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I'm trying to do that also ! One of the dominant voices on that thread lives out in the sticks in Portugal with far lower deaths, so can presumably be more calm and spend time trawling thru websites of stats and the like, knowing that he is in a very cushy position and won't get the virus knocking on his door any time soon. Sadly, that's not something that many people in the UK can be so sure about. Nearly 500 deaths across 4 hospitals within 10 mins drive of me is certainly enough to make a lot of people in my part of the capital jittery. Don't get me wrong, they're entitled to opinions etc, but it's easy to be calm and contrarian from a place of relative safety.

I don't buy that for one second. It's to do with the possibility of us still being in lockdown, and the lack of time and ability to organise. I have absolutely ZERO doubts whatsoever, that the moment the lockdown restrictions are lifted that public places will be packed. Are you suggesting, for example, Premier League (football) restarts after the lockdown there would be a lack of fans? Pubs will be rammed too. Sorry, don't buy it. People will be clamoring for it. The only thing that might effect things is if they have been financially hit.

Not sure why i was quoted in that multi quoted post, my post was made before any deaths were recorded in the UK and buisness as usual. Equally now I am not worried about the virus, I have a vunerable daughter and a pregnant mrs BUT have followed all the guidelines etc, if we spent our lives worrying about everything we d make ourselves ill. What does concern me though are the people that still think they are above the guidelines, and online experts that seem to know everything. Which is particularly impressive considering the experts are learning on a daily basis.

For me three things need to change massively if you want to keep 'team speedway' One. Credibility - You need an emotional attachment to 'your team'. When your own riders can assist your opponents to be more successful than your own team it simply doesn't engender any emotional attachment. eg Why spend all season following a team who ultimately don't reach the play offs because their best rider went out and won matches for opponents who did? Can't take that seriously. . Two. Marketing - Some people will say that lowering standards will lower attendances even further. Some will say we should just go it alone without GP stars as crowds are down to die hards now so won't drop significantly from the current position. The truth is bringing back GP riders will only bring back those who are aware of Speedway and used to go. Nikki P for example at Sheffield may put 500 on the gate in his first match. A huge increase for Sheffield but in reality a small actual number of fans. Fans, in the main, who used to go from Sheffield and stopped or/and fans from other 'local' clubs... Will that increase be sustained? Not a chance if it follows the usual 'novelty pattern' of 'top stars' returning which sees crowds drop back as the weeks go by.. The sport seems to spend hundreds and hundreds of thousands on riders who have zero impact to crowd levels as the vast majority of people living locally haven't a clue who they are, yet (it appears) hardly a penny is spent on a professional marketing company which could tangibly increase crowds through its output. Invest in this marketing to see if it works.. And Three - Race Nights. The sport has to take place on nights (or afternoons) that you can get most fans in. All business is defined by how many customers it has and any business which only opens when it's employees tell you they are available, so you end up with irregular opening times, is doomed to failure. For many, Speedway is 'entertainment first', so run it when most of your local population can attend. Get the opening hours right as a priority then decide on everything else after that as it doesn't matter what level of Speedway you put on if your opening times are barriers to your potential customers.. In short.. Make it credible so its worth fans actually investing their emotional loyalty into it. Invest in marketing to raise the profile of the sport and increase the awareness of non Speedway followers, as ultimately no matter what standard of rider or level you run at will make a difference if hardly anyone knows you exist. And finally, open your doors based on your knowledge of when your largest potential customer volume can get there and not when your employees' personal agenda allows you to do..

My post was responding to Steve and regarding the thread being taken over by certain people . I'd rather not get into specifics with you as it's frankly tiring and it's my birthday, and yes i'm sure you can show plenty of facts to show the rates etc, but this isn't comparable in absolute terms when this has large geographical trends that aren't consistent with the last 5 years deaths for respiratory illness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN6pmJp8ha0

Nail on the head. Of course the guidelines should be followed. If not, you can't measure it's degree of success at all. And you are right, everything is changing on a daily basis, which is why many of us are continually discussing it. The fact that 'experts' are learning on a daily basis and are constantly changing their prognosis backs up it's an ever evolving situation.

I think Woffinden would pay for himself in additional gate reveue. However we all know the reason he won't ride in the UK is because he doesn't like multiple race nights and that, like most top riders, two leagues and the GPs are sufficient to generate income and sponsorship.

Until the social distancing is lifted Sid, i can't see any sport resuming in this country. I bought a 10 match ticket at Eastbourne for this season. It seemed like a good idea at the time, especially as entitled me to a £5 discount at several southern tracks. I hope i get the opportunity to use it.

REDCAR RE-RUNS ⏪ This weeks meeting from the past sponsored by ActivClean sees Eastbourne Eagles visit the Media Prima Arena last year. An action packed meeting featuring a freshly crowned British Champion Charles Wright Racing. Join us this Friday (Good Friday) at 7:45pm live on our Facebook page Brought to your screens by Tapes Up Productions

Fabulous racing...but the commentary drives me mad!

I've "self-isolated" myself from the other thread on corona virus...just goes round and round in circles and dominated by a certain few.

Such a trick track, it was voted Track of the Year again! Wide with many lines and so much passing, pity the recognised Homer's tracks are not as forgiving.Open all year for Amateurs and for practise It caters for all riders from World Champions to beginners.

Definitely 9 of the 16, 11 out of 18. i can’t definitely say I saw Hofmeister, if I did it would 1960 world final at Wembley. He did 4 world finals, all at Wembley :- 1957 0 points, 1958 2 points, 1059 4 points, and 1960 6 points. See what he was doing, he was progressing by 2 points every year. Not riding regularly in Britain he was slowly getting used to Wembley. Give another 4 years and he could have been world champ with 14.

I could watch this kid all day long and not tire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89KL-vayzWw

I'd go to speedway if it was on tonight and the lockdown wasn't in force. I'd probably wear gloves, maybe overclothes too. keep a distance where possible. strip overclothes before getting in the car. Sanitize. Shower straight after the meeting. I'm out there working currently as it is and doing most of these things. At the end of the day before I get in my car I do most of these things. It's almost routine now. It's almost normal. With common sense we could do things. There's just a lot of dumb people out there. And those dumb people will mean it will be very unlikely to get back to normal anytime soon. If it's before June I'll be astonished. Just to clarify dumb. I mean people getting within 2 meters. not washing their hands. Paying with cash. Not wearing gloves at petrol pumps. Smoking (but that's a separate issue). Not covering their faces when they cough.

I think Cheltenham was at the start of the 'finally realisation is dawning' period so got away with it. . One week later and it wouldn't have taken place. . And given the fall out as to how many who attended have since tested postive for the virus I wouldn't think it will be seen as a postive thing to have attended, it and may make others think twice post "the official all clear".. I think there will definitely be a week or two of plenty of people not wishing to put themselves back into crowded areas and will hang back a little to wait and see if actually all is really 'ok'.. Not to mention the financial hit on those who may have to start paying more for bills and mortgages as they have had a payment holiday... Can't see a "throng" of people attending unless other sports like football maybe have a phased increasing restriction on numbers over a period of time, which means some may want to get their sporting fix elsewhere.. Plenty more popular sports in the queue first though even if that happens..

Would you attend if there was a vaccine that had a 1 in 4 chance of working?

Probably the ones who have been attending sporting events for years, even though 350-400 people were dying each and every day during the winter from viral diseases... There will be no big sporting events until the number of deaths drops considerably and its deemed safe to reopen things.

People will go to these events, you only had to look at the crowds at Cheltenham when people already knew about coronavirus. The authorities letting these events happen is a difficult one, they need to get the economy going but also need to protect the NHS.

Wimbledon, Glastonbury, other massive Events cancelled as the lead time to set up and organise logistics is MONTHS....you don't organise them in weeks. By cancelling now that limit losses massively. Speedway could theoretically be given green light and actually facing within a week. To suggest there is and correlation between putting Wimbledon on and organising Swindon Robins v Wolverhampton Wolves within a week is scaremongering nonsense. Speedway meetings with initially British riders could be organised very quickly. Clubs will have everything ready to go very quickly

Wimbledon was cancelled as they have no idea if we'll be in lockdown at end of June. Why go through all the time and expense of organising something that you aren't sure will even take place? Absolutely nothing to do with expecting poor ticket sales or attendance. It would be packed. I agree with you about wasting money etc, but I highly doubt most think that way. Time will tell I suppose!

I don't think people will be rushing out en masse to Sainsbury's either. I think people will be exceedingly caution for the first six months or so. Especially until a vaccine or other treatment is widely available.

A bit like speedway!

Oh, Steve, I feel wounded! But I’ll leave this thread statistic free!

A treat for Scorpion fans & I was there at both legs http://www.speedwaygb.co.uk/news.php?extend.38011

Watched Mildenhall v Peterborough few days ago Mick Hines got so much stick that day from the fen tigers fans but it didnt help him racing in his tigers colours with a panther on his chest. Fish and Chips always made the trips to west row more enjoyable.

Think Woffy would probably be more like 300% more in costs but all depends on his earnings in Poland if they are not as agreed he may want to top up his earnings

What do you think is the difference in cost between the likes of Doyle, Crump, Pedersen, Iversen and Woffinden? Even if Woffinden is 30% more expensive, he'd more than pay for himself in additional bums on seats.

I think it might reach the stage Sid, that people can't afford regular meetings anymore. Two a month would be plenty in the current climate. If this means better quality, I'm all for it. As long as the fans are not priced out of attending.

Well perhaps when you have a moment you can clear up a long standing question when you were confusing 'facts' with 'opinions' regarding a speedway related topic which you've not addressed?

Bye Rimmer I have no interest in your mass debating.

Bloody hell, thanks lol . May well have some credence Sadly there is a reason why this virus is hitting particular sections of the community harder in cities. As awful as it is to say, in the uk, south asians have particular medical historical issues that make them vulnerable. Here in south london and elsewhere, lots of people have sickle cell anaemia aswell, and they are massively at risk to this also. Crazy times

Just my opinion but Prague has no chance of going ahead in mid June.

People believe all sorts of conspiracies and it's up to them. However it's worth noting that at the end of last year there was a massive war of words between Trump and China. Given the enormous trade deficit of over 300 billion which the US owes to China it's understandable that people will look at conspiracies. After all where would we be without Chinese goods? Just saying!

What an insightful post that you have randomly hand picked. I assume you yourself have done your homework on the virus versus generally expected expectations? You do know that on average over a thousand people die on any given day in the UK? (It was 1400 in 2019 btw) You do know that an average of 17,000 die every year from flu in the UK with a high of over 28,000 in 2014/15 and a low of just under 1700 in 2019? Published by Public Health England btw. Those figures may suggest the high figures was before the current vaccine was successful. There are lots of stats out there if you want to educate yourself. I’m assuming you have done the same. Covid19 still has “flu like symptoms” and no one can deny the severity of the virus. Nearly 80,000 have had and recovered from the virus to put the risk factor into context. Its a serious virus that NO ONE should take lightly anymore. And lockdown is now the only way of slowing it. Until they find a vaccine this will still be a killer. Just like SARS and Flu before it. Id love to hear your take on the stats and information shared and those you have clearly seen yourself. Replies without personal insults would be appreciated.

Rob McCaffery telling someone that they are trying to sound superior .. my irony meter has gone crazy

In your opinion.

Re previous post.-how about this. I attended a meeting in 1967 where all the riders from both teams are still with us(I think). Long Eaton v. Halifax on 25th April 1967-almost 51 years ago. Long Eaton represented by Jim Lightfoot, Vic White, Ray Wilson, Norman Storer, Anders Michanek, John Boulger and Ian Champion and Halifax by Dave Younghusband, Greg Kentwell, Eric Boothroyd, Bert Kingston,, Eric Boocock, Dennis Gavros and Maurie Robinson. Despite Eric Boocock scoring a max.- Long Eaton scraped by 40-38-seemed like a cracking meeting.

No chance. Who in their right mind would attend a big sporting event with no vaccine in place. I just can't see the authorities allowing it to happen. A big surge in cases would put the NHS under immense strain.

Do you think Wimbledon was cancelled as they think we will still be in lockdown at the end of June? I think it is because they are scared of poor ticket sales and attendances. I don't think people will go flooding out. People are realising that spunking money on coffee, lunches, down the shops, pubs, restaurants etc. isn't actually required to have a life. Maybe that's just me though. I've saved an absolute fortune this last month when I haven't left the house.