All That Is Wrong With Speedway....

[Shadders 4,134]

Poole Pirates = 47 (92)

 

1. Troy Batchelor (Guest)

2. Edward Kennett (Guest)

4. Danny King (Guest)

5. Maciej Janowski

6. Brendan Johnson (Guest)

7. Kyle Newman

King's Lynn Stars = 43 (87)

 

1. Kenneth Bjerre

2. Robert Lambert

3. Chris Harris (Guest)

4. Stuart Robson (Guest)

5. Rory Schlein

6. Jason Garrity (Guest)

7. Simon Lambert

 

I'm sure this has already been touched on many times but 7 Guests!!

Nobody in the industry can be overjoyed at this conclusion to the season?

Surely squads MUST be the way to go. With maybe 1 Guest max in extreme circumstances?

 

As a neutral, the final is just a non event. What has it got to do with the rest of the season?

 

 

If you count the entire EL & PL as one big squad, then you'll sleep a little easier

Edited October 19, 2014 by Shads

[Mr. Clemens 646]

If you count the entire EL & PL as one big squad, then you'll sleep a little easier

 

 

In other words a pool of riders

[mikebv 10,278]

We all know why we have the guest system, to keep teams reasonably even within the restrictions of the averages. Even if they are able to sort out some sort of squad system, how will averages be used? Unless u always have to bring in a member of your squad who has a lower average than the rider they are replacing?

Squads are never going to happen over here unless a rich sugar daddy comes into British speedway and turns us into the Polish model!

Or teams go to six men a side and omit the big names, ??

 

for what some GP's No1's get in salary you could pay three 'good riders', (or half a six man team)...

[arnieg 3,643]

What has Happened to Rider replacement ,surly this would take out 2 guests and maybe promotion of No 8s to get rid of another 2 just a thought

the new EL race format means that rider replacement provides inadequate cover in most instances, as a result it is simply no longer used for second strings unless it is a case of force major.

[pandorum 1,259]

At least most of the guests were British.

[Leicester Hunter 381]

At least most of the guests were British.

Only because all the others were Rory Schlein!

[daveallan81 330]

EL guest and rider replacement stats for 2014 taken from 144 matches:

 

Total guests for 1-5 riders: 173 (split 68 home & 105 away)

Total guests for FTR: 103 (38 & 65)

Total uses of r/r: 35 (13 & 22)

 

By team, G - FTG - RR:

Belle Vue Home: 3 - 7 - 1 Away: 7 - 5 - 4 Total: 10 - 12 - 5

Coventry Home: 13 - 5 - 3 Away: 13 - 4 - 3 Total: 26 - 9 - 6

Eastbourne Home: 5 - 7 - 2 Away: 11 - 15 - 2 Total: 16 - 22 - 4

King's Lynn Home: 5 - 5 - 1 Away: 11 - 10 - 2 Total: 16 - 15 - 3

Lakeside Home: 7 - 1 - 1 Away: 14 - 8 - 3 Total: 21 - 9 - 4

Leicester Home: 17 - 4 - 3 Away: 15 - 7 - 1 Total: 32 - 11 - 4

Poole Home: 8 - 4 - 0 Away: 14 - 7 - 1 Total: 22 - 11 - 1

Swindon Home: 3 - 3 - 0 Away: 4 - 4 - 2 Total: 7 - 7 - 2

Wolverhampton Home: 7 - 2 - 2 Away: 16 - 5 - 4 Total: 23 - 7 - 6

 

26 matches ran with no guest programmed.

Total number of guests per match/number of matches:

1: 41

2: 31

3: 21

4: 17

5: 7

6: Nil

7: 1

 

Number of guests + rider replacement per track:

Belle Vue 35 + 13

Coventry 43 + 12

Eastbourne 31 + 9

King's Lynn 24 + 6

Lakeside 26 + 10

Leicester 43 + 11

Poole 24 + 6

Swindon 31 + 13

Wolverhampton 19 + 7

 

By day of week:

Monday: 62 guests from 39 matches (average per meeting: 1.59)

Tuesday: 4 from 2 (2.00)

Wednesday: 42 from 27 (1.56)

Thursday: 41 from 19 (2.16)

Friday: 58 from 28 (2.07)

Saturday 60 from 27 (2.22)

Sunday: 9 from 2 (4.50)

 

Food for thought:

13.9% of all riders were guests.

Nearly one quarter of all riders that should have been at Coventry (55 out of 224) and Leicester (54/224) did not ride.

Over one third (22 out of 64) of Eastbourne's FTR were guests.

Bringing r/r into the equation, only 23 matches started with both sides tracking their declared 1-7.

276 replacements equates to 39.4 teams or 19.7 matches composed entirely of guests.

[Grand Central 2,654]

A lot of fascinating detail there.

 

For me, the most telling stat is the simple one.

Over the entire season just 23 matches out of 144 had both teams riding with their full team.

 

That is just pitiful.

[frigbo 518]

Great stats but a saddening indictment of the mess that British speedway has become.

[salty 2,202]

DaveAllen81. Thank you for putting statistical analysis on top of the bones of what we all knew. Just shows what a shocking state the sport is in.

[Bellers101 347]

Daveallan81 please, please, please email your post to the BSPA.

 

Would be interesting comparing these stats to those in Sweden where attendances are much higher.

[SCB 0]

Daveallan81 please, please, please email your post to the BSPA.

 

Would be interesting comparing these stats to those in Sweden where attendances are much higher.

Sweden also only has 8 meeting at each track every season. Eat steak for every meal and it becomes plain and boring. Eat it for a treat once a month and it something to look forward too. We actually have too much speedway to some extent.

[Grand Central 2,654]

Sweden also only has 8 meeting at each track every season. Eat steak for every meal and it becomes plain and boring. Eat it for a treat once a month and it something to look forward too. We actually have too much speedway to some extent.

 

I understand your point but the metaphor is a little lacking.

 

Steak every day may be repetitive but nobody is ever offering that.

But restrict me to steak once a month and I would be forced to strangle you.

 

A really good Steak once a week, that's about right.

 

The trouble is ... eating out more often (and better) is one of the very things that many of us choose to spend our money on INSTEAD of going to Speedway.

[Trees 2,814]

I'd rather have egg and chips at home and be able to afford to go to speedway :-D

[iris123 20,987]

Sweden also only has 8 meeting at each track every season. Eat steak for every meal and it becomes plain and boring. Eat it for a treat once a month and it something to look forward too. We actually have too much speedway to some extent.

I have been saying for years that there is too much speedway and it isn't viable.But that trouble to an extent is caused by promoters not owning their stadiums.They have to make deals with the stadium owners which mean they have to run so many meetings and trying to do a deal for fewer meetings would probably mean the rent goes up accordingly.

 

The gap between the top two leagues(Sweden/Poland) and the GPs and the British leagues gets bigger every year.People feel they are getting better value for money by travelling abroad to watch some league meetings and a GP or two.Now that isn't extra money they are finding,but money they would have probably have spent on British speedway.It is the same as i read recently on the Beeb that around 1,000 english football fans travel over to watch Borussia Dortmund home game every other week as they think it is more value for money than watching Premier League football.

 

In another report i watched last night it stated how big football clubs are sucking the life out of other sports in the area.Again Dortmund was named.Back in the 70s there were a few other sports in Dortmund that had teams in various Bundesligas.They have generally gone by the way-side as football has attracted most of the main sponsors and season tickets use up much of the money that fans have available,so nothing much left over for other sports.In the main it is only viable for other sports to run in areas that don't have big football clubs.Speedway is much the same around Europe in this sense and it will only get harder.The finances don't really add up to run so many meetings in what is essentially an expensive sport with few spectators.The clubs on the continent are better set up to run with fewer meetings.I can't see the British model working as it does for much longer