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Goodnight - sleep tight

No it's Cobblers!

Duplicate post please feel free to delete

I think don’t worry about it, soon the day will come and you’ll wonder what all the stress was about 🧘

How about 'Northants Ants'

Absolutely correct. Those in charge are deluded and while one league could work using a broader scale of riders (excluding GP riders and those plying the trade in Poland etc..) the sport in the UK is beyond redemption. If UK speedway continues to believe that it has a role to play on the world stage it is kidding no one but itself. Individual riders may make it to the top but the run of the mill league speedway rider in the UK may produce the odd one or two who can crack the mould and reach the top but most are average but still very capable of entertaining the punters who will then feel that they are getting value for money from an entertainment perspective. 2027 needs planning now but whether those in charge acknowledge this is another issue. Statements to date from the BSPL leave the door open but who can trust them as custodians of the sport?

World of Sport served up the big names! but even back then I was in a real minority liking speedway when at school. What’s that, my football loving mates said. I use to like knowing about my niche sport back then and being different from the sheep and their football. After the post war boom in the sport, by the time it got to the halcyon days in many fans memories of the 70’s, there was still people saying “is that still going”. We absolutely need something new and I don’t mind admitting I’m (we) are not the solution. There is a whole new world of social media that I (we) cannot get our heads around. We need the fomo effect and need to abandon the continued old school approach of leaflets, newspaper ads (young people at my partners work asked her what a newspaper is) and all the other old school techniques. My daughter has worked with Molly-Mea and sport personalities in her role with a major sports brand and it’s all French to me no matter how she tries to explain it. IMO that’s our last hope, Joe Wicks, KSI, Steven Bartlett and all the others old farts like me have never heard of. What they will also bring is a sensibility of what modern customers want. Just hope we like it too.

That's very true.

Speedway was on prime time TV... England won lots of world titles... And, in Peter Collins they had a "Golden Boy' who was as recognised as much as Div One footballers.. Domestic Speedway lived off the back of what the World of Sport served up many Saturdays during the summer months... Domestic Speedway wasn't as quite as "Mickey Mouse" then, as it is now, (196 Guests last year in fhe top two leagues), but still had plenty of "nonsense" going on.. The huge difference being that you only found out when you were at the track that Larry Ross was guesting for PC who had a Long Track meeting in Germany the next day, whereas today you know the meeting in two days will be a "Guestfest" and the main crowd puller will be absent.. Add in the much greater percentage impact to disposable income that attending Speedway has nowadays due to "modern living" and there is no doubt what back then worked, doesn't now.. How is it fixed?.. Not a clue, but, one million percent, doing the same thing ad infinitum, like they do, definitely won't improve their lot...

Glasgow have a few hospitality boxes that sponsors or a group of people can book to watch the speedway eat and drink. Can do it at worky and other tracks, even if not advertised they will be open to do something 😀

He’s ok if you’ve got a spare £3k guarantee for him for every meeting, he might even do the odd ht15!

I do get frustrated by the rhetoric continually posted on here. There’s a fallacy that things were different in speedways heyday and the problems blighting our sport are of the modern era. The other week I posted about the excessive use of guests on one Saturday night in ‘74 and the fact that most teams did NOT ride at the weekend, yet people will still point the finger as these being the failings of modern speedway Taking the now famous ‘73 KO Cup final as an example. Belle Vue used a guest and Reading ran R/R. The 2nd leg wasn’t run until the last week of the season, some 3 weeks after the 1st leg as due to the late running it was hit by the bad weather. Sounds familiar? Jim Mcmillian had been knocked out in an earlier round but enjoyed his “winners” medal as a guest for the Aces. We had been running a guest since June. The rules stated in the event of a draw it had to be re run but this was jettisoned in favour of a run off. All this was carried out on a cold Wednesday late October night. All those people who attended that night and in ‘74, ‘75, ‘76, 77 etc did not suddenly experience amnesia, they DECIDE not to attend. During its heyday we had ALL the ills currently affecting the sport, the big difference is that of the customers - they have changed massively and we need to find the holy grail to attract them back. The league is as meaningful as ever. The guests & R/R as prevalent as ever. The UK FIM golds are pretty much as regular as in our heyday. Our “gaters paradise” tracks are still here as they were back then, etc, etc. If we keep kidding ourselves that the sports ills are new then we will waste an awful lot of time and energy trying to fix the bits that are not the reason for our downfall. Speedway is primarily populated by old blokes who think the old days were better, but the reality is that’s not the case and it is to our peril that we get bogged down by this dogma instead of looking to the future and how we engage with modern customers in the modern era.

Get in on mainstream free TV... Ideally. Three channels only, and on prime time Saturday afternoon viewing... Oh. And have prime Peter Collins beating the best the world has to offer, from the back, in what seemed to be every race.. Well, joking apart... Getting it on free TV could definitely help given the tiny amount of followers the sport has.. Which only needs 20,000 extra or so at the 14 tracks to see a 100% growth... C5 being the biggest opportunity.. A regular magazine programme using BSN and track streaming footage, and having riders in the studio being interviewed could create some interest... With the beauty being, given the low, low, starting point, you don't need much interest to see big growth...

For those who missed it here it is again

There will be a slightly later start to the season as the last promotion has left the new promotion with health and safety issues.

Or the other, Dag Lovaas. He won White City the league without turning a wheel in ‘77. Why can’t we get back to the good old days when speedway was riding high and everything was wonderful?

Promotion taking over is. FAST & FURIOUS.

Visa issues prevented that. Ivor Bollockoff just missed out as he was proving to be rather cocky. Cess pit also failed a place cuz he kicked up a stink

Can’t they fit the Hunt brothers into the side ? Isaac and Mike

I’m pleased to annouce after the very long wait. The Ipswich side for 2026 is :- 1 Jack Pott 2 Justin Case 3 Artie Choke 4 Willie Stroker ( c) 5 Hugh Jass 6 Neil Down 7 Al Beback 8 Frank Einstein. lets hope for a great season as team manager Don Keigh pushes ahead.

Can't win either way by the sounds of it, not enough heat leaders to go round to run a competitive top league of 5 or more teams, and if the so called one league is mentioned the riders moan and say they can't make it pay and threaten to quit, the sports in a right mess atm.

Not good for new teams to come in to make the numbers up

Yeh once the meetings over.fat lot of good that is.

Not good for new teams to come in to make the numbers up