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Guardian article today

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15 minutes ago, Pieman72 said:

I couldn't agree more and taking thread from Grasstrack; Speedway needs to learn from it. Spectacular diverse racing, multiple classes, value for money, a family day out and nearly a days racing with practice allied to a sensible time in which to race. Oh what's missing.... Promoters and Professional Speedway Riders need I say anymore. I take my hat off to the many dedicated individuals who support, assist and stage Grasstrack for nothing. Above all the vast majority of riders who race for no financial gain. That is the spirit required in Speedway; the current business model is broken. 

It is good to hear that grasstrack is improving. But it is a sport that hosts a meeting once in a blue moon and on a weekend. 

Speedway isn’t the same. You can’t string out a meeting with loads of different classes, sidecars etc plus speedway is a team sport in the main, whilst grasstrack is individual.

I have been to meetings that take 4 hours or more to complete and it isn’t for me.With most sports like football or ice hockey etc you know roughly within a few minutes how long it takes. One of the problems with speedway all too often is you are not even sure if the meeting will go ahead not how long it will take to complete it. And this has been a problem with the sport going back to the early days of 1930....

In fact it is rather frightening when you look back, that some of the problems today were also problems way back in the 1920s and 30s and just haven’t been solved in all those years

Edited by iris123

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4 minutes ago, iris123 said:

It is good to hear that grasstrack is improving. But it is a sport that hosts a meeting once in a blue moon and on a weekend. 

Speedway isn’t the same. You can’t string out a meeting with loads of different classes, sidecars etc plus speedway is a team sport in the main, whilst grasstrack is individual.

I have been to meetings that take 4 hours or more to complete and it isn’t for me.With most sports like football or ice hockey etc you know roughly within a few minutes how long it takes. One of the problems with speedway all too often is you are not even sure if the meeting will go ahead not how long it will take to complete it. And this has been a problem with the sport going back to the early days of 1930....

I agree. Grasstracks now tend to have too many classes which spoils the continuity.

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On 3/23/2019 at 6:26 PM, Norfolk Bear said:

There is a lot of downside in this article but little is happening to go against it. 

Look at what Barry Hearn has done for darts , they get better crowds than Speedway does 

A sport where hardly anyone watches the sport.   The crowd are in the main are only there to drink lager.  Barry Hearn has sold Octoberfest to the British people.  

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2 hours ago, iris123 said:

It is good to hear that grasstrack is improving. But it is a sport that hosts a meeting once in a blue moon and on a weekend. 

Speedway isn’t the same. You can’t string out a meeting with loads of different classes, sidecars etc plus speedway is a team sport in the main, whilst grasstrack is individual.

I have been to meetings that take 4 hours or more to complete and it isn’t for me.With most sports like football or ice hockey etc you know roughly within a few minutes how long it takes. One of the problems with speedway all too often is you are not even sure if the meeting will go ahead not how long it will take to complete it. And this has been a problem with the sport going back to the early days of 1930....

In fact it is rather frightening when you look back, that some of the problems today were also problems way back in the 1920s and 30s and just haven’t been solved in all those years

Grasstrack didn't used to be 'once in a blue moon'. In the 70s, most centres had a meeting every weekend during the summer months. Back in the time, many speedway riders doubled up on grass, Malcolm Simmons, Simon Wigg and many others. Which was good for both sports. Grasstrack was a good feeder for speedway teams and grasstrack benefited by having household name riders at their meetings. This rarely happens any more and the reason for that is many speedway riders ride abroad as well as the UK and can't fit in grasstrack and in any case, wouldn't earn enough money from grasstrack. Grasstrack has always been drawn out, because you do have a lot of classes to get through and many heats. But it is a different attraction, grasstrack is a day out and hopefully enjoy a full afternoons racing in the sun. What has happened recently and it is good in one way, grasstrack pads out the meetings with youth riders, whereas, yesteryear, there were schoolboy meetings. Riders like Jeremy Doncaster started in schoolboy grasstrack. Both grasstrack and speedway need a major overhaul and reboot and perhaps look at what was good and worked in the past. Both sports, in my opinion, worked better when there was little foreign influence, i.e. few foreign riders here and few British riders riding abroad.  

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2 minutes ago, Ray Stadia said:

Grasstrack didn't used to be 'once in a blue moon'.

Not sure what that brings to the debate. Sure a lot of us know what grasstrack used to be like. Just like we know Wembley used to attract crowds of over 50,000 regularly or you used to be able to attend speedway almost every day of the week in London. How does that help us with the modern situation?

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20 minutes ago, iris123 said:

Not sure what that brings to the debate. Sure a lot of us know what grasstrack used to be like. Just like we know Wembley used to attract crowds of over 50,000 regularly or you used to be able to attend speedway almost every day of the week in London. How does that help us with the modern situation?

Well as usual/normal, you have lifted a small part of my full post. Other parts of my post make suggestions, but also as usual, like many on here like you, your raison d'etre on here is to shoot people down in flames! And if you are going to tell us how things are in Germany, I for one, am not interested in what happens there! 

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37 minutes ago, Ray Stadia said:

Well as usual/normal, you have lifted a small part of my full post. Other parts of my post make suggestions, but also as usual, like many on here like you, your raison d'etre on here is to shoot people down in flames! And if you are going to tell us how things are in Germany, I for one, am not interested in what happens there! 

I cut the rest out because I didn’t think it worth quoting. Sorry but looking back at what worked in the 70s is worthless when the world and it’s uncle has moved on. You might not be interested in what happens in Germany, but British speedway riders are interested in what happens in Poland ,as are most speedway riders. 

An attempt to move the clock back to the 70s just isn’t going to work because as soon as a rider gets a call from Poland he is on the plane. Money talks and there just isn’t much to be made in the UK

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2 minutes ago, iris123 said:

I cut the rest out because I didn’t think it worth quoting. Sorry but looking back at what worked in the 70s is worthless when the world and it’s uncle has moved on. You might not be interested in what happens in Germany, but British speedway riders are interested in what happens in Poland ,as are most speedway riders. 

An attempt to move the clock back to the 70s just isn’t going to work because as soon as a rider gets a call from Poland he is on the plane. Money talks and there just isn’t much to be made in the UK

Well I think you are providing us with a perfect reason why the UK getting out of the EU can't come quickly enough. As it appears, you are virtually suggesting, British speedway's decline is due to the growth in European speedway and I think you are right! We have allowed Denmark, Sweden and Poland use British speedway to our detriment. Pull up the drawbridge!     

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3 minutes ago, Ray Stadia said:

Well I think you are providing us with a perfect reason why the UK getting out of the EU can't come quickly enough. As it appears, you are virtually suggesting, British speedway's decline is due to the growth in European speedway and I think you are right! We have allowed Denmark, Sweden and Poland use British speedway to our detriment. Pull up the drawbridge!     

But you are forgetting in the 70s heyday most top riders based their weekend around a nice trip to the continent. In fact I think Ivan Mauger signed his contract with Exeter with those meetings prominent in his mind. The downturn in business there was replaced by Poland’s rise

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1 hour ago, Ray Stadia said:

Well I think you are providing us with a perfect reason why the UK getting out of the EU can't come quickly enough. As it appears, you are virtually suggesting, British speedway's decline is due to the growth in European speedway and I think you are right! We have allowed Denmark, Sweden and Poland use British speedway to our detriment. Pull up the drawbridge!     

:blink:

Pesky Brussels bureaucrats ruining British speedway! No doubt that shifty pole Donald Tusk has a hand in all this :rofl:

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1 hour ago, Ray Stadia said:

Well I think you are providing us with a perfect reason why the UK getting out of the EU can't come quickly enough. As it appears, you are virtually suggesting, British speedway's decline is due to the growth in European speedway and I think you are right! We have allowed Denmark, Sweden and Poland use British speedway to our detriment. Pull up the drawbridge!     

But, with Swedish leagues having their problems, just maybe a combined top tier league including 3 (at a guess)  UK clubs could salvage something to derive sufficient income from TV and investment. The UK clubs would need to be stadium-owning or at least non-greyhound tenants. Belle Vue, Kings Lynn and Glasgow for instance.

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4 hours ago, Mark said:

A sport where hardly anyone watches the sport.   The crowd are in the main are only there to drink lager.  Barry Hearn has sold Octoberfest to the British people.  

I think too much is given to Hearn running speedway. I know he revamped darts, but come on,  speedway crowds would look healthy (in size) if they were locked up in some bar somewhere. They would create at least some atmosphere, too, if you plied them with slosh and handed them a board with a magic marker to write silly things on.

Or, why not just hang a dart board in the pits and have done with it? You could watch riders on a big screen between the heats playing around the board or 501. 

Edited by moxey63

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7 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

I think too much is given to Hearn running speedway. I know he revamped darts, but come on,  speedway crowds would look healthy (in size) if they were locked up in some bar somewhere. They would create at least some atmosphere, too, if you plied them with slosh and handed them a board with a magic marker to write silly things on.

Or, why not just hang a dart board in the pits and have done with it? You could watch riders on a big screen between the heats playing around the board or 501. 

Lay off the cider, we will understand you better

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5 hours ago, iris123 said:

It is good to hear that grasstrack is improving. But it is a sport that hosts a meeting once in a blue moon and on a weekend. 

Speedway isn’t the same. You can’t string out a meeting with loads of different classes, sidecars etc plus speedway is a team sport in the main, whilst grasstrack is individual.

I have been to meetings that take 4 hours or more to complete and it isn’t for me.With most sports like football or ice hockey etc you know roughly within a few minutes how long it takes. One of the problems with speedway all too often is you are not even sure if the meeting will go ahead not how long it will take to complete it. And this has been a problem with the sport going back to the early days of 1930....

In fact it is rather frightening when you look back, that some of the problems today were also problems way back in the 1920s and 30s and just haven’t been solved in all those years

I've attended a few big grasstrack meetings recently, and encountered many of the problems that hinder speedway. Late starts, extended tractor breaks and paramedics being delayed en route. Maybe it's just a motorsport thing.

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Ultimately Grasstrack is in reasonable shape where as Speedway is facing extinction. I do like a spat but I'd rather keep to the original Guardian article. 

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