Time to send a GB/England touring team abroad?

[Mr. Clemens 646]

2 minutes ago, racers and royals said:

You have lost me now.

 

 

Not to worry

 

 

[iris123 20,939]

When I mention speedway to my Polish colleagues, they think I am talking about Auto racing.....boom !!

I have more

A woman walks into the Doctors

Doctor," she complains, "I'm hurting everywhere!"

"What do you mean?" the doctor asks.

"Everywhere I touch hurts!" she yelled.

Bewildered, the doctor inspects her, but sees nothing wrong anywhere.

"But my knee hurts," she said, touching her knee. "My chest hurts," she said, touching her chest. "Even my cheek hurts!" she shouted, touching her cheek.

After a moment of silence, the doctor said,

"Ma'am, you have a broken finger."

 

[iainb 4,962]

5 hours ago, Skodaman said:

I was in Krakow a couple of years ago. At a flea market in the town, there were two stalls selling badges including many motorcycling ones. When i asked if there were any speedway ones, they didn't know what speedway was.

 

5 hours ago, racers and royals said:

That`s because you should have said Zuzel- they would have known then 

Should have called them Slags 

[mikebv 10,243]

Bartosz Zmarzlik won their version of the Sports Personality of the Year award last year..

And the President of Poland visited him at Zmarzlik's own place for a photo call this year..

I would suggest 'quite a few' Poles are aware of the sport..

 

 

[HGould 2,213]

There is a degree of "Rugby League" in Poland.

Parts of the Country it is a religion and by far the biggest Sport.

Other parts it is not popular at all.

It is known by most Poles though

 

 

[HenryW 1,178]

11 hours ago, racers and royals said:

Every Pole i have talked to know what Zuzel is

Same here. 
I've worked with a good few Poles in recent years and they might not actually have been fans of the sport (generally weren't, being from non speedway cities), but they certainly knew what the sport was and who Gollob was...I'm not sure that I would believe that someone selling motorcycling badges in Poland would not know the sport...but, hey, someone else's anecdote is as valid as mine, so maybe it's true 
 

[iris123 20,939]

35 minutes ago, HenryW said:

Same here. 
I've worked with a good few Poles in recent years and they might not actually have been fans of the sport (generally weren't, being from non speedway cities), but they certainly knew what the sport was and who Gollob was...I'm not sure that I would believe that someone selling motorcycling badges in Poland would not know the sport...but, hey, someone else's anecdote is as valid as mine, so maybe it's true 
 

Same thing I heard from someone in Pardubice. Ask someone there about speedway and they don't know what you are talking about generally. But ask someone about Zlata Prilba and most know

[Grachan 7,314]

I would imagine that Speedway's popularity in Poland is similar to how it was in England in the 1970's.

Nationwide coverage on World of Sport, second most popular spectator sport in the country, front page of the Daily Mirror when Peter Collins won the World title. But still you would find many people who had no idea what it was.

[steve roberts 9,242]

10 minutes ago, Grachan said:

I would imagine that Speedway's popularity in Poland is similar to how it was in England in the 1970's.

Nationwide coverage on World of Sport, second most popular spectator sport in the country, front page of the Daily Mirror when Peter Collins won the World title. But still you would find many people who had no idea what it was.

Yes I was at school during that period and there were very few class mates who were aware of speedway or even went which made me somewhat of a celebrity the fact that Dad was taking us up to London every Wednesday to watch the "Rebels"..."What you're going to London tonight? I've never been" was the question I was often asked!

Edited August 28, 2020 by steve roberts

[Grachan 7,314]

25 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

Yes I was at school during that period and there were very few class mates who were aware of speedway or even went which made me somewhat of a celebrity the fact that Dad was taking us up to London every Wednesday to watch the "Rebels"..."What you're going to London tonight? I've never been" was the question I was often asked!

Yeah, it seems to be that kind of sport where is doesn't attract widespread coverage even at its most popular.

 

[DC2 11,150]

1 hour ago, Grachan said:

I would imagine that Speedway's popularity in Poland is similar to how it was in England in the 1970's.

Nationwide coverage on World of Sport, second most popular spectator sport in the country, front page of the Daily Mirror when Peter Collins won the World title.

But still you would find many people who had no idea what it was.

One of the reasons being it’s not a sport that you can do at school or at home.

Practically every other one is, even if they’re restricted to summer camps or trips out to try canoeing or horse riding.  And while motor sports are generally not available to children they’re familiar with cars and motorbikes on the road.

 

[steve roberts 9,242]

6 minutes ago, DC2 said:

One of the reasons being it’s not a sport that you can do at school or at home.

Practically every other one is, even if they’re restricted to summer camps or trips out to try canoeing or horse riding.  And while motor sports are generally not available to children they’re familiar with cars and motorbikes on the road.

 

What drew me to the sport was hearing the bikes on a Thursday night where we lived and being curious I just had to go...and was hooked from then on!

[iainb 4,962]

21 hours ago, DC2 said:

One of the reasons being it’s not a sport that you can do at school or at home.

Practically every other one is, even if they’re restricted to summer camps or trips out to try canoeing or horse riding.  And while motor sports are generally not available to children they’re familiar with cars and motorbikes on the road.

 

You say you can't do Speedway at home and then go on to compare it to a load of other activities you also can't do at home, the only real things you can do at home are ball sports or sports that don't require some sort of apparatus, like running. Speedway is available in training camps and available to children.

21 hours ago, steve roberts said:

What drew me to the sport was hearing the bikes on a Thursday night where we lived and being curious I just had to go...and was hooked from then on!

Exactly the same here, I could hear the bikes on a Tuesday night in Leicester and I needed to find out what was going on... telling people I was going to Blackbird road to watch the "Lions", didn't have the same "celebrity" power for me though as telling people I was going to London 

[steve roberts 9,242]

2 minutes ago, iainb said:

You say you can't do Speedway at home and then go on to compare it to a load of other activities you also can't do at home, the only real things you can do at home are ball sports or sports that don't require some sort of apparatus, like running. Speedway is available in training camps and available to children.

Exactly the same here, I could hear the bikes on a Tuesday night in Leicester and I needed to find out what was going on... telling people I was going to Blackbird road to watch the "Lions", didn't have the same "celebrity" power for me though as telling people I was going to London 

I grew up on Blackbird Leys (and proud of it!) and the stadium was but a stone's throw away and the noise generated by the bikes really caught my imagination and on going I dropped football like a stone (I was an ardent football fan) as it had nothing compared to speedway...great days!

[DC2 11,150]

7 minutes ago, iainb said:

You say you can't do Speedway at home and then go on to compare it to a load of other activities you also can't do at home, the only real things you can do at home are ball sports or sports that don't require some sort of apparatus, like running.

Speedway is available in training camps and available to children.

What I said was:

“One of the reasons being it’s not a sport that you can do at school or at home.  Practically every other one is, even if they’re restricted to summer camps or trips out to try canoeing or horse riding.  And while motor sports are generally not available to children they’re familiar with cars and motorbikes on the road.”

While speedway might be available in training camps it doesn’t make it onto the list of extra-curricular sports offered by schools in trips to outdoor activity centres that do canoeing, rock climbing and horse riding.