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Rob Godfrey interview in Speedway Star

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2 hours ago, Halifaxtiger said:

A very good example of how Isle of Wight work and just how good their customer service is.  Its anything but the first time I have heard something of this nature.

'Absolutely flabberghasted' is just about how every speedway fan would feel, but that's a massive indictment of the way the sport is run and its attitude towards those who pay at the turnstiles every week. Simple truth is there is absolutely no reason why that standard of care could not be replicated across the sport. 

The only thing I would say is that from experience things are getting better.

 

Knowing Barry a bit, I think he could do it. I also think he'd sooner put his head in a pan of boiling chip fat. 

That's not because of the scale of the problem but because, sooner or later, of the utter lack of support he would get.   

You are right HT things do seem to be getting better, things are improving, and people are noticing. This is a great step in the right direction for the sport and making speedway night something to be proud of.

 

Regads your second point... I have been thinking about this long and hard and I would actually like to do it one day, if I was ever offered such a thing. To bring speedway forward, to take it to the next level, needs leadership, simplification, financial sustainability rules, but most of all positivity from every part of the sport - all of us.

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It's hard to be positive Barry when your local tracks fold. Lakeside, Rye House, Workington & Buxton are the latest casualties, with probably more to follow. I genuinely hope speedway survives these uncertain times. I've been a fan for 51 years, from boy to man, yet every year it gets harder to go. The venues get less and the options are harder. Fingers crossed for a successful season for all tracks, but it could be a bumpy ride.

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5 hours ago, barrybishop said:

You are right HT things do seem to be getting better, things are improving, and people are noticing. This is a great step in the right direction for the sport and making speedway night something to be proud of.

 

Regads your second point... I have been thinking about this long and hard and I would actually like to do it one day, if I was ever offered such a thing. To bring speedway forward, to take it to the next level, needs leadership, simplification, financial sustainability rules, but most of all positivity from every part of the sport - all of us.

Slightly off topic, but relevant to Barry, I would like to thank him for his 'attendance' at last week's Nuneaton SSC talk in.

Barry was due to appear in person but had a late change of plans with a business trip to Thailand (or Phillipines?), but still took part via a video link/facetime despite the fact that it was 3:00 am in Asia. He was on-line for quite a while and gave quite detailed responses to questions and didn't seem in a hurry to get some shuteye!

Thanks Barry.

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I'm reading a Biography of Bill Veeck. He's widely regarded as Baseball's greatest showman, never a player but from an early age involved in managing and then owning clubs. Clubs like Milwaukee and Cleveland, and later Chicago White Sox, which when he bought them were on sharp declines but he breathed new life into them, in tough times too, and turned them into successful businesses. 

The guy was phenomenal, with his energy, bravado, self-belief but most importantly mingling with the fans during games, meeting and greeting when they arrived, and being at the exit to thank them for their custom. He pulled numerous publicity stunts, created controversy, engineered spats between himself and other team owners. There was nobody who taught him all of that, he just had the spirit in him to try things. He made a priority of providing better spectator facilities - toilets, food, entertainment, improved lighting - and was a genius when it came to courting and pleasing the media. 

I suppose you could truly call Bill Veeck a Promoter, in every sense of the word. (his name's pronounced Vek - as in wreck, as he used to say). And he did it mostly with only one leg, legacy of a stint with the Marines in WW2. Reading it. you just couldn't help but draw comparisons with current Speedway promoters, and how so many of them could do with some of the Veeck approach. You also think that Speedway is crying out for someone like Veeck to inspire and encourage the current promoters to innovate and to develop, who the BSPA could appoint to such a role. 

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By the sounds of it we should be unable to utter the names of Buster Chapman and Rob Godfrey in the same breath as Bill Veeck ( or link them to the word "promoter" ). Not to mention a few of the other "National Treasures" at the BSPA who have reigned over things since the turn of the century.

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The only promotion to be doing anything close is Isle of Wight and look how they are going in the right direction. Sadly the only club in UK Speedway who have the right idea. 

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13 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

The only promotion to be doing anything close is Isle of Wight and look how they are going in the right direction. Sadly the only club in UK Speedway who have the right idea. 

Glasgow are working just as hard, if not harder to promote. Unfortunately they're cutting back because the investment isn't resulting in increased attendances. 

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22 minutes ago, Daniel Smith said:

Glasgow are working just as hard, if not harder to promote. Unfortunately they're cutting back because the investment isn't resulting in increased attendances. 

So Glasgow and Isle of Wight are on the path to improving and one of them finds they are throwing good money away. A very sad indictment of where the sport has found itself. Ronnie Green, Johnny Hoskins and Charles Ochiltree must be spinning in their graves. 

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1 hour ago, Daniel Smith said:

Glasgow are working just as hard, if not harder to promote. Unfortunately they're cutting back because the investment isn't resulting in increased attendances. 

I think the attendances have increased at Glasgow but not to the level the Promotion were the expecting.They certainly have gave it their best shot regarding improving facilities and trying to make it attractive for kids who are the future supporters.

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5 hours ago, Chris116 said:

The only promotion to be doing anything close is Isle of Wight and look how they are going in the right direction. Sadly the only club in UK Speedway who have the right idea. 

You might like to come and see what is happening at Eastbourne.

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So yes of course there are cases of good work at present, but in these times it has to be a collective effort too. It's crying out for the BSPA to appoint someone suitable to be the catalyst. If it does end in failure, well at least they've tried. A good national sponsor would help to fund it, of course, but the promoters would need to make the first move.

The difference with Bill Veeck is that he had big potential markets to draw in, but he still had to bring them in. Speedway's potential new markets are probably much more limited.

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3 minutes ago, Big Al said:

Speedway's potential new markets are probably much more limited.

Should be around 64,000,000 people.

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2 hours ago, Richard Weston said:

You might like to come and see what is happening at Eastbourne.

So now we have three clubs (Isle of Wight, Glasgow and Eastbourne) trying to do the right thing which is very good news but seems the BSPA still have their heads in the sand and many promotions would stab each other in the back before they joined in trying to promote the sport. 

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Tbf, Kent have never struggled with kids on the terraces, and for the last 2 seasons Len has laid on a free junior fan club called the Munch Kings.

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A 'proper business' would be engaging with their new neighbours and giving out special offers, eg a few meetings free to try it, reduced price tickets ongoing, organising meet and greet open days pre season exclusively for them etc..

MikeBV wrote this about Swindon Stadium's many new very local residents but this is a great part of what all tracks should be doing. There is almost no local marketing ( to pull in new fans ) done now except a "this will pull them in through the local newspaper column". By marketing, I refer to looking to attract new fans - not just reminding die-hard fans that "we are still here" which is what the BSPA seems to regard as "marketing". The same old. same old "publicity" has failed dismally.

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