mikebv

My lads non league team have arranged a friendly for today... 100% the right thing to do... We go to work daily, and some sports have carried on, so why prevent people enjoying themselves? Her family mourning and doing what they want I absolutely get, (just like any other family who have lost someone), but it seems daft to prevent those who had no contact or relationship with her from doing what they want to do.. Cinemas remain open, pubs remain open, restaurants remain open, gyms remain open, seaside resorts remain open, so why are (some) sports not taking place? Barmy to be honest.. Being a keen follower of horse racing herself, I am sure she wouldn't have given a monkey's if everything just carried on as normal.. Which 99% of things have...

15 matches in two months... A fair few quid to find to have attended them all....

Example 12,315 of why an independent body or person should oversee such matters.... Rinse and Repeat... Next AGM going to be the most important ever?

About right... I would suggest UK Speedway has many more followers than actual attending fans... With many thousands still passionate about the sport but feel they cannot support such a ludicrous operating model with their hard earned.. Or cannot attend on the restricted nights their clubs run... Circa 15,000 a week (optimistically), attend the sport I would say if 15 meetings were ran, 20,000 a week listened to you... With a regularly growing listenership... No publicity is bad publicity, (it is better to be talked about than not talked about when in the public eye), and sticking your fingers in your ears and going "la laaaaa, I can't hear you!" when getting some unsolicited databased feedback is never a great idea when in business.. But it is "gold" if you have an open mind and are humble enough to accept it at face value, as it will accelerate your growth tremendously...

It would be a huge risk for anyone... A title winning team with world class riders couldnt attract enough punters when Speedway probably had, at least, double the crowds it gets now... And, unlike areas like Swindon, Coventry, Oxford and Birmingham, there hasnt been much of a concerted effort to try and bring Speedway back.. Maybe when they build that Superdome roof, meaning there wont be any rain off threats, it could then be viable...

Could a "guest" be allowed? With a reading no more than 5% higher obviously...

Sadly I fear you are correct.. And all to win competitions they themselves devalue, almost to the point of complete irrelevance, by their very own operating model... Often people will say "we need one big league"... Well. They need to get a move on with that, as at the current run rate of closures over the past decade, there wont be enough for "one medium league" not too many years down the line...

100% Dean... However. Never understand why the BSPL never seem to fight these issues as a collective... Edinburgh and Swindon two cases in point. Every club seems to go it alone when fighting for their lives... Surely some kind of structured responsive process is needed? It isnt like it is a new thing is it? Do really some think "they close I get their riders I want off them?", and that is why no collective response is forthcoming? Surely not, but given so much self interest rather than collective growth always appears to be the policy you never can be 100% sure...

Workington a classic example of fans having to pick and choose what meetings to attend when they won the treble... Given they had to ride so many meetings so close together... And they went bust off the back of it... Three finals, more spaced out, meaning you can market them individually much better, with two getting ran in better weather, must be better financially for clubs and fans, and publicity wise locally as it keeps you in the awareness of the local populace as being "successful" which may stimulate more visits.. At the moment you win trophies and the season stops so no improved crowd momentum is generated even if interest locally is pricked... And some teams start well and then get injuries, therefore they may have a chance of being in a final earlier in the season.. Some teams also start poorly then bring in better riders, so ithey could miss out on the early trophy/trophies but then be in the running for the play offs.. October weather must be perfect for running finals I presume.. NB: And running in October means that for many only two more pay days remain till Xmas, which, given the cost of living challenges, could impact attendances.. Attendances which finals should maximise...

Won't need too many more call offs to put pressure on getting all done by November.. Crazy that all finals get ran at the end of the season every year.. Should spread them out more... Would keep interest and publicity across many more months... And even more reason to do so with the cost of living increases that were predicted a fair few months ago.. Be a shame to have fans having to pick and choose what meetings to go to when these meetings are the ones where the trophies are handed out...

Easy to have a pop, especially given some of the comments made re Plymouth... However.... I would like to think that he sportingly realised that Plymouths team wouldn't mean a fair match could take place, so thoughtfully organised torrential rain, thunder storms and lightening.......

They would need more than six teams to let six qualify for the play offs... Although.... Maybe not.....

That would have been at the Etihad .

Well there is definitely two more there than the original Monday night staging as getting there on a Sunday is so much easier than getting there after work on a Monday... And I only live six miles away so hopefully many more can travel from further afield too and "make a day of it"...

Having something riding on all meetings would help maintain interest 100%... However relegation cannot happen with so many DU's... You could currently get your own teams relagated and also promoted....

But they are so good at it now so why change?

And volleyball in Poland... Plenty of arenas have a fair few thousand watching every week....

It may have had more "dead rubbers" as you correctly say, but it also did have teams visiting for maybe their only visit of the season, which meant some interest from the fans... With an out and out superstar too in some cases, which could bring some of the best crowds of the season.. Now we have play offs with potentially teams making their fourth visit of the season, with riders on show visiting your track who may have guested several times for other teams (as well as your own team)... The pull of the play offs will hopefully always deliver good crowds but it is the matches leading up to them which sadly dont always hold much sway...

You can see an email being sent about a "failure to secure the site"... I am sure that will be sufficient....

No!! The transfer window had "slammed shut".. (It always "slams shut" doesnt it?).. You have to respect the transfer windows and not sign anyone outside of them as that wouldnt be fair....

Perfect in so many ways...

Could they bring a "guest tyre" in?

Did it mention "brown envelopes of used notes"....

Get those fire extinguishers on stand by...

I like the idea of a Yellow and Red card system... Many stoppages are not malicious but a loss of control therefore give the rider a Yellow and rerun the race with him 20 yards back.. If he cannot make the rerun then a reserve can come in off the same handicap.. For any "deliberate" or "reckless" acts then make it a Red.. Watching a top rider try who maybe moved or touched the tapes, or fell off of his own accord, come from 20 yards back rather than being excluded, would be worth watching.. And considerably much better VFM than having him watching the race with the rest of us..