'bumper Crowds'

[macinter 158]

Banger racing and stock cars overall generally attract much bigger crowds than speedway and often take place at the same venues but get hardly any TV space, although the size of the crowds may be partially down to relatives of the drivers. One meeting at Arena Essex a few years ago was reported to have attracted over 20,000, which is a lot more than most speedway GP's get. And bangers may be just a bit of fun as my son and his girl friend, who both raced, perceived it to be but, as far as I am aware, stock cars are quite a serious and expensive business even though they don't appear to do much marketing.

Including snooker and darts in the "class" equation is also slightly misleading as people from all walks of life play both, even if it is in their own games room for some. So maybe we get a better deal than we think.

[arthur cross 492]

Bangers & stock cars seem to have struck a much better balance than speedway when it comes to matching the number of meetings they stage against the demand/affordability of their spectators ... because they're not trying to race at the same venue nearly every week, each of their meetings has a bit more of a "proper occasion" feel to it which can only help boost the atmosphere of the crowd and, in turn, make it easier for those spectators to look forward to the next meeting in a few weeks' time as soon as they get home from the previous one.

 

Maybe it's no surprise the biggest speedway club crowds are in Poland & then Sweden ... both operate a fixture schedule based on each team being "home one week, away the next" instead of the British format of "home nearly every week, away most weeks on a different day to our own" that's now well out-of-date ... Sweden's preference for fortnightly home meetings is even more eye-catching given their climate compresses their season into just May-to-September yet they still don't try to cram as many meetings as possible into that shorter spell.

 

British fans often forget some of the biggest losses on a single meeting for clubs occur towards the end of each season when catching up rain-offs leads to matches being staged in a hurry to beat play-off cut-off dates or the 31st October closedown (or being staged in damp conditions simply to get a result into the record-book) ... the costs (stadium rent, riders' wages, ambulance, referee, etc) stay the same but the income (crowd receipts) collapses if spectators can't afford 4 home-meetings in 12-days or won't turn up on a drizzly evening.

 

Clearly, with a number of British tracks restricted on when they can race by sharing their stadiums alongside greyhounds or noise-regulations (in Birmingham's case, both !!), it makes sense for our clubs to each have a well-known day of the week and start-time for their home meetings.

 

But that doesn't mean having to use that same day/time every single week ... the lame excuse of "too many people will find something else to do if we miss out a week" belongs somewhere in the dark ages, never mind the 1950's or 1960's when it was first trotted out, because Mother Nature's almost certain to force you to miss out a few weeks each year anyway !!

Edited August 26, 2013 by arthur cross

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

WITH regard to your last paragraph ... at Speedway Star we have had a huge response to our 'Great Debate' feature, asking fans to let us know what they like and dislike about British speedway. The lack of a regular race night is by far the biggest single gripe, with many saying (as they have on this forum) that once they get out of the habit of going they stop going altogether.

 

Their words not mine.

[AJK86 180]

WITH regard to your last paragraph ... at Speedway Star we have had a huge response to our 'Great Debate' feature, asking fans to let us know what they like and dislike about British speedway. The lack of a regular race night is by far the biggest single gripe, with many saying (as they have on this forum) that once they get out of the habit of going they stop going altogether.

 

Their words not mine.

 

I think if you love speedway you go whether if it is weekly or every fortnight and i would prefer the latter, would certainly help families afford speedway a lot more.

 

On thursday night at Sheffield me and my dad were talking about riders helping things out, meetings seem to drag on because of gardening going on before each heat, turning away from tapes, going back to pits after unsatisfactory starts, just get on with it ! 2 minute warning should mean the heat starts in 2 minutes so get to tapes and crack on.

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

I THINK what people are telling us is that they prefer a routine ... whether it is once a week or every fortnight. But the haphazard nature of the fixture list appears to be turning some fans away.

[THE DEAN MACHINE 4,755]

speaking from watching from a fan point of view and this is only on league racing .i am fed up with guests and double up/down and not knowing who is in a team from week to week. i can except injuries happen but i dont except riders missing when they are riding for another team .and i am fuming at the cheating and lying to the public about riders not riding because whatever reason .i know why promoters do it because its win at all costs but i believe this evil is hammering the nail in british speedway .from next season we have got to say its britain first ,if you cant commit to that then you dont ride here. yes it might be painfull but in the long term surely the sport will be better for it. as for the promoters lying about absent riders well lets just hope it comes back to bite them

[phillipsr 2,057]

Do you honestly think any rider will pick Britain if given a straight up choice? Some will stay because they dont have any offers but any offered the choice will be gone. How you going to run a league with no riders

[The White Knight 9,039]

Do you honestly think any rider will pick Britain if given a straight up choice? Some will stay because they dont have any offers but any offered the choice will be gone. How you going to run a league with no riders

 

Promote BRITISH Riders from the National League in to the Premier League and if the foreigners don't want to ride here then fine. We may have to take the pain of inexperience for a couple of years - but - it would be worth it to get BRITISH Riders the experience/Rides they need to improve so that, eventually, we will be competitive at International level again.

[pandorum 1,259]

Do you honestly think any rider will pick Britain if given a straight up choice? Some will stay because they dont have any offers but any offered the choice will be gone. How you going to run a league with no riders

 

As TWK says promote British and build up new stars. You will have the excitement of watching these riders become more balanced and then top men. The old NL in the 70s did not have these over rated GP riders but attracted very good crowds and produced some of the best racing I ever saw. Who cares if the foreign merceneries desert the sinking ship.

In general they only take from British speedway (with the few obvious exceptions) and give very little if anything back.

Speedway is best when it's four laps and four commited riders of comparable ability and not Darcy Ward versus three PL standard riders.

Insular is best for British speedway now it's wasted all it's money on flying foreign riders in and out for variable returns, frittered away decades of SKY coverage and lost most of it's spectators with awful tracks, poor racing and even poorer facilities and not very sensible prices.

 

The sport needs to take a leaf out of the past and look to the future.

Spend the cash left on developing a rider base that lives here and wants to race in British speedway. Don't waste it on Greg Hancock who is only here because his Polish team dumped him no matter what he said on SKY last night.

Develop the facilities and spend money on speedways most important assett it's track surfaces and give the spectator something back for a change.

 

The old adage 'when in a hole, stop digging' never more applied to Bristish speedway than it does now.

[ch958 2,395]

Promote BRITISH Riders from the National League in to the Premier League and if the foreigners don't want to ride here then fine. We may have to take the pain of inexperience for a couple of years - but - it would be worth it to get BRITISH Riders the experience/Rides they need to improve so that, eventually, we will be competitive at International level again.

 

this is the way forward - no mistake

[New Cross Ranger 18]

Anyone know if average crowd attendances are available anywhere online? It would be interesting to see the differences between the leagues. Anyone any idea of a 'ballpark' break even figure needed to run a team at National League level?

[manchesterpaul 447]

Anyone know if average crowd attendances are available anywhere online? It would be interesting to see the differences between the leagues. Anyone any idea of a 'ballpark' break even figure needed to run a team at National League level?

 

The only faint chance of accessing UK attendance figures would need the might of Wikileaks, GCHQ and NSA working at full steam.

[THE DEAN MACHINE 4,755]

Do you honestly think any rider will pick Britain if given a straight up choice? Some will stay because they dont have any offers but any offered the choice will be gone. How you going to run a league with no riders

there will always be enough riders but the standard might drop a little but it wont be noticed after a couple of matches. fans form a bond with their team or riders and its that bond which is getting lost because speedway is becoming like a swingers club, riders are just turning out for any team and fans lose that bond. also what is the alternative? do nothing carry on as we are and watch the sport go deeper into the abiss Edited August 27, 2013 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[The White Knight 9,039]

there will always be enough riders but the standard might drop a little but it wont be noticed after a couple of matches. fans form a bond with their team or riders and its that bond which is getting lost because speedway is becoming like a swingers club, riders are just turning out for any team and fans lose that bond. also what is the alternative? do nothing carry on as we are and watch the sport go deeper into the abiss

 

Well said TDM. I, for one would be quite happy watching Teams of all BRITISH Riders racing. You never know - we might even get back to the 'good old days' when the Riders would pop in to the Bar after a Meeting and chat to their Supporters. At least they wouldn't have to leave like a bat out of hell to fly to Sweden, Denmark or Poland. That would contribute to Supporters getting to know THEIR Riders and perhaps they would stick at the same Club for a decent period allowing a rapport to build up between Rider and Supporter.

 

I can see a lot FOR this argument - and precious little against. The Foreigners have lit up our Leagues for years now - but at WHAT COST? Speedway has changed so much over the years and the saddest thing of all is that we have lost touch, to a large extent, with our Riders.

[pandorum 1,259]

Well said TDM. I, for one would be quite happy watching Teams of all BRITISH Riders racing. You never know - we might even get back to the 'good old days' when the Riders would pop in to the Bar after a Meeting and chat to their Supporters. At least they wouldn't have to leave like a bat out of hell to fly to Sweden, Denmark or Poland. That would contribute to Supporters getting to know THEIR Riders and perhaps they would stick at the same Club for a decent period allowing a rapport to build up between Rider and Supporter.

 

 

Very, very good point.