Ben91

This highlights every potential solution having an equally valid roadblock. Perhaps this is where regionalisation needs to be considered. It’s a shame and an idea I have long been against but perhaps the way forward is one league split into north and south conferences as is the way in the major US sports. Each has a league winner, then there are also play-offs to crown an overall champion at the end of the season. With more local(ish) meetings riders would have to take less time off of work to race. Particularly handy for tracks that race midweek.

That doesn’t mean the sport is in a good position. There is a difference between trying to make ends meet and thriving.

It isn’t an assumption I’m afraid. There are people saying exactly that or words to a similar effect, on this forum, on a daily basis. The changes made every year are little more than lip service. They are made in the interests of what benefits the majority of teams, that is how they are voted into being. I take no pride in saying what I see. I’m also not someone who looks back saying it was so much better. I became a fan of the sport as a child about 17 years ago and it was in a state of decline then. I’m 29 now and I’m lost to the sport at a domestic level as a regular paying customer. Without wanting to offend older generations, people in my age group and younger should be the type of people Speedway want to have eyes on their product. It really isn’t. Speedway used to thrive in lots of places. Within Britain there is no one place where the sport is thriving. It may be doing better in some places than others but people are not clamouring for Speedway anywhere here. When was the last time a domestic level meeting here sold out? It isn’t my job to fix Speedway. But a start would be clubs allowing a single body to govern them. We know this will not happen though. Being able to point out blatantly obvious flaws and being able to solve them are different things. If you saw a sinking cruise liner you’d probably be able to tell me the problem is that it had a hole in it. But you wouldn’t be able to go and fix it.

You say this as if most of our top tier riders are regulars in the top league in Poland where their imposed restriction is in place. They’re not. Certainly not at Championship level. Brexit has been coming for four years. Plans could have been made. As for European riders coming in the goalposts will now just be similar to those in place for riders outside of the EU previously. We have always had very little trouble with Australians coming in. The above issues have an impact but they are not the reason British Speedway is in terminal decline. They’re just convenient excuses to shift the blame from where it actually should lie and some people actually lap it up and believe it.

There are people who think there is nothing wrong with the way Speedway is run in this country. Unfortunately there are too many excuses and too many sloping shoulders. Why is British speedway in the doldrums? ”Poland.” No. ”Brexit.” No. ”Covid.” No. It’s time people took responsibility rather than looking for something else to blame because they can’t keep their own house in order. The sport won’t be around much longer otherwise. It’ll be one man and his dog at the carcass of the National Speedway stadium still expecting to see Jason Doyle and Nicki Pedersen turn up.

Bang on. And it’s such a shame. The worry for me is the amount of people here who listen to the propaganda and think everything is just rosey.

All this is just more proof that Speedway needs an overarching governing body with no interest in any one team. None of this would have happened if there was someone saying “these are the rules now get on with it.”

Six of one, half a dozen of the other I think. The attitude I always seemed to get from BMR was that they wanted to compete at the top level. I think they tried to run before they could walk too. The fixed race nights did exasperate things but the way our expulsion was handled was terrible in my opinion. I don’t think there was any Lakeside bounce. Our crowds did go up initially but that was due to having the likes of Harris and Nicholls riding for us. That novelty was always going to wear off. Second tier Speedway could have been sustained at Rye House undoubtedly. Taking Rye into the top tier was bad business. Anyone who thinks otherwise, the team went bust. Lakeside’s ultimate demise came after ours, they raced their last home meetings at Rye House. Another thing that sits ill with me. The last heat at Rye House didn’t even feature Rye House.

Not quite the definition of thriving though.

Don’t worry they can all move into the Championship which is thriving apparently.

I think the real issue here isn’t just about saving Rye House. It’s about how the sport as a whole has allowed a circuit owned by the speedway promotion, with no curfew or restrictions about race or practise days to die. I have empathy to Lakeside’s plight but their scenario is different to ours in many ways. In Rye House the sport has lost a venue with fantastic potential to help develop British riders and a track with a direct train line into London literally next door. Efforts were made to save Ipswich and Peterborough who are tenants at their tracks. Nobody helped Lakeside, nobody helped Rye House.

I don’t think the interest is here for a new venture sadly. Or there are too many hurdles I should say. Rye worked because it was already in-situ. There was also some kind of clause on the land that it had to be used for sport I believe. To buy land with planning permission this close to London would take deep pockets, you’d make your money back and then some by building houses on the land, not a Speedway circuit. If you were silly enough to try and do that I suspect those responsible for giving such permission would probably kick you out on the basis that there was a Speedway track in Hoddesdon and it went out of business. Even though that isn’t the full story.

That’s not what I’m saying at all John. Shame that Peterborough and Ipswich who don’t own their own tracks got bailed out and Rye House who had no restrictions weren’t.

Anyone trying to save Rye House has my full support. But. I’m a Rye House fan, I live a stone’s throw from the track. I am a regular contributor to this forum, which is the biggest (potentially only) fan forum for British Speedway. I don’t buy the Speedway Star however. I haven’t heard a peep of any attempts about trying to reopen the track except what I see here. Now this isn’t a “why hasn’t anyone told me” comment. I just think if you’re trying to achieve something like saving a Speedway track you should be looking to garner as much local and online support as possible. By all means use the Star as an outlet, but don’t make it your only outlet because not everyone reads it. Just as not all Star readers use this forum, or Twitter, Facebook etc. I fear that Rye is beyond saving. If there is a glimmer of hope then it needs to be promoted and exhausted properly before it either works or is given up on.

He probably wishes it could be Christmas every day. But the Slade for him is more HMP than Noddy Holder.

A naive view to take John. Most Speedway riders know what goes on on the forum and what is being said about them. Hope this move works out well for Adam and he stays safe, sound bloke.

People have been losing their jobs all year because of the virus. Why should a Speedway rider be any different? If the club paid for the suit they should be given it back perhaps but what good is a bespoke suit made for a rider and covered in his sponsors. While race suits aren’t cheap if my club was in that bad a position that they had to ask for them back then I’d be concerned. As for a signing on fee, that is down to the club and the agreement in the rider’s contract about the conditions of it being paid. Thriving and Speedway don’t go together. Sadly they haven’t for a long time.

Herein lies the problem. 2021 isn’t 2020, the world has changed. Everyone has had to adapt their way of living. You can’t even go to the shops now without wearing a mask, a minor detail but it would have seemed alien just 12 months ago. Yet Speedway in Britain seems to have taken the, “we’ll just carry on with what we were planning for 2020,” approach. Self-interest of some who are too stubborn to have to do a bit of work team building to a new limit will cost other clubs. But ultimately these kinds of issues can kill off the clubs that were already struggling and are asking for a lower points limit so they can cut their cloth accordingly. Then the stubborn club will die too because they won’t have anyone to race against. Self-interest is the cancer that will kill British Speedway.

Very true. From what I’ve seen online there are a number of football fans of my club who, despite having bought season tickets and being allowed to attend now, simply aren’t doing so because they feel unsafe for one reason or another. The bulk of those are in the older, more vulnerable bracket. A lot of stalwart Speedway fans seem to fall into that age bracket. I can’t see costs for the fan ever going down sadly. The majority of teams are tenants in their stadiums and landlords will want their going rate of rent regardless of the standard of racing being held there weekly.

It will be interesting to see how the BSPA dress this up if it is the case. They’re notorious for not announcing attendance figures, what happens when teams are allowed to open at half capacity but have to put the message out that they don’t usually fill that anyway. One thing that could hurt the sport however is firstly, having to police social distancing, this means employing stewards and secondly facilities. Toilets, food and beverage outlets are not as plentiful as at most football grounds and some of the lower football league sides are having trouble on this front already.

Every Polish club will offer contracts with the two leagues only clause inserted. If they show solidarity in that respect they’ll get their wishes because they pay best on the whole. Loophole exploited.

Supply and demand. People are interested in football regardless of the off pitch antics and politics. Therefore it will always generate revenue and money talks. Speedway, not so much. The mass media won’t waste their time on something nobody is interested in and without exposure to the mass public it is harder for the sport to entice potentially interested people. It’s a vicious circle unfortunately.

Sadly I don’t think the organisation has much to do with it. Football is one of the most popular things in the world. Speedway isn’t.

Just because a track is in a populated area that doesn’t mean it will automatically draw fans. It has to be remembered that we like Speedway on this forum, we wouldn’t be here otherwise. But to see teams like Stockport outdrawing Belle Vue shouldn’t be a surprise really. Football is a much bigger concern.

Hopefully they’ll accept that the world has just been through the ringer and be happy to be able to go back to watch any speedway at their track.