sparkafag

The pitch of the product in contrast to the competitors is completely off when it comes to Speedway. You watch darts and see guys like Phil Taylor coming out surrounded by women, flash lights, young guys, young women, older guys and older women all of them going mental while having a laugh and a pint and it just doesn’t sit right with what should happen around someone like Taylor but it works because it is a product. You watch people like Chris Holder being presented on a pickup truck while a scratchy version of Let Me Entertain You Plays, not many people care, it doesn’t get people going. Try swapping the way both competitors are presented around, you would drag Darts back to the 80s and Speedway into the now. There are sports and moments in sport that don’t require manufactured atmosphere…eg playing music for sides coming out when 80,000 are in attendance at a Cup Final probably isn’t that important because fans are hyped enough, but in the modern era of overhype some events do seem pretty low key and need a manufactured atmosphere to start the flame, and there is nothing wrong with that, speedway hasn’t ever really embraced that IMO, the presentation should be fast paced, races fired out in blocks of 3 then a short 5 min break unless an event happens and then it should be allowed to breathe, but you shouldn’t have people standing dwelling on things for 10 minutes between races. If fans are only in a stadium for 60/70 mins that is perfectly fine, if anything it should be encouraged, pushed through, if fans want to leave at that stage, they can, go to the bar, meet the riders, go home, get the family away from the place early, or hang about and watch kids training, that’s fine.. give people that option, don't decide for them they are in a stadium for 2 hours + The same rules re the sport will always apply, irrespective of RR, guests, stadia etc it is 4 guys on a bike going around a track, if that’s on point, you can make people forget what is around them pretty quickly, draw attention to that big track thing and away from the crap stadia and the random rules, the stadiums are crap, sure, so don't have people standing in them for hours looking at them studying what it is that's crap about them If you do that you naturally create a buzz, you typically then don’t need posters etc, the sport receives about 20 hours advertising a week as it is “promotion and know how” aren’t the problem, ultimately posters etc are a wasted investment when the product is as bad as it is. It is ignorant to assume people don’t know about speedway, most do, but they think it’s crap, that’s typically why they don’t attend….make it worth peoples while to attend and they will that’s what “promotion” of the sport is required. I am pretty shocked that so few promoters have ventured away from what is a dated way to present the sport, you would think you would see clubs try something different now and then, out of curiosity if nothing else, I mean what is the worst that could happen…crowds could drop and people would loose interest….

Until it actually happens that is.....

Mellgren. If he had an injury free run I think he could be another TJ. It has been said about him for a couple of seasons now but he is still young and a very capable rider when on form. He has been exceptionally quick around Berwick, worst case scenario I would expect him to keep his average, on form I could see him adding 2 points to it.

I hope fixture planning is a priority this winter. I understand the season has always had a traditional late end but leavings gaps of a week or two between league end and play offs really kills the momentum of what play offs are about IMO. I would like to see stricter cut offs enforced to ensure a cleaner end to the season. I do appreciate the sport is hostage to the weather/ when meetings can and cannot be run due to stadium availability/riders on the continent etc but a diluted fixture list would help workaround such things IMO. I actually think there are probably too many meetings that are part of the calendar and it takes away from the novelty of the sport a bit. Another thing I would like to see (though how this would be enforced I don’t know) would be a rule whereby if Glasgow and Berwick (as an example) are rained of in the Premier Trophy in April it doesn’t have to be rerun in September after the competitions Semi has already been run. I assume this would be difficult for the sake of contracts/guaranteed meetings/season tickets etc but ultimately most of these meetings cost the clubs money, are complete dead rubbers and typically enter the seasons calendar during a time when every meeting should matter. There are too many completely meaningless meetings run in this country that are, again, costing clubs money, and while not a driver for turning fans away, aren’t doing enough to drive interest, in such instances possibly a prorata payment could be made to riders and season ticket holders to reimburse the costs come the end of the season (I appreciate enforcing that would be difficult though). RE 4s and pairs qualification I think fans buy into the idea of gimmick meetings more than most of the riders probably do. I like the idea of an aggregate qualification leading up to the 4s and pairs where teams top 2 face off after heat 15, or the top 4 go out and race 2 races of 2 v 2 and you calculate it and let the top 4 teams compete in the Final etc but I would assume this is the kind of thing riders would look to be heavily subsidised for, cost money, increase in entrance prices etc and so on…so ultimately leaving it as it is probably works out in terms of cost, I actually think (when incident free) the 4s, Pairs, PLRC typically live up to their bespoke nature

It sounds like the BLC which, was (rightly) dropped pretty quickly because the teams were a bit of a shambles.

Genuine LOL

I don’t agree with that at all, I don’t think it is “dying” and I think the recent news from Newcastle and Redcar probably confirms that. It is a niche sport that isn’t going to attract attendances in the 4/5,000 mark unless it is a genuine occasion like a Play-Off Final etc. If sides like Edinburgh Rugby who play in a bespoke ground and a sport that is better marketed than most can only attract 4,000 average, then speedway, basically doesn’t stand any chance of doing anything even remotely comparable, times have changed people aren’t as interested as they were in turning out to see events at, what is basically grass root level, on a regular basis now, it is best to embrace that and accept it. I genuinely feel that rather than constantly referencing what Speedway should do, and should be it is probably best to look at the trend of what has now been 10 years give or take, it is a sport that typically tends to attract crowds in the 500/2,000 range (depending on location and surrounding area) that is the general attendance now…the good old days are gone. Fans who still want to attend would be best served to enjoy for it is rather than what it isn’t.

It doesn’t require luck; it is a 2/3 hour advert for speedway up and down the country. If people enjoy it that much that they feel they would attend it wouldn’t (doesn’t) take long to locate your local track. There is a far greater chance of a fan searching out their local track having watched a product shown on prime time TV than managing to find a Twitter account or probably even a poster in the local area. If you offered most products the chance of the advertising/promotion Speedway is given on TV over a regional poster campaign my natural assumption is that they would take their chances with the TV campaign every time.

Form the commentary team who regularly reference tracks up and down the country. If the product interests you that much when watching it, it then takes about 30 seconds to check on the internet where the nearest track is. Actually watching a visible tangible thing, seeing how it works etc is a far better promotional tool for the sport (and tracks up and down the country) then posters or a twitter account.

I’ve always felt it was blissful ignorance when it is referenced that speedway is poorly promoted. It’s a product that must average around about 200 hours TV time a year by the time you factor in GP’s, World Cups, Euro meetings, EL meetings, replays etc that is before you even go into local promotion, which takes place, and a lot more than is often made out. In Berwick in particular I genuinely don’t know what difference a few posters around town and the caravan park would make those are all things that have literally happened, people know about Speedway up and down the country, there just isn’t that many people who are interested in it.

Poole have certainly shown an understanding of the market by basically getting first dibs on talent before they hit these shores. They’ve also managed to pick up riders on bargain averages who typically over perform at Poole….all of which makes it all the more disappointing that they seem to do all they can to gain an advantage….if it hadn’t been for that Poole would get a lot more appreciation than they do.

Fair play to Starke he is probably the success story of the EL draft system. When he raced for Berwick a few years ago he looked ok but he was very raw, he now looks like a rider who is more than capable of holding his own in the PL and has a future in the sport.

It's a redundant opinion it's like adamantly saying the moon is a tangerine, it's an opinion but it's completely wrong

It isn't as simple as that...evidently it has, both positives and negatives......you seem adamant you want to posistion all things change as Darth Vader though so much so you are just talking compete bull rubbish re the qualification system

It isn't delusion or opinion it's an actual tangible thing.....Luke Bowen could literally qualify for the Grand Prix I would naturally assume Speedway crowds would be worse without the GP rather than better it affords the sport 30 hours of pretty much prime time promotion rather than the 3 or 4 hours a World Final would

Due to the risk of the public wanting a one off world final to remain and one meeting with an attendance of 40,000 when it could run 8/10/11 with an average attendance of 10,000 at each? The idea that the GP alone is what has “killed” speedway in this country is nonsensical there are 100s of contributing factors at play that have led to dwindling crowds, the vast majority of which aren’t even the fault of the sport, we live in an interactive age and era. There are so many more things for people to do now than attend speedway tracks every other night of the week. To say "people can say what they want" yet then burry ones head in the sand to what people are saying which happens to be that any rider can actually qualify for the GP, which is fact, an actual genuine tangibile valid thing, makes it absurdly difficult to afford any validity to what you are saying.

It evidently isn’t just the Semi/Finals it is the weeks/months leading up to the Play Offs as well where crowds are boosted. The crowds at speedway in general are dwindling off, even during the season, it isn’t a shock that has reflected when it comes to the Play Offs. It is probably worth thinking what crowds would have been like at most tracks if there wasn’t Play Offs eg Belle Vue’s fixtures for the last 2 months have been meaningful rather than most thinking can they finish 20 points behind Poole rather than 23.

The 17 year olds typically have 2 bikes at a cost of at least a grand each, a van, new leathers, armour, boots etc I can't go along with then believing I should have sympathy if they plead poverty, if things are that tight there's plenty of professions that don't cost circa 5k starter fee If they don't have a rough grasp of the wage they are likely to make in return for that outlay it makes me think they're thick as mince I struggle to think of many others sports where the competitors so consistently plead poverty and ask for more money on top of a wage. No one is holding a gun to their head.

I don’t buy the risking their life argument, they aren’t, they are choosing a profession. If a rider feels they are risking their life there is a really simple solution, don’t do it, they could literally stop doing it tomorrow if they feel that way and work a profession where it doesn't cost you money to actually do it in the first place. The clubs shouldn’t pander to riders, the clubs should be doing all they can to increase the churn of riders (eg by introducing double up rules) to help reduce costs, rather than handing the power to riders by reducing the number of team spaces and thus increasing the demand for, on occasion, mediocre speedway riders.

I appreciate supply and demand but is Speedway really a sport that falls in line in terms of ticket cost for say the Guiness Pro 12 Final, Edinburgh Rugby games at Murrayfield, Hearts or Hibs games or even tickets to see the Edinburgh Capitals? I am not sure it is. In Edinburgh’s defence tickets can be bought for £15 now, but £20 on the day.....

The biggest upside of the DU rule is that it reduces costs for clubs. It is something that’s so often overlooked in favour of this Speedway Sanctuary where sides have their own 1-7 I would also question the point re how “strong” the PL actually is and continues to become, I find that a bit of a fallacy personally, it is arguably a weaker league now than it was 10 years ago. It used to be that the best of European talent would use the PL as a launch pad (Nicki, Bjerre, Zagar etc) now those riders either don’t bother with the UK at all, or simply bypass the PL and go straight to the EL. The two leagues are now closer together, but that is simply because the EL has lost riders like Pedersen, Woffinden, Crump (riders at the peak of their powers and the peak of the sport) rather than a massive over strengthening of the PL product. If you go back a few years the PL had riders who were working their way back having won a world title, been 3rd in the world, competed in GP Finals etc. Now though the standard is such that PL riders either aren’t even getting (very few have ever had) wild card spots, or generally struggle when they do. A few years back you could regularly pick PL riders who were destined to compete in the GP (and the current field and previous fields confirm that) but now? Lambert, Kurtz maybe Holder? The rest will likely never be near it.

Hopefully Glasgow pump Edinburgh on the 25th of December and Wolbert rides to his average…6, 8, no 6 wait it’s 8…or he could miss the meeting with Turkey poisoning Sympathy with clubs over moral high ground re win at all cost mentality….I will pass.

The counter argument of “loan fees” seems like a complete fallacy at this moment in time given the current predicament of British Speedway.

Who said it would? It was a passing commentary on the PLRC event, it is what forums are for. I haven’t read a Berwick fan say he is a bad speedway rider, not once actually. The general trend is good rider, but a bit of a tosser...the Berwick fans who you reference are myhtical fragments of your imagination. Almost attempting to position Berwick fans in a bad light for no apparent reason and with no supporting evidence, that is odd behaviour.

It’s probably fair to say he is a bit of a bottle merchant when it comes to the PLRC, he was very fortuitous to win the one he did given Doyle had it won before Bach lifted. I say all this because I am jealous and a hater though of course, it isn’t just because I observe Cook to be a talented rider, but a bit of a flat track bully.