Grachan

I remember being in the "posh" end, just before the first bend and spent the whole evening moving my head about trying to see the racing with so many people standing in front. I was only 13. Bob was brilliant in both matches, and it was such a big deal when he returned to Swindon the following year.

The biggest crowd I ever saw at Swindon was a double header in 1974 against Hackney and Belle Vue - with Bob Kilby guesting for the opposition in both matches. I didn't even get in the stadium until about heat 4 of the first match because of the queues, and you literally could barely move in the stadium. It was rammed solid all the way round. That was my first season watching speedway, and I've never seen a crowd like that since at a domestic meeting.

Tougher than individual final line ups. Grand Prix meetings pretty much consist of the best 16 riders in the World. Individual finals didn't. For example, nobody would say that Peter Collins wasn't a deserving champion in 1976, but the top 2 riders in the World from the previous season weren't in the meeting. Of course, you could argue that it was because qualification was more difficult, but as meetings themselves, the GPs have stronger line ups. World finals also always had 4 or 5 fillers.

Probably one of the World Finals in Katowice.

According to Liam Howlett of Prodigy, he took his own life.

How about this then. Swindon were a most unfortunate team in 2015. I'm pretty sure they would have won the league if Darcy Ward hadn't been injured. That was a most unfortunate accident.

Phil Crump scored a full maximum against them though! My selective memory has conveniently forgotten what the rest of the Swindon team scored in that match!

In 1975, Swindon announced that they were going to sign Kenneth Selmonsson from the touring side Kaparna. Sadly we missed out on him in the end and went for Jan Andersson instead. So that worked out pretty well!

Finished ahead of Martin Ashby twice! (Mind you, Martin Ashby had an EF both times - once at Oxford and once at Swindon)

I think tracks like Swindon, Sheffield and King's Lynn are not so well suited to the modern bikes as they were for the old ones. I remember at Swindon you would get riders lying on the tanks long-track style down the straights and squeezing past riders, but not it seems that a lot of the time everyone just rides on the one, fastest, line. However Grand Prix and World Cup (RIP?) racing is as good, if not better, than any racing from the past.

Silver was brilliant at Swindon - at least he was in my selective memory where he regularly passed people "for fun" and was a master of the first bend cut-back that Tai Woffinden gets a lot of praise for today. Probably my all-time favourite rider.

Didn't Swindon legend Jerzy Trzeszkowski become Swedish?

Wasn't Ander Michanek's sister meant to be pretty good? I remember Simon Cross also having a sister who rode.

Bobby McNeil signed for Swindon in 1975 I think. He spent the whole year at reserve and didn't do as expected until the final match of the season, when he suddenly top scored with 14 points. The following year, he continued as he left of at the end of 75 and became a good heatleader for the Robins for a couple of years until injuring his coccyx in a crash, which halted his progress. I remember it well, as it was how I learned what a coccyx was, so it was not only an unfortunate injury but it was also very educational. Pretty sure his average went over 8.00 at some point. I always enjoyed his spotty face mask in particular. He moved on to Hackney after that. I seem to remember reading he lost interest and quit speedway because of Vic Harding's crash.

Absolutely. Is this really happening? I can't believe they have come up with this. Someone has clearly thought it is about the modern worl, iphones and apps etc, but it's nonsense. As everyone else has noticed, you can vote for the weaker riders in the opposition team. Why do they keep coming up with this stuff?

I remember replying to that comment. Was it really 16 years ago? Good grief.

To be fair, they were of a VERY high quality.

And, of course, famously achieved the required 12 point maximum for a 6.00 average in his final match against Sheffield and the Moran brothers.

Mary Rand - another of my answers - was also Pointless.

I was there too. It was Penhall and Mike Bast in an Inter Continental Final (I think). Both were out of their depth, although it could have partly been down to machinery. I think it was Penhall who scored the lone point they scored between them by beating Bast.

I think the low points limits also have a lot to do with rider loyalty (or lack of). The very nature of it dictates riders moving clubs year after year. It also means riders can do themselves a favour by dropping the odd point her and there. Plus you get clubs making changes to strengthen as the averages allow. I appreciate that some clubs also need a low limit in order to be competitive, so it is something of a Catch 22 situation, but I don't think it does the sport many favours.

How? Well, that's the big question isn't it! My own teenage son loves going to speedway. He has brought friends too. They have always enjoyed it too. It's not the product or the racing. Kids seem to enjoy it on every occasion. It is, to some degree, modern life. Kids are happy doing it, but just as happy sat at home in front of an Xbox. At the end of the day, kids aren't going to be going if their parents don't take them. I think the team aspect should be more visual. A basketball/ice hockey type scoreboard would make it more of a sporting event. Unfortunately, a lot of promoters worry about losing programme revenue, but having some guy up in the box reading out race times etc isn't enough. My son likes to fill out a programme. I think people would still do that even with the match score permanently on display.

You make the sport amateur, you lose most of the riders as they can ride in Poland and Sweden and get paid. Why would they ride here for nothing? Once left with amateur riders you get amateur size crowds of about 250. And further and further down we go.

I think the obvious point is to encourage younger people as well as the older people.

Opening paragraph. https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/17328618.meridian-lifts-boss-in-migrants-drowning-row/?fbclid=IwAR1rtFI-He3RtetyhdmFmKDtLnY694oyP5wT7GaWqZ6GgnGYM7kLpmswLio Sure, they are quoting an unnamed source, but by putting it in the opening paragraph they are clearly laying their cards on the table about it.