edmon 163 Posted January 29, 2022 3 hours ago, Jaizer said: Glasgow's traditional race night was Friday night. Edinburgh took it in 1996 as the Scottish monarchs operating out of shawfield and continued to use it in 1997 when moved to armadale. As a result when Glasgow came back in 1997 had to use Sundays. As Newcastle I'm sure will confirm as a Sunday track it is much harder to attract riders and the facenna ownership wished to move back to the traditional Friday night race night. And in addition by that point there was actually minimal fans attending both tracks Edinburgh raced on a Friday at Powderhall as Greyhound Racing took place on a Saturday. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Normski 1,315 Posted January 29, 2022 1 hour ago, edmon said: Edinburgh raced on a Friday at Powderhall as Greyhound Racing took place on a Saturday. Yes 1977 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crescent girl 1,899 Posted January 29, 2022 (edited) Historically (1950/60s) Glasgow raced Fridays, Edinburgh on Saturdays. When Powderhall opened in 1977, they needed Friday, as Saturday was the big night for greyhounds. Although the BSPA might well have backed any Glasgow protest against the application, new Edinburgh promoter Mike Parker gained agreement from Tigers' owner Jimmy Beaton (for an undisclosed one-of cash payment) to also run on Fridays. The two clubs shared Fridays from 1977 until around 1994 or so, when Shawfield's bosses introduced Friday-night greyhound racing with Tigers switching to run on Sundays. When the Scottish Monarchs raced there in 1996, it was on a Sunday evening at 6.30. In 1997, Monarchs switched to Armadale and reverted to their traditional Friday, but Tigers remained a Sunday operation at Shawfield, and then Ashfield, for the next twenty years or so. Their first move was for a year of Saturdays, before adopting Friday again just two or three years ago (after close on quarter of a century of Sundays). On another slant, in the original British League of the mid-sixties, there were at least six Saturday circuits - meaning twelve clubs were involved every Saturday. The difference between now and then is guests. Having four Friday tracks in 2022 leaves little scope for recruiting guests, and if there was to be fifth circuit running on Friday, this would make finding a suitable guest nearly impossible. Edited January 29, 2022 by crescent girl Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tyretrax 2,252 Posted January 29, 2022 The "one off payment" was a lorryload of shale, Tigers moved to a Wednesday but change to a Sunday later. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,224 Posted January 29, 2022 8 hours ago, szkocjasid said: I see no reason why lots of Oxford can't race on a Friday! When they race against other Friday tracks, they'd have to change race night, which is fair, but they should be allowed to race Fridays for the other fixtures imo Stopping too many clubs racing on the same day must be to free up riders for guest bookings? If every club is racing no guests are available! Which is a rubbish reason to refuse Oxford Fridays tbh. Basically saying "you can't race on a Friday, because others do & they may want to use your riders" Quite a staggering concept isnt it? Having to run on nights that may heavily dissuade punters from coming along.. To prop up a ridiculous system that heavily dissuades punters from coming along... "Hello, is that the Dragons Den? I have a business plan and a half for you"... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyPresley 102 Posted January 30, 2022 (edited) 20 hours ago, szkocjasid said: I see no reason why lots of Oxford can't race on a Friday! When they race against other Friday tracks, they'd have to change race night, which is fair, but they should be allowed to race Fridays for the other fixtures imo Stopping too many clubs racing on the same day must be to free up riders for guest bookings? If every club is racing no guests are available! Which is a rubbish reason to refuse Oxford Fridays tbh. Basically saying "you can't race on a Friday, because others do & they may want to use your riders" If Oxford were to race on a Friday, then almost half the teams in the league would race on a Friday. The result of this would be that Oxford would race around half their home fixture on their alternative race day wouldn’t it? So they wouldn’t be racing on a Friday anyway unless they raced, say, every other week. Someone mentioned that Polish club’s often use the same race day. Poland works very differently as they only race at home every 2 weeks. So using the same race day works there. I can’t see how it would in the UK unless fixtures were to become fortnightly. That’s before you consider that speedway in GB doesn’t use a squad system. So as soon as riders are injured, you have a requirement for guests, meaning teams become vastly under strength when they can’t find one as every team is already racing that day. Under GB speedway’s existing set up, I think it makes sense to restrict the number of clubs using the same race night. Edited January 30, 2022 by AndyPresley 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sings4Speedway 3,232 Posted January 30, 2022 1 hour ago, AndyPresley said: If Oxford were to race on a Friday, then almost half the teams in the league would race on a Friday. The result of this would be that Oxford would race around half their home fixture on their alternative race day wouldn’t it? So they wouldn’t be racing on a Friday anyway unless they raced, say, every other week. Someone mentioned that Polish club’s often use the same race day. Poland works very differently as they only race at home every 2 weeks. So using the same race day works there. I can’t see how it would in the UK unless fixtures were to become fortnightly. That’s before you consider that speedway in GB doesn’t use a squad system. So as soon as riders are injured, you have a requirement for guests, meaning teams become vastly under strength when they can’t find one as every team is already racing that day. Under GB speedway’s existing set up, I think it makes sense to restrict the number of clubs using the same race night. And yet one of the few things that give UK speedway any credibility is the PL fixed race nights. Yes they are restrictive and will probably keep the number of participating clubs low but prevents guest fest. I do wonder how many CL clubs would opt for Fridays if they could? Obviously I know several can't or wouldn't but its come up a number of times over the years that clubs can't run on thier optimal race night and that just seems counter productive. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tosh1218 588 Posted February 2, 2022 Oxford have joined the league and have been allocated a Wednesday evening this is due to other sides riding on a Friday , this isn’t a dig at Oxford speedway it’s due to a shortage of riders when the season starts and riders are missing due to injuries and riders having other commitments abroad . The back end of last season there was a serious shortage of riders for guest spots late in season due to this problem .Also it stops the dreaded R/R situation for clubs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wtf 621 Posted February 2, 2022 24 minutes ago, Tosh1218 said: Oxford have joined the league and have been allocated a Wednesday evening this is due to other sides riding on a Friday , this isn’t a dig at Oxford speedway it’s due to a shortage of riders when the season starts and riders are missing due to injuries and riders having other commitments abroad . The back end of last season there was a serious shortage of riders for guest spots late in season due to this problem .Also it stops the dreaded R/R situation for clubs It's got nothing at all to do with a shortage of riders, it's a simple fact that the business model that the championship wants to run to is to race at home every week where possible. The debate about whether that is the right business model is another thing entirely, but if that is the model you are trying to adhere to you cannot have the bulk of the teams racing at home on the same night, they have to be spread around. Hence the decision 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GiveusaB 1,123 Posted February 2, 2022 Speedway in the UK is so weak that it will always have to play second/third fiddle to Leagues abroad.....it will never change so far as fixed race nights go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hilly 170 Posted February 26, 2022 Been confirmed that Hans Nielsen will be guest of honour on opening night 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve roberts 9,242 Posted February 26, 2022 6 hours ago, Hilly said: Been confirmed that Hans Nielsen will be guest of honour on opening night Great news...should put a few on the gate! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Neila 1,142 Posted February 26, 2022 Just seen a few topics regarding speedway on Fridays, you do know that Mr Godfrey does not like any team bar Scunthorpe riding on Fridays, Workington had lots of these issues in 2018 the H18TORY season 3 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gazc 7,087 Posted March 2, 2022 On 2/26/2022 at 9:09 PM, Neila said: Just seen a few topics regarding speedway on Fridays, you do know that Mr Godfrey does not like any team bar Scunthorpe riding on Fridays, Workington had lots of these issues in 2018 the H18TORY season Did he tell you that personally. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crescent girl 1,899 Posted March 2, 2022 (edited) On 2/26/2022 at 9:09 PM, Neila said: Just seen a few topics regarding speedway on Fridays, you do know that Mr Godfrey does not like any team bar Scunthorpe riding on Fridays, Workington had lots of these issues in 2018 the H18TORY season I rather think the problem was that two Saturday tracks (Workington and Lakeside) wanted to run extra meetings on Fridays, on nights the three regular Friday tracks already had fixtures set. While this has nowt to do with Oxford (and lets remember the Cheetahs were originally wanting to enter the Premiership as a Thursday club anyway) it needs to be remembered what really was the problem in four years ago. Edited March 2, 2022 by crescent girl 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
