What a difference in stadiums

[martinmauger 584]

3 hours ago, auntie doris said:

Certainly is, have done the stadium tour with Charlie George.

I drove my mate and his wife to Wembley Arena to see KISS in 1999, my prevous visit was th Lada Indoor speedway in 1983 or so, difficult to imagine speedway in such a small area.  Anyhoo the Wembley Stadium Tour was operating on that day, was pretty cheap a fiver or so, I really wanted to go on it however my mate and his wife didn't fancy it despite having visited Wembley few times for rugby, football, etc., so a connection there, one might think.  Instead, we sat in my car for 3 1/2 hours, I ate my packed lunch and listened to the radio while they passed the time by arguing, what fun.  KISS were great, BTW but the day out didn't end there, as on being told it the drive back to Hull would likely take 4 hours or so my mate and his wife decided to they may as well go to sleep, thus leaving me with 2 corpses, hmmm.  Actually I left both corpses by the side of the road - I'M KIDDING !  Though it was the last  trip of that kind with those two (guess why ?!)....

Edited December 4, 2020 by martinmauger
spelling, deleted details of corpse removal

[steve roberts 9,242]

1 hour ago, martinmauger said:

I drove my mate and his wife to Wembley Arena to see KISS in 1999, my prevous visit was th Lada Indoor speedway in 1983 or so, difficult to imagine speedway in such a small area.  Anyhoo the Wembley Stadium Tour was operating on that day, was pretty cheap a fiver or so, I really wanted to go on it however my mate and his wife didn't fancy it despite having visited Wembley few times for rugby, football, etc., so a connection there, one might think.  Instead, we sat in my car for 3 1/2 hours, I ate my packed lunch and listened to the radio while they passed the time by arguing, what fun.  KISS were great, BTW but the day out didn't end there, as on being told it the drive back to Hull would likely take 4 hours or so my mate and his wife decided to they may as well go to sleep, thus leaving me with 2 corpses, hmmm.  Actually I left both corpses by the side of the road - I'M KIDDING !  Though it was the last  trip of that kind with those two (guess why ?!)....

Shame you didn't do the Wembley tour as it was quite comprehensive...the changing rooms, tunnel, Royal Box, TV Room etc etc. Glad that I did it and got to see some of the trophys and even the crossbar that was used during the 1966 World Cup and Geoff Hurst's "Did it cross the line" goal!

[mikebv 10,260]

On 12/2/2020 at 3:01 PM, Humphrey Appleby said:

I think even the 6th tier of English football - i.e. National League North/South - gets better average attendances than anything in British speedway. There's even some teams down in the 8th tier that have attendances that speedway would die for. 

Jim Gannon's Blue and White Army.

Stockport County have averaged over 3500 a game in the sixth level for a few seasons..

Now they are in the fifth tier and will easily beat that number..

Over 6000 for the play offs..

Strange how so many say the Aces struggle to get crowds because there is so much to do in Manchester, and Grt Manchester has so many other sports teams to compete with.. 

Stockport have been down in level seven and averaged over 2500...

Only 20 mins from Edgeley Park to the NSS too...

They do though have a fantastic community interaction as my lad knows well as he played with their youth set up from 8 years of age...

Every evening (when all is normal), they are in schools in the local area training the kids, giving free tickets out, (if parent pays a fiver), and schools also provide ball boys for games, (again getting Mum or Dad or both along at a "special rate"!)

[auntie doris 2,339]

1 hour ago, mikebv said:

Jim Gannon's Blue and White Army.

Stockport County have averaged over 3500 a game in the sixth level for a few seasons..

Now they are in the fifth tier and will easily beat that number..

Over 6000 for the play offs..

Strange how so many say the Aces struggle to get crowds because there is so much to do in Manchester, and Grt Manchester has so many other sports teams to compete with.. 

Stockport have been down in level seven and averaged over 2500...

Only 20 mins from Edgeley Park to the NSS too...

They do though have a fantastic community interaction as my lad knows well as he played with their youth set up from 8 years of age...

Every evening (when all is normal), they are in schools in the local area training the kids, giving free tickets out, (if parent pays a fiver), and schools also provide ball boys for games, (again getting Mum or Dad or both along at a "special rate"!)

It is strange Vue struggle with crowds, must have catchment area of 6 million ish!? far more than any other club

[martinmauger 584]

1 hour ago, steve roberts said:

Shame you didn't do the Wembley tour as it was quite comprehensive...the changing rooms, tunnel, Royal Box, TV Room etc etc. Glad that I did it and got to see some of the trophys and even the crossbar that was used during the 1966 World Cup and Geoff Hurst's "Did it cross the line" goal!

Yup, wanted to see all of that, maybe examine the bends of the track which remained in place during ball-game sports just the straights were coverted  with turf, especially the tunnel / speedway pits how narrow were they.  Fascinating stuff, too late gone now.  Incedentally I was at the last World Final at Wembley in 1981, impressions: "wow I'm actually at Wembley, it isn't as big as I thought it would be (the main 'arena bit') a bit cramped too for speatators", I was in the seats half way up on turn 3.....

Edited December 4, 2020 by martinmauger
added Wembley stuff

[mikebv 10,260]

1 hour ago, auntie doris said:

It is strange Vue struggle with crowds, must have catchment area of 6 million ish!? far more than any other club

2.5 million live in Grt Manchester conurbation and furthest away is around 45 mins..

If you head out towards Tameside into the peak district that's even more people to go at all within 45 mins.. 

And then head out past Rochdale into Huddersfield way and again many more thousands. (With a fair few who possibly would be ex Halifax and Bradford fans so have a knowledge of the sport)..

Not far out of Bury are the mill towns too of Rawtenstall, Ramsbottom etc, all circa 45 mins away..

The NSS has excellent motorway links off the ring road from anywhere tens miles and more out of the city centre Manchester..

It is simply down to people not knowing about the sport in its generic form, and then on the back of that the Aces in more specific terms as a team who competes within the sport..

Edited December 4, 2020 by mikebv

[Humphrey Appleby 13,947]

7 minutes ago, mikebv said:

2.5 million live in Grt Manchester conurbation and furthest away is around 45 mins..

If you head out towards Tameside into the peak district that's even more people to go at all within 45 mins.. 

And then head out past Rochdale into Huddersfield way and again many more thousands. (With a fair few who possibly would be ex Halifax and Bradford fans so have a knowledge of the sport)..

Not far out of Bury are the mill towns too of Rawtenstall, Ramsbottom etc, all circa 45 mins away..

The NSS has excellent motorway links off the ring road from anywhere tens miles and more out of the city centre Manchester..

It is simply down to people not knowing about the sport in its generic form, and then on the back of that the Aces in more specific terms as a team who competes within the sport..

Speedway hasn't really thrived in big cities for a long time. It's really only Manchester, Glasgow and Sheffield where it's been sustained over the longer term, although I suppose you could just about make the case for 'Birmingham' if you include Wolves.

Speedway seems to do best in towns where there's not (historically) much competition in the way of football or other major sporting teams. 

Whilst you need a certain amount of footfall for any sporting venture, speedway has been just as, if not more successful in smaller catchment areas. Maybe there's too many other things competing for attention in larger cities, plus of course the 'unenvironmental' nature of the sport makes it increasingly unviable in those places. 

[auntie doris 2,339]

Swindon attract fans from Southampton, Bristol, Basingstoke, Oxford, Reading, Surrey, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Bath, Newport, so up to 60 mile radius, far bigger catchment area than the football club.

[Ben91 1,743]

Just because a track is in a populated area that doesn’t mean it will automatically draw fans. It has to be remembered that we like Speedway on this forum, we wouldn’t be here otherwise. But to see teams like Stockport outdrawing Belle Vue shouldn’t be a surprise really. Football is a much bigger concern. 

[Guest]

43 minutes ago, Ben91 said:

Just because a track is in a populated area that doesn’t mean it will automatically draw fans. It has to be remembered that we like Speedway on this forum, we wouldn’t be here otherwise. But to see teams like Stockport outdrawing Belle Vue shouldn’t be a surprise really. Football is a much bigger concern. 

Perhaps also because football is a well organised sport! And here's a Press item regarding Stockport County FC attendances: https://southmanchesternews.co.uk/stockport-county-top-national-league-north-attendance-table/

Edited December 4, 2020 by Guest

[Speedtiger 327]

6 hours ago, auntie doris said:

It is strange Vue struggle with crowds, must have catchment area of 6 million ish!? far more than any other club

The simple fact is the NSS is the best speedway track and stadium in UK if not Europe but the truth is the people running the BV club are clueless as to how to promote a speedway club. There’s no energy, been no improvement, they are just going through the motions.  Smith is just a hired hand ex insurance salesman and knows nothing about speedway and how to promote the sport. Lemon is just a ex-rider who knows nothing about running a speedway club. Since the first season in 2016 crowds have actually fallen which is incredible achievement when you consider the fantastic standard of the racing and the quality of the stadium. IMO BV-NSS needs to get the right experienced ‘speedway people’ who know how to promote the sport.  PC for one? 

[Ben91 1,743]

12 hours ago, JohnHyam said:

Perhaps also because football is a well organised sport! And here's a Press item regarding Stockport County FC attendances: https://southmanchesternews.co.uk/stockport-county-top-national-league-north-attendance-table/

Sadly I don’t think the organisation has much to do with it. Football is one of the most popular things in the world. Speedway isn’t. 

[steve roberts 9,242]

13 minutes ago, Ben91 said:

Sadly I don’t think the organisation has much to do with it. Football is one of the most popular things in the world. Speedway isn’t. 

...and receives massive media attention and always has done even during its hooligan ridden years. When speedway was going thru' its last "Golden Era" the media tended not to give it the due attention it deserved despite England ruling the world. The demise of "World of Sport" saw the beginning of the end in my view.

[tyretrax 2,253]

I think speedway suffers in big cities if they have succesful football teams.

 

 

[HGould 2,213]

9 minutes ago, tyretrax said:

I think speedway suffers in big cities if they have succesful football teams.

 

 

Not here mate