Workington v Scunthorpe BSN 03/05/25 3pm

[Neila]

Hopefully a combination of bank holiday events and BSN coverage kept the crowd down, if not and crowd is poor this week !!!!    Out of respect I won't go further 

[j2ohh]

13 hours ago, singy13 said:

That was what we thought Geoff.

It was a bit of a shock when we found ample room along the back straight fence, we turned up about 3:15 half expecting to struggle.. Not had such spaces before..

people have other plans for Bank holidays and are set in stone and have been for decades .

 

[singy13]

13 hours ago, Neila said:

Hopefully a combination of bank holiday events and BSN coverage kept the crowd down, if not and crowd is poor this week !!!!    Out of respect I won't go further 

Yes your closing sentence does make me feel as though maybe I shouldn't have mentioned any crowd level.

But my input was rather induced after reading the programme notes in the edition we were given on Saturday..i.e. the Edinburgh prog. with Scunthorpe insert. And what caught my attention was the James Denham page. In particular the para at the bottom of page. I quote - "We are extremely grateful to everyone who supports the Comets - sponsors and fans - but last year we did struggle with crowds and without the help of sponsors we would not have been back this year".  

Blimey James that was a bit scary to read. I reckoned crowds were very good last year - maybe Plymouth being lowest?

I think the fixtures with gaps etc. do affect regular attendees. Hopefully then sponsors continue to keep Comets flying high.

[Neila]

Must admit I have not read the program yet, but find it very strange to mention crowd levels at the very 1st meeting.  Like you apart from a couple of meetings late on last year,  I thought the crowds were reasonable.  But we are not the promotion,  so let's stick together and encourage all fans to support the comets going forward,  let's hope for some good racing and results,  most of all some good crowds, starting this weekend when the bears are in town with a good traveling support.  UTC 

[Biffa]

Serious question from a Redcar fan, do you think the 3pm start has an impact on the crowd? I🤞I will be travelling over on Saturday, but it needs planning at my end as basically it is a midday set off & 8 pm home. So pretty much Saturday done just to watch speedway. On the flip side by coming to Workington on Saturday it’s highly unlikely I will be at our Tigers meeting the following Saturday at 3pm as it would mean 2 Saturdays on the trot when other things can’t get done. Just wondering what Worky fans think

[SteelShoe]

18 minutes ago, Biffa said:

Serious question from a Redcar fan, do you think the 3pm start has an impact on the crowd? I🤞I will be travelling over on Saturday, but it needs planning at my end as basically it is a midday set off & 8 pm home. So pretty much Saturday done just to watch speedway. On the flip side by coming to Workington on Saturday it’s highly unlikely I will be at our Tigers meeting the following Saturday at 3pm as it would mean 2 Saturdays on the trot when other things can’t get done. Just wondering what Worky fans think

I was just discussing a later start yesterday say 5pm, obviously we have no floodlights but that should be doable from now until end of August. I think the promotion would like feedback on this and may well consider a poll of fans. 

[Fromafar]

2 hours ago, singy13 said:

Yes your closing sentence does make me feel as though maybe I shouldn't have mentioned any crowd level.

But my input was rather induced after reading the programme notes in the edition we were given on Saturday..i.e. the Edinburgh prog. with Scunthorpe insert. And what caught my attention was the James Denham page. In particular the para at the bottom of page. I quote - "We are extremely grateful to everyone who supports the Comets - sponsors and fans - but last year we did struggle with crowds and without the help of sponsors we would not have been back this year".  

Blimey James that was a bit scary to read. I reckoned crowds were very good last year - maybe Plymouth being lowest?

I think the fixtures with gaps etc. do affect regular attendees. Hopefully then sponsors continue to keep Comets flying high.

I agree the disjointed fixture list doesn’t help regarding regular attending.Even though there are less Teams they really need to plan it more regularly (ie fortnightly at  least)This 4-5 week break in the middle of summer (for some teams)is killing the sport.Enthusiasm is waning for a lot of fans,especially is the Team is struggling and they drift away with the irregular fixture list IMO.

[topaz325]

I would have thought a 3pm start for away fans would be ideal time of day for the Speedway, there may be some who work on Saturday afternoon but at least most away fans in the North/Scotland will be home at a reasonable hour.

The day of racing will always be contentious and the promotion cannot please everyone , some like Saturday others may prefer Sunday afternoon racing and whilst there are no floodlights in place the only options are afternoon racing.

[A.N.Other]

I have been told by someone that spoke directly with Andrew Bain a few weeks ago, that there are plans to test the idea of later start times in Summer. It appears that one of the July meetings will be trialled to run at 6pm.  This would allow people who cant normally go to the 3pm fixture because they are at work, to attend.  I think anything is worth a try, to increase attendances !

[allthegearbutnaeidea]

It’s a tough one, 3pm works well for away fans, as it’s a one off for them and they wont be home too late, but people do tend to do things with family etc on a Saturday afternoon.

[SteelShoe]

5 hours ago, Fromafar said:

I agree the disjointed fixture list doesn’t help regarding regular attending.Even though there are less Teams they really need to plan it more regularly (ie fortnightly at  least)This 4-5 week break in the middle of summer (for some teams)is killing the sport.Enthusiasm is waning for a lot of fans,especially is the Team is struggling and they drift away with the irregular fixture list IMO.

I thought after last seasons disgruntlement with the Championship fixture list and  the fact that there only 16 teams between the Premiership and Championship  leagues  that there would be more of a push from promoters for a  combined British League. For me this would invigorate the sport and inject some renewed enthusiasm. I hope this happens next season inspite of all the arguments as to why it isn't workable.

[SteelShoe]

1 hour ago, allthegearbutnaeidea said:

It’s a tough one, 3pm works well for away fans, as it’s a one off for them and they wont be home too late, but people do tend to do things with family etc on a Saturday afternoon.

 

1 hour ago, allthegearbutnaeidea said:

It’s a tough one, 3pm works well for away fans, as it’s a one off for them and they wont be home too late, but people do tend to do things with family etc on a Saturday afternoon.

I agree with this, if I was visiting an away team say within 200 miles then a 3 or 4pm start works well . When visiting most away tracks now with a 7-30pm start I have to price an overnight stay into the cost and hotel prices have gone up markedly especially in the summer months. I would much rather witness live Speedway than watch it on tv.

[SteelShoe]

8 hours ago, singy13 said:

Yes your closing sentence does make me feel as though maybe I shouldn't have mentioned any crowd level.

But my input was rather induced after reading the programme notes in the edition we were given on Saturday..i.e. the Edinburgh prog. with Scunthorpe insert. And what caught my attention was the James Denham page. In particular the para at the bottom of page. I quote - "We are extremely grateful to everyone who supports the Comets - sponsors and fans - but last year we did struggle with crowds and without the help of sponsors we would not have been back this year".  

Blimey James that was a bit scary to read. I reckoned crowds were very good last year - maybe Plymouth being lowest?

I think the fixtures with gaps etc. do affect regular attendees. Hopefully then sponsors continue to keep Comets flying high.

 

Crowds dropped off end of season notably against Poole (who were so much better than anyone else and whom we faced in both BSN semi final and the Playoffs with a team weakened by injury to key riders) and Plymouth. Crowds are always lower against the Southern teams and Scunthorpe due to the low number of travelling fans. Conversely we did have some pretty decent crowds earlier in the season.

Comets won't be unique in being partly reliant on help from sponsors and I thank them all. Quite a lot of work has gone on during the closed season including the purchase of a new  FIM+ air fence  and referees box again funded with the help of sponsors but also having a financial cost to Andrew who is on a mission of continuous stadium improvement , just hope he has a fund to help with weekly running costs when these aren't covered by gate receipts.

 

[StevePark]

2 hours ago, allthegearbutnaeidea said:

It’s a tough one, 3pm works well for away fans, as it’s a one off for them and they wont be home too late, but people do tend to do things with family etc on a Saturday afternoon.

Depends where they are going to!!! If the meeting finishes at around 5pm You're looking at 11pm to Oxford or midnight back to Poole or Plymouth and that's after you've set off at 7am or 8am, to get to the track for 2pm!!!

[allthegearbutnaeidea]

3 minutes ago, StevePark said:

Depends where they are going to!!! If the meeting finishes at around 5pm You're looking at 11pm to Oxford or midnight back to Poole or Plymouth and that's after you've set off at 7am or 8am, to get to the track for 2pm!!!

Pedantic, but I’d expect nothing less from the Diamond doylum. 

The away target audience is Redcar, Scunthorpe, Berwick, Edinburgh and Glasgow as a Workington promoter. 

Oxford, Poole and Plymouth fans will come in their tens, and possibly a good few if they have a Friday meeting at Ashfield or Armadale and come up North for the weekend.

I never thought I’d have to explain that but here we are.

[StevePark]

1 hour ago, allthegearbutnaeidea said:

Pedantic, but I’d expect nothing less from the Diamond doylum. 

The away target audience is Redcar, Scunthorpe, Berwick, Edinburgh and Glasgow as a Workington promoter. 

Oxford, Poole and Plymouth fans will come in their tens, and possibly a good few if they have a Friday meeting at Ashfield or Armadale and come up North for the weekend.

I never thought I’d have to explain that but here we are.

You didn't say that though did you?  Even if they are travelling "in the their tens" they are still travelling.

Oh, and thanks for the pleasantry name-calling.  Sums you up more than it does me.

[scunny1]

With teams falling out of the league and other teams moving up , my "local" derby is now Redcar 115 miles away. I think Plymouth/ Poole derby a few miles longer. Going to away matches, especially evening ones ,is now expensive with fuel, stay overs and time consuming. Streaming meetings is obviously a much cheaper option and takes out the wasted  bad weather meeting cancellations, having disappointedly travelled many miles up and down the road network.

[Fromafar]

18 hours ago, topaz325 said:

I would have thought a 3pm start for away fans would be ideal time of day for the Speedway, there may be some who work on Saturday afternoon but at least most away fans in the North/Scotland will be home at a reasonable hour.

The day of racing will always be contentious and the promotion cannot please everyone , some like Saturday others may prefer Sunday afternoon racing and whilst there are no floodlights in place the only options are afternoon racing.

Away fan numbers are well down these days though.

[Hamster00]

7 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

Away fan numbers are well down these days though.

For some teams yes, I think our (Berwick) away numbers are down this year from what I saw at Edinburgh and Glasgow over the weekend.

However I think Glasgow, Edinburgh and Redcar all brought great supporting numbers to Berwick, no less than they have in the last 5-10 years I would argue.

It’ll be interesting to see what numbers they take to Worky with it being a 3pm start compared to Berwick being a 7pm.

[topaz325]

Away fans down probably due to rising costs of fuel and general living costs