sparkafag

Absolutely, the club are engaging with supporters this winter via the clubs newsletter.

Same rules apply re Speedway teams. I don’t go on the Sheffield, Newcastle site expecting to read about their supporters clubs and the % ratio of supporters clubs members to fans is probably pretty comparable to Berwick, the reality is that while there is a % of fans who do care, a lot don't.

What a load of trolling nonsense. Sports clubs aren’t going to continually reference what their supporters clubs are doing all the time. I don’t go on the Arsenal site expecting to read about their supporters club I go on it expecting to read about….Arsenal.

I wouldn’t be shocked if Poole and Belle Vue went the season only losing a meeting to Belle Vue or Poole. The gap between them and the rest is verging on obscene.

wrong thread.

Wit? write a point, someone then quotes and questions the point asking about young riders, explain rules state riders don’t have to be young, the reply then moves onto “dinny pick on Edinburgh”, explain Edinburgh aren’t being picked on ,then move onto “why direct your post at me” despite continuing to quote posts and make counter points, all the while kind of agreeing but still trying to make the point of "aye they are kind of bending it a bit, I kind of agree, but dinny pick on them, just dinny". I will give up on this one, my brain doesn’t spin the way it has to in order to understand this logic

Not every post on this forum is a response to your original post. It was actually yourself who quoted my post I have simply replied to the posts you have directed my way since….

In some instances, it is actually ok for sides to get stick rather than the need to contextually defend them, it isn’t an Edinburgh thing (in this instance it is) it has been a Poole thing, Glasgow thing, Berwick thing, Workington thing, Somerset thing, you name it, most sides will do it and they always get “stick” for it, no one is bullying, picking on, or singling Edinburgh out here. The easiest way to stop the situation (albeit it in many instances that stick has been entirely merited and mostly brought on themselves) is that the clubs actually act within the interest of the sport rather than their own interests, its beyond tiresome for most now. If you go by the logic that it is ok to work rules, then every club could decide to act like Havelock has this winter, every side could just choose to have a creative rain off now then, every side could pull a dodgy burger stunt now and then. The sport would transcend into even further farce, but technically, who cares because the rules sort of allow it, but in reality a gentlemanly agreement means that they don’t do it. You would have hoped someone involved with certain clubs would look in on this forum now and then, or even read it, or listened to fans thoughts and had the savvy to think fans are p*ssed of by the continual finding of loopholes maybe best just to leave it for a bit this time, but clearly not, it is poor, it’s perfectly fine just to say it is rather than adding layers of defence to it.

I don’t think there is the need to debate it, the rules explain the criteria. The only reference to age is that it is designed to encourage the development of young British riders, which, given the number of young British riders signed it inevitably has. “And at Premier League level every team must track a British rider who is eligible for the National League in the No.7 berth on a three-point average.” Riders like Ayers and Payne are exceptions, if you decide it should be picked on age you could argue a case that Cook and Lawson might not have met the criteria and slipped through the net simply because they were late starters. I would assume both are case examples of why an age limit hasn’t been set. There was also other mechanism in place to ensure sides couldn’t simply pick up riders like Tony Atkin in relation to averages previously achieved in the PL.

It would depend on your definition of “young”, in terms of career the riders you have referenced is young as it is only his third season in the sport. There is nothing to stop him being a rider who races PL speedway for 5 years plus. I would also question the idea that the system has been introduced in order to produce a World Champion, a decent turnover of British riders would do producing much more on top of that is a bonus.

Your patter is honking.

I’ve never heard Billy Connolly have to tell people he was telling a joke…

Taken from - http://www.speedwaygb.co/news.php?extend.29729 “SPEEDWAY bosses are ready to give more opportunities to British youngsters in the 2016 season” Premier League representative George English, also a member of Management Committee, said: “We are pleased to implement the introduction of a British rider in the No.7 spot and we can confirm Heats 2 and 4 are protected so the No.7 riders will meet each other at least twice per meeting. I genuinely couldn’t care less what passport Mitchell Davey does or doesn’t hold the signing of him goes against the grain of the Corinthian spirit of the implementation of a fast track rule. I don’t doubt counter points will be made such as “well last year we signed Branford and he was squeezed out” or “different ways of building teams” or even “well it is only Mitchell Davey”, irrelevant points, as is the idea that riders wouldn’t travel, every other side has managed, I am sure riders would have travelled I would assume they simply aren’t as good as Mitchell Davey. It would be nice if the sport could introduce a rule, implement it and stick to it. The idea that promotions have a free pass simply because they find a loophole in a rule isn’t something to be applauded, used as a defence when they manipulate a rule or even a way to build a team in the first place. It’s verging on cheating and immoral to “exploit loopholes”, if rules are simply there to be manipulated and broken in the eyes of promotions, either don’t bother with them, or fine promotions when they decide to find loopholes rather than sticking to rules which other clubs seem to be able to manage to do.

It sounds great. I hope it works, this is the kind of idea that in theory could work, Speedway needs more 20/20, Darts World Final events. If there is a stage with a band get riders on stage as well talking about the event, or a Q&A session with formers riders. A panel of say Sean Wilson, Stoney and Peter Carr talking about the good old days of the PL would have its appeal to a certain section of the audience Possibly a downloadable app with rider content, interviews etc about the previous days meeting that can be viewed and watched before it starts again on Sunday. There could be loads of upside to it.

Larsen is better than any Wolves rider was said, it was then stated that was up for debate and the debate was….yeah but look at the Wolves riders EL averages….so based on the "debate" Larsen is better than any Wolves rider.

The second part of what you have said contradicts you disagreeing. By your own admittance riders are more inclined to put more effort into a meeting at a World Cup than they are a league meeting (arguably naturally) which means the issue isn’t the track (Kings Lynn in this case) if you put riders on it with the right attitude (World Cup) the standard of racing is perfectly fine, but in a league meeting where, again, by your own admittance riders don’t try as hard, the racing isn’t as good. The riders at a World Cup, are riders who “open the throttle” further than journeymen riders who seemingly cant be passed, yet at the World Cup…irrespective of slick tracks etc, riders, pass each other. While riders have always moaned about track conditions they haven’t always had the platform of social media to allow them a true stage for confirmation bias, if riders openly put their thoughts out there and on occasion appear to psyche themselves out of a meeting as they often do when travelling to a track complaining about it all day, complaining about driving through rain etc, having other riders confirm their thoughts throughout the day, the natural assumption is that they will (and on occasions can) talk themselves out of a meeting. I do agree to a certain extent re the standard of meetings being no better/worse and time does always lend its self to meetings of the past and such is the speed of the bikes now that perhaps races will naturally become more strung out/ I would say though that riders now, appear anyway, to be more evidently going through the motions far too often, more so than they have previously, some riders are notorious for it and have gained a reputation as a result of it, throw them into a meeting on top of others factors I would say they are contributing to any product regression.

I should start by saying this is probably all just a brain fart to caveat what I am about to say but I will say it anyway. It appears riders play on subconscious now more than they ever have before, albeit it as fans we have never been as privy to riders mind-sets before so it is possible that statement isn’t 100% true. Through channels like social media, TV coverage etc we have seen inside Pandoras Box and realised that very often, riders consistently moan about track surfaces, the weather, tracks they don’t like etc and so on, throw in those factors and the changing machinery it isn’t any wonder that has corroded the standard of the product. Anyone who competes in motor sport or any sport for that matter relies heavily on confidence and it appears that no matter what meeting you are going to irrespective of track, that one rider or another either doesn’t have confidence in the track or the changing machinery to be able to fully commit themselves to a meeting. The only time those factors appear to be ignored completely are during Grand Prixs, World Cups, Play Offs, when admittedly the standard of rider is much higher. I think you could hold such a meeting at just about any track in the country and see a high standard of racing, leaving me to think it generally isn’t the tracks that are the issue, but in fact the attitude of a lot of the guys competing now.

I do say it in the loosest of terms , in that he could be promoted as GP winner, World Cup winner etc which does sound exciting but then when you find out it is Bjerre it is all about meh.

The Scunthorpe team looks like the side you want to get out the way early in the league as it is a decent chance of away points before they make changes.

If it is to be Bjerre he will be just about the most boring superstar a side could sign. He will inevitably carry a high average and win a load of races, and that is great, but I could still see him throwing in meetings where he was completely mince and beaten by riders he shouldn’t be. A step into the PL would be a serious admittance of being on the downward spiral which I don’t think he necessarily is but once the decision is mind it might become his default mind-set.

It hasn’t really been that (strong and successful) for about 30 years, during that time it has continued as what it is, a minority sport, even if attendances increased across the country by 20% + (which would be a phenomenal increase) it still wouldn’t be a strong sport, and there isn’t much wrong with that. The average attendance has dwindled but the options available to people have increased, that trend will continue. There probably isn’t much the sport can do to stop people (more so young) from finding other interests other than abolish Netflix, Cinema, Lady’s Days at the racing, Darts World Championships, Concerts…etc and so on. There are just so many other things for people to spend their money on irrespective of what speedway is doing, that probably more than anything Speedway has done is the biggest difference between now and the 80s. An average “young” person (who is fortunate enough to have the money to do it) is far more likely to want to see their favourite band at a concert or festival, attend the darts, go on holiday for 2 weeks during the height of summer, take out a year’s X Box Live Subscription, go out with their mates at the weekend than they are attend a speedway meeting. There is a decent chance you will attract them to Cardiff in numbers because of what it is, a one off event an occasion, but a decent % swing attending speedway week in week out, I can’t see it personally even if they did move into new stadia or play better music on parades. This isn’t a call to give up, but more of a enjoy it for it is.

I doubt it ever will attract a large growth of a younger audience. In general now young people don’t tend to attend weekly live sport (football aside and even then there are caveats relating to attendances), the idea of large attendances at weekly sporting events is almost dying as there are just far too many other things for the “younger generation” to do now. The sport would be best served living in its actual circumstances, which, in general often aren’t as bad as tends to be made out. The bogeyman of “sport will die out” has been a living breathing theme for about 20 years now. There aren’t many other sports that worry so much about people who don’t attend it in the way speedway fans tend to.

Edinburgh will still win most home meetings and pick up a few on the road. The only time they have genuinely struggled since they moved to Armadale was when they signed utterly awful sides which this one isn't

No they aren’t, the moderation of this forum is terrible.

Are there closures to validate the claim the Elite League is too expensive to run? Is there even any kind of validation in that point if there were as it entirely depends in part on the business model of the promotion running the club, Poole for example doesn’t strike me as being too expensive to run. I assume the counter to this will be examples such as Eastbourne and Birmingham but the same could be applied in reference to the PL and IOW and Stoke in recent memory. Despite the many negatives regards the EL there are just as many possible bonuses for clubs, the TV exposure being the main one if they were to exploit it correctly, the promotion of better riders and better opposition sides. Despite the fact that the EL is regularly positioned as the evil of the sport, there are sides in areas with a far smaller catchment area for fans and sponsors who appear to perform and run a far more stable model than most PL clubs, possibly that might be the reason why some would see the upside of a change of league, the unfortunate thing in Speedway though, it appears anyway, is that some become far to content with their position of big fish, small pond.