mikebv

I think that the Promoters do actually realise the Sport is inherently 'Donald Ducked' within a 'Team Sport' framework (in Britain), hence the plan of "let's have more guests".. This will be to ensure they can at least pretend to have teams race each other each week which in turn means teams still have a reason to exist... And make it look from the mainstream media outside view (and the very occasional Speedway watcher) that it is actually a 'proper team sport'... I feel that the Sport is now very much ran for the riders who shell out thousands in equipment and therefore need thousands more in earnings to make it pay... No point spending £20k on kit if you are only riding in 36 meetings even at a grand plus a night... You need to race in 70 - 90 meetings to make it pay... Hence Du's in every meeting. Hence "we need more guests" is the mantra.. The Promoters need to create more races for riders to take for the rider to make the investment.. What we have now is what will always be until that inevitable 'race to the bottom' is eventually 'won'.. (And ironically winning that race to the bottom carries about as much kudos as winning a Speedway Title or Cup!).. The Sports tipping point as a team entity in this Country has been reached, what we will now see is more and more cobbled together, unfit for purpose nonsense.... What about Credibilty? "You're joking! Cant afford it mate!"...

Think so Bruno... For me Speedway in Britain is caught between two stools... If say the NSS ran three BIG individual meetings a year whereby the World's top riders were in attendance I would pay £35 - £40 for me and my 14 year old lad to attend and know we would see great racing with real value for money. And I am sure around 4000 - 5000 others (at least) would join me.. I gladly spend circa £200 notes to attend Cardiff... I balk though at paying £25 or so weekly for me and the lad to watch 'made up teams' in a competition with no credibility... So much so I actually attended more Colts matches this year than Aces matches as for just £10 for me and the lad combined (in the posh seats too) you could see some fantastic action... However it didn't bother me who won the Colts matches as I saw them as very much a "reserve team" to the main one, therefore I could just sit back and enjoy Bewley, Bickley, Smith, Ayres, Armstrong, Royton et al riding as if it were a GP they were competing in... How it sorts the many Premiership and the Championship issues out I don't know, what I do know though is that if it's more of the same next year my visits to Premiership matches will remain as well spread out as this year's. ,,

Spot on... It can still be a great night out watching four riders of similar ability racing four laps of Speedway... The problem is 'shoe horning' that into a Team Sport concept with too many teams and team places to fill and/(or) not enough riders..... Many fans now go and "just watch the racing" with a view of "If we win, we win. If we don't, we dont".. Not because they don't want their club to be succesful, far from it, its just simply because they no longer have that emotional attachment they once did.. Lets face it, winning with a team of ringers is hollow as they are not really your riders, and getting beat by a team full of ringers isn't painful as they weren't really your opponents anyway.. Unfortunately there are only so many fans willing to follow a team Sport under those parameters...

Understand your sentiments Rob but the reality is that many, many meetings through the year are actually 'meaningless' given the often 'random' make up of the teams... People already do decide the Sport has no meaning in this country with many now who still attend, just going along to watch the 'racing spectacle' rather than having any 'emotional attachment' as invariably 'their team' is seldom made up of 'their riders'... For many more others? Well, they simply have just given up attending... My team won a Cup against a team with THREE of their own riders, the Final itself had SEVEN guests... You really would have to go some to get a wider sporting public (and even many fans of the sport too) to believe that any National Trophy won under those circumstances isn't anything other than 'meaningless'... And if an actual National Final has no credibilty what chance attracting a crowd for the previous rounds? Maybe there is no actual way of running the Sport in Britain with credibility? If so, what we have now is all we will get in future and many more 'meaningless meetings' will take place so maybe we should just get used to it..(?) As you say, its just one step away from saying the whole sport (in this country) has no meaning.. Pretty close to that now I would say particularly after the past five years or so...

Other way of looking at it is that some 'nearly new' reasonably priced kit works it's way down the 'Rider Chain' and may encourage more participants? Top riders will often want the latest cutting edge kit (even if it doesn't actually in reality bring any more tangible difference). ie "If the World Champ has it, then I need it"! Some lower grade riders then see this level of kit as a 'must have' and will shell out silly money for equipment they can't do justice too!! And then want crackers money far in excess of their actual standing to pay for it!! A race down to the bottom if ever there was one...

Spot on.... The way the Sport is delivered I am amazed clubs still have fans to moan at...😨

The NSS lies dormant for most of the year... Couldn't the BSPA hire it and run training camps through the winter and also on the (sadly) many weeks during the season when there is no racing? Just over 20 miles away there is Buxton too, two more contrasting tracks you would struggle to find.. A day on each back to back several times a year would surely be beneficial in the development of our young riders..? Both tracks quite central geographically too..

In the Night Garden...😉😀

Spoke about 3 years ago with a sponsor of a rider who was at the time at a good HL level in both Leagues and rode only in Britain.. He earned between £90 - £95k from riding... "Not much left" after paying out for kit and the general everyday cost of 12 months living was the comment.. Outlay was approx £20 - £25k each season for total start up to buy three new bikes and equip van with spare equipment etc.. This was offset to a degree by selling off the bikes at the end of the Season, but obviously this doesn't bring in the same value and would often only cover the years additional running costs of fuel, tuning, insurance etc etc Obviously riders as we know could take other jobs during the winter, but many don't so rely solely on Speedways income.. Didn't Woffy say a couple of years ago in an interview that his costs were well over £100k a year? Need a fair old income to do that...

And if my Auntie had had bollocks she'd have been my Uncle!! 😀😀

And also the old tac sub rule invariably brought out yours or the oppositions best riders, eg Collins, Mauger, Olsen, Penhall et al, therefore you saw the best in the world take extra rides, at a time when they weren't on TV 'once a fortnight', and only rode once, maybe twice at the most, at your track, so they still held some 'mystique'.. It could be argued Ht 15 nowadays does that but sadly most of the world's best don't ride over here and many even when they did didn't bother with Ht 15 when the result was a foregone conclusion. You seldom hear nowadays Nige or Kelvin say that a Ht15 could be a GP final like they used to.. For me, the play offs and KO Cup have shown there is no need for them. The best team should win any sport through skill and sometimes luck, not artificially made up contrived results..

Brilliant....😁😁😁 And to think some people and much of the media don't take British Speedway seriously.... Hope Sheffield have extra turnstiles on, don't want the queues backing up too far...

Well done Georgie Wood!

They should start the season with the KO Cup and then run the Final around July.. Similar to the way the League Cup in Football breaks up the Season and gives two clear focal points. One Final mid season and one Final at the end... One team could even market themselves as 'going for a double' which can only enhance the possibility of attracting fans.. If there is any apathy towards the Competition having it at the start of the season would still mean good crowds looking to see their Speedway again after a long winter.. Ludicrous that it needs just 14 evenings to complete the competition and from April we haven't been able to get it finished much earlier to maintain interest...

Cook should just have rang in and said his van had broken down on the way.. Seems you don't get banned for missing BSPA events for that...😂 Still, it creates another 'guestfest' meeting so not all bad news... It is only a FINAL after all...😲

Down I would say at BV, between 1200 - 1500 a week I reckon 1500 - 1800 was around PAR last year... Noticeable that the clubs that are announcing 'Ups', given the comments from their fans, are, in the main, only reaching what used to be regular attendances... Going back to the level where you once were is only a marginal success in reality.. But a success never the less in the world of British Speedway I suppose.. Looks like Glasgow and the IOW have seen a proper, joined up, advertising campaign pay off? Well done to them..

Their track record over the past 10-15 years or so would suggest you are maybe being a tad optimistic ccr... I believe that the official biscuits to be available at the AGM have been confirmed though, as this was ratified at the last pre AGM.. This year the official biscuit of choice is 'Mcvities Milk Chocolate Hob Nobs', however I do believe there may be availability problems at the local Tesco where they buy them from, which may prevent the Hob Nobs from taking their position on the table. If that is the case, and Tesco do run out, then they can spend up to 5% more and bring in 'Cadburys Milk Chocolate Fingers' as a 'Guest Biscuit'... This can be done without having to seek MC approval... WOW!!! And this is the Leader of British Speedway? WOW!!! PS. Philip, you should be ashamed of yourself, single handedly bringing down the Sport... I believe there were hundreds of thousands of fans planning to go to Speedway that week, inspired by the National Marketing of the Sport, however upon reading your comments they obviously decided against attending... Maybe to get back into the BSPA good books you could do another 'In My View' along the lines of how next season 'More and More Guests For Every Absence' are the answer to bringing back huge crowds and increasing the credibility of the Sport... ! PPS. On a positive note though Phil, sales of the SS must be booming given so many fans are deterred from attending Speedway through reading your article and what influence on the Sport you and your team must have..!! WOW!!! (again)....😨

Promoters for ever have known home wins keeps a crowd... Great racing but constant defeats means huge losses and potential closure... Hence all teams are built to deliver home wins first and foremost and the track will be delivered to suit the home team riders regardless of entertainment value generated... Many Promoters don't even consider the entertainment side of the equation anyway, it is simply winning they aspire to... Hardly anyone goes away to watch their team therefore how they perform away is very much a secondary consideration so an 'entertaining' team away from home wont be a priority in team planning.. Remember for many teams, survival is an achievement, and success isn't measured in trophies won but getting to the end of the season without incurring too huge a loss, meaning they can come to the tapes again the next year.... How important home wins are is highlighted by how so many meetings that end up 'guestfests' invariably have the away team turning up without their Number One and others missing... The home side wouldn't dream of planning in a meeting without their main man and two or three guests unless absolutely no choice, but the away team will agree to ride readily given the same circumstances... Protect your home meeting and crowd level is always the priority..

Cook got abuse off the Wolves fans? Good.... Team Sport is supposed to be emotional, it's supposed to be about passion... It's supposed to mean something to the fans who follow their team... A bit more of it wouldn't go amiss in this Sport.. Good for Cook too to become a personality, get a reputation and get noticed, I am sure he won't give a monkey's what Wolves fans think.. Nicki P does very well out of a bit of pantomime villainy....

Too many teams? or not enough riders?.... Or maybe both...? No matter what system is used, unless this is sorted then the Sport cannot move forwards.. For me run with less amount of riders per team and no one in the Premiership to be included below a four point average.. Too many number sevens are out of their depth, miles behind, and add nothing to the meeting other than to give the number six an extra ride.. Do a mock up for 12 six man teams and do the same for 12 five man teams... Use the average of all this year's top sixes and top fives to ascertain a mean average, convert it to a Championship figure and use this figure for the mock ups.. It would show potential teams and how many excess riders of a reasonable level there could be to cover any replacements needed.. If set nights in the Premiership it would mean DU'ing is a positive as no clashes, meaning hopefully putting rider supply higher than the demand...

I don't think any prospective Sponsor worth their salt would gauge the benefits of getting involved in the Sport from this Forum.... If they did, they probably wouldn't be worth getting involved with anyway given their lack of detailed, quality research.... But just supposing they did, in the past few weeks.... They would have read on here that the KO Cup Final was being contested by two teams with only eight out of fourteen contracted riders there... They would also have read that the Promotion/Relegation play off was being contested by teams who share the same riders meaning they could effectively relegate themselves by scoring points..... They would have also have read about a Club being massively fined for letting one of their riders miss a meeting to ride in Poland whilst also reading that another rider was allowed to miss a fixture to do the same without any punishment... And they would also have read about how an afternoon weather change in Poland one Sunday effected the rules of how a meeting in Newcastle ended up being ran.... All factual information remember, not subjective opinion... No amount of negativity on here could do the amount of damage to the Sport that such an 'operating model' could... (And each week does)...

Definitely a contributing factor but remember this is a 'Final'... I think overall, running a 'guestfest' Final would have negatively impacted the crowd level much, much more.. The 'Wolves' team(s) used will have destroyed any credible standing the event had in the eyes of many of the fans.. Maybe more home fans will attend the second leg as the Aces didn't reach the PO Final so winning the KO Cup might be seen as some consolation by some Aces fans? .. It isn't really is it though? Given its not really 'Wolves' that we are racing against.. And if the Sport's guardians don't take one of their Finals seriously, why should the fans?

Mickey Flanagan does a great story about how blokes with ridiculous wigs walk down the street expecting the rest of the population to collude with them that what is on top of their head is actually their own original hair.... Similarly, British Speedway expects us fans to collude with them that what we are watching actually has credibilty and not to 'spill the beans' to any newbies..☺

And then get relegated?😲 And get replaced by Sheffield?😂

Is it called Surprise Surprise!?..... If so, is it about a British Speedway meeting with no guests....? 😂