mikebv

All fiddling whilst Rome was burning around them.... It is wasn't so sad given the way they have so negatively impacted the sport by their actions, and driven so many fans away, it would be hilarious to list every piece of nonsense dreamt up..

Imagine being a major company who wanted to get involved sponsoring the league and gaining access to this thread and reading about the way the sport self governs... Fred Karno's circus would be a better bet for them.. Did Matt Ford manipulate the situation? Well, if he did, (and who will ever know?), it was because he could... And that is the biggest nonsense in all of this.. A local Darts and Crib league would be embarrassed to run itself the same way..

"It's speedway Captain, but not as we know it"... Great afternoons entertainment.... Dave must be in overtime this week...

Interesting how the names of the riders were very well known yet their domestic teams were seldom mentioned.. Many is the time when I mention Speedway that the response is the usual "I used to go", but the next line invariably only mentions certain riders they remember, with any mention of where they watched their Speedway very much a secondary consideration. Almost like the teams they watched were very much secondary to who they were watching ride.. I would suggest a similar apathy to team racing that exists today for many fans who just go along now to watch 'the racing' rather than having any large emotional stake in the outcome of the match.. Yet promoters have for a great many years tried desperately to put one over their rivals to be 'successful', using all sorts of various wide and wonderful ways too numerous to mention, but we all pretty much can name them.. They, at least, seem to still take it all seriously, but sadly, by their very actions, no one else can.. And no 'team sport' can ever be successful if you don't have any emotional attachment to the team you follow.. Sort that and maybe UK Speedway could start to rise again..

For me, it started to decline when 'England' stopped ruling the Speedway roost at international level.. The TV companies and tabloid press lapped up (no pun intended), the way England regularly won Best Pairs and World Team cups, and obviously in Peter Collins had a dare devil young hero that transcended the Speedway world and was amongst the most well known sportsmen in the country. Not only winning a World Title, but doing it in a way that showed just how exciting and breathtaking the sport can be.. Then, towards the late 70's and early 80's the UK started training up many Danes and Americans in particular to take over their previous World Champion mantle.. All of a sudden, there wasnt quite the same coverage given to USA and Denmark victories by the mainstream media, (and why should there be?) However, instead of focusing on getting back on top of the pile by having a detailed, fit for purpose training plan to provide young English riders with the opportunity to progress, the authorities instead then opened up the 2nd Division to foreign riders which allowed them to train up even more nations' riders, who took up team places that young British riders used to have.. And finally as we hit the 90's winning at club level became all that mattered with Promoters trying desperately to get one over their fellow promoters by ensuring that their team was best. Completely ignoring the blatant fact that league title wins for Poole, Wolves, Belle Vue, Coventry etc etc etc had not one jot of positive impact to the sport nationally amongst generic sports fans and national media.. And had lessening yearly impact to even die hard fans when they considered the often 'Mickey Mouse' operating model that facilitated the winners' victory.. Hence winning at club level became all encompassing so clubs filled their teams with journeymen foreign riders, who would then throughout the season get replaced by even more journeymen foreign riders when averages dictated. And would also every now and again unearth a foreign 'wunderkind' on a ridiculously low entrance average which would provide that team with a 'fourth heat leader' at reserve, which would decide so many matches in their favour.. However, the team with the next '4 point superstar' may have cared about their victorious season , but hardly anyone else did.. In short, it's been a crap operating model for nigh on 40 years and if your intention was to promote your sport positively to millions of the nation's sports fans then it was as wide of the mark as it possibly could have been.. However, looking at the work being done around the young talent that's out there now, maybe, just maybe, the penny has finally dropped and a successful 'Great Britain' team will soon be regularly back on the top step of international meetings, with all the extended coverage from the wider sports media it will bring. In Woffy and Robert Lambert the country truly already have two who can compete at the very top, which can only help enormously to start generating wider interest in the sport if they get publicised well.. However. Four or five other World Class riders in the top 20 would certainly add to the publicity the sport gets, and can only have a positive knock on impact to the domestic leagues and their teams..

The worrying issue is that there wasn't massive crowds anywhere to 'flock back'.... Many on here are lapsed fans who got out of the habit of going, and found they didnt miss it, so you can only hope the extended break doesn't remove the enthusiasm of the basically die hards that attend each week.. As that would be disastrous... Putting the most positive spin on it, maybe the break will get those less frequent visitors to attend more regularly, and "you don't know what you've lost till it's gone" may inspire plenty of lapsed fans who still have an affinity to the sport, and follow it closely but don't attend domestic speedway, to attend again..

Greyhound racing mirrors Speedway in its decline since the 70's and many tracks can make more profit from empty stadia with racing streamed around the globe in the afternoon, than they do when they have punters in during evening events.. Eventually, especially since C19, there will be only certain ones that last the course and they will keep the sport going.. And given the dreadfully poor press it gets for its treatment of the dogs, and the demographic of its patrons, I can't see it every "growing" again in this country. . And with such a poor long term outlook I would think many stadium owners would see a sale to property developers as an excellent opportunity... Which means that renting a greyhound stadium out 20 times a year isn't going to be any long term plan I would think if you want to run a successful business yourself... Maybe though it's an opportunity for those who do rent the stadia to look elsewhere locally and build a brighter future for Speedway? No rent, and keep the car park and refreshments take etc.. May well start up a bit rustic (eg as did Somerset), but at least promoters will be in charge of their own destiny.. If you are relying on the Greyhound Stadium owners then your destiny definitely isn't in your own hands I would think...

Independent body anyone?

Holta was at fault... Would imagine Pepe was knocked out...

Maybe somewhat over used this season!... And when you add in the SEC he has done probably more laps than any other rider this year... All riders have a few bad ones in a season.... Pedersen just got beat by an Ice Speedway rider...

Seven days of Speedway... Best get that cupboard door fixed over weekend to get in the good books...

Troy doesn't seem to have the faith of the management...

Is Milik a foreign rider or classed as a Pole? Either way there must be a better rider than him out there. .. Or does he bring some big team sponsorship to get his place?

Leagues that have very little credibility, value and kudos due to the very way that they are ran... Akin to Turkeys voting for Xmas, as there can only be one outcome.. You only have to look at Poland.. If they ran a 20 meeting home season, with riders from all teams representing all and sundry on an ad hoc basis just to make sure every team has enough riders in their colours to ensure the 20 meeting home season took place, then crowds would be decimated from the current levels.. Less is certainly more over there and (covid exceptions), each team uses their own riders with a clear differential between levels. Basically you ride in the league your capability level allows and move up and down organically... Not "which league should I choose to be in this year, and when I decide who do I try and fill my seven places with" If you cant make up a "good enough" team in the UK then you should be allowed to still play a large part in the sport if you so wished by running any comps you feel will make money, and represent the sport professionally.. The more non brand damaging Speedway meetings the better, of all standard and type..

That sunshine isnt working on you is it?

Could you maybe get Dave to mention the magazine a few times when he is on? Captured Speedway audience and all that.. A few "great article about 'x'" etc.. "Just 'xx' subscription for a year" "Website is" etc etc etc.. Been a great read during the summer.. Hope all works out, you all do the sport proud.

Anyone who has been around the sport for a major length of time in a Promotion capacity over the past 20 to 30 years or so, shouldn't be anywhere near heading up any plan for the future.. As they have basically joined in the fiddling whilst Rome burned around them.. The sport needs those who have come in recently to head up any movement forwards. They dont have the baggage of past failings and, hopefully, haven't been sucked into yet the "Ahh! But you see, that wont work, because this is Speedway" bubble..

If it was a £10 sport then more would go, and far more regularly, without any doubt.. Which can only increase atmosphere and enjoyment of the 'overall experience'. .. When the Aces tried it a few years ago at the old place, the crowds were noticeably larger, however the Promoters deemed it a failure as they took less money than the usual crowd at the usual admission.. So it stopped, and crowds dropped back when full admission was resumed... I presume it stopped because that was far easier than doing something about why the costs were so high that needed such a high admission charge in the first place.... The more difficult thing to do of course would be reducing these costs down to make something like £10 price point workable... Therefore it wont ever get done...

Kirky Lane has/had a similar covenant on it... Apartments will soon start to be built on there..... I would imagine post Covid, cash strapped councils will use any assets they have to raise funds, as their budgets will be heavily targeted by central govt to pay back the huge borrowing they have had to do.. I would also imagine that given its size and location, you would get a 'lot of money' from a property developer to build apartments on Poole's site, and, I would think, not much in the way of resistance from local home owners as their property prices would rise and there would be less noise and disruption to their neighbourhood each week... Relying on such an increasingly attacked 'un pc' sport as Greyhound racing, who themselves have ever dwindling attendance numbers, to ensure your own business stays in existence will always be like perpetually walking on thinning ice going forward I would think for any tracks that this situation applies to...

So right... There is loads that can be done.. Get your customers names, emails and home addresses and you can target market them... The Aces have a total fan base of, I would suggest, around 3000... With circa 1200 to 1500 who go every week... Meaning 1500 to 1800 fans who consider themselves Aces fans are sat most weeks not attending the track.. It wouldn't take much to get an extra 200, or more or so of those 'latent' fans through the turnstiles each week I would say.. A few special offers for those who haven't been for a few weeks may get them out of their armchairs, and any income from them, (even reduced price income) will be extra, over and above what your die hards regularly deliver.. The sport has die hards who will come every week regardless of who is making up the teams and credibility of competition, therefore the sport has a unique opportunity to move their fan base forward on the back of these fans' incredible loyalty.. I would suggest most clubs have at least as many 'fans' that dont attend regularly as those who do.. Therefore to be succesful you don't need to bring in new customers, sometimes you just have to get those who already know who you are, and have an affinity with you, to frequent your enterprise more often than they currently do..

I am sure it will soon feel like pushing water up a hill..

And in the Speedway Star, Adrian Smith once again mentions how an independent body running the sport would be a major move forward for it.. Tsk. These people coming into Speedway wanting to drag it out of its self inflicted malaise and modernise it.. I don't know..... Who do they think they are?...

Why not just have another heat? The 3rd and 4th from both semis race off for positions five to eight..

Some of the very best racing I have seen at the NSS has been delivered by the NL lads.. The days of 'wobblers' and 'all fall downers' are long gone... And a very reasonable admission price point too..

Good.. I think that there is much more to come from Ellis.. Lambert's performances this season should boost his ambition and confidence as he can definitely compete with him over here.. Young enough to progress several rungs up the ladder I would think.. Danger, as always, is he becomes a "lifer" in the UK Leagues like so many before him, beating riders of similar standing but not moving forward by being tested against the best..