The White Knight 9,039 Posted October 30, 2012 TWK ... don't take it so personally. Speedway has to find a new and younger audience. Cricket was going the same way but came up with new formats that appealed to the public at large. There are many who don't like 20/20 but if cricket relied on the traditional county game for its income it would be dead and buried. I'm not taking it personally Philip, apart from your comment regarding Traditionalists. All I am saying is that without the Traditionalists Speedway would be dead by now. You stated that we are a dying breed - you are right - I agree, we are. I still believe that we have a right to have an opinion on our Sport - to me the greatest Sport in the World. I love Speedway, it grieves me the way it is going. Perhaps I articulate my feelings passionately - but - that is how I feel about Speedway. I would like to think that the folk who follow on in the Sport can enjoy the same sort of experiences I have enjoyed. The way things are going - they wont. I still believe tha overall SKY and BSI/IMG involvement has been bad for Speedway. Sorry. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ShadowCaptain 57 Posted October 30, 2012 Could be an interesting secondary debate, TWK. Have the traditionalists kept speedway going, or have they prevented speedway from attracting new supporters? No matter how much people go on about rule changes, team changes, the effects of the weather, and the impact of the GPs, the truth is that speedway does not have a product to sell to people who do not know anything about speedway. Get a product, get some supporters, then worry about rule changes. The SWC joker is ludicrous. I have typed on other threads that any competition at international level should be devoid of artificial gadgets. The best rider or the best teamshould have the best chance of winning. At the local golf course, I get a handicap, to make a game of it. Not many handicaps in the Ryder Cup! If league speedway needs something to make matches more even, then let them do it (although I would get rid of the TR, too), but no artificial advantages at international level, please! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Humphrey Appleby 13,983 Posted October 31, 2012 (edited) Do you believe that if the GPs went away British speedway would instantly and miraculously be rejuvenated? Or that the riders now giving it a miss would come flooding back. It is time to stop moaning about the SGP and try to regenerate British speedway as best we can. Of course not, but neither do I see the SGP rejuvenating British speedway, or speedway anywhere for that matter. It simply has a tangential existence siphoning off what little money the sport is still able to generate, for the benefit of no-one but the BSI shareholders and possibly a few people at the FIM. I recognise and accept that IMG/BSI may have found additional money that the sport's 'guardians' had not exploited, but it's still money that someone was prepared to pay and some of which should be coming into the sport. In any case, an individual SGP circus will never be proper speedway to me, any more than the T20 Champions League is proper cricket (and I don't even mind T20 cricket per se). It's a sideshow to team racing, even if team racing is badly run and isn't doing so well these days. The leagues probably need to go back to basics, forget the 'stars' and run much more on a semi-professional basis on regular race nights with more variety. Use what little money there is to try to tidy-up the stadiums and offer better value for money (20 heat programmes with fewer gaps in the racing). Cricket was going the same way but came up with new formats that appealed to the public at large. There are many who don't like 20/20 but if cricket relied on the traditional county game for its income it would be dead and buried. Test cricket is actually doing quite well in England, and many would argue that the endless over-promotion of ODIs at the international level is what sucked the life out of domestic cricket. Yes, T20 was initially a success, but once again lessons aren't learned and that format is now being flogged to death in pointless bi-lateral series and the CLT20 nonsense which is run almost as farcically as speedway. Ironic that IMG were also involved with the discredited Lalit Modi and the BCCI who are behaving in exactly the same way as the SGP by scheduling the IPL and CLT20 without any consideration for anyone else. Fortunately, the ECB finally seem to have woken up to the dangers and realised they were ruining their own competitions by trying to bend over backwards to accommodate competitions they don't benefit from, and luckily whilst they're still rich enough to prevent their players being poached. However, even the BCCI thought paying 10% of the revenue to IMG was too much ("The BCCI working committee was of the view that the“amount which was asked by IMG was disproportionate to services rendered”), whilst the FIM seemingly happily allows them to take 80%+ and this goes unquestioned by just about everyone... BTW - I think the joker is a ridiculous rule, and even more so at SWC level. Tactical substitutes would be fine, and there's not even the argument that money needs to be saved in the SWC because the prize money is a fixed amount. Edited October 31, 2012 by Humphrey Appleby Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Humphrey Appleby 13,983 Posted October 31, 2012 SWEDEN'S population may be ethnic but its demographic is not like that of the UK. It is just a fact that large swales of the UK population have no interest in speedway or motorsport in general and are never likely to. Huge swathes of the population in Poland and Sweden have any interest in speedway either. I've met precisely two Poles outside of speedway circles who know anything about speedway (and one of those was from Zielona Gora), so it's clearly a very regionalised sport in Poland. I suspect it's much the same in Sweden with little interest in the major cities and most of the support in provincial towns. Nevertheless, both the Poles and Swedes have managed to tap into this demographic and whilst not everything is rosy in their gardens either, they've not seen anything like the decline in Britain. Okay, so Sweden has a club based structure that helps, and plenty of undeveloped land in the middle of nowhere, but that's not the case in Poland and they're actually building new speedway stadia there. Since I've become involved in motor sport I've realised there are those who go out and knock on the right doors to make things happen, and those who just wring their hands whilst their clubs deteriorate around them. British speedway seems to fall into the latter category - from the administrators, to the promoters, to the specialist media. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The White Knight 9,039 Posted October 31, 2012 Absolutely superb Posts Humphrey. I particularly liked the reference to GP Circus and, interestingly, your remarks regarding the BCCI in India regarding T20 etc. I did not know that BSI/IMG was involved in that too. Thank you for the information. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PHILIPRISING 7,298 Posted October 31, 2012 BSI aren't involved in cricket. BSI is a separate entity within IMG, have their own staff and Managing Director (Paul Bellamy) who is answerable to IMG's Head of Global Motorsport (Rob Armstrong). Humphrey's posts are thoughtful and nicely composed although not always 100 per cent accurate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Humphrey Appleby 13,983 Posted October 31, 2012 BSI aren't involved in cricket. BSI is a separate entity within IMG, have their own staff and Managing Director (Paul Bellamy) who is answerable to IMG's Head of Global Motorsport (Rob Armstrong). BSI is 100% owned by IMG's UK subsidiary, although technically through another shell company. Its staff are seemingly all employed by IMG, so for all practical purposes BSI and IMG are one and the same thing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iris123 21,102 Posted October 31, 2012 Humphrey's posts are thoughtful and nicely composed although not always 100 per cent accurate. Very few peoples posts are 100% accurate Phil,Yours and my posts included. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stratton 1,491 Posted October 31, 2012 (edited) A great debate and for me this is what this forum is all about.Philip fair play is a big supporter of the gps he would be!! but he has some big points and substance and he is convinced the series is in good hands.TWK is a bit like me i believe ?stuck in his ways a tradititionist but isn't scared of progress but not at any cost.?Humphrey a brilliant read and i enjoy all his posts can British speedway get back on track? i have my doubts. Edited October 31, 2012 by sidney Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PHILIPRISING 7,298 Posted October 31, 2012 Very few peoples posts are 100% accurate Phil,Yours and my posts included. TRUE but I am sure we all strive to be... BSI is 100% owned by IMG's UK subsidiary, although technically through another shell company. Its staff are seemingly all employed by IMG, so for all practical purposes BSI and IMG are one and the same thing. I DIDN'T say otherwise ... I simply pointed out that those involved with the SGP have nothing to do with cricket. Semantics my dear man... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
