UK speedway slowly dying

[spinkox 37]

On 8/13/2022 at 10:08 PM, chunky said:

When I watched speedway as a kid, one of the big attractions for me was watching all those he-men struggling to control a bucking bronco in deep dirt! And they managed it. You have to appreciate ALL aspects of the sport, but mostly the control - even when control seems impossible. The power of the bikes these days does make it physically impossible, which is why they can't race on dirt...

You must be pretty old to remember deep dirt at Wimbledon.

[chunky 6,093]

9 minutes ago, spinkox said:

You must be pretty old to remember deep dirt at Wimbledon.

There was a time...

[arnieg 3,643]

11-16 August ... high summer.

 

Six days and in the entire UK, just 5 meetings, one of which was postponed.

[topsoil 2,498]

2 hours ago, arnieg said:

11-16 August ... high summer.

 

Six days and in the entire UK, just 5 meetings, one of which was postponed.

Considering three of these days were for the Championship Pairs and Cardiff GP weekend, plus only one team rides on a Tuesday night. What do you expect?

[AFCB Wildcat 1,362]

On 8/15/2022 at 12:13 PM, auntie doris said:

I loved my first Cardiff visit, 2005, soo different to Blunsdon. The racing was no different just the atmosphere. I took a young relative to a GP but they lost interest at Swindon.

I'm sure the crowds will be back next year, August not the best time to hold it, several adverse factors.

The Championship Pairs at Oxford the previous night had poor track, poor racing.

The long drive and heat was worth it, to see a Bewley the Brit win, fantastic. Great performance from ex-Swindon skipper Doyley, 3 crashes yet reaches semis.Ard as nails Jason.

Indeed and not least going up against the start of the Football season on a match day. 

I know there are a lot of football haters on here but unfortunately, a good percentage of the Cardiff crowd are casual supporters and not die hard speedway fans. Many have lost their local teams and make Cardiff their only speedway meeting of the year but regularly support a football team. 

Having checked average football match attendance figures it would appear that on average, over 750,000 fans attend a full programme of matches over the 4 divisions on a Saturday. A small percentage of those who might otherwise have otherwise gone to Cardiff  if it was in June or July like it used to be is a big impact on the attendance figure. 

[auntie doris 2,342]

1 hour ago, AFCB Wildcat said:

Indeed and not least going up against the start of the Football season on a match day. 

I know there are a lot of football haters on here but unfortunately, a good percentage of the Cardiff crowd are casual supporters and not die hard speedway fans. Many have lost their local teams and make Cardiff their only speedway meeting of the year but regularly support a football team. 

Having checked average football match attendance figures it would appear that on average, over 750,000 fans attend a full programme of matches over the 4 divisions on a Saturday. A small percentage of those who might otherwise have otherwise gone to Cardiff  if it was in June or July like it used to be is a big impact on the attendance figure. 

And the EFL had it's highest opening day attendances for years. 19000 at the GP, nearly 19000 at Cardiff City game, and 5 figures for the Hundred in Cardiff. The city centre was packed. Can't see the speedway getting 20000 fans to return though. Never see 40000 there again unfortunately

When Swindon were running used to get coaches full of fans going from Blunsdon, plus the cars and couple of hundred on the train. Quite a few from Newcastle also. Other clubs have closed since. What happened to all the Poles? It's on in September next year so still clashes with the football.

A lot of fans were moaning about the difficulty in getting the digital tickets. We always get ours from the ticket office on day. 

Edited August 17, 2022 by auntie doris

[TINYS 292]

2 hours ago, auntie doris said:

And the EFL had it's highest opening day attendances for years. 19000 at the GP, nearly 19000 at Cardiff City game, and 5 figures for the Hundred in Cardiff. The city centre was packed. Can't see the speedway getting 20000 fans to return though. Never see 40000 there again unfortunately

When Swindon were running used to get coaches full of fans going from Blunsdon, plus the cars and couple of hundred on the train. Quite a few from Newcastle also. Other clubs have closed since. What happened to all the Poles? It's on in September next year so still clashes with the football.

A lot of fans were moaning about the difficulty in getting the digital tickets. We always get ours from the ticket office on day. 

Can you get tickets to any part of the stadium at the ticket office and do they up the prices.

[auntie doris 2,342]

14 minutes ago, TINYS said:

Can you get tickets to any part of the stadium at the ticket office and do they up the prices.

Don't know mate we normally get the cheapest, varies from 20 to 39 quid over the years. With over 40000 seats unsold this year probably a bigger choice of seating positions. But then you can buy the cheapest seat and move into a dearer one.

[TINYS 292]

1 minute ago, auntie doris said:

Don't know mate we normally get the cheapest, varies from 20 to 39 quid over the years. With over 40000 seats unsold this year probably a bigger choice of seating positions. But then you can buy the cheapest seat and move into a dearer one.

Thanks

[bruno 1,790]

21 minutes ago, TINYS said:

Can you get tickets to any part of the stadium at the ticket office and do they up the prices.

The one year they would only sell the expensive tickets saying they'd got no cheap tickets left which was obviously rubbish. Backfired tho cuz some of our group haven't been since

[AFCB Wildcat 1,362]

1 hour ago, bruno said:

The one year they would only sell the expensive tickets saying they'd got no cheap tickets left which was obviously rubbish. Backfired tho cuz some of our group haven't been since

Yeah, that was the last time that I went.

I'd read on here that cheap tickets were always available on the day so didn't book in advance as usual but the cheapest ones they had were £50 or more, I can't remember exactly and it cost me £250 or so to get my family in.

As you say, obviously rubbish!

[cowboy cookie returns? 747]

How many were at Cardiff this year? 

[TINYS 292]

3 hours ago, cowboy cookie returns? said:

How many were at Cardiff this year? 

Heard someone read on face book that it was 19000, not good.

[cowboy cookie returns? 747]

1 hour ago, TINYS said:

Heard someone read on face book that it was 19000, not good.

That's not good half of what they normally have there

 

[topsoil 2,498]

21 hours ago, AFCB Wildcat said:

Yeah, that was the last time that I went.

I'd read on here that cheap tickets were always available on the day so didn't book in advance as usual but the cheapest ones they had were £50 or more, I can't remember exactly and it cost me £250 or so to get my family in.

As you say, obviously rubbish!

Got mine for £25 on the day at the tickets office. Top tier, third bend, great view. And plenty space to stretch out and move about if you wanted.