tigerowl

It's always difficult when there is a change of race night and it's not going to suit everyone. However, the fact remains that we need to try and attract a new and younger audience somehow. I'm 50 and I often feel like the youngest there. When you used to look at the first bend you could see blue and yellow scarves, now it's grey hair and beige anoraks. If the change of race night starts to attract some kids who can be home before bedtime then all the better. Well done on the team building by the way, it looks a very exciting team and I will be making every effort to be there next season after a bit of a period of apathy.

Great start to the team building. Welcome to Sheffield Drew and well done to the promotion for securing the deal.

I love watching Chris Harris ride but he is so far off the mark with his opinions it is unreal. So Chris wasn't too good at school and needs to ride for two teams at least to make ends meet. Sorry Chris, but can you explain how this is possible on 500-800 fans paying to get in? It seems a large proportion of everyone else in the sport want the doubling up system to end so that the sport can try and regain a bit of identity and credibility thereby attracting new fans and keeping the few that we have but Chris is happy for the sport to be run into the ground as people keep drifting away. I don't think that doubling up is the only issue as to why speedway is struggling but it's certainly one of the main ones and Chris needs to realise that the sport as a whole has got to come first, not the needs of a few riders who do not have the capability or willingness to do something else.

Never mind then. Let's just leave things as they are. Let's have an ever decreasing number of them riding for various teams every night of the week whilst their mates (and I'll mention Joe Jacobs again) having to pack in because he can't get a ride. Let's have fans who want a team to support continue to drift away because they can't take the sport seriously (Chris Harris just missing out on the play off's with Glasgow but winning a league winner's medal with Poole and a cup winners medal with Somerset). Just let things continue as they are and see how many riders can be full time then. The answer will be none, because the sport will cease to exist.

We seemed to manage in the 1970s and 1980s when most of the riders were either self employed or had other jobs.

There are some differences amongst the fans but I think the core issues about value for money, organisation of fixtures, integrity of the competitions and team identity are a common thread. Just like the politicians tell us that when students go to university, they come out with £50,000 of debt and everyone believes them, the promoters tell us that there aren't enough riders to go round to stop doubling up. Solve this issue and get riders riding every week for one team, rather than pulling on a different race jacket every night of the week and other things may well fall into place. Also, as I said in a previous post, the riders have to realise that they can't all be full time on the crowds we are getting.

The problem with the promoters in my opinion is not that they deliberately want to run the sport into the ground, it makes no sense for them to purposely lose their money, but the system that has been created makes it impossible for the sport to function properly. There are too many conflicts of interest and pulling in opposing directions. What the sport needs is for decisions to be made in the best interests of speedway as a whole but unless someone independent is elected to make these decisions things will just carry on as they are, leading to a slow and painful death. The argument that it’s the promoter’s money doesn’t stand up for me. What other sport operates in this way? You wouldn’t get Malcolm Glazer and Roman Abramovic making up the rules of football so why do we have to put up with it. Tsunami clearly had the best interests of Newcastle at heart and anyone who puts their cash into speedway has my respect but the sport needs an independent, honest, respected leader. And to your rival moxey63, get well soon.

Good luck Blair and the rest of the family. Tragic story and hope everything works out for them all.

I like going to the pub and I like going to the speedway. Both of these pastimes have been in serious decline over the past few years and people have stopped going to both in droves. Some of the reasons can be found in both of these pastimes. It's hard to tempt people out of their houses and pay money for beer when they think it's overpriced and the same can apply to speedway. The pubs that just do the same thing that clearly doesn't work time and time again, and just throw their doors open expecting the public to flood in are the one's that die. This is what speedway 'promoters', by and large, tend to do. They offer a product which does not represent value for money and do nothing to keep the fans they have got, never mind attract new ones. Some pubs are thriving because they offer what the customer in their community wants. Some offer live entertainment, some offer food, some offer karaoke nights. My local offers a warm welcome, a nice pint and friendly people and it's busy most nights. The landlord drives around in a Mercedes and has a holiday home in Florida. It works where I live but wouldn't work elsewhere and the promoters have to work hard at getting their product right for the audience they want to keep and attract. To do this they need a product. The product they are offering is potentially one of the most exciting sports in the world and surely, this must be a good starting point. However, what they provide is an overpriced chaotic shambles of a sport with no direction, no identity and no credibility. They need to get back to basics. Offer a full and attractive fixture list with a team of riders that ride for one club. Not the current situation where any seven riders who pull on a race jacket is called a team. It isn't. People will moan on about the 'not enough riders to go round' myth. There are enough riders, they are just riding at the wrong level. Grand Prix riders should not be riding in the second tier, half the third tier riders should be at Championship level and the poor kids stuck in the Development League should be in the National League. If they must charge £17 to get in, at least give the fans £17 worth of entertainment. Unfortunately, 15 races of 55 seconds interspersed with 50 minutes of track grading does not justify parting with £17 in cash. The continual fixture list farce demonstrates absolutely the reasons why the promoters should not be allowed to run things for themselves. I am sure they are all successful businessmen and women in their own right but they have no idea how to work collectively for the benefit of the sport. It is all about vested interests and stabbing each other in the back. I cannot think of any other sport where the owners of the clubs run things themselves. It needs someone with authority and respect to run the sport. There needs to be some way of cutting down on the rained off meetings. Is it any wonder there is hardly any travelling support when riders refuse to turn out if someone spills so much as a cup of tea on the track. I know that if it's tipping it down at start time then there will be little chance of racing but some way of covering tracks cannot beyond the capabilities of the human race. It is also about time we stopped penalising success and rewarding failure. We go on about the lack of riders yet Joe Jacobs, who made massive progress with Belle Vue a couple of seasons ago can't get a team place the following year because his average is too high, whilst another rider who under achieved and threw tantrums was rewarded with two team places the following season because his average fitted!! Finally, the riders have got to come to their senses. If you want to be a full-time rider and are either rich or riding in Poland in front of 15,000 fans, then fair enough and good luck to you. If you are second string in the 'Championship' riding in front of 500 people, surely you cannot expect to be full-time. Look back at the Peter Oakes' Who's Who book in 1974 and the vast majority of the riders had jobs. Now, for some reason, all the riders seem to feel that they are entitled to be full-time, thereby expecting the wages that would enable them to sustain that lifestyle. It cannot continue on current crowd levels. However, having wasted half an hour of my life typing this, I expect that the 2019 season will result in three small leagues, riders riding for multiple clubs, more riders being frozen out of the sport, fixture chaos, declining crowds, arguing promoters and more tractor racing. I'm off to the pub.

The photo of the 'cup winners' on the SGB website sums the sport up for me. Left to right; Starke - guest from Glasgow. Also ridden for Belle Vue and Poole this year. Lawson - rides for Somerset and Lakeside Garcia - guest from Ipswich. Also ridden for Edinburgh this year Doyle - A SOMERSET RIDER!! Harris - Guest from Poole who has also ridden for Rye House Covatti - rides for Somerset and Ipswich No 7th rider. Just a mish-mash of riders from all over the place who pull on a race jacket and call themselves team mates for the night.

No consensus from the promoters about how to move forward. Mediocre riders already putting out quotes about wanting to ride for more than one team to enable them to be full-time riders, performing in front of crowds of 500-700 people. Fans not listened to. No one in charge. Complete joke of a sport at the moment.

Hammers got the gates sorted out towards the end of the meeting and fully deserved their win. There was no lack of effort from most of the team but one rider in particular didn't look interested if he didn't make the gate.

Witches had a fair bit of bad luck tonight and it could have been much closer. Schlein packed up on the first bend in heat one, Mountain and Smith were on a 5-1 in heat two and, at the very same spot, Smith slid off and Mountain packed up, turning it into a Tigers 5-1. Then there was the big crash with Heeps coming off worst and Nicholls slid of as well. Covatti was great and keep an eye of Jeppesen. He's a real trier, a bit wild, but very exciting to watch.

It's just too expensive to attract and keep new fans and particularly families. My speedway experience is to pay £16, enter a stadium which is dilapidated and, (unless I want to watch from behind the glass, which I don't), is in a worse condition now than it was in 1974 when I started going. There are no seats, just dusty steps. The pre-meeting entertainment is to listen to Now That's What I Call Music number 124 and watch a pathetic introduction of the riders by a half-hearted announcer. There is then about 13 minutes of action over the next hour and a half to two hours with a raffle akin to the ones people used to have for a tray of meat in the Working Men's Clubs of years gone by. There is no second half, nothing to entertain the kids or anyone else - nothing. The riders all seem to manage to ride around in vans as big as a starter home and even the reserves at 'Championship' level appear to be full-time. So, the equipment costs a fortune and riders want paying a fair return for the expenditure and the risks they take. I have no problem with that, but the situation cannot continue. The sport has to find a way of reducing costs of equipment and riders have to realise that it is not sustainable to be full time when they are riding in front of crowds of 500-1500 people. Promoters have to promote. All they do is to open the gates, expect people to come and pay their money and come back again the next week when many of them do absolutely nothing to encourage a return. Times are hard for a lot of people and there is better entertainment to be had elsewhere. I've been to the ice-hockey a couple of times recently and it's not my cup of tea to be honest. But there were thousands there, many in replica kits, games and entertainment for the kids, a brilliant arena and cheaper than the speedway. I prefer the speedway because I've been brought up with it but in terms of value for money there was no comparison. Speedway, on its's day, can be the best sport in the world but it needs someone in charge who has a vision and some radical ideas. The promoters have to promote and the riders have to be more realistic and realise that they can't all be full time.

It looks like a team that wants to ride for the Diamonds and has an affinity with the club. That means a lot. I really hope you do well this year. I don't think it's a league winning side but it seems like an honest bunch of riders who will give 100% rather then a team of mercenaries who don't give a monkeys who they ride for. There's more to the sport than winning the league.

Having and out and out number one is over rated in my opinion. It's nice to have one, but if the Diamonds can share the first heat, they should be 8-4 up after two heats against most of the teams in the league. It looks a solid side to me. Some of the teams are a bit top heavy but have inexperienced reserve pairings and it should make for some exciting contests at Brough Park. Just hope the fans get out and get behind them.

I think the Halifax championship winning team of 1966 may all still be alive - Boocock, Younghusband, Boothroyd, Roper, Gavros, Jameson and Kingston.

Sorry if someone has mentioned this before but I haven't read the whole thread. I think that a sign that things are radically wrong with the sport is when James Sarjeant (and I mean this with no disrespect to him whatsoever), has a poor season to say the least in 2017 and sees his average drop drastically. His reward for this is team places in two leagues in 2018. Joe Jacobs has a great 2016 and increases his average beyond all expectations. His punishment for this is to be frozen out of the start of the 2017 season and have to wait for someone to get injured and face the possibility of having to do the same in 2018. Surely this can't be right.

I would sum Kelly up as Natural Ability 10/10 Entertainment 10/10 Teamwork 10/10 Commitment 5/10 If he more committed he could have been the best rider in the world but I go to speedway to be entertained and in that respect he is one of my favourite riders of all time. I wish Kelly was still with us but as far has his speedway career goes I would have changed him for anything.

Delighted to hear the Comets will be back. Hope you have a better season and the club flourishes again.

What about 'em? Stuff Denmark (no offence). Riders choose to ride here or ride over there if necessary. If it had been Thursdays the cries of what about Ipswich, Redcar and Sheffield would be more valid.

I know I have been one of the biggest critics of the way speedway is going but I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised. A big thing for me is the double points rule being abolished. The doubling up situation hasn't been fully resolved but I hope that it will be a bit better. If there were any seats left at Owlerton I might put my bum on one of them, but I may well put my bum on a dusty step.

I hope Joe has a sponsor for thermal long johns as he'll be involved in a double header on October 31 as Stoke try and finish their hectic 10 home matches in 7 months schedule.

In reality, all that happened was that some teams moved up a league, some teams moved down a league. The top league was renamed and the middle league was renamed but nothing really changed. Promotion and relegation was introduced and led to the most farcical and ill supported meetings where Leicester used guests for two riders who were riding for the opposition. Speedway teams lost their identity and when a team has to use a guest for their number one because he is riding for another team somewhere else then things have gone drastically wrong. At least Rob Godfrey admitted in the Star this week that the best AGM had been the worst but these guys are still in charge and we have to trust them to come up with something better this weekend. There is so much negativity on this site but there are people on here have been fans of the sport for most of their lives and care about what is happening to the sport they love. Fans need to be listened to and the promoters have to make some real changes if the sport is to survive. Many fans hate the double points rule, hate the excessive use of guests, hate the liberal use of the doubling up system but are routinely ignored.

Just a quick reminder to what was said after last year's AGM... Promoters feel this dramatic revamp was necessary in a financially challenging climate – and whilst chairman Keith Chapman admits there is an element of cost cutting there is plenty for fans and sponsors to be excited about. He said: “This was probably the best AGM I’ve been to in all my time in the sport. There was a genuine desire to try and change things and secure the future of league racing in the UK. I certainly think we have done that and I’m very excited about the months ahead. Every promoter acknowledged something had to be done after some very difficult times for the sport – now we’ve done something and I’m looking forward to a bright future.” Vice Chairman Rob Godfrey said: “I believe we have achieved a total restructuring of British Speedway. We have created leagues which are sustainable and have a structure with promotion and relegation and the same rules. Now we have rebranded the sport, it’s time to deliver.”