So You Want More Meetings!

[cityrebel 2,960]

Here we are almost entering the last week of the season, with the league fixtures looking like they will not be completed. Leicester v Lynn has gone, coventry v stoke & rye and Lynn v eastbourne have not been rearranged. How can promoters want more meetings when they struggle to stage fixtures at the present level. Big gaps in the summer months and a mad rush in October, lead to this mess every season.

[Dave Stummings 126]

Indeed agree Cityrebel. But most clubs nowadays seem to have mid-season breaks so it’s hardly surprising come October certain clubs struggle. Speedway could be minus Stoke who have cancelled their double header tomorrow as well. When you think in 2014 and 2015 Lakeside finished their season in August! Crazy! Bring back the 70's for a proper fix of methanol related speedway.

[Little Thumper 528]

I don't want more meetings.

 

I want better meetings.

 

Make it so.

 

[Daniel Smith 5,672]

I don't want more meetings.

 

I want better meetings.

 

Make it so.

 

 

This ^^^^^

[pete cc 322]

I do notice that those teams near to the top of leagues make more of an effort to get fixtures ridden.If there was no play offs & cut off dates fixtures outstanding may have more significance.

[The White Knight 9,039]

I do notice that those teams near to the top of leagues make more of an effort to get fixtures ridden.If there was no play offs & cut off dates fixtures outstanding may have more significance.

Too right!!!!

 

They won't change it though....................

[MattK 3,447]

I do notice that those teams near to the top of leagues make more of an effort to get fixtures ridden.If there was no play offs & cut off dates fixtures outstanding may have more significance.

That makes absolutely no sense. The play-offs are the reason that each season five or six clubs have meaningful fixtures right up until the end of the season.

 

Without the play-offs it would only be the two or three clubs in the hunt for the top spot who have anything to ride for.

[iris123 21,034]

That makes absolutely no sense.

Probably the reason why TWK 'liked' it

[waiheke1 4,295]

That makes absolutely no sense. The play-offs are the reason that each season five or six clubs have meaningful fixtures right up until the end of the season.

 

Without the play-offs it would only be the two or three clubs in the hunt for the top spot who have anything to ride for.

Exactly this.

I remember in 1984 the aces never rode their meeting with swindon, and the aces finished 2nd that year. The title went down to the wire, but ftom memory once the aces could not mathematically win the league they gave up trying to reschedule it.

[steve roberts 9,247]

That makes absolutely no sense. The play-offs are the reason that each season five or six clubs have meaningful fixtures right up until the end of the season.

 

Without the play-offs it would only be the two or three clubs in the hunt for the top spot who have anything to ride for.

Not necessarily so. Oxford were denied the opportunity to defend their title in 2002 because their match at Peterborough 'apparently' fell outside the cut-off date and was never raced! If I recall had Oxford won that fixture they would have taken their rightfull place in the Play-Offs instead that 'honour' went to Peterborough...much to my (and many others I might add at the time) disgust! And people wonder why I have become dis-illusioned with the sport down the years.

Edited October 24, 2016 by steve roberts

[ouch 1,197]

Exactly this.

I remember in 1984 the aces never rode their meeting with swindon, and the aces finished 2nd that year. The title went down to the wire, but ftom memory once the aces could not mathematically win the league they gave up trying to reschedule it.

I think they tried a couple of times to ride it but the weather intervened.

The KO Cup was ridden on a frozen track that made broadsiding very tricky, in November if I remember correctly.

 

I think it's a problem when fixtures are referred to as meaningful as it stands to reason that others aren't meaningful. I don't remember talk like this pre play offs as every fixture was there to be won to hopefully move you up the table.

[Super Blue 616]

The problem is that it isn't like a football league , the higher you finish in any football league the more prize money you get.

 

If Speedway had similar structure or could attract reasonable sponsorship arrangements then it would be heavily in a teams interest to ride as many meetings as possible to achieve the greater rewards.

 

If anything currently a promoter is more likely to be patting his wallet if he can't complete a full league programme as he doesn't have to pay the riders and crowd levels aren't exactly hugely profit making are they?

 

It's all about money.

[cityrebel 2,960]

It does the sports credibility no favours to have the league tables incomplete. That's why you need an outside body to enforce the fixtures are completed.

[IronScorpion 1,407]

I do notice that those teams near to the top of leagues make more of an effort to get fixtures ridden.If there was no play offs & cut off dates fixtures outstanding may have more significance.

 

Unlike Edinburgh who didn't want their fixture v Peterboro to take place incase Peterboro got 4 points & replaced them in the top 6 play-off places.

 

There is also the fact that we have the League Cup at the start of the season to get up to speed, then the final in October!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[daveallan81 330]

Just to tidy up the 1984 Belle Vue v Swindon match, the match was rained off on 22nd September. This was the first senior match to be cancelled at Hyde Road in 1984. With both being Saturday tracks, available dates were an issue.

 

29/9 Aces were at Coventry and Robins at home to Oxford. 6/10 Aces at home to Bees while Swindon were at home to Ipswich. 13/10 Swindon were at home to Wimbledon while Aces ran 13/10 v Poole then a double header the next day with Cradley (League Cup Final) & Wolves (KOC semifinal). 20th was the BLRC. 27th Swindon were at Cradley while Belle Vue hosted Ipswich, who tied up the league title on the 23rd, in the KOC final. They tried on successive nights to run the Swindon match on 3rd & 4th November. From the Speedway Star report:

 

"Promoter Stuart Bamforth and his staff worked until the very last moment in their efforts to clear the track and then riders and officials jumped into their cars to drive round and round in a brave bid to tyre-pack the heavy shale.

 

But when Belle Vue captain Chris Morton brought out a bike and attempted to race on it, it proved difficult to negotiate with the track spongy and decidedly greasy underneath.

 

The riders then decided to call it a day in a trackside discussion with the promoter.

 

No new starting date has been settled but it seems unlikely, with some Swindon riders going home in the next few days and with other commitments by Belle Vue riders, that this meeting will ever be re-held."

 

I think that qualifies as a bona fide attempt to get the meeting staged.