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Total rubbish this. The team manager alone should decide. Imagine this in any other sport, supporters voting for player's substitutions in Football. Come on, man!!! This is another unneeded gimmick. The BSPA is making a mockery of this once great sport of speedway racing. Just as bad as the Golden Joker for double points. I for one can't take this Supporters Cup serious. Too bad the traditional Knock-Out Cup has been sacrificed for that.

Thing is, North Norfolk's a real hotbed of top sports and so it's a very tough task to get the timing of any announcement right, such is the competition for media attention. We have much the same problem in the Outer Hebrides. Try finding the right time for announcing the new line up for the Stornaway over 65's Curling team, it's a nightmare.

Maybe people should refrain from positive posts about the team, at least give the lads a chance to prove how poor they are Seriously though, nothing worse than people telling others what they should be doing.

Yet another reason why team speedway isn't taken seriously by anyone outside of speedway,, actually its not taken seriously by many of us within either. What a totally useless idea

Did you know we have the World snail racing championship here in Norfolk. With over 200 snails slugging it out.

Hopefully Buster's found a buyer for the club.

There was a big launch for the Titanic and look what a disaster that was.

when speedway was flourishing .although it was only 15 minutes of racing , it was 2 or more hours of an event , the anticiptaion of your top rider taking on theirs , the atmosphere from the minute you arrived at the stadium , banter on the terraces , local rivalry , and of course characters , go back to the days of Sean Wilsion Roman Matousek , anything could happen before during or after a race . speedway now is a clincal expeerience . get them in ,dole out the minimum in the shortest time to take their money , and hope they may come back next week , provided of course theres enough roders in the country to provide some speedway or they find out about it through connections , because they sure wont be seeing any fixtures in the local paper , my guess is 90% of people on the terraces go out of habit , a habit that is broken with a disjointed fixture list , and as In my own experience an easy one to break ,it only took 1 week and I wouldn't have bothered if I never went again ,thats after being a regular for 55 years

Some of us don't do censorship, especially on a public forum

Being a Ipswich fan myself I would ask aII of the people that it would be a good idea to stop all these negative posts regarding the team etc and save any negative posts until the season has started then we will all be in a better position to judge based on the teams performance.

Three Comps all ending within a fortnight of each other is crackers.... Spread them out over the season... Workington should have had several weeks of locally building up the hype of their potential double then subsequent treble.. Not to mention time to celebrate (and make the most publicity wise) of their first trophy won.. Expecting fans to attend every few days, like they had to, will inevitably also effect attendances negatively due to the cost... Spreading out the trophies will also potentially help teams that might start the season well and then get injuries.. Speedway should do as much as it can to keep itself in the public eye so spread out the Finals...

Usually gets ours from the transport desk in the airport before catching the train into the city

I noticed the other day that following Sky dropping our sport they are now showing that high action, gripping, dangerous and exciting game of Netball !!!!! No wonder they stopped showing Speedway. Nice to see our uber dictator moving riders around the premiership, how kind of him to share his riders with other teams in the league - Oh! hang on ! He owns them doesn't he. One thing that doesn't change is the thought provoking contributions of some on this forum - particularly in the Poole threads. Surprisingly, I am finding it a little difficult to grow any enthusiasm for the forthcoming season

They are available at any ticket machine, also they allow you to choose English as the language. The more modern ticket machines also allow you to pay with your credit card, contactless if your credit card has this.

I think Speedway at the moment is in survival mode, and better to have Speedway than none at all. Its a vicious circle, riders want more fixtures and more money, so promoters need more fans to come through the gate, to pay riders more money, but the fans are not there anymore. It's too late for an overhaul should have been done years ago. Supporters have moved on, kids spend all their spare time on their phones or Xboxes and such like, even when you do see kids at Speedway invariably most of them are running around playing not watching the Speedway, you do not see kids out on bikes pretending to be Woofy, or Magic anymore, there are so many more things for them and adults to do today, not like it was in Speedways glory years. Promoters to don't help either by raising the entrance fee, that seem to be their only answer to dwindling crowds, with the latest being the avid fan who is probably now the wrong side of 60, is having to pay the same as adults at some tracks, which will probably make crowds dwindle even more. Time will tell.

The average age of most Speedway crowds is probably 65-70, most of whom are busy adjusting their blankets & pouring the next drink from their flasks between races. How many people of the age group that follow Speedway have accounts on facebook or Twitter or could be bothered messing about downloading apps from smartphones between races, I know even if I had a smartphone, which I don't , the meeting would be over by the time I had worked out what I had to do ( technology as passed me by). All people want to see is 4 evenly matched riders, giving it their all, not some fabricated mis-match determined by who has the most supporters.

The whole idea is yet another example of how those in charge fail to understand that any professional sport has to be credible to be taken seriously. However it works out will be farcical. If only those at the meeting have the password then, with 95%+ of them being home supporters, they will vote overwhelmingly for the away teams two poorest riders to be nominated. If it's more widely available the least popular team will suffer. In any event, good luck with keeping the password secret. My guess is it will be on social media before the meeting starts.

You certainly shouldn't be to far adrift of King's Lynn anyway. Will be a top quality wooden spoon battle.

I understand Susans sentiment. I agree that we need to give the team the chance - I dont think it is as adrift of the others as many are predicting and cant understand the level of negativity I do however think Blu is right in that you shouldnt expect people to not post their genuine thoughts. I dont think those posting negatively are doing so just for the sake of it (even Baldy ) - they are honest opinions which should always be welcome

I’m afraid the ticking time bomb went off long ago. So many clubs have gone by the wayside...and sadly more will follow. My club can not be anywhere close to breaking even , crowds down no new sponsors...it can not go on with the way things are. My second club Belle Vue with a new £8m stadium which I go over as often as my finances allow I’m told are loosing a small fortune and according to mates I sit with say are only going because they are propped up by the council. That can not go on for long. My mates at other clubs say it’s a only a hardcore of older fans that go. The sport has been mismanaged and tampered with for years and it’s been run into the ground by the idiots at the BSPA who are clueless. Speedway is bust and promoters only have themselves to blame. Who in their right mind would want to buy, invest or sponsor a speedway club?

Was he a supporter or a fan, though?

Ghosty will max respect i think you are totally missing the point here. demise of Workington and Lakeside is I think related to cash-flow, look too Mildenhall who we nearly lost too. Too many CL / NL matches end of last season crammed in October to cover wet start, mis-management of Fixtures by BSPA in hot soccer obsessed summer then some weird wonderful decisions especially affecting Lakeside and Workington (like the decision to make Lakeside re run Peterborough at Rye House). FANS talk with their pocket, structure of 2 max 3 home meetings a month affordable to far more than 6 or 7 meetings in month like some CL/NL Clubs had last October, more matches means more fixed costs like stadium rent / paramedic cover / programmes etc. All adds up. think days of Speedway every Wednesday (in our teams cases) for 26-28 weeks mid March to mid October gone, if not forever for immediate future. If way to go is home and away alternates like soccer 15 matches in 24 - 30 weeks to save speedway has to be better than more Clubs going to the wall. At moment almost all seem to be in "survival mode" only a few emitting any kind of positivity, like Poole (as ever) Eastbourne (new Management) IOW (excellent innovators) ; Kent (bankrolled by Len but for how long); Sheffield (seem to have got their act together again). Good Luck in 2019 to all

5.30pm: http://www.scunthorpe-speedway.com/?page_id=9468

The SS is really good value and keeps me up to speed with what's going on around the clubs and riders....and I look forward to getting my copy weekly....

I don't think I'm missing the point, with the current scenario with fixtures (Prem & Champ) you get 2 things: 1. Riders not having enough meetings with ONE TEAM & therefore having to double up or down. 2. Supporters without their regular weekly speedway fix - loose interest, find other things to do or simply get out of the habit! What I think we can all agree on is Speedway in the U.K. needs a major overhaul...........

This is laughable if true,Bspa to Jacko,any trophy shops in worky?couldn't pick us a shield up of some description, it's only been going since March and we haven't had time to sort one out,while you're at it sort out some winners/losers medals,don't go overboard incase the kitty doesn't cover it,oh and by the way you've been fined 3 grand for not completing the outstanding fixture take it out of that and send us the balance,it would be comedy gold if it wasn't serious

Great night at the BBSC Hall of Fame last night, shame that not all of the inductees could make it but I’m sure they tried to. They missed a good one.

Update on this year’s Romford Speedway Reunion. Tickets will go on sale at the Celebration of Speedway held at Paradise Wildlife Park on the 17th February. Tickets are £9 in advance and £10 on the night, but there will be limited availability on the night so best to get your ticket in advance to guarantee admission. Tickets can be bought directly from me by contacting me by either email:romfordspeedway@outlook.com Or Telephone: 07831 333904 There’s a car park at the rear of the RUSSC venue with its entrance via Linden Street, parking is available in local streets nearby. The pedstrian entrance to the club is in Mawney Road at the junction with the ring road. It's about a 10 minute walk from Romford station. There is a licenced bar and for those wishing to eat their will be food available behind the bar at very reasonable prices. Hoping to be able to start naming some Bombers who have said they’ll be in attendance soon. It really will be a great night of pure Romford Speedway nostalgia, it’s coming home, Romford Speedway’s coming home……..

I seem to recall that Romford's track was laid within a week (?) however the Swindon debacle seems to go and on!

For the none believers a track can be laid and raced on the next week. It happened at Poole when they enlarged the football pitch in the late 80's Ok we already had the dog track In place so it can be done.

As i am aware Steve, Kenny got on very well with the Moran's named his daughter after Kelly.Even though you cannot forget the wicked thing Kenny did you cannot take away that he was a great rider.

A fair question. As the EU is supposed to be a free market for labour, the UK restrictions brought in six or seven years back by a new-broom Home Secretary (a certain Mrs T May) are clearly different to those for the rest of the EU, and probably illegal in EU law. As for other sports, I question how it is that British ice hockey teams are almost entirely staffed by Canadian players, without any apparent problems.

No-one in their right mind, you are 100% correct.

Was in not the case that Jacko forked out for the medals for the riders and management for both teams and was reimbursed by the opposition promotion for half the cost, Im pretty sure he wont have bought the actual competition shield, if he did perhaps this coming season it should be renamed The Tony Jackson Shield !

In Mason's case he has a work visa which expires towards the end of March 2019. He qualified in an Australian state championship for a new visa this year. However, it is, in effect, an extension to his current one. He needs to be in the UK before his old one expires, and have a job riding speedway (i.e. a work sponsor) for this season in order to actually obtain the visa. If he hasn't got a team place before his current visa expires then he won't get his new one for this year. This means he'll have to sit out this season in it's entirety as he won't be allowed to sign for anybody else mid season. Since most, if not all, clubs are not actually starting to ride until late (very) March or early April the chances of him getting signed up are extremely remote. A similar thing happened to Ty Proctor a few years ago. I suppose he thinks the missing a year at this stage of his career would make it hard to come back.

As ever the devil is in the detail - an area where speedway regulations to date have not excelled

Being in construction I can tell you right now that the track alone will take longer than a week , there is no chance of a semi new stadium being completed before march let alone a week.

I think Buster is trying to save the Prem. I don't think that can be questioned.. Why i'm not so sure. I think it is delaying the inevitable of 1 league for 2020 .

If that is what you think I hope truly that you are correct. God works in mysterious ways and the ways of Buster are even more mysterious

Glasgow fans reckon they are owed a season worth of heat leader performances. Oh well.

Agree. Absolute cr@p fixture list.

Everything about Speedway is bizarre

Five home fixtures in 19 days in May, yet none between July 16th and Sept 4th, the seven weeks kids are off school can stay up later. Is the Showground shut for the school holidays. Very bizarre fixture planning ....

The youngsters who go are bored by what their watching, the 50's-60's go because they always have and its more a social than anything else.

what has been holding speedway back about modernising , is good old fashioned greed in the form of gospeed , set up a free app such as has been mentioned ,and it wont take 5 seconds before gospeed appear with their threats of legal action , so to try and improve the raceday experience , you have to pay off people who are greedy and antiquated in their thoughts

Hence why they are getting fewer and fewer.

Agree

We now know why Harris keeped quiet when sacked by panthers, keep it zipped & you can go to Foxhall OR NO premier slot for 2019! Looks like Tungate flatly refused to return to Ippo, rider control 1960s style has returned to Speedway GB via Buster "C". That's "C" for control?

And the gullible fans are to believe that!

The GP series has moved on though at the expense of British speedway.!!