cowboy cookie returns?

Some kind of mystery shop feed back would be fine I guess. But there are thousands of pages right on this very forum that if the promotors were really interested in feedback they could look at. However they don't seem that bothered & Seem to regard this forum as something of minority view from people who are negative about the sport.

Problem is trees those who love watching speedway are reducing every year and nothing is being done to entice news people in

I always use 1990 as a benchmark for the decline in UK speedway. My first full proper season as a fan aged 12. I have been looking back though the archives. 1990 saw 26 professional clubs split into 2 leagues the old British league 9 clubs & the national League of 17 clubs. The British championship was contested by 48 British riders starting with a quarter final stage. Compare that to today. 18 professional clubs & a British championship where 16 riders are put straight into the final as there aren't enough to do any thing else. 1990 182 team spots with no doubling up 2021 126 team spots where I believe 123 of those are held by doubling up riders. Also let's not forget that in 1990 those 26 league clubs all had junior League teams with an additional 4 spots per team. 1990 plenty of opportunity to ride, speedway in various formats alongside the league format eg 4 team championship & best pairs. I think that season my track Ipswich had 30 home meetings. Oh what happy days. The only real beacon of hope in that time was the early part of Sky's involvement I think by 2005 so 6 years in with sky it was clear that there wasn't any plan or indeed desire to do anything different....what a missed opportunity!!! Although on the decline it's been the past 10 to 15 years where the real damage has been done.

King Kemp Rowe & Starke plus 3 newbies for 2021, depending on the league set up .

It's truly amazing & unbelievable however at the same time 100% correct. Ignore everything around it and just watch the racing is what I do now. Although this approach has ment at best I attended once a season. The problem is without the rivalry between the competitors, clubs & supporters it becomes 4 blokes on bikes. Which sadly for me Makes it extremely boring!! If you're running a team sport, those in your team cannot ride for every other club at some point during the season. You can't make any type or rivalry and form any form of attachment to 'your team' if those in you team might be riding for the opposition tomorrow or some one from the opposition is in 'your team' next week. Speedway as a proper team sport or as an individual event can still be on its day the best sporting event going & highly marketable. However the UK version at present is a very poor version of what it could be, because you really do have to 'just watch the racing' which sadly makes it very dull & boring!

To be honest the poles are just making the most of the fact they have a product that the general public & big business alike want to be part of & they have the TV baking to make it work. Let's be honest British had the same opportunity in the 70s & 80s & again in the early 2000s with the sky input but did absolutely nothing with those opportunities. Don't blame the poles hats off to them for knowing how to run speedway in a professional manner

Are you a promoter? All that's needed in that statement is "if you don't like it p**soff" Forgetting that the fans also put their hard earned money into the sport week in week out yet are constantly taken for a ride not given value for money & are expected just to turn up and have their feelings ignored or are just told to like it or lump it. Thousands have just walked away because of that very mindset. Bottom line is if the sport was ran professionally giving value for money entertainment the sport wouldn't be in the mess it is. As for fans tearing it apart the vast majority just want to see some form of acknowledgement that what's on offer is no long fit for purpose and that real change is coming. That change maybe too late to save the sport in the UK but at least bloody try!! I used to love my speedway never missed a home meeting. These days for many many reasons all connected with what's on offer for my spend and therefore in the control of the BSPA I attended once a year at best.

Great idea i'd also just stick with the British & National League names.

Slightly ironic that Buster is now fed up & wants to sell up, when much that is wrong was implemented during his time as chairman.

The early 90s at Coventry on a Sunday afternoon the place was packed and the atmosphere electric! Happy days!!!

But speedway is dying in this country, sadly too many people like yourself can't see it.

Wow! We have just added Sunday school into the mix on how to bring speedway into the 21st century, that can be added to "modern day hunting" & "the smell of cooking oil" on the what the fans say page!

I would say that Ipswich social media activity and website are one of strongest in UK speedway. They do enjoy great coverage from the local paper including live meeting updates on the Ipswich star website, BBC radio Suffolk and the other local station town 102. Hence they probably enjoy the best average attendance figures in the UK.

Barry from what I have seen & read you're doing a fantastic job in not only promoting speedway but also shaking up the format. It would be great to see the Isle of Wight promotion put in charge of UK speedway and to see what you could achieve. You're certainly light years ahead of the current BSPA who seem to love quotes that compare there business to modern day hunting or the smell of cooking oil. Keep up the great work.

Having attended my first match for 2years this week I have been giving this topic some thought, I'm prepared to be shot down so feel free to comment on my thoughts. I was introduced to the sport as a 12 year old in the late 80s. I was fortunate enough to witness my team in the old national League which to my mind is still the closest I've seen in this country to the sport being run professionally. The sport in that league was Great, each team in general only visited once a season the exception being for early season challenge or cup matches. There was also the national 4 team championship and pairs events plus the individuals which gave the different disciplines that everyone seems to be calling for and the best thing guest riding was outlawed each team had a proper functioning junior/reserve team. Anyhow why did I become hooked on speedway and gave up attending football? The ability to be able to go behind the scenes to the pit area pre match to see the preparation, collect rider autographs and actually speak the stars of the track. Then there was the smell & the noise something completely different to any other team sport. At that time my local track was still getting close to 4000 spectators a week including a decent number of visiting fans that gave the centre green mic man something to work with to create an atmosphere, the crowd generated noise actuall cheering of the home team and booing of the visitors that all led to the atmosphere. All this was underpinned by the feeling that this was your team they didn't leave as soon as the meeting was over and in some cases before because they had to leave to ride for someone else tomorrow. The sights the smell wer part of it but without that team aspect I wouldn't have fell in love with speedway. Move forward to the 2000s and I fell out of love with speedway and eventually gave up all together. Why? I was fed up seeing the same teams 2,3,4,5 times a season and sometimes with only a couple of weeks between visits, I got fed up as the doubling up and guest regulations became more and more relaxed so that at times the team I supported was made up of 3 riders from another club. For me the attachment to my team was lost and that was that. Now I attended very occasionally I think on average once a season since 2009, I've been to less home meetings in 12 years than I used to attend in a season. As for reinvention well the sport has to decide what it wants to be. A team sport in that case make it a team sport that people can attach too ditch doubling up and work to rid the sport of guests once and for all. If it's to be an individual sport then come up with some proper classes like other motor sport & run decent championship events. Whichever it decides the machinery, the track surfaces and the presentation need a radical rethink.

I think the current fan base is split in two, those who think there is nothing wrong and would probably promote it in a positive manner on social media but they aren't active so SM. The second group are the fans who are active on SM but don't feel they can share or promote the sport because they see what's wrong.

That's great what you do, however you're doing that for existing speedway fans and sadly the number of existing speedway fans becomes smaller each year. It's the non speedway fans you need to attract that where the Isle of Wight is showing the way.

Couple that with the image of Godfrey doing that press conference in his caravan* a year or so ago I'm surprised that big business and the media aren't falling over themselves to be involved! Sorry not his caravan but in his front room with drawn curtains and very poor light

Those direct quotes made me laugh when I read the on the website a few days ago. As I said elsewhere those quotes are a mix of a dictatorships propaganda machine & someone who's high on something!! Certainly no real sane person ever said them

Something along those lines could work. The old four competition from the 80s & 90s used to give cracking value for money and bags of entertainment. The only issue I think would be could the track surface handle that amount of action? In the old days with plenty of dirt no issues but now with most of the dirt removed I'm not so sure.

League racing will never give the buzz excitement or the drama while those who ride in opposition one night are team mates the next. The business model is flawed and everyone can see it except those that are in charge. The old like it or don't bother coming mentality will have only one outcome. Sadly that outcome is probably 5 to 10 years away at best. Whatever happens you can be sure it's all in the "interest of speedway"

Speedway could tap into it if it was run in a professional manner. Look at Poland those type of companies falling over themselves to be involved, multiple TV companies bidding for the TV rights. To stand any chance of getting those blue chip companies involved one of two things need to happen. Firstly the sport reinvents itself and becomes something that these companies want to be involved with that will take time. Secondly the sport draws up proposals to do something completely different and sells that vision to said companies although they would then be bound by a contract to deliver. You have to remember uk speedway had 10 plus years of lucrative TV contacts with sky and did absolutely nothing to reinvent it's self. If your were the board of a big blue chip company would you want your brand associated with uk speedway in its current guise? I wouldn't.

The piece on Mr Rising is very poor they should hang their heads in shame. As for the "what the fans say" what's written seems to be a mix of work by a dictatorship's propaganda department & a half wit who's high on something.....

Maybe nothing new, however still makes a mockery of the sport. With your reply it's also proof if proof was needed that the powers that be are incapable of bringing about the change that is required. If Rick Miller also did something similar then the powers that be have done nothing in at least 30 years to try and correct it. The only thing to have happened in 30 years is a steady decline in attendance numbers, national & local press coverage. It's a sad fact but if speedway was a dog it would have been put out of its misery years ago.

Look no further than Newcastle yesterday. A double header Newcastle v Poole followed by Newcastle v Plymouth. Alfie Bowtell rides for both Poole & Plymouth how can you take it seriously!!