U-21 FINAL: BERWICK, Wednesday, October 21st

[waytogo28 2,054]

10 hours ago, sparks123 said:

All electrics were inspected & tested by the stadium contractor before the football season started.  The speedway electrics were tested on Sunday and Wednesday afternoon and were all working. The referee tested all electrics when he arrived (as they will do at every track). Somerset would have tested the speakers before the pairs (have been dodgy the last few years), Peterborough would have tested the electrics before the 4's but had faults 2 years running and Gorzow would have tested the electrics before the transformer went on fire (shows it happens everywhere and not just Berwick). The fault wasn't on one of the speedway fuse boards.

 I haven't seen the stream but the power cut had a massive effect on the stream. The Power was removed from various stadium fuse boards (killing the power to everything regarding the stream) as the supply isolator is three phase (fault on one phase). They did a great job getting it all back up and running after losing power to everything and not just the things that was on the affected control fuse (probably lost a few meeting graphics etc).

Thank you for responding to the feedback of supporters who used the Live Stream. For me it was a golden oportunity to see just how viable streaming may be for domestic league UK speedway in the future. I would have been unhappy if I had paid £10 so the opportunity to see what it might be like elsewhere in 2021 was very poitive. With a goegraphical limit( so that local supporters cannot take the easy option and watch from home - although I disagree with that idea ) Uk tracks can only benefit from streaming in the future - if set at a reasonable price. Otherwise crowds wil fall below sustainable levels in the stadiums ( if they are not at that point already ). From what you say every reasonable effort was made to prepare well. If that was indeed the case then streaming may not save UK speedway if it is so easily made unreliable.

[sparks123 147]

1 hour ago, iainb said:

Do you know why the 1,800 or so fans, many of whom would have made a donation for the stream, were not informed that the meeting had already started and was being shown on a different stream?

I can only guess (George would probably be able to answer better than me) .

I think the two people who mainly run the social media weren't there (not sure about one and wouldn't like to say why the other wasn't there). Jamie, Scott, Gary etc would be involved in lots of things and would have got the information out as soon as they could (possibly got the stream to start to make sure it wasn't going to drop out?). Not really a full answer but as I say its only my thoughts.

 

[sparks123 147]

6 minutes ago, waytogo28 said:

If that was indeed the case then streaming may not save UK speedway if it is so easily made unreliable.

Before the power outage the stream was working fine (rider interviews etc shown on social media I heard).  You unfortunately cannot guard against a power failure (or mains isolator fuse failure) so I cannot say it would be unreliable in most cases (possibly affect a very small percentage and unfortunately this was one).

[George Dodds 310]

23 minutes ago, sparks123 said:

I can only guess (George would probably be able to answer better than me) .

I think the two people who mainly run the social media weren't there (not sure about one and wouldn't like to say why the other wasn't there). Jamie, Scott, Gary etc would be involved in lots of things and would have got the information out as soon as they could (possibly got the stream to start to make sure it wasn't going to drop out?). Not really a full answer but as I say its only my thoughts.

 

only sort of. I know that as soon as was possible the new link was posted on the news section of the Bandits' website and that the twitter and Facebook accounts advertised the links. Although obviously if those looking at the broken link didn't look on the sites showing them how to follow the new link .then ...  

[Fromafar 10,359]

1 hour ago, George Dodds said:

only sort of. I know that as soon as was possible the new link was posted on the news section of the Bandits' website and that the twitter and Facebook accounts advertised the links. Although obviously if those looking at the broken link didn't look on the sites showing them how to follow the new link .then ...  

I think the main problem being the link did not give any indication that it was broken, just said waiting for Berwick Speedway Website after the count down had finished, and as the count down worked it was easy to assume there was still something wrong for everyone.Still live and learn.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Fromafar

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

Despite refreshing the website and Facebook page the first I heard about the alternative stream was a posting in the comments section of Speedway Updates. By that point I had no need to keep checking so I assume that they were both updated afterwards. 

It's all very unfortunate, as was the cancellation of the semi and final. Perhaps it might have been wiser to announce their cancellation earlier, say prior to the last four heats, when it surely must have become clear that the curfew was going to be broken. That way we could have realised at the time that  Bewley's fifth win had earned him the title. 

Given the power problems they did well to get the meeting on. Sadly the draw meant a very large proportion of uncompetitive races followed by a remarkable situation of having four unbeaten riders in heat 16. 

As I've said elsewhere it was a frustrating disappointment, no doubt also for Berwick Speedway and the streaming company. I have fond memories of trips to Shielfield Park. I'm just disappointed to have been let down this time.  

 

[George Dodds 310]

2 hours ago, Fromafar said:

I think the main problem being the link did not give any indication that it was broken, just said waiting for Berwick Speedway Website after the count down had finished, and as the count down worked it was easy to assume there was still something wrong for everyone.Still live and learn.

I'm afraid I not tech savvy enough to know how you inform people that a link is broken via a broken link  It would have been nice to put some form of digital test card up but as I say the nuts and bolts of whether that is even possible are beyond me. 

Ironically had there been a crowd in the stadium we would have started on time as the power fault was identified and rectified by 6.50ish. It was restoring the livestream link that then took time.  

As you say there is a lot to be learned and some of the criticism will undoubtedly be useful going forward.

Announcing the cancellation of the semis and final earlier? Yeah I take the point but in a way you could not make a decision until the very minute that it became impossible to run them within the curfew. Had Drew Kemp not hit the fence with such a clout in heat 16 then it may have been possible to get the final three races in, from memory the decision was not made until just after that and announced as soon as was humanly possible.

20 heats with everyone having met once was a logical cut-off in sporting terms. After that you are committed to completing three more races come what may. 

Edited October 23, 2020 by George Dodds

[iainb 5,004]

1 hour ago, George Dodds said:

I'm afraid I not tech savvy enough to know how you inform people that a link is broken via a broken link  It would have been nice to put some form of digital test card up but as I say the nuts and bolts of whether that is even possible are beyond me. 

I don't know who it was but there was a user called "Berwick Speedway" that was up until a point telling viewers on the stream's chat window that things would be up and running soon... only the last we heard from them was at about 19:10. The chat window was still live on the dead link at 19:30 as it was by chance that I saw that other users were saying that a new stream had been created

[Ben91 1,743]

3 hours ago, RobMcCaffery said:

Despite refreshing the website and Facebook page the first I heard about the alternative stream was a posting in the comments section of Speedway Updates. By that point I had no need to keep checking so I assume that they were both updated afterwards. 

Yet when someone here asked why the stream that was supposed to start at 7.30 wasn’t live after 7.30 you spoke to them like a piece of crap on the bottom of your shoe.

[George Dodds 310]

14 minutes ago, iainb said:

I don't know who it was but there was a user called "Berwick Speedway" that was up until a point telling viewers on the stream's chat window that things would be up and running soon... only the last we heard from them was at about 19:10. The chat window was still live on the dead link at 19:30 as it was by chance that I saw that other users were saying that a new stream had been created

Sorry not being obtuse but I don't know how Youtube's chat windows switch on and off

[emilali 500]

48 minutes ago, Ben91 said:

Yet when someone here asked why the stream that was supposed to start at 7.30 wasn’t live after 7.30 you spoke to them like a piece of crap on the bottom of your shoe.

He seems to do that to 95% of people he converses with on here. Thankfully, majority of us realise what a bell end he is and just ignore him. 

[waytogo28 2,054]

2 hours ago, George Dodds said:

I'm afraid I not tech savvy enough to know how you inform people that a link is broken via a broken link  It would have been nice to put some form of digital test card up but as I say the nuts and bolts of whether that is even possible are beyond me. 

Ironically had there been a crowd in the stadium we would have started on time as the power fault was identified and rectified by 6.50ish. It was restoring the livestream link that then took time.  

As you say there is a lot to be learned and some of the criticism will undoubtedly be useful going forward.

Announcing the cancellation of the semis and final earlier? Yeah I take the point but in a way you could not make a decision until the very minute that it became impossible to run them within the curfew. Had Drew Kemp not hit the fence with such a clout in heat 16 then it may have been possible to get the final three races in, from memory the decision was not made until just after that and announced as soon as was humanly possible.

20 heats with everyone having met once was a logical cut-off in sporting terms. After that you are committed to completing three more races come what may. 

I would like to feel more confident that "lessons really will be learnt" as that is very rare among speedway promoters in 21st Century UK domestic speedway. It should have been an excellent Live Stream taster from a club and if no-one there is tech savvy enough, it may be better not to try again? I was very, disappointed and scored it as 2/10 for effort.

[Ben91 1,743]

2 minutes ago, emilali said:

He seems to do that to 95% of people he converses with on here. Thankfully, majority of us realise what a bell end he is and just ignore him. 

I can always find a little bit of time in my day to call someone out when it’s required. Especially someone who seemingly takes pleasure in talking to others like dirt. 

[iainb 5,004]

45 minutes ago, George Dodds said:

Sorry not being obtuse but I don't know how Youtube's chat windows switch on and off

I take it you're not the "Berwick Speedway" user then?

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

1 hour ago, Ben91 said:

Yet when someone here asked why the stream that was supposed to start at 7.30 wasn’t live after 7.30 you spoke to them like a piece of crap on the bottom of your shoe.

That is your interpretation. I was simply expressing frustration that having taken the trouble to find out what was going on there was a succession of people lazily coming into the conversation and asking what was going on. If they'd bothered to read a few posts back the answer was there. 

Now I am direct in my approach since I don't believe in wasting time, especially on some of the people you get in here. You choose to interpret that in the way you choose. It was not intended that way. Most of what I post here is an attempt to inform or explain things to people and it is deeply frustrating to have that goodwill walked over by the lazy and stupid. If anyone has a go at me they can expect to get it back with interest. It's necessary given the nature of too many people in this forum, most of which is utter rubbish. There are some excellent contributors posting useful information here which is why I still use it. Sadly too many are like you. You're on ignore now so hopefully this is the last I will  hear from you.