iainb 4,999 Posted November 4, 2021 18 hours ago, IronScorpion said: Rye House Workington Lakeside Swindon Somerset Eastbourne Birmingham Newcastle Not enough people attending Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RobMcCaffery 2,752 Posted November 4, 2021 (edited) 19 hours ago, IronScorpion said: Please, I would be interested to know your opinion to why these clubs closed or have problems. Rye House Genuine question! In Rye House's case the simplistic answer is indeed that too few people turned up but that was part of as more complex story. The promotion bears the vast majority of the blame though. They foolishly believed that putting the Rockets in the top league would guarantee riches, as in other sports. They then spent far too much on riders, including unrealistic guarantees. Running on a Saturday night at first masked the underlying problem but staying in the Premiership when that meant shifting to midweek race nights was disastrous. So, if they had left well alone and ensured that the track staged weekend meetings with sensible costs they might well have still been running speedway now. One key fault seems to have been a foolish reluctance to take advice from those with expert speedway knowledge. It has taken a very long time to undo this damage but at least the new landlords realise at last that you can't judge speedway viability on BMR's figures. There is still hope and significant progress is being made. All of us at the Rye House Action Group are so delighted to see Oxford's return. Well done! Edited November 4, 2021 by RobMcCaffery 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lisa-colette 6,024 Posted November 4, 2021 2 hours ago, sugarray said: Friday They would have to do away with the protected race nights then! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jimsboy 58 Posted November 4, 2021 44 minutes ago, iainb said: Not enough people attending Eastbourne did. Just man running it was and still is causing the issues 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
old bob at herne bay 828 Posted November 4, 2021 (edited) I am sure Rob will have the figures, but from my memory changing from Saturday night racing to midweek racing halved the attendance and killed Rye House. So the BSPA did the damage with fixed race nights. Finished Poole off in the PL too. Promotion were naive in expecting crowds to turn up fighting the midweek horrendous traffic on the M25. I rarely made it to a midweek meeting from here......M2 , Dartford Tunnel, M25 , A10 ☹️ With hindsight they should have gone CL. Local derbies against Lakeside. Edited November 4, 2021 by old bob at herne bay Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grachan 7,362 Posted November 4, 2021 Weren't fixed race nights brought in to prevent clashes with Sweden and Poland? Seeing as hardly anyone now rides in Sweden, Poland and the UK anyway, are they still actually needed? 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bigcatdiary 3,165 Posted November 4, 2021 8 minutes ago, Grachan said: Weren't fixed race nights brought in to prevent clashes with Sweden and Poland? Seeing as hardly anyone now rides in Sweden, Poland and the UK anyway, are they still actually needed? For riders doubling up they are. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iainb 4,999 Posted November 4, 2021 (edited) 26 minutes ago, Jimsboy said: Eastbourne did. Just man running it was and still is causing the issues If they did they would be running next season... but I get it, there were multiple reasons as to why many of these clubs have closed. Bottom line is that not enough people attend the sport Edited November 4, 2021 by iainb Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M.D 463 Posted November 4, 2021 2 minutes ago, iainb said: If they did they would be running next season... but I get it, there were multiple reasons as to why many of these clubs have closed. Bottom line is that not enough people attend the sport Eastbourne's crowd figures can support championship speedway 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iainb 4,999 Posted November 4, 2021 7 minutes ago, M.D said: Eastbourne's crowd figures can support championship speedway Even though they've proved not to this very year? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CowleyCheetahs 29 Posted November 4, 2021 5 minutes ago, iainb said: Even though they've proved not to this very year? Perhaps they support championship speedway when the riders aren’t being promised inflated pay 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iainb 4,999 Posted November 4, 2021 5 minutes ago, CowleyCheetahs said: Perhaps they support championship speedway when the riders aren’t being promised inflated pay Definitely... though the fact remains that ALL clubs in this country do not attract the numbers of people through the turnstiles to make their businesses profitable Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jimsboy 58 Posted November 4, 2021 32 minutes ago, iainb said: Even though they've proved not to this very year? Do not believe a word Ian"Carol" Jordan prints or says. You only have to read on the eagles facebook page and every week in speedway star like Lewi Kerr today. The man is a lier Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StevePark 2,780 Posted November 4, 2021 46 minutes ago, iainb said: Definitely... though the fact remains that ALL clubs in this country do not attract the numbers of people through the turnstiles to make their businesses profitable Or, clubs over-estimate how many they think they will get through the gate. Until clubs budget for the minimum of support expected, rather than hoping for more fans coming through the gates, clubs will always struggle. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RobMcCaffery 2,752 Posted November 4, 2021 2 hours ago, old bob at herne bay said: I am sure Rob will have the figures, but from my memory changing from Saturday night racing to midweek racing halved the attendance and killed Rye House. So the BSPA did the damage with fixed race nights. Finished Poole off in the PL too. Promotion were naive in expecting crowds to turn up fighting the midweek horrendous traffic on the M25. I rarely made it to a midweek meeting from here......M2 , Dartford Tunnel, M25 , A10 ☹️ With hindsight they should have gone CL. Local derbies against Lakeside. We have figures. Whether we believe them is a separate matter. Yes there was dual blame - fixed race nights but also a failure to respond by switching to the CL. There are other matters involving expected finance from the Sky deal that didn't materialise is another aspect to be considered ion what is a highly complex case. Yes, too few people turnedv up - for Premiership racing. Championship or NDL would probably have been a different story. If only all problems had such easy answers as offered up by ianb. Thankfully that is in the past and we can now repair the damage and return to speedway at Rye House. The situation is changing daily. I look forward to resuming our battles with Oxford, Eastbourne, Mildenhall, and hopefully also Kent and the new track hinted at in today's Speedway Star. Within a year or two the currently depressing situation in the South East could be transformed. Keep the faith and learn from Oxford! Regards, Rob. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
