iris123

And that Australia pride themselves on being very restrictive........

I don't think this is getting any where at all tbh. Your original point is more like a comparison to football in the 70s.It didn't matter how crap the stadiums were and that most people couldn't use the toilets at half time and had to pee against a wall somewhere and the food was crap and you didn't have a seat and often no cover,you were squeezed in and often had no choice about which direction you would move.It didn't matter at all back then,you were there to support your team.Nowadays it is totally different The point about cinema is rather bizarre.Attendances are up or were from the big slump in the 70s(quite similar to football)probably because of the modern cinemas etc with better seating,food,sound and picture quality and of course more choice.But you are no more certain of seeing a good film now as you were back then.... In fact you are making a good case for the opposition.Pub attendace like speedway seems to have fallen dramatically as have the amount of pubs.Crazy the amount that have closed in the past 2 decades.On the other hand football and cinema attendances have risen and that must to a large extent be down to the chance in stadium/cinemas as the basic product hasn't changed all that much

Yes,very simplistic.Doesn't cost you anything but a bit of travel time to go to a pub.When it costs just to get in to a place you tend to be more choosy.If a pub is crap you just turn around and go to the next one

It is a chicken and egg thing.It has often been said on here that the basic racing has to be good,but you also as the title said have to attract people into the stadiums.You can't regardless be 100% sure that the racing can be good for a variety of reasons,but you can be well prepared and make sure all the other things can be 100%

Yes,hope Daniil can carry on riding Agree Ht3 was fantastic And they ususally have better crazier dancing.But still preferable to Night Wolves propaganda films.Have a feeling we will be seeing more of that during the season

Can't remember who it was that ended Jan Steachmann's career,but I don't think Jan was too happy about the incident

Livestream for Togliatti day 1,starts in 35 minutes or so... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aysNGcOtStw&feature=youtu.be

As much as he was brilliant to watch at his best,Gollob did make some diabolical moves across the track to block people Think a guy called Ivor Brown was notorious back in the day and if I am right he was the only rider to make Ivan Mauger lose his cool and deliberately go out to get someone

And are attendances at Grasstrack a lot bigger than at speedway because of this?

Thanks John.I wonder why Jack Young had to miss this trip?Although it did play into the promoters hands so that they could advertise an England team.And even though they rode under protest after finding out about being duped,they still rode the next day as "England" as well......

Wish them all the success in the world.Fingers crossed it starts an upturn in the sport.I remember football back in the 70s and it was largely a male dominated sport.Now women and also important ethnic minorities are to be seen in fairly large numbers.Speedway doesn't have the problem that football did in attracting women,but why is there no talk of attracting ethnic minorities as well as youngsters?

Think it shows how hard it is in the situation speedway finds itself in,that even two very experienced enthusiasts like Kelvin + Phil can't really come up with a solution.I do think an awful lot is down to the stadia.If speedway was always held in modern stadiums with great sound and lighting and viewing and good covering,then I am sure it would all be a lot easier to attract people

This is one rider http://www.technischesmuseum.at/motorsport-in-oesterreich/objekt/article_entity_id/109_1954/order/0/mediaid/317342?returnurl=http://www.technischesmuseum.at/motorsport-in-oesterreich/veranstaltung/articleid/2189 rider with glasses http://www.technischesmuseum.at/motorsport-in-oesterreich/objekt/article_entity_id/109_1954/order/0/mediaid/317346?returnurl=http://www.technischesmuseum.at/motorsport-in-oesterreich/veranstaltung/articleid/2189

Like I said,it is unlikely anyone would absolutely dominate a decade,but if anyone could have,of the riders I have seen then that is Ivan funny font and I can't be bothered to change it!!!!

I thought Ivan himself said he had a great season in 76,but PC won the title and although PC had a great 77 season Ivan won.I think it is quite possible Ivan could have dominated a decade rather than 5 years as sid say's.Not likely,but possible Wasn't PC injured when he won?Injury would obviously play more a part in a GP series than a one-off title meeting

Not sure sindey.Thought Mauger had a great season in 1976 and won in 1977 and also 1979.So he could of won from 1968 through to 1979.Probably wouldn't have,but could possibly

Put a link to the Austrian site on here a little while ago in the Hofmeister thread and still going through them.Found some great photos of this meeting.Couple of riders unmarked in the pics.The guy with the glasses for instance.Wonder if anyone can put some names to these riders. http://www.technischesmuseum.at/motorsport-in-oesterreich/veranstaltung/articleid/2189 Taken from internationalspeedway.co.uk 1st Match at Vienna England Continent Wally Green 3 3 3 1' 2' 12+2 Fritz Dirtl (Aut) 2 3 3 3 3 3 17 Bert Roger 1 2 2' 2 3 3 13+1 Hans Sidlo (Aut) 0 0 1 0 0 1 Gerry Hussey 3 3 3 3 0 12 Pfefferer 1' 0 0 1 1 3+1 Howdy Byford 1' 2' 1 1 0 5+2 Franz Aigner (Aut) 2 1 1 0 2' 1 7+1 Alan Smith 2 2' 3 2 2' 11+2 Albin Siegl (Ger) 1 1 0 3 3 8 Pat Clarke 0 1' 1' 0 1 3+2 Josef Seidl (Ger) 3 0 2 1 2' 8+1 Bill Kitchen 0 2' 2 2' 2 8+2 Erich Sidlo (Aut) 0 0 0 0 0 1: Green, Dirtl, Roger, H Sidlo 4-2 2: Hussey, Aigner, Pfefferer, Kitchen 3-3 7-5 3: Seidl, Smith, Siegl, Clarke 2-4 9-9 4: Dirtl, Roger, Byford, Pfefferer 3-3 12-12 5: Green, Kitchen, Siegl, E Sidlo 5-1 17-13 6: Hussey, Smith, Aigner, H Sidlo 5-1 22-14 7: Dirtl, Kitchen, Clarke, Seidl 3-3 25-17 8: Smith, Roger, H Sidlo, E Sidlo 5-1 30-18 9: Green, Byford, Aigner, Siegl 5-1 35-19 10: Hussey, Seidl, Byford, H Sidlo 4-2 39-21 11: Dirtl, Smith, Green, Aigner 3-3 42-24 12: Siegl, Roger, Clarke, E Sidlo 3-3 45-27 13: Hussey, Green, Seidl, Pfefferer 5-1 50-28 14: Dirtl, Aigner, Byford, Clarke 1-5 51-33 15: Roger, Smith, Pfefferer, H Sidlo 5-1 56-34 16: Siegl, Seidl, Clarke, Hussey 1-5 57-39 17: Roger, Kitchen, Pfefferer, E Sidlo 5-1 62-40 18: Dirtl, Kitchen, Aigner, Byford 2-4 64-44 The interesting thing about the meeting as stated on Brian Collins super site Note : The "England" team was actually club side West Ham, with Bill Kitchen replacing Jack Young. Not until they arrived at Vienna were the team aware that they were advertised as "England", and would be wearing England race jackets. Captain Wally Green complained that this was wrong and that the UK Control Board would not be pleased. But with a stadium full of fans waiting, he and his team eventually rode the match under protest. Can also find photos of Briggo,Fundin,Moore,Nygren etc in the 1957-1961 sections(Australasia + Sweden)

Ticket prices,not so bad as UK Martins friends told him they would be http://speedwaygp.com/event/teterow

Actually putting your best rider at reserve is something that often happens in the ice speedway team championship.Germany had Günther Bauer at reserve last year.Russia had Nikolai Krasnikov at reserve in 2014(I think) and Austria used Franky Zorn at reserve in 2013......in speedway it makes maybe even more sense as you have more flexibility

It's more likely to be The Surecare Plumbing services league and if the NL gets a sponsor,say The Utopia Hair-Beauty Aberdeen League,then no-one will know what is the top or bottom league........ I'm sure if they don't get the name exactly right,then a lot of people will just call it a day on this issue

The major problem with one league is what do you call it then?It wouldn't be as strong as the Elite,so you can't call it that and it would be stronger than the Premier,so you really can't call it that.Calling the top league 'Elite' seems to give lots of people a problem,so I imagine this new big league will fail at the first stage of thinking up a name that will please everyone,before they even start on team building and rules.........

I never really got into the artificial tension brought in by keeping the scores close.For me the excitement is on the track and how the racing goes,not the statistics in the programme.If the racing is poor I get bored even if the scores are close

Ufa meeting was a big propaganda event for the Night Wolves.Race jackets all bearing the Night Wolves emblem and instead of strangely dressed Russian women dancing during the intervals,we get Night Wolves videos showing them in Sevastopol,the annexed part of Ukraine,etc!!!!! Politics + sport eh?Still apart from that I think the fact we only have 3 meetings shws the drop in the sport even in the Russian heartland and a gap is opening up between the top and the also rans.All is not well in the sport of ice speedway

I guess the stock car world champ had far more than 5 seconds though..........

Couple of good posts Dave.Don't agree with a lot of it,but you have put your points out thoughtfully One thing I would disagree with is your bit about Nicki that you think he would have won less in another era.It is hard to tell in one way,but in anther if you started swapping riders around eras then it is obvious that some would win less.If you put Rickardsson in the same era as Fundin and Briggs then obviously someone must win less.The same if Mauger was in the same era as Rickarsson.Nicki didn't win his titles by luck.In some years he totally dominated,just like Crump and then stragely in some years he looked a shadow of himself as did Crump