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Rob B

Why speedway is failing

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30 minutes ago, HackneyHawk said:

I was going to vehemently disagree with your point Chunky because I so badly want Speedway to be credible, however American wrestling is massive and is not a 'real' sport!!

The thing is American wrestling isn't being marketed as a professional team sport is it.

It's being marketed as a entertainment and knows it's place. And to be fair if one of the top names is missing they don't draft in a guest or wrestler replacement.

Speedway needs to decide what it is & fast.

Either its a contrived entertainment that people don't take too serious so it reinvents itself as that.

Or it's a professional genuine team sport in which case it reinvents its self as that.

Currently it's the former pretending to be the latter.

 

 

 

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19 minutes ago, mikebv said:

My first is in Eat but not in Cat...

My second is in Duck but not in Pack...

My third is in Igloo but not in..

Oh sod it..

It's in the Edinburgh v Brum KO Cup thread, Ian...

Aha! Perhaps he's retired... again :lol:

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32 minutes ago, HackneyHawk said:

I was going to vehemently disagree with your point Chunky because I so badly want Speedway to be credible, however American wrestling is massive and is not a 'real' sport!!

Lets be honest, Speedway has always had its "Mickey Mouse" rules (in the UK), however the crowds still flocked to the tracks as PC, Ivan, Ole, Bruce, Michael, Kenny etc etc etc were all there on show. 

Similar to WWE in the way that the true "Superstars" being on show gets the crowds in...

If WWE had its competitors from well down the roster, or if the roster was actually bereft of "Superstars", then the whole charade would be played out in Town Halls and Civic Centres rather than the multi million dollar stadia, packed to the rafters, that they currently play their trade in..

Hype and Marketing..

Now there's a thought...  :rolleyes:

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1 minute ago, iainb said:

Aha! Perhaps he's retired... again :lol:

3-2-1 gone....:D

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Not sure who we're on about not but I guess it was the Jack Thomas scenario where he had a few guest bookings last week but didn't ride for Birmingham on Friday. 

As Jack only has one club, yes he would have been physically tired because he's not used to riding every night but as far as I know, the reason he missed the Birmingham meeting was because he'd gained a neck injury (still suffering now) and blew an engine to bits. Jacks an honest lad and whilst admitting to be tired, it seems to have been taken out of context somewhat 

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3 hours ago, The Dog said:

Not sure who we're on about not but I guess it was the Jack Thomas scenario where he had a few guest bookings last week but didn't ride for Birmingham on Friday. 

As Jack only has one club, yes he would have been physically tired because he's not used to riding every night but as far as I know, the reason he missed the Birmingham meeting was because he'd gained a neck injury (still suffering now) and blew an engine to bits. Jacks an honest lad and whilst admitting to be tired, it seems to have been taken out of context somewhat 

Perhaps if he stuck to riding for his own Club though these other incidents wouldn’t happen.It’s all about ME with riders these days.They forget who pays their wages the supporters without them he would be working for a living.( trying telling your employer your not coming in today because you have been busy all week somewhere else.

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Perhaps if tracks put on meetings that included different classes of bike so that youngsters could look at coming in at an entry level of say 80cc or 125cc. Apart from those in the know many potential riders know nothing about the graduated levels which might be more affordable to start off and if the existing tracks marketed the entire range to encourage youngsters it might just be enough to trigger a younger following.

As it is most see the sport ( I use the sport word loosely) 500cc machines costing a fortune on top of everything else you need to get started which in the early stages is funded by families and relatives. Make it cheaper for youngster to try it out and go back to encouraging grass track bikes or short track bikes to participate.

Make the entertainment an event not just a meeting. A few clubs run some of the meetings with a range of classes but the majority of the main tracks/speedway promoters do themselves no favours by sticking to a boring 15 heat format with riders who dictate the track, grading etc. Why not start an event with some different classes building up to the main event making if you must, the league meeting as the final nights entertainment. And don’t mention about the weather and potential call offs if conditions change, so what, set the bikes up to race in prevailing conditions.

Speedway really needs to up its game or simply close down, the current format is old hat, slow presentation, gardening, riders that rarely go straight back to a start if the ref calls them back but instead pit gates open and both riders and mechanics who fart about which could in effect give a rider an unfair advantage. Speedway needs to change but seems incapable of helping itself.

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1 hour ago, Hawk127 said:

Perhaps if tracks put on meetings that included different classes of bike so that youngsters could look at coming in at an entry level of say 80cc or 125cc. Apart from those in the know many potential riders know nothing about the graduated levels which might be more affordable to start off and if the existing tracks marketed the entire range to encourage youngsters it might just be enough to trigger a younger following.

Quite a few have suggested things like that, but judging by some of the comments on here, they're not interested in things like that. They want an hour's racing, and then they bugger off home...

1 hour ago, Hawk127 said:

Speedway needs to change but seems incapable of helping itself.

The same can be said about a lot of fans...

I have no problems with gardening at the gate - particularly in modern times when gating seems to be so important. However, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO NEED for riders to return to the pits every time there is a false start...

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I wonder when a rider drops out of the top 5 to a reserve spot if their pay rate is adjusted accordingly. Especially like we have seen at Peterborough recently with Bomber & Hans going to number 7. I'm kinda thinking their pay rate stays the same and they then go on to have 7 rides scoring a bag full of points and being paid money that would be better served being kept within the club.

I would truly like riders to be paid their worth doing such a dangerous sport but sadly in British speedway it just isn't there.

Edited by PirateShip
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1 hour ago, chunky said:

Quite a few have suggested things like that, but judging by some of the comments on here, they're not interested in things like that. They want an hour's racing, and then they bugger off home..

Their the old farts who currently attend and don't want change, the very issue that will kill the sport off. The sport needs radical change to entice a new audience. Sadly the old farts who don't want change are reducing in numbers each year nature sees to that. In turn so is speedways audience.

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7 hours ago, cowboy cookie returns? said:

Their the old farts who currently attend and don't want change, the very issue that will kill the sport off. The sport needs radical change to entice a new audience. Sadly the old farts who don't want change are reducing in numbers each year nature sees to that. In turn so is speedways audience.

I wish nature would do somet about my old farts especially after having had fried onions! :rofl:

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12 hours ago, PirateShip said:

I wonder when a rider drops out of the top 5 to a reserve spot if their pay rate is adjusted accordingly. Especially like we have seen at Peterborough recently with Bomber & Hans going to number 7. I'm kinda thinking their pay rate stays the same and they then go on to have 7 rides scoring a bag full of points and being paid money that would be better served being kept within the club.

I would truly like riders to be paid their worth doing such a dangerous sport but sadly in British speedway it just isn't there.

I doubt it... was listening to this weeks BSPL podcast and the Glasgow owner eluded to riders being paid more to ride in the PL than they do in the CL even though it's against the exact same riders

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20 hours ago, cowboy cookie returns? said:

The thing is American wrestling isn't being marketed as a professional team sport is it.

It's being marketed as a entertainment and knows it's place. And to be fair if one of the top names is missing they don't draft in a guest or wrestler replacement.

Speedway needs to decide what it is & fast.

Either its a contrived entertainment that people don't take too serious so it reinvents itself as that.

Or it's a professional genuine team sport in which case it reinvents its self as that.

Currently it's the former pretending to be the latter.

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure the riders (with their lives on the line every race) see it as a serious, pro team sport!

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27 minutes ago, Trees said:

I'm pretty sure the riders (with their lives on the line every race) see it as a serious, pro team sport!

They may see it as that.... however in all honesty it's far from that.

Many on here who have questioned the operating model & the un professional manner in which the sport is run are told to ignore all that & focus on  4 blokes racing.

You yourself have stated ignore everything that goes on & watch the racing. Hardly the viewpoint some who believes it to be a professional sport would take.

 

 

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16 hours ago, Hawk127 said:

Perhaps if tracks put on meetings that included different classes of bike so that youngsters could look at coming in at an entry level of say 80cc or 125cc. Apart from those in the know many potential riders know nothing about the graduated levels which might be more affordable to start off and if the existing tracks marketed the entire range to encourage youngsters it might just be enough to trigger a younger following.

Whilst agreeing that a meeting needs to be more than a 15-heat match, I think the problem with speedway compared to other sports is that it's a 'weekly' sport that doesn't always take place at weekends. To fill out the meeting in the manner above, you're going to need to rely on amateur riders - probably even relying on them to pay their own way to the tracks, and is that going to be viable all season? It might work at the Friday, Saturday and Sunday tracks, but I think it's a tougher ask for amateurs to be expected to turn out midweek on a regular basis. 

I also think competitions needs to have context - having a few scratch races is okay for an amateur meeting where only friends and family turn up, but I'm not sure will keep the interest of a paying public. 

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