. 

A wat forward I think would be to have supporter representation on the BSPA, maybe half a dozen or so supporters to sit and be able to make suggestions and cast votes from our perspective. I can’t see it happening but it would be worth a go. 

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1 hour ago, Eyejay said:

Some fascinating points of view on here and a lot of food for thought. One of the biggest gripes I have had with the sport is the lack of publicity locally. My team, Lakeside, have never really publicised the fixtures that well locally. I lived in Grays for a long time and NEVER saw posters advertising meetings. The local paper carried a small report in its sports pages every week tucked away amongst the local Rugby etc. In comparison, the local non league football teams, Grays Athletic, Aveley and Tilbury all had far better coverage despite playing to COMBINED crowds that were significantly smaller than Hammers. 

As for the TV coverage, it is great the meetings are televised, however, I am not convinced they do anything to get people through the door nowadays. It was TV that got me into the sport in 2006, the coverage then was different. There was more action and far less interviews, and , the racing in general was a lot better. Too many times this year watching televised meetings I have switched off through boredom. 

A wat forward I think would be to have supporter representation on the BSPA, maybe half a dozen or so supporters to sit and be able to make suggestions and cast votes from our perspective. I can’t see it happening but it would be worth a go. 

...Personally I was never convinced that televised meetings particularly attracted people to the sport. In fact I was never sure who the targeted audience was?

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Us diehards I guess ? 

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One of the major cancers affecting british speedway is the farcical way in which the published league fixture list is ripped up by some clubs on a whim. 

Is it any wonder hardly any fans travel away now.? Booking an overnight stay even a week in advance has proven to be a very risky thing to do as some clubs treat potential visiting fans with potential long journeys with utter contempt. One wonders if any clubs will ever arrange any formal  away travel ever again...

I cannot imagine any credible sport allows individual clubs to cancel fixtures like we have to put up with. Totally unprofessional and the fact they are allowed to do it so regularly sums up the awful lack of  governance of our sport. To be honest I don't think they deserve us fans they still have. This season has been so awful with so many fixtures still outstanding which was totally avoidable. The whole prevalence of self-interest  by so many clubs is galling and a major reason why the sport is losing fans.

 

Edited by Mike.Butler
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'Hello Dragons, I'm the Chairman of the BSPA and we're looking for an investment of £200,000 for a....'

'We're out'.

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7 hours ago, Mike.Butler said:

One of the major cancers affecting british speedway is the farcical way in which the published league fixture list is ripped up by some clubs on a whim. 

Is it any wonder hardly any fans travel away now.? Booking an overnight stay even a week in advance has proven to be a very risky thing to do as some clubs treat potential visiting fans with potential long journeys with utter contempt. One wonders if any clubs will ever arrange any formal  away travel ever again...

I cannot imagine any credible sport allows individual clubs to cancel fixtures like we have to put up with. Totally unprofessional and the fact they are allowed to do it so regularly sums up the awful lack of  governance of our sport. To be honest I don't think they deserve us fans they still have. This season has been so awful with so many fixtures still outstanding which was totally avoidable. The whole prevalence of self-interest  by so many clubs is galling and a major reason why the sport is losing fans.

 

I couldn't agree more, promoters need to do more for visiting fans, pull in more visiting fans and your likely to attract more home fans back.

Last season Workington Comets had a meeting away to Peterborough put back to a 17.00pm start from  a 15.00pm start, this was not an issue as they had gave 7 days notice. However,  Peterborough then announced they had parted company with Kenneth Hansen and had signed Chris Harris as replacement, this was shortly after they were beaten  away. It was also announced that the meeting with Workington had now been put back another 2 hours to 19.00pm giving fans 48 hours notice before the meeting. That meeting never went ahead as the heavens opened barely minutes before the 19.00pm start. I have no doubt that if Hansen had not been released, that meeting would of gone ahead at 17.00pm as stated and there would of been a result. If that had happened in football or rugby, there would of been repercussions for the club, fines and point deductions would likely have been enforced. 

Edited by Gismo

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8 hours ago, kelvinlapworth said:

I like this idea but would the B*** be prepared to let us paying supporters sit in on one of their secret handshake meetings? They are a corrupt bunch only interested in their own interests. A friend of mine who used to have close links with the committee who I obviously won't name pointed this out to me once. The B*** is probably rife with tax evasion and money laundering.  Why on earth would any sensible businessman/woman pour their money into something that would make a loss unless there was something on the side ..... just saying. 

To a degree it's this cynical approach that probably means it will never ever happen. Why don't you buy a Speedway Club and then you can go to the meetings?

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