uk_martin

Don't confuse activity with productivity. "Investing" in 4 & 5-year-olds takes 10+ years to pay off before they become full fare payers at the gate. There hasn't been a single promoter, not at Birmingham and not anywhere else in the country that has targeted the teenagers without involving their parents. A legacy of Speedway being a "family sport" I guess. "Kids for a quid" has always been on the back of an adult accompanying them in. And in this day and age, that's not talking the language that teenagers want to hear. And if you don't "convert" the teenagers, you don't get your future adult fans. "Kids for a quid" has been in operation in one form or another at Birmingham since 2007. If it worked, the stands would be packed with people in their early-mid 20's by now. But as I say, it's "activity" and it was "doing something" even if it wasn't anything productive.

I'd be interested to know what makes up a "huge target audience"? Birmingham is now a "minority majority" city. White people, who are the traditional audience for motorsports are now only 49% of the population. The other 51% have never considered speedway as "in their culture". So you can divide "huge" by half. Demographically, Birmingham is one of the youngest cities around. Speedway's typical fans are now pensioners or approaching pension age. And there aren't that many of them in Birmingham's population any more. Speedway has consistently pandered to the existing (& dying out) older fan base and never really adapted to the younger reality. And that will be its epitaph. Whilst channel hopping on TV, I stumbled on a sport that seems to be reinventing itself. From totally amatur(ish) beginnings, it now has a premier league, a national team, international fixtures, and apparently it attracts (subject to venue size) and average of 1,500 fans per match, which it bemoans as "under-performing" but which speedway teams would die for. Have you guessed what it is yet? Yeah, women's netball! https://www.skysports.com/netball/news/30100/12058326/tamsin-greenway-netball-must-understand-its-audience-and-deliver-targeted-engagement So please don't make any more excuses about how a sport can't turn itself around, It can. Cricket has, Darts has, Snooker has, now Netball has. Speedway CAN, it just WON'T.

I've lost count now. Is that now the third or fourth straight season when the Brummies are tracking a Tactical Facility plus 6 actual riders for the bulk of the season? And the authorities allow this to happen year after year? Still, what does it matter now anyway?

Why are Brummies using R/R for MJJ when they were only given a 14-day facility, on 19th May? (https://birmingham-speedway.com/news.php?extend.3663) Hopefully a new signing will be announced prior to this meeting, otherwise they'll be in contravention of the time limit and possibly face a penalty for fielding an "illegal" team.

As is Artem Laguta ... oops 😄

Michael Jepsen Jensen is Artem Laguta in disguise ??? 😉😄

Make of this sign what you will, but to me it looks like you get 4 hours of free parking and that restrictions end after 8pm. In other words, as long as you arrive after 4pm, what's the problem? Yes, there are gates on the car park, and no they are never used. Anyone who'd been for a late-night KFC will be able to testify to that. Nandos is another place open to 10pm. The Gym at One Stop is open through the night from 8pm to 12am. So the car park has to stay open to allow for customers to access these businesses. Still, there's no commercial link-up any more so it won't be promoted. Cut off noses and spited faces spring to mind.

1. See IanB's explanation 2. Nobody knew before those who were going to buy season tickets had bought them...people who paid for their season tickets had the belief and expectation that Ellis was going to be #1 for the season...until he wasn't. 3. Let's not complicate matters by introducing a third rider into the mix.

Why would they when they are too busy selling season tickets? So...does this have the makings of a repeat of the "Adam Ellis 2022" situation? OR has Google mis-translated from Polish to English yet again and caused people to read into the situation what isn't there? Either way...clarification IS needed.

https://www.birmingham-speedway.com/news.php?extend.3579 Thinking long term, has anyone ever built a speedway track around the outside of a cricket pitch? It might have the bends of a long track circuit, but you won't have the problem of straights being too long 😄

Maybe they can install a boxing ring for forum scribes to sort their differences out in, and see whose heads wobble and whose don't? 😄 And as for timescales for things like Metro extensions and train stations - don't expect this within the lifetime of most of the Brummies fans. Looking at the pace of development of the Metro, (measured in yard per year) and the lack of funding for its future, I doubt if I'll live long enough to see that happen, let alone anyone older than me.

Maybe Ipswich should have signed Artem Lagua in place of Danny King? Just thought I'd get that in before the usual suspect turns up and gives us the benefit of his particular brand of wisdom. 😄

Are coaches still laid on for ex-Wolverhampton fans to come to Perry Barr?

Those Brummies fans who voted for Brexit can be proud of themselves. Still they've got their borders back, immigration is under control and that £350m a week is pouring into the NHS instead of into Brussels per their red Battle Bus, isn't it?

Yeah, who knows, maybe the BSF scribes will have their way and Rory Schlein and some Russian geezer (I'm sure his #1 fan will remind us of his name) might be signed up.

Yay! The Burger King Premiership. Bring it on!

Did any Brummies fans make the trip? The rate that this meeting's going the Easter Holidays will be over before they make it back home again.

Because it makes a change from Rory Schlein? Maybe??

Rumour that it was Kate Middleton's "body double" shape shifter off Star Trek, getting some extra work in - any truth in that?

Perhaps Sam can take you along to break the news to the riders? "Hey Leon, go out there lad, and screw your chances of earning some points money, I want you to touch the tapes so that someone else can get the chance to earn some more money instead. Be a good lad a and do as you're told, there's a good boy!" I'm sure you'd relish that job, eh?

I saw that and was intrigued. Are they planning on building a speedway track on top of the athletics track? The athletics track was a hell of an expensive track to lay down, and as soon as you "blue groove" down below the shale, you will risk destroying it. Or is the plan to build the track inside the athletics track and put an end to the field sports like Rugby League, that are played there now? Or is the plan to build a temporary track for every home fixture so that the rest of the stadium can be used in between speedway meetings? More questions than answers at the moment. But at least options are being explored.

So Kate Middleton is now the official Team Photo Editor?

By the way, seeing the Brummies team photo doing the rounds got me wondering. What was the last team photo of the Brummies that had 7 riders in it?

What did Eddie Kennett "do" that PP should seek to emulate? Surely the issue over Eddie Kennet was how his team's management twisted (or were allowed to twist. by the BSPZzz) the rule book inside out in order to gain advantage? That's not something that the rider is necessarily responsible for. And didn't the Brummies do something very similar with James Wright already? "Fool me once", and all that. And if you are advocating more rules and regulations shenanigans, aren't you advocating a course of action that is at the heart of why the sport is losing so much of it's fan base?

It's NOT Rory Schlein. Shock!