RobMcCaffery

Perhaps you should talk to a former rider ;-) Oh.....

As I've sadly had to say elsewhere, these 'supporters' are great at being happy to see tracks close - as long as it isn't theirs. I know I'm not the only one here who still misses Rayleigh....

You really do have an ageism problem. Most of the 60s and 70s music I listen to would not be described as slow-paced. Of course you wouldn't know - it's far too good for the likes of shallow kids like you ;-)

The Rugby League World Cup runs on hype and reputation. You get a handful of close games, a huge number of mismatches then the Aussies win a couple of games and are given the trophy. It makes the SWC look like a paragon of sporting virtue. Ah well, one of my favourite weeks of the year gone :-( What's left to ruin on the altar of the Ekstraliga and SGP? If the money's not there then someone's not doing their job!

Perhaps we should just run about half a dozen matches a yewar? I thought you people called yourself fans of the sport. I can imagine the reaction from most team sports' supporters if you suggested cutting their seasons down to twelve weeks!

Not if he's in Denmark ;-)

I was at Belle Vue a few years back when the on course betting was operational. A bunch of office lads out for a party night were betting on the races. One was just betting on yellow and was annoyed at how little he was winning. I explained about home advantage, how there was a match going on (they weren't aware) and how the rider in yellow was usually the weaker rider from the away side so was least likely to win. I left realising what damage the sport did to itself by opening itself to the bookies in the hunt for unattainable Sky Bet riches.

Glad to see the penny is beginning to drop in the SGBC.

You can go with him. Never forgiven you for your little 'joke' of substituting a housing estate on a map of Brandon Stadium. How do you feel now that's about to happen for real? Probably nothing. You've been the classic troll both here and in other previous discussion groups. You niggle and provoke,post one-sided bull, then play the innocent when people respond or resort to the childish 'fishing for bites'. People like Gavan only respond to situations YOU create, along with your half-witted fellow Poole fans. You've been poisoning speedway discussions for years and once more your hypocrisy is nauseating.

No, there have been several cases on here lately of people stating quite clearly that they think some tracks should close. We had one guy claiming that all short tight tracks should go while others seem intent on only having a small number of tracks putting out highly expensive teams. We get those who seem to be delighted at their local rivals closing while others seem to think that if a track closes it can easily be re-opened. I suspect those days are gone. I saw speedway go through a phase in the nineties where there were strong suspicions that there was a 'cull' going on of the smaller, weaker clubs. It was extremely distasteful then but if you were at the sharp end of it you'd be sensitive too. For some the efficiency you quote seems to be at the expense of those who can't fall into line. In answer to your point about the wealth needed to play that power game, yes, I think you'll find there are some rather wealthy people involved, even if they don't stay that way for long. A sane, sustainable future can only be grasped by getting the foundations of the sport correct - a healthy grass roots tier feeding into a higher league not just riders but tracks. They need to be based on sensible budgets respecting the fact that any future profits will come from people who are attracted to the sport but don't have a clue who these over-expensive 'stars' are. If there is a high level that can attract expensive international stars then fine, but it must not be at the expense of that sustainable foundation. We need to recruit and train riders AND supporters. Tracks bankrupting themselves to sign riders who might put a few hundred on the gate but who need thousands on the gate to pay for them are the real ruination of the sport -and 'fans' who think names are more important that than good racing and entertaining matches and turn their noses up at anything that doesn't meet their standards or isn't 'meaningful' enough. Good God, we have people claiming some league matches aren't meaningful now! This damaging snobbery has to go. We need people who will accept change and realise that the sport is bigger than the individual, including them. I pray this is only a BSF disease but I do wonder...

I'd have thought most bookmakers would be very interested to hear of result 'adjustment' to manipulate averages or in international meetings to help riders sharing the same sponsor, or taking a bung to put out a weakened team, irrespective of the result, or riders failing to turn up for events that are being bet on because they don't like the money, have 'man flu' or have found a more lucrative meeting elsewhere or fancy a day off.. Very interested.....

A promoter who was losing a grand a meeting, which had to be banked in cash weekly alongside the takings, once sighed "Ah well, it was this or a Roller". I don't think he was talking track equipment. I got the impression it was all an expensive power game for many promoters. Still, if it is, many supporters have seen more years of their team than economics and common sense would have allowed which is surely no bad thing. Some people are far to keen to see tracks close, as long as it isn't theirs of course........

Many a true word spoken in jest (?). I think we can link the decline in interest in meetings other than league matches to the huge increase in real terms of speedway admissions (along with many other sports thanks to football) over the past 30 years. The increases are way above the rate of inflation and speedway, like most other sports is now a much more expensive product than in the past, even allowing for general rises in prices and incomes. People are inevitably much choosier since for most it's no longer a casual thing to pay out for sport admissions.

I am as I am spelt, I think I can still spell my name, Rob McCaffery, ex-ScreenSport, KM Video, occasional Speedway Mail and Backtrack contributor and former jobbing announcer, mainly Rye House and paying supporter for 43 out of 46 years, . The other guy came on the scene just as I left TV. My mother in Cheshire got a phone call once from a friend congratulating her that I'd got a job on BBC Radio Merseyside. It wasn't me. He went on to work for Granada, then Sky before heading off to the Middle East. I'm unsure if he spells his name ery or rey. Mine gets constantly misspelt. You get used to it. Many thanks Steve. It was a long time ago. Yes, we relied on Rediffusion until the main multichannel cable networks were built. Sadly it took so long for the income to flow that I had to get out, and Screen Sport ended up being taken over by Eurosport. As I mentioned elsewhere we were criticised for being a threat to Canterbury Speedway. As I suspected, most would be like you, watch it at 5 then head off to the track. Well, that was the hope that we could persuade people to get out and see the sport for themselves. This is why it depresses me to see people claiming that TV stops people going to speedway, having devoted a lot of time and money to use TV to sell the sport and achieve exactly the opposite. I've had other media involvement in local radio and with the BBC outside the sport so do keep a very close eye on the industry, and the sport's involvement with it, hence my contributions on the subject here. Anyway, this is about speedway finance, not a minor attempted former helper of the sport. ;-)

Yes he was one of the early ones and great company. The first show featured Chris Morton. The studios were in Knutsford so we tended to feature riders racing at Belle Vue that evening, sometimes Stoke or Cradley. Had to do the whole thing off the top of my head since the station didn't have autocue.....

We couldn't afford to do it live ;-) Budget was £1,000 an hour. Times really have moved on.

So because Sky rip you off you won't do business with BT out of principle? How curious. Sky dumped speedway but still rip you off so you punish BT and yourself. You're not being held to ransom. Sky overcharged so naturally competition came in. BT cover speedway because Sky dropped it, first internationally, then domestically There is a service, and that has a price. Nobody's kidnapped your gerbil. ;-) (Principal has a different meaning by the way).

I regularly listened to Doug's work at Ellesmere Port where he worked wonders in creating atmosphere with such meagre crowds. A true professional, informed and witty. For quiet authority though Ted Sear was the best. For wit and mischief it had to be John Earrey.

One match less for the three southern Championship tracks. 12+1 cup tie. That's ludicrous.

The BSPA bother to communicate with the followers of the sport (I really can't use the word 'fans' given what I see here) and that just gets torn apart and the cranks spit their venom against Pearson, thinking because they don't like him (are jealous of him?) and those they talk to here that they must be right. God help anyone who works in speedway and actually tries to help it. Aside from football it must be the most obnoxious and ungrateful sport and with some of the worst spectators I know. I am profoundly grateful to have got out before you all found somewhere to hide behind false names and throw poison at all and sundry. It's hard to avoid the feeling that many of you still cling to the sport just so you've got something to constantly shoot down. Yes the BSPA makes mistakes but the way too many talk here it's clear that they will only be satisfied once their prophecies of doom finally come true and the sport in Britain goes under. I'm sure there are genuine fans on here who really do want to help but they seem to be drowned out by those banging on about the same petty gripes. Philip Rising has said here many times that those who actually make the TV coverage happen are perfectly happy with Pearson. Just because a lynch mob has formed on the BSF it doesn't mean the guy has no respect outside their own very limited circles. Yes there were ways in which the video could have been tweaked but if I'd been involved and wanted to try to help the speedway public to understand what's gone on I'd really be wondering why I bothered, as I did a few years ago and got clear of iot all. I love the sport with a passion but some of the people it attracts on both sides of the fence really, really make me despair. I visit this forum because amongst all of the rubbish there are the occasional insights and genuine information but there are times when you have to push so much to the side to get to it it's sickening. In my days of being paid to talk into microphones, and that wasn't just in speedway, or sport for that matter I often came across a very important motto. "It's not about me" Perhaps some of you might like think about that one and maybe put speedway ahead of your own selfish wants?

Because the BSPA are quite rightly boycotting these artificial events run by One Sport that are just adding to the clutter of international events that are seriously damaging British Speedway.

Good luck with your four team league....

How odd that the major Polish Speedway website should carry an attack on BSI when the Ekstraliga clearly sees the SGP as a hindrance to their business and there is a rival Polish contender for staging international events that I suspect is connected to the website and which I am sure would soon ditch its own current events if they ever got their hands on the SGP/SWC? Anyone would think they wanted BSI out of the way so that Polish Speedway could run all the major events, domestically or internationally. Now, if you wanted to destabilise BSI how would you do it? Hmmm...how about some lame knocking copy on a compliant website? . How very odd, eh? ;-)

If the BBC scrap something they always know that something can be soon be developed to replace it. Can speedway? The budgets are a little different I believe. The BBC has about £3.7 billion to spend each year. How much does speedway? It's a pointless and useless comparison. We've got people on this thread wanting tracks to close because they don't like the shape. What are they supposed to be replaced with or are we to operate in some ridiculous pipe dream of half a dozen wonderful race tracks with people travelling huge distances to watch after their own tracks have been closed? Yes, bad speedway IS better than no speedway, but then what someone believes is bad speedway will delight others. I've visited plenty of full-throttle large tracks where the only interest has been the speed, with riders strung out thirty yards apart. I've also seen classic racing such as a Hyde Road. Equally I've seen good and bad racing at smaller tracks. Hackney wasn't the largest of tracks but the racing was superb, despite the risks of those lamp standards. I take it that those who look down their noses at "any speedway being better than no speedway" would be happy to see lesser tracks in lesser leagues close? Try losing your track. It hurts. Now, anyone want to do worthless comparisons of speedway to other irrelevant examples? How about United Nations? Microsoft? BMW cars? Sony?

So, you actually want to see tracks close because you don't like the racing there? Someone can support a team for years, allow it to become a large part of their lives but lose it all because someone decides the track's not big enough? I've seen some selfish rubbish on here over the years but this beats all! If you don't like a track don't go - don't deny others that chance just because your preference is different. I do get the feeling some people would be happy to see just a half dozen tracks running - as long as theirs was one of course!