Poole 2022

[FromBendThree 145]

15 hours ago, Skidder1 said:

So only 4 weeks to go to P&P day on 25th March plus a quiznight and auction in aid of Riders Equipment Fund (R.E.F.) in the evening.

R.E.F. is a strange concept. You have professional speedway riders being given money to buy the tools of their trade with the money coming from fans through such event as an auction. Would there be an auction to raise money if you were a professional carpenter and broke your saw. I know all the arguments about rider's costs but that's another issue and I know R.E.F. is long established and perhaps harks back to the days when the riders were semi-pro...I also felt the same about spontaneous collections if a rider was fined by the ref.

[Bagpuss 10,779]

It's personal choice though......if people don't want contribute then don't. Same as when Bomber did GoFundMe the other year and people whinged. For those that do then it's all good.

[FromBendThree 145]

On 2/26/2022 at 10:30 AM, Bagpuss said:

It's personal choice though......if people don't want contribute then don't. Same as when Bomber did GoFundMe the other year and people whinged. For those that do then it's all good.

Didn't know about Harris and his GoFunder and I understand your point about it being personal choice. However, the fact that the fans are being asked to help pay for a rider's tools for the job says a lot about Speedway and its standing – just about rock bottom. It's too expensive for the riders and too expensive, in general terms, for the fans. Maybe not £10 admission but not much more....and £3 for programmes. Economics of the madhouse.

[Skidder1 7,634]

4 hours ago, FromBendThree said:

Didn't know about Harris and his GoFunder and I understand your point about it being personal choice. However, the fact that the fans are being asked to help pay for a rider's tools for the job says a lot about Speedway and its standing – just about rock bottom. It's too expensive for the riders and too expensive, in general terms, for the fans. Maybe not £10 admission but not much more....and £3 for programmes. Economics of the madhouse.

The Poole REF raise money to give riders assistance when they get injured, crash or have damage to machinery.

[tyretrax 2,253]

59 minutes ago, Skidder1 said:

The Poole REF raise money to give riders assistance when they get injured, crash or have damage to machinery.

Not much else to help with then, unless you're buying their dinner.

[FromBendThree 145]

12 hours ago, Skidder1 said:

The Poole REF raise money to give riders assistance when they get injured, crash or have damage to machinery.

I knew exactly what REF does. It is archaic and just shows the vision of Speedway is no higher than a grasshopper's knee. Where's the professionalism, where's the ambition. Rather like Newcastle advertising that they have limited sponsorship opportunities left. Limited? It would seem limited by their imagination. 

[Skidder1 7,634]

2 hours ago, FromBendThree said:

I knew exactly what REF does. It is archaic and just shows the vision of Speedway is no higher than a grasshopper's knee. Where's the professionalism, where's the ambition. Rather like Newcastle advertising that they have limited sponsorship opportunities left. Limited? It would seem limited by their imagination. 

The clubs in nearly every sport - professional or otherwise  - have 'supporters/fan clubs' which are either 'official' or 'unofficial'. The point being that most of them hold social functions or activities throughout the season/year which raise money to assist their clubs, team members and local sports communities.

As others have stated, the decision whether to partake is an individual choice...!

[W9 Lion 219]

3 hours ago, FromBendThree said:

I knew exactly what REF does. It is archaic and just shows the vision of Speedway is no higher than a grasshopper's knee. Where's the professionalism, where's the ambition. Rather like Newcastle advertising that they have limited sponsorship opportunities left. Limited? It would seem limited by their imagination. 

Surely their is a limit to advertising pages in a programme, as often its unecominic to increase by 2, 4 or 8 pages depending on the printing technique used. In addition there is limited advertising inventory in a stadium. So not actually limited by their imagination but by physical constraints. But hell what do I know - I just have 31 years experience in media sales and sports sponsorship.

[FromBendThree 145]

I bet with your 32 years experience, if you looked over Newcastle's inventory, you would find lots more places to bring in sponsorship and advertising.

[W9 Lion 219]

2 hours ago, FromBendThree said:

I bet with your 32 years experience, if you looked over Newcastle's inventory, you would find lots more places to bring in sponsorship and advertising.

They have one of the better club websites. They are also only behind Leicester and Belle Vue in terms of how competitive the local market is for sports sponsorship, so I would imagine its a tough sell.  The key to any sponsorship is that it has to be beneficial to both parties. In the case of clubs this means that unless a Director is a fan they would be better off targeting local SME's and focusing on the services that an aging audiance would be interested in. It is no good going after national brands as the audiance is to small, to poor, to old and in to heavily one gender. And I write this as a speedway fan.

[FromBendThree 145]

29 minutes ago, W9 Lion said:

They have one of the better club websites. They are also only behind Leicester and Belle Vue in terms of how competitive the local market is for sports sponsorship, so I would imagine its a tough sell.  The key to any sponsorship is that it has to be beneficial to both parties. In the case of clubs this means that unless a Director is a fan they would be better off targeting local SME's and focusing on the services that an aging audiance would be interested in. It is no good going after national brands as the audiance is to small, to poor, to old and in to heavily one gender. And I write this as a speedway fan.

Totally agree but still no need to talk about limited opportunities. I guess they are trying to make it sound like a 'race' to grab sponsorship when it actually may put people off. There, what do I know, having worked in the media for 40 years.

[The Dog 413]

It's a shame to be hijacking the Poole thread but I am confused regarding riders finances nowadays. Most riders claim that they don't earn enough and yet rock up with 3 new bikes every season and have no job during the winter. And then they hire a brand new van at x amount of pounds a month.. And yet young Flint reckons he can earn a decent living and he's only just starting out in relative terms to a lot of riders... 

[Skidder1 7,634]

44 minutes ago, The Dog said:

It's a shame to be hijacking the Poole thread but I am confused regarding riders finances nowadays. Most riders claim that they don't earn enough and yet rock up with 3 new bikes every season and have no job during the winter. And then they hire a brand new van at x amount of pounds a month.. And yet young Flint reckons he can earn a decent living and he's only just starting out in relative terms to a lot of riders... 

...and getting back to Poole, the Poole REF tend to 'help' the younger (more junior?) riders first, as they tend to be paid less per point, have less of an attractive financial deal from the club and are likely to have less sponsors compared to the 'top' riders in the team. Despite suggestions to the contrary, Poole are not big payers but they are reliable, regular payers with limited sources of income.

At Poole the only income the club benefits from - aside from merchandise - is admission sales, advertising (banners and programme) and sponsorship. Everything else goes to the stadium which is why the speedway management work so diligently to attract club sponsorship. 

[FromBendThree 145]

15 hours ago, The Dog said:

It's a shame to be hijacking the Poole thread but I am confused regarding riders finances nowadays. Most riders claim that they don't earn enough and yet rock up with 3 new bikes every season and have no job during the winter. And then they hire a brand new van at x amount of pounds a month.. And yet young Flint reckons he can earn a decent living and he's only just starting out in relative terms to a lot of riders... 

And there you have it in a nutshell. Speedway will be in a muddle in the UK all the time riders think it is a full time job. There may have been a few years when it was but the riders should count the people on the terraces and realise those days have gone. 

Eastbourne, Rye House, Lakeside and Central Park and that's just places within a relatively easy drive of me.

[GiveusaB 1,136]

It's only a full time job if you're good enough to make it one.