Time to have an enquiry into the death of Speedway

[steve roberts 9,244]

3 hours ago, Ben91 said:

I’d personally like to see an actual World Cup. Run once every four years, with perhaps the Speedway of Nations style pairs event run every four years also and staggered so that there is a big international tournament every two years.

By a proper World Cup I mean the entire tournament staged in one country with groups and team meetings. It would take an innovative format but I’m sure something could be done if some thought was put into it. Although I appreciate the Poles would potentially clean up in any such event. 

The 1973 Daily Mirror World Tournament caught the imagination as well as the media's attention...it was a great advert for the sport back then during speedway's last "Golden Era".

[Hawk127 1,359]

1 hour ago, steve roberts said:

The 1973 Daily Mirror World Tournament caught the imagination as well as the media's attention...it was a great advert for the sport back then during speedway's last "Golden Era".

If I recall correctly, this was team speedway with seven man teams riding at a range of tracks and I seem to recall seeing Russia riding at Hackney but old age let’s me down on who the opposition was. I do remember it got great coverage in the media and was held over one or two weeks. It would good to see something similar rather than the 4TT event that is today’s offering. Seven man teams riding as nations over three or four weeks with the right sponsor could be the making of a revival. What I do not understand is those who favour the recent World Cup format yet would never go to a a U.K. track hosting 4TT meeting made up of local teams.

[steve roberts 9,244]

40 minutes ago, Hawk127 said:

If I recall correctly, this was team speedway with seven man teams riding at a range of tracks and I seem to recall seeing Russia riding at Hackney but old age let’s me down on who the opposition was. I do remember it got great coverage in the media and was held over one or two weeks. It would good to see something similar rather than the 4TT event that is today’s offering. Seven man teams riding as nations over three or four weeks with the right sponsor could be the making of a revival. What I do not understand is those who favour the recent World Cup format yet would never go to a a U.K. track hosting 4TT meeting made up of local teams.

Who could ever forget the run-off between Peter Collins (England) and Anders Michanek (Sweden) after the final finished in a draw at Wembley and Anders was excluded after Peter slid off? An incident that divided opinion then and still does for those who were around to remember it.

[Shrub 1,109]

1 hour ago, Hawk127 said:

If I recall correctly, this was team speedway with seven man teams riding at a range of tracks and I seem to recall seeing Russia riding at Hackney but old age let’s me down on who the opposition was. I do remember it got great coverage in the media and was held over one or two weeks. It would good to see something similar rather than the 4TT event that is today’s offering. Seven man teams riding as nations over three or four weeks with the right sponsor could be the making of a revival. What I do not understand is those who favour the recent World Cup format yet would never go to a a U.K. track hosting 4TT meeting made up of local teams.

You're right it was seven man teams, but your old age is letting you down just a little! We had the Russians v England at Ipswich, you had England  v Poland at Hackney (12 point max for the Tiger!) Think that match was shown on World of Sport. (Unless my old age is letting me down!) 

[BluTiger 21,692]

13 minutes ago, Shrub said:

You're right it was seven man teams, but your old age is letting you down just a little! We had the Russians v England at Ipswich, you had England  v Poland at Hackney (12 point max for the Tiger!) Think that match was shown on World of Sport. (Unless my old age is letting me down!) 

[Shrub 1,109]

3 minutes ago, Blupanther said:

Can't remember the score but I know this one wasn't a massacre like the  England v Russia match. You can definitely put a row of 3's next to Tiger's name though!

[GWC 495]

It was a very wet meeting I went to see the Polish wonder boy Zenon Plech.

Didn't disappoint as he was also unbeaten except for a fall when he meet Louis.

[Shrub 1,109]

8 minutes ago, GWC said:

It was a very wet meeting I went to see the Polish wonder boy Zenon Plech.

Didn't disappoint as he was also unbeaten except for a fall when he meet Louis.

I went with my Dad to this, I was about 10. I remember going straight from school to Hackney, my first of what turned out to be many, many visits there, it was the night after the England v Russia match at Ipswich, and Tiger's 12 point max but little else! Though the rain rings a bell now that you mentioned it!

[martinmauger 584]

7 hours ago, steve roberts said:

The 1973 Daily Mirror World Tournament caught the imagination as well as the media's attention...it was a great advert for the sport back then during speedway's last "Golden Era".

Fun fact: it was at about this time when I became aware of speedway, though thanks to the open-piped JAPs & JAWAs of the time it could be clearly heard all over town, for quite some time after being allowed to see some of this particular competition on TV at 11PMish though to be honest I was too young to properly follow it properly (but still thought it was brilliant) I assumed that all speedway competitions were 'tournaments' ....

Edited August 18, 2020 by martinmauger
alleged grammar improvements

[mikebv 10,270]

6 hours ago, steve roberts said:

Who could ever forget the run-off between Peter Collins (England) and Anders Michanek (Sweden) after the final finished in a draw at Wembley and Anders was excluded after Peter slid off? An incident that divided opinion then and still does for those who were around to remember it.

And you had an amazing last heat decider at Sheffield with PC, Eric Boocock, Michanek and Tommy Jansson....

Shown later the same evening on ITV..

A race that never gets boring to watch given so much is going on..

A true 'Festival of Speedway" with a big name sponsor and almost blanket TV coverage on one of only three channels you could watch at the time..

A very different world than the one that exists today for Speedway in the UK..

 

 

[steve roberts 9,244]

A Norway/Denmark combined team so that Ole Olsen could take part when Norway was by far the more dominate team...how times have changed!

[cityrebel 2,960]

9 hours ago, Shrub said:

I went with my Dad to this, I was about 10. I remember going straight from school to Hackney, my first of what turned out to be many, many visits there, it was the night after the England v Russia match at Ipswich, and Tiger's 12 point max but little else! Though the rain rings a bell now that you mentioned it!

So did i, we sat in the Hackney car park thinking it would be off. I also went to Australia v New Zealand at Wimbledon, New Zealand v Russia at Reading and the Wembley final.

[iainb 4,999]

Personally I'd like to see a World Cup run every year but maybe mix the format up a bit, 1 year WTC (4 riders 1 reserve), 1 year SoN (2 riders 1 reserve) and 1 year Full 18 heat 8 man test matches. I think they had the SWC about right in the early days when it was all held in 1 country, giving the media a chance to get behind it. Obviously the Poles don't need the media attention. I think mixing the formats up may also mix the winners up.

[pvm 115]

 

Most international test matches were 18 heat matches, 8 rider sides, 6 who rode & 2 reserves. The 1-6 rode 6 times unless replaced by a reserve. The copy of the race card confirms this. I can remember the first meeting I ever went to, Young England v Young Sweden at Cleveland Park in 1971,  One of the Swedes just missed out on a 18 pt max,  Louis or Knapkin  who beat him in one ride. And years later I saw somebody else have a 18pt max at Cleveland Park in an international test match, might have been Michael Lee or Kenny Carter (or both). 

Edit, Just discovered the International tournament was run under the  conventional 13 heat format, as opposed to a Test match over 18 hts, something I didn't know, I only ever saw International test matches at Cleveland Park. 

Edited August 18, 2020 by pvm

[Ben91 1,743]

2 hours ago, iainb said:

Personally I'd like to see a World Cup run every year but maybe mix the format up a bit, 1 year WTC (4 riders 1 reserve), 1 year SoN (2 riders 1 reserve) and 1 year Full 18 heat 8 man test matches. I think they had the SWC about right in the early days when it was all held in 1 country, giving the media a chance to get behind it. Obviously the Poles don't need the media attention. I think mixing the formats up may also mix the winners up.

International competition every year, absolutely. But I’d keep the World Cup name for the team event solely. You could also stage the Under-21 World Cup on an odd year and make a bigger deal of that event. This is a big digression from the thread of course though!