keepturningleft

Regardless of the entertainment on offer and, as other posters have said, the most telling conclusion of this event has been that - no one was in Germany, no one was in Manchester and no one was in Poland. I can't remember any recent World Cups, including race offs, in recent times having such poor attendances which can only bring us to the conclusion that this event failed to capture the imagination of the speedway public. Worryingly, the much heralded return of TW to the British fold, did not result in Belle Vue being being packed out as might have been expected. It seems that even an English double world champion has little or no box office clout in his own country. Worrying times for speedway.

New manager? ...bring back Eric Boocock.

Belle Vue is, by miles, the best venue now in the UK and all major events should be held there in the same way that all England football matches are held at Wembley.

Looked like a shockingly low crowd for the biggest international event in GB outside of Cardiff.

The one thing that spoils the otherwise splendid image of Belle Vue stadium is the visible car parking on the 3rd/4th bends. It gives it that 'track in a field' look.

Speedway doesn't fix things that are broken, but fixes something that isn't broken - the World Cup. In my opinion, APART FROM THE JOKER RULE, the format for the WC was finally perfected after years of fiddling around with it. Four nations, one rider from each in every race and wearing the same helmet colour throughout. Dead simple. Easy to understand for casual or new viewers tuning in and that's how it should be. Forget about team riding, new viewers won't understand or care less about it. This new competition is taking us backwards to a confusing, audience alienating format.

Did anyone spot the BT plug for the Rye House match during the Liverpool v Real Madrid match? If casual sports fans tuned in as a result of that plug, what a shock they must have got - Olympic Stadium to Rye House! It clearly didn't appear to drum up any extra interest at the turnstiles. Does anyone know why I am getting unwanted spacing between every line and how do I solve it?

I can't imagine what Polish fans think when they see a venue such as Rye House. It looks like the council rubbish tip, it's embarrassing and depressing that British speedway takes place in such stadia in the 21st century.

Just watched this on Youtube. I think Scott Nicholls was bang on correct with his opinions on the two exclusions. I can't understand why Kelvin Tatum can't see what is reasonably obvious.

Speedway has a sense of anticipation and occasion when it's staged at the weekend. Mondays and Tuesdays are the most anti-climatic days of the week coming straight after the weekend and are the worst possible days to run speedway.

Personally, Monday nights at Belle Vue is pretty hopeless for me because of work commitments. If matches were on Fridays or Saturdays I would be there most weeks, but Monday is literally the worst night of the week to hold a speedway meeting.

It has been mentioned a few times on this forum about atmosphere making a huge contribution to the experience of live sport. Recently I paid my first visit in living memory to a premier league football match, Huddersfield v Swansea to be precise. The atmosphere and noise was incredible, but as Tony Mac alludes to, most of the time nothing really exciting is actually happening. A huge cheer followed by fervent clapping as a player clears a ball away from danger – you would think the guy had just found a cure for some terrible disease. If you saw that same action with the crowd removed, there would be literally nothing exciting about it at all! In my opinion this partly explains the, ‘speedway was much better in my day’ viewpoint. The atmosphere back in the 60’s and 70’s clearly was superb and added hugely to the experience even if the racing was poor. A good example is the 1981 world final at Wembley. A fantastic occasion, for sure, but count the overtakes. Not many, and yet this is one of speedways best remembered meetings because the occasion and crowd elevated it to something way beyond just the racing.

Brief tribute on Granada news.

Just checked on IMB, it looks as if it was filmed at Staines stadium in Surrey. Did speedway ever take place there?

Did anyone spot a 1954 film called Stock Car on the Talking Pictures channel the other day? The action took place at a certain Westingay Stadium, a mash up of West Ham and Harringay perhaps?? Couldn't identify the track/stadium however.

No apology necessary. My dad who is nearly 93 and in a home, watches hardly anything else but this channel now. It seems to bring him some comfort reliving memories from the past.

Take the Michael if you like but these old classics have things like, plot, character development, strong acting and direction and screenplays written by people with talent etc unlike much of todays fare where spaceships endlessly fly through space, things blow up, dialogue is mumbled, editing is so flashy you can't tell what's happening, cars crash and brain numbing special effects overwhelm proceedings to such an extent that little is left to the imagination and every idea you may have is completely driven from your head... The Darkest Hour is good 'though...

The best channel there is...

Mind, most thought Belle Vue would never happen.

Wonder how effective the acoustic barrier at Belle Vue is?

I've put my money on Lunchhour at twelve to one.

Ivan Mauger has publicly rubbished the '81 final. No opinion on that, just thought I'd mention it.

Halifax had their own song 'Halifax Dukes Calypso', recorded by some local band way back in the mid sixties. Wouldn't mind betting I'm the only one who can still remember this.

Why is abbreviation such a long word?