mikebv

Exactly.. There shouldn't be time to look at your phone because "something" is going on.. Attend a Speedway event in the US and there is always "something" happening between races.. Got to a Supercross event and there is always "something" happening between races.. Its "full on" interaction with the fans.. No time to get bored when "something" is going on to prick your interest..

I can't see an 'app' replacing the programme any time soon given the demographic of the fan base.. The same demographic who are by far and away the main sector who still purchase magazines and newspapers.. Although sales of those two kinds of publication have dropped circa 50% over the past ten years with many media companies now doing an on line version of their paper product to balance the loss of hard copy sales and hopefully attract the younger demographic who are more tech savvy.. If an 'app' is the "future" in attracting young people to watch the sport then it truly does have a problem.. Letting all kids still at school in for free, as long as supervised, and see if they like watching the sport enough to pay when they are older, would be my first move. Get into the nurseries and schools and give out free tickets to the kids to take home with a couple of £10 tickets for the parents/relatives to use. Give the person in charge of the facility plenty of free tickets for their staff as a sweetener and start to build relationships with them which could include donating to fund raising, buying sports kits, etc.etc.. Getting emotional loyalty from facilities within the local community who can influence literally thousands of young people and their guardians would deliver far more return than any 'app' could...

I think you may very well be correct as it will take some holding of their nerve I would think, however, at least it looks like a plan of action rather than the usual 'make do and mend' nonsense that has pervaded for far too long.. As for the dilution of the standard, I think what we have this year (if it happens), is just about right for the amount of fans the sport gets. ie No "Superstars" that quite frankly haven't generated crowd levels to justify their high salaried inclusion. (No disrespect to them but that is the reality)... A "brave new world" or "a disaster waiting to happen"... Either way, at least it is something that has been thought through and accepted by the Promoters so let's see how it all works out, and as always with these things, the devil will be in the detail.. And from what I have read so far from those within the sport, a certain amount of 'rider control' will be taking place, therefore let's hope it's done fairly for all teams so each pair of RS's are all of a similar standard collectively..

I think those who have devised this plan would be very pleased to see GB lads earning big money in Poland as that would suggest the scheme has 100% worked.. The aim of this has to be getting the national team to the top of the Speedway tree and not whether certain teams may benefit from having a 'young superstar' at number seven for a few years.. The Poles have the right idea in that no matter how good their number six and sevens are (U21 World Champs some of them), they stay in that position.. Winning any Speedway competition over here doesnt mean much currently so it doesnt really matter if any team "gets lucky" with their RS riders... What does matter is in five years or so time, that GB is putting the Union Jack on the top step of the podium regularly at SON's, GP's and U21 World Championships.. As has been proved by other minority sports that have targeted international success above domestic club focus. This national success will 100% get the sport the publicity it needs to thrive and grow..

How much should that be? I think £20 for two adults and as many kids as they want to bring would be around where it's reasonable... Kids like to go around in groups so let as many in as possible under adult supervision... Most families will be two adults and two kids so £20 to get in seems a price that may attract those looking for a night out that won't break the bank, and could appeal to parents where maybe at least one of them used to attend.. As I know all too well, that £20 will be doubled with food and drink for a family of four so the admission cost will be very important to someone with kids, and for a "night out", if you get away with forty quid or so you have done well.. The Aces for example let U12's in for free, but after the adults have already paid £36 to enter it could still mount up to an expensive night.. Two adults and two kids still at school (so up to 16 years old), for £20 would entice a few that probably wouldn't pay the circa £40 for a family ticket now... And if they are not paying to go now, then that £20 price point won't be a loss to the club but a gain.. And if you own the food and drink establishment then it's a double gain..

I personally think it would be far easier to get the many thousands of 'adults' who used to go to attend again. Rather than try to attract loads of younger members of the population to go... Many of these thousands being fans who still follow the sport regularly via TV but simply "lost belief" in the way the sport was ran and presented in the UK.. Maybe they should just focus on fixing the reasons why so many no longer go and see if that works?

Looking at how badly the EU have handled the vaccine roll out you may be... And there are still lots of unanswered questions re the vaccines complete effectiveness given the timeline it took to make them... Lets hope for the best..

You are only a 'Poland pulling up the drawbridge' away.... Add in Brexit and the fact the EU could put quarantine regs on anyone who goes into their territory, or prevent travel to their territories from certain countries, then any rider riding over here, and over there, could very easily have problems... And as a self employed person, with two similar jobs that pay so massively widely differing salaries, you can perfectly understand it if he chooses the one that pays considerably the most momey..

Don't disagree at all, however... That would mean the Championship at around £12.50 to £13... Not a chance of that happening... Wasn't it £18 and more at some Championship teams in 2019....?

I think they chose that meeting because there wasnt any guest riders in it... So it linked in nicely with the name of the programme...

Always amazed me how tracks with a similar size footprint have such differing shapes... Gustrow for me is an example of how you can fit a wide, more circular track into a not too large footprint. Meaning the bikes dont "lock up" and potentially 'spit' the rider off when they hit some unexpected grip.. Maybe it's down to "trick track home advantage" that has led to clubs never changing their track shapes as bikes developed? Sky paid many of them a hell of a lot of money over the years which may have been better used in improving the racing product first and foremost... A wide, more circular track also seems to give riders more confidence to attack it, which, I presume, must be down to them feeling confident to ride harder given the rider in front wont potentially lock up and you hammer into him.. The Promoters at the NSS knew what was needed and just look at what that track delivers...

All very valid points, but the No1 priority has to be getting the National Team to consistently be seen as the No1 in the World.. That will get the wider sporting media involved and have a big positive impact on the domestic teams too.. Rugby League is a great example of how a 'minority' sport suddenly started to get excellent coverage for its domestic game when "Great Britain" started beating the Aussies in the late 80's/90's... Players like Martin Offiah, Ellery Hanley, Jason Robinson et al, became known nationally through their international success being beamed into homes via the BBC and Sky, yet not many of the population could probably name which club sides they played for, nor had any interest in the game until that national success came along.. However, those who did know which clubs these players represented domestically, started to go and watch these 'stars' in much greater numbers than before... Cricket and Rugby Union also made national success their overiding objective many years ago and even have central contracts to protect the top players from "burn out"... They knew, quite correctly, that national success would bring far more fans to the sport than any individual teams winning their various competitions could ever do.. Let's hope the penny has finally dropped at the BSPL that this should be far and aware their major objective to try and make the sport successful in the UK...

Getting a younger crowd into the stadium is paramount and you simply wont do that given the current plan of charging for them to enter.. "Ver Kidz" wouldn't be seen dead where their old man and Granddad like to go, and they "hang out" in packs... Therefore charging a 17/18/19 year old to pay to get in is pretty much folly and an expectation that simply wont be delivered.. And if there are any 17/18/19 year olds who follow the sport on their own, then them convincing their mates to pay 18 to 20 quid or so to watch it would need a miracle.. Yet this demographic could truly help the sport enormously... Their "reach" on social media within just a few 'shares' or 'tags' will often cover literally tens of thousand of people of the same or similar age, with mainly all local too, and no self respecting "yoof" will go anywhere without a 'selfie' showing everyone where they are and what they are doing.. Huge FREE advertising for the sport that targets exactly the demographic they want to attract.. How good is that? And for those clubs who own their own food areas and bars, (if nothing else), a couple of hundred 'late teens' in their stadiums would put a good few quid in the respective tills, as burger and beer are two of their favourite pastimes, and they would swell the crowd to make the event look like its popular and maybe add some atmosphere too.. And the beauty of providing free entry is that hardly any of this demographic are going now , so pretty much zero loss of income.. TV, radio, newspapers etc etc. Are all now seen as pretty much irrelevant by the younger populace, and all the various instant news outlets and social media have replaced them.. Virtually every kid has a phone, and virtually every kid has a social media group (or ten), that they share 'everything' with, so let them in for nothing and let them spread the word for you and be your advertisement... Give them say four weeks of free entrance then charge incremental increases in admission. Maybe four matches for a fiver then cap the U20's at a tenner.. Keep it free for U17's..

That's a team with a lot of overseas riders considering we are in the middle of a global pandemic... Will they be all based over here?

The technical and medical term for this type of person is a....... ""LOON"...

Tungate in the SS said Denmark had 3 plans, one with no fans, one with some fans, and one with no restrictions.. The UK still have a plan built on "can't run without fans in the stadiums", which is still a distinct possibly... Cannot blame riders for following the leagues that appear to be making (as much as they can do), cast iron plans...

The Aussie riders didnt when they got back over there.. And nor did the Aussie Open Tennis players.. And mainland Europe hasn't been impacted too severely with quarantining yet, but given the issues getting so many vaccinated, it soon surely will be.. No point getting every person at reasonable risk and above, vaccinated over here, (with vaccines remember that we only "think" work given how quick it was developed, and the way a virus mutates to stay 'alive') when someone can still come in from abroad and keep the virus (or a mutant one) within us..

As should have been done donkeys years ago... They had a good system in the 70's through to around the mid to late 80's.. And then stopped following it..

And given the quarantine rules are fast changing and more and more countries will be added to the list of those you need to spend (at your own cost), ten days in a hotel quarantining, I would think any overseas riders are at risk of not riding a full season.. Poland will be pulling up the drawbridge too I would suggest and expect all with contracts to stay permanently over there.. Given the vaccine issues Europe has, this wont end this summer..

A wise old store manager about 35 years ago walked his new night manager around the store early in the morning.. The new night manager was 'quite pleased with himself' at what he had achieved that night, only leaving 5 cages of stock out of 120 he and his team received... The wise old store manager asked me (I mean 'him' obviously!), why hadn't the other five been done? The answer of "no time boss" was met with a simple question.. Which was. "If I had said last evening that I will walk in this morning and give you 1000 pounds in your hand if you had completed 120 cages, would you have completed them?" The answer was an obvious "Yes", therefore he quite rightly answered.. "So it was just down to a lack of will, self pride and desire then?".. No answer did that young man have, but it did focus his mind for the rest of his career.. Now... If every promoter was guaranteed £10,000 in their hand for every meeting they ran without guests, I am pretty sure they would find the 'will and desire' to find a way to do it, and subsequently have the 'self pride' of running the sport properly.. Poland dont use guests in the UK sense but do D/U and call them guests, however the D/U riders only ride for that team, and it has only been allowed for Covid.. Betard would never plough the hundreds of thousands of euro they do into the sport if Woffy or Majic were allowed to help out their opponents to ultimately see Wroclaw fail through their actions, and the teams they help out then be successful.. If the UK wants "big sponsors" for teams then you cant really have guest riders, so why not try and find a way to do it now.. Next year should be a 'free hit' given the uncertainty going on, so when better to see what could work?

If 2 riders are missing then simply dont run the meeting... Give the side time to sign someone else or when they get one rider back.. Dont "contrive" League Speedway anymore.. As for using away averages for away meetings? There will always be track specialists who perform well at a certain track and run a much lower overall away average than the rider getting replaced.. I remember Matej Zagar at Lakeside always seeming to be 'elsewhere' when the Aces rode against them, (an 'oversight' in fixture planning from both teams that I am sure), and he ran a strong average home and away.. He got replaced by a rider of lesser ability but invariably one much better than him at Lakeside.. I seem also to remember having three inferior 'ringers' one night with RR, and "winning".... Maybe using the average at that individual track only could work, however not having guests at all would work so much better for me..

Now that no 'out and out' No1's are out there, and the heat leader to reserve differential has been as narrow as it has ever been (ex RS).. Is it now the perfect time to dispense with that credibility and integrity destroying guest system? I personally wont follow a team anymore, and therefore treat the sport as a proper team sport, when, for example, Brady Kurtz can top score for any other team in the league on an adhoc basis and, as a result, prevent his own team from reaching the play offs.. What is the point of following the Aces, and investing that so important emotional attachment that all team sports should inspire, when your 'talisman' can be the 'talisman' for any other team too whenever it suits? So.. Maybe use a fit for purpose rider replacement facility instead? No Number 1? Then the next two riders can take all his rides up to seven apiece per night. Meaning all his rides covered between them (if that is what the manager wants to do), and they can still do Ht 15 together.. No 2nd heat leader? Then the No1 rider can take two rides and the third heat leader the same. Again if the managers wants to do it, he may want to give a rider from lower in the team who is doing well that night more rides.. Utilise the same system going down the team for riders 3 to 6, ie the riders above and below can take two rides each to cover the gap.. If a 'Seven' is missing then another unattached U21 NL rider can come in, (a list of these riders could be circulated and if used, that rider then must only ride for that team going forward).. If a 'Seven' is missing then the replacement must have a minimum of two rides with the 'No6' taking the two others... It would mean a credible League taking place, and create 'proper teams', as well as providing riders from that team more earning potential when one of their own is missing.. Could it work?

You can see why it is taking so long to confirm teams and get fixtures out... Depending on the rider, both divisions could be impacted and given so many double up/down it must be a nightmare trying to finalise things...

"Jason Who?" Would say many of the public who live in Somerset.. No disrespect at all meant to the guy because apart from Woffy I dont think any name resonates in any shape or form over here to anyone "outside the sport".. One of the biggest hopes I think is that Discovery can use their considerable size to generate some interest from more than just the usual followers.. A bit of hype (artificial or not), wouldn't be a bad thing as a starter..

For me. Crowds would grow in the short term as 'ex fans' came back, and those less regular fans attended more frequently.. Novelty value and all that.. But then crowds would drop back as that novelty wore off, leaving clubs with the most expensive riders and crowds that won't sustain them.. Pretty much where the sport was 15 to 20 or so years ago, all the top riders rode here but crowds dwindled each year whilst they did... And TV coverage was also great, the best rode here, yet sponsors didn't throw money at it... Three top heat leaders per team became two, and then two became one, and finally all was left was Jason Doyle..... And now even he has gone.... Bottom line is the wider sporting watching public don't know who are 'top stars', and who are not, so their appearance wouldn't generate enough 'new fans' for me to justify the outlay... This year's predicted teams in the top division resemble something like a 'Championship Plus' standard with the 2nd tier resembling a 'Championship Lite'... Reflective of where the sport really is crowd wise for me, and probably at the lowest overall standard it has ran with, but sometimes you do have to go backwards to go forwards... Hopefully this is part of a well thought out plan of incremental growth, or who knows, maybe this standard will prove a success and provide a few years of stability for the sport?