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Birmingham v Leicester

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Opinions divided depending on which forecast you follow. I follow XC weather which I've always found to be pretty good and that said no rain today. Jump to the BBC and its heavy all day! Always a tough call when you have such conflicting forecasts. Remember that roads dry far quicker than tracks too.....

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1 hour ago, ProudtobeaBrummie said:

Looks like the wrong call was made here the conditions by the looks and sounds of things would of been perfect for a speedway meeting. 

Its very easy to be wise in hindsight.

A rain off with riders at the track costs thousands and no promoter can afford that. As such, they simply have to trust weather forecasts and we all know how unreliable they can be. 

There are a few occasions when the weather is used as an excuse to call off a meeting, but most of the time no club should be blamed for postponing a meeting on the strength of a forecast that turns out to be wrong. 

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1 hour ago, ProudtobeaBrummie said:

Looks like the wrong call was made here the conditions by the looks and sounds of things would of been perfect for a speedway meeting. 

hindsight is an amazing thing. The weather forecasts all predicted almost 9 mm of rain in a 4 to 5 hour period and the costs promoters face with late call offs is large with no income coming in ….. this was the Brummies local derby and a big crowd was predicted …..how many would have been turned off coming with the forecasts on radio stations and tv alone ??? Promoters can't win can they ?

 

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It is unfortunate that, as it stands it looks like the wrong call. However we have had some sharp showers and there are still several hours to go before the meeting would have been completed, so who knows...….

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Damned if you do, damned if you don't. However, what has become apparent in recent times is that fans will jus turn out if the weather if iffy.

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Trouble is, thus has bitten promoters in the past due to running out of dates later in the year and cramming fixtures in, also in dodgy weather. It can also be self defeating because next time if they say it is on but forecast shows it might rain people will also decide not to bother. 

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I dont blame the management at all for calling this off. Leicester are now our local rivals, their a club we have not raced against since they returned and also there's the offer of 10 pound admission for Leicester season ticket holders. We need as many people as possible to come through the turnstiles to make the move up work, so I can understand why it was called off ifs there's any doubt at all , small or big. 

It was one of them days where there maybe wasn't a lot rain in one place and in others it was torrential with flooding which was the case for me driving through Cheshire this afternoon. Its hard to forecast, thats the joy of April showers for you!:D

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We can see why now why promotions are calling off meetings early. If there is a doubt of rain and the promotion call off early then they don’t incur costs so it could make the difference between surviving the season or not.

sadly this is how desperate the sport has become now for survival.

The downburst was fairly heavy but short and wouldn’t have been an issue tonight. With Leicester being their closest rivals they will want to maximise the option to ensure fans turn out for it.

 

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Who could predict the thunderstorms etc were not going to be as heavy as predicted ? 9mm of rain was due --- all TV and radio weather was saying hail even 

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Most people on this site seem to be sympathising with the Birmingham management on this - which I think is reasonable. All the weather forecasts predicted heavy rain, (some said torrential), hail, thunder and lighting plus a sharp drop in temperature. All of this did come, but only in very short bursts, and in hindsight, conditions would have been quite decent had the meeting gone ahead. It isn't the first time that a meeting has been called off on the strength of a poor weather prediction which then proved to be inaccurate, and it won't be the last.

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I do sympathise,but by the same token I am reluctant to attend a meeting if there is a cloud in the sky nowadays, mainly because the riders just don’t want know if conditions aren’t perfect.That has a lot to do with poor attendances in regard  to weather conditions.

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2 hours ago, Fromafar said:

I do sympathise,but by the same token I am reluctant to attend a meeting if there is a cloud in the sky nowadays, mainly because the riders just don’t want know if conditions aren’t perfect.That has a lot to do with poor attendances in regard  to weather conditions.

Interesting point.  It's a tricky one, and I do see it from the promotions point of view.

However, I think the emphasis should always be on getting the meeting on if possible.  As Stevebrum stated, it's a sign of how much the sport is on its backside that the major consideration in these circumstances isn't sporting but financial.  

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3 minutes ago, Kester said:

Interesting point.  It's a tricky one, and I do see it from the promotions point of view.

However, I think the emphasis should always be on getting the meeting on if possible.  As Stevebrum stated, it's a sign of how much the sport is on its backside that the major consideration in these circumstances isn't sporting but financial.  

Clubs cannot afford losing the day when they can make hay when sun shines.

Sad fact of where speedway is, but that is reality.

I would not in any way criticise the Birmingham promotion – and that comes from an Eastbourne supporter.

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1 hour ago, Kester said:

Interesting point.  It's a tricky one, and I do see it from the promotions point of view.

However, I think the emphasis should always be on getting the meeting on if possible.  As Stevebrum stated, it's a sign of how much the sport is on its backside that the major consideration in these circumstances isn't sporting but financial.  

With 3 teams from 2018 not riding this year plus there should be enough spare dates to rearrange, calling it off was the wise move. I would think most of the riders would not be local so travel time is to be allowed & riders have to be there a lot earlier than the supporters.

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