Attendances

[SCB 15]

Would advertising on tv be any good? You know, like a proper advert... What would it cost for a small 30-45 second advert....? Anyone know if it's ever been tried?

I honestly doubt it. Advertising on national tele for local speedway is a waste of time as 95% of people who see it are not your target audience. Even a BSPA "all clubs" advert wouldn't work as you wouldn't be able to sell each club.

[Stoke Potter 242]

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Who else says it apart from TV commentators who don't want their audiences turning off before the adverts come on?

 

The best, if not one of the best races I saw last season was between Doyle AJ and Bech , Lakeside v Leicester on 25th June. Doyle gated then passed by first AJand Bech, lap 2 Dolye passed them both to retake the lead, lap 3 AJ and Bech re-pass Doyle and hold on for the win., As good a race as you'll see anywhere with six passes in three laps, all in Heat 1 on a small track. Off course not every hear 1 is like that. But nor are all other heats.

 

Maybe you don't visit many tracks but your argumement that all heat 1'sare processional and it's all down to small tracks or track prep simply doesn't stand up. Weather conditions and the experience of the various track curators play a part but the reasons for falling attendances are complex and varied but like most people you look for quick fixes and easy answers but there are none,.There are a whole range of issues that need to be addressed, both on track and off, but lack of money is one of the major obstacles.

Who else says that the tracks will be better after a few heats? The riders when interviewed for one.

Yes even the worst track in the country will get a decent heat 1, heat 15 or any of them in between from time to time.

I've been watching since the late 70's and seen plenty of tracks.

I'm quite convinced that the stats would back me up (should they exist) that most heat1's at most tracks are processional. The shortest way is the fastest early on due to the way the tracks are prepared. The fact that you are even denying it is bizarre.

Heat1's being processional is not down to small tracks, I've never claimed that.

When is speedway at its best as a spectacle? Big fast tracks, multiple lines, wide open spaces, correctly banked, and the right shape.

Tracks need to be more than big, as a stated previously.

[Guest]

Is what is now happening to speedway in the UK following a similar pattern that has happened elsewhere in the world - that in the end people tire if team racing?

It has happened in New Zealand, South Africa, Holland - all once had flourishing league competitions with overseas riders in their club sides. League racing has also been tried to a lesser extent in Australia and the USA but eventually dropped by the local promoters.

Are we in the UK now seeing the start of a similar trend in which in a few years time what tracks are then left will be staging only individual racing, probably over a shorter season say from mid-May to mid-September, using far fewer riders than we need these days, but of a highly professional and talented nature?

This is just a thought on my part. I will be ready to dodge the flak that I expect to be fired at me by the usual team of gustix critics. But please carefully consider all aspects of what I envisage before trying to shoot the messenger.

[Bryn 413]

Is what is now happening to speedway in the UK following a similar pattern that has happened elsewhere in the world - that in the end people tire if team racing?

It has happened in New Zealand, South Africa, Holland - all once had flourishing league competitions with overseas riders in their club sides. League racing has also been tried to a lesser extent in Australia and the USA but eventually dropped by the local promoters.

Are we in the UK now seeing the start of a similar trend in which in a few years time what tracks are then left will be staging only individual racing, probably over a shorter season say from mid-May to mid-September, using far fewer riders than we need these days, but of a highly professional and talented nature?

This is just a thought on my part. I will be ready to dodge the flak that I expect to be fired at me by the usual team of gustix critics. But please carefully consider all aspects of what I envisage before trying to shoot the messenger.

 

Not being an avid/fanatical speedway historian myself, I wonder if perhaps you would care to clarify exactly when team racing ceased in the five countries you've named above as I can't personally recall league racing being staged in any of them. I'm sure you can provide the necessary information. From my own point of view I've always preferred team racing to individual meetings.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Bryn

[customhouseregular 1,651]

Not sure about Holland but league racing has been tried in the others, albeit on a very small scale with mini-leagues. From memory the USA tried it in the 80's with a 5-team league.

[iris123 21,105]

http://www.knmv.nl/motorsport/Nieuws-motorsport/2015/mei/dutch-speedway-league-van-start-in-veenoord/

[Guest]

 

Not being an avid/fanatical speedway historian myself, I wonder if perhaps you would care to clarify exactly when team racing ceased in the five countries you've named above as I can't personally recall league racing being staged in any of them. I'm sure you can provide the necessary information. From my own point of view I've always preferred team racing to individual meetings.

New Zealand - mainly in the mid 1950s.

Holland - late 1940s into early 1950s.

South Africa - late 1950s to the late 1960s.

Australia - at various ties times, especially in the early 1950s.

USA (California_ - in the early 1970 and again 1980a.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Guest

[Bryn 413]

New Zealand - mainly in the mid 1950s.

Holland - late 1940s into earky 1950s.

South Africa - late 1950s to the late 1960s.

Australia - at various ties times, especially in the early 1950s.

USA (California_ - in the early 1970s.

 

As I suspected then, the vast majority of the countries named ceased team racing circa/more than half a century ago. With regard to the USA, how many different tracks staged team racing in the early 1970s?

[Guest]

http://www.knmv.nl/motorsport/Nieuws-motorsport/2015/mei/dutch-speedway-league-van-start-in-veenoord/

 

Thank you for this iink which is in regard to the present attempt to popularise team/;eague racing in Holland.

The competition O refer to was in the 1950s, with several teams centred on main sports stadiums in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The riders featured incuded internationss from England like Malcolm Craven, Eric Chitty, Phil Bishop, Les Wotton.

[customhouseregular 1,651]

 

As I suspected then, the vast majority of the countries named ceased team racing circa/more than half a century ago. With regard to the USA, how many different tracks staged team racing in the early 1970s?

I believe it was Costa Mesa, Irwindale, Ventura, Bakersfield and one other.

[Guest]

 

As I suspected then, the vast majority of the countries named ceased team racing circa/more than half a century ago. With regard to the USA, how many different tracks staged team racing in the early 1970s?

 

This previous debate on USA league racing as on the BSF may interest you. It appears there were attempts in the 1930s.

http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=37958

I believe it was Costa Mesa, Irwindale, Ventura, Bakersfield and one other.

I recall that Bert Harkins was involved with this 1970s venture?

Edited November 1, 2015 by Guest

[iris123 21,105]

 

As I suspected then, the vast majority of the countries named ceased team racing circa/more than half a century ago. With regard to the USA, how many different tracks staged team racing in the early 1970s?

Exactly.Hard to link the end of those leagues with anything to do with a drop in attendance with EL/PL/NL.One of the factors often claimed is the variety of entertainment available nowadays.That clearly doesn't fit with most of those leagues

[Guest]

Exactly.Hard to link the end of those leagues with anything to do with a drop in attendance with EL/PL/NL.One of the factors often claimed is the variety of entertainment available nowadays.That clearly doesn't fit with most of those leagues

 

Could it be league racing died in these counries because the fans got fed up with that concept of speedway racing?

[iris123 21,105]

 

Could it be league racing died in these counries because the fans got fed up with that concept of speedway racing?

You might put South Africa down to political unrest.The question is was it league racing or were crowds down in all forms of racing?And could you say the restarting of leagues in say NZ, and like I posted Holland, is the start of a new interest in that concept?

Edited November 1, 2015 by iris123

[E I Addio 15,861]

I'm quite convinced that the stats would back me up.

That is one of the weaknesses in your argument. It is all about perception, unless you produce stats. Of course some tracks in some meetings improve as the meeting progresses and it has already been explained to you that in some instances it can be attributed to poor track prep but other times due to weather and a whole range of other factors . Sometimes the racing is good early on and the track goes slick later.sometime it holds up all the way through. In a sense it's no different to the wicket in a cricket match . Some start off as good batting strips and cut up later giving help to the bowlers, others become more and more lifeless as the match progresses.

 

The thread is about attendances. You have no stats to back up your assertion (it may well be right at some tracks. but not others). But there is no evidence that across the sport as a whole every track is poorly prepared so as to make head 1 processional. Attendances are falling , not just in the UK but across Swedeb and Poland as well, so for your argument to be right all of them must have poorly prepared tracks. It is obviously more complex than that.

 

Similarly , what constitutes a good spectacle is a subjective opinion, not an absolute fact. If you are unequivocally right about that how come tracks like Peterborough , the OTA and Sheffield aren't packing the crowds in anymore than Wolves. Why has the sport dropped to such a precarious level in Australiawith some of the big tracks that have had.

 

There are many reasons for falling attendances, some within the sports control, others outside the sports control such as the economy