moxey63

Not even on Community Service.

When a club as established as Coventry can be taken out, it does make you realise how fragile the sand speedway has been built on really is. I liken speedway to the fairground community - run from caravans, nobody wants it near their homes, workers see another day at another venue. Even non-league football clubs have more security than your top speedway club in the UK.

It is good advice, just enjoy the racing and forget the rules. But the rules are so murky and can be like that "everyman for himself" game we played as kids.

Speedway is so short term. In fact, the only thing you can be sure of... the fans stand in the same place every week... until they vanish.

Couldn't agree more.

Doubling up in this country, riding in every global league that'll have you, should not have been allowed to happen. I am not saying the likes of Mauger or Olsen wouldn't have done it... but they weren't allowed to. The likes of Les Glover, Andy Cusworth, Graham Drury, didn't they have to skip British racing so they could ride in the German league? British speedway had the power in those days but has now allowed itself to become the doormats for the Poles, Swedes and even the Danes. British speedway is acting like the broken sport it has allowed itself to become. Years of abuse has brought its current plight. It doesn't know its identity. You can't turn back on the doubling up and down, the multi-country riders - unless you want to. Promoters here are about as effective as a mouth with no teeth and a stick of gum.

Started charging that dog?

Amateur Hour by Sparks.

Do you know what, I never really took a special interest in Kelly. Perhaps there was just too much talent competing against him back then. First impressions are important, they say, and so I probably judged him on a mediocre season at Birmingham in 1980 and then the match at Hyde Road for Eastbourne in 1982, 24 hours on from qualifying for the World Final, he was banned by the doctor from riding Eastbourne's match at Belle Vue (through over celebrating and over-indulgence!). Then he missed a period in the BL and I felt his time to really climb the ladder to the top, after impressive World Final appearances at a tender age, had stalled. By this time, it was apparent that Kelly clearly had talent but not quite the dedication of, shall we say, the Danes at the time. He arrived at Belle Vue 1989 and I looked at him as exciting but not the rider to depend on for the serious job of acquiring important points that my team, Belle Vue, needed. Was he as serious to see Belle Vue win as I was? Like Peter Collins, Kelly was a joy to watch - in front or chasing for points. His style was a photographer's dream, his personality as welcoming as a warm fire on a chilly evening. That final season at Swindon, 1992, a really poor ending to a career that had promised so so much. At 50, his passing was premature, a star had left the stage. Even seeing the video as he grasped for his last breath, Kelly's warmth was unmistakable. Kelly seemed to bring the partying side of American speedway to these shores, otherwise he would have climbed right to the top, no doubt about it, with a bit more (much more) commitment. I didn't really take much notice of Kelly, like I said, during the 14 years his BL career spanned. But boy... wasn't I an idiot back then? Some of us old boys don't know how much diamonds are missed until they are gone. We miss Kelly...

I'd rather spend a tenner on the Flying Shale game for my PC! The annual will-they run, won't they, is no good what-so-ever for the sport's image. At Belle Vue under John Perrin, it was every winter, threats of closure. But, after the first handful of close-seasons of worry... you know what? Boy cries wolf. Regards to sponsors throwing money at speedway and getting little back for it. A little money to have your company's name in the home programme, some more to have it adorned down a riders race suit, totally different than it being money that keeps the wolf away from your door. It shows the business can afford to ease the purse strings. Compare it to the sponsor who owns that business... and ask whether they'd be able to run that business year-upon-year of losing money at whatever line they are in. Doubt it. Most promoters have proper businesses away from speedway, like those sponsors do, and I'm guessing that they (promoters) wouldn't allow those businesses to lose money every year, like they tell us they're losing at the track... so are we being told the truth about money lost by speedway tracks? I have doubted it for so long.... a little swizz perhaps?

Not talking about sponsors and if they get a return, we are discussing profit and loss of speedway. Sponsors tend to have proper businesses and can afford to dip into their funds to sponsor a rider or other. But running a speedway is either you make a buck or you lose out, and then send out the annual S.O.S. that the gullible fan believes but usually has the track opening up the next season just the same. Complaining about losing money... is it some kind of dodge they all do, do you think? I mean, when was the last promoter who chucked down his wallet on his table and said he was making too much of a good living? If a track was losing money season after season, a fool would be that person throwing good money after bad, love of the sport or otherwise. A fan wouldn't spend £20 a match to go and watch a sport he could really afford. Why do hard-nosed promoters who have made their money by hard work and yet want to throw it away for the love of their sport?

I understand where you're at, Halifaxtiger. Comparing mega-rich football owners who can take a hit with the humble speedway fan-turned promoter should be avoided. I always think, as a speedway fan, it would be mere stupidity to actually wish to run a track and then lose thousands upon thousands of pounds every week, just to satisfy my craving and appease the few hundred that want to pass through my turnstiles. To see your bank balance dwindling, your home being placed at risk, I cannot see any sane person placing their life's hard work and business into what seems merely a mid-life crisis that is running a speedway track. If people are alright with ploughing this cash into speedway, then, I ask again, are these the sort of people who should be running the sport? There isn't enough money coming in, too much going out. Start from breaking even at least, making small profits. But annual loses equals a bad ending.

Should we trust anybody within the sport who accepts losing money every season?

It did indeed work well for years, but change for change sake took control. To some, the tac sub is as unfair as the Double Bubble. But, at least it keeps with the long-established speedway scoring method of 3, 2 and a 1. A sport that wants to pride itself on a serious one should not rear into X-Factor territory.

Pulled it from thin air, perhaps? Thought it was... because there are more channels to fill and round-the-clock coverage. Simple really....

Happy Days!

But you already knew what speedway was. You weren't alerted by Live speedway on TV. It got you back, but I'd bet it has sent more the other way, towards their sofas. When pennies are tight, I'd say the choice to stay at home and save a few quid is an easy option, if it's on TV anyway.

Oh my dear! Now I've seen it all! You are disagreeing with me... agreeing with you. You really are something, BeWitcher! ("Oh no I'm Not!"). No, we don't want it like darts. An audience plied with drink is not something I'd like to watch a serious sport. Come on Bewitcher, you know what I mean. The crowd is good, the noise, but are they there for the sport.. or the booze? If you want a speedway audience to mirror that, then we have come to something. BeWitcher would say otherwise (just saying).

To be fair, BeWitcher did state that. We all remember the first years of SKY - painted faces, carnival atmosphere. But we couldn't keep that up, otherwise it'd be like dart ffs. Perhaps reduced admission... perhaps showing the match later in edited form, even using the likes of Clean Cuts Sport footage or other companies, which is clear picture quality and transfers well to TV. We all thought, or I certainly did, that speedway on Tv would see the return of crowds matched by the 70s. But it did not happen. In fact, that the matches were restricted to satellite TV and didn't put the sport out there to the full audience. And I'd say those who had satellite TV, watched speedway because they WERE speedway fans, MOST subscribing because speedway was on Live. We have to be realistic. Speedway gained such an audience in the past, because there wasn't other attractions pulling from all directions. I mean, World Of Sport put the sport out there in the 70s, just the two channels (If BBC2 wasn't on testcard). But how many bored people watched that, because there was nothing else to watch? It could have spillt over into attendances at tracks... nothing to do, so some went along to speedway. We get bored now after a few seconds of anything... I mean, you'll grab a tablet or phone, the first moment your hands become free.

Speedway approaches its 90th year. It doesn't have the money to splash out on advertising, and so, even after 20 years of live speedway on our screens I'm guessing crowds are lower than they were in the mid-90s. Therefore, as Colin Hill did, why doesn't it live within its means. Why chase the stay-away star names who won't increase the gates to cover the outlay? Why not manage with what we have? I see live TV speedway is in the balance, in the UK, which over time has probably stopped many attending their local track and hasn't brought in newcomers. Some will say they still attend despite live TV speedway, so naturally, I didn't mean those. A click of a pad, and you can watch a live TV match most nights. Speedway on TV has been tried, live speedway, and the cut in revenue offered by companies must be the right time to bin the idea altogether, maybe a highlights package instead. Live speedway is thrown at us from all angles. You don't have to leave your armchair. When the team ethic of pulling you to your local track has vanished, surely the appeal of staying in the warmth, the keeping your cash in your pocket and still watching your "fix" is outweighing, for some, the actual benefit that live speedway does. I bet it isn't the non-speedway fans that watch it on TV; and, another point, I often wonder, for example, why the Cardiff GP is advertised during speedway programmes, when surely it's non-speedway fans we need to attract. The speedway fans who watch know all about the Cardiff GP.

Err... ok. Let's just move on then...

Here here!

Please, PM me and tell me where I lied. I do lie, not denying that, but I can't remember this time... and think I may be losing my memory. And anyhow, bit of a mard excuse to try to win an argument, me telling tales. Please find proof where I lied.. this time anyway.

We think so.... but watch your step, TWK, views like ours aren't universal on here. Just saying.