Hawk127

Support through the turnstiles continues to fall and the cloth cap brigade have all but gone with no new blood coming through and with the financial demands from the riders, how much gate money really makes a difference these days. So much is now wrong with the sport from costs to riders, clubs and punters to intermittently run league meetings with gaps in the calendar throughout the summer months that makes it a joke to call it a summer sport added to which the poor tv coverage via Eurosport (BSN are the exception) through to the lunatics who run the sport and are the same idiots who are doing their utmost to stop the likes of the IOW running with Vacther and co being the cancer of the sport. Cut out these people and it may have a chance but it will probably take some clubs to break away and without knowing all the rules, I would suggest that come the end of season, clubs close, get the bonds refunded and then start up again under the governance of another body who are interested in making the sport a success but more importantly, a form of genuine entertainment for the punter.

Sad to see such a decline in what was four or five years ago a passable sport. The top league should be abandoned. Two leagues only with riders who are prepared to ride u k speedway as a their main league and any overseas clubs who they join are aware that the British fixtures take precedent. If it means you end up with part time riders who have jobs outside the sport so be it, it was not that bad last time it was run on this basis. It has no future as it is currently run. Once great teams/tracks like KL and Peterborough have been sacrificed by promoters who fail to operate in the interest of the entire sport. I really hope that someone with some vision can drag this out of the mess and make a successful before it is consigned to history. We cannot compete with overseas clubs/ leagues so stop pretending we can.

Sad state of affairs where the three teams in East Anglia who now have four or five world class riders worth watching are supported by riders Who in each case are average to poor. Perhaps the teams should pool the riders and have a squad system. It also looks as though none of the three will make the play offs. Perhaps they can have their own championship. The coverage on TV is poor and comes nowhere near that which is streamed from Poland. Anyone who has not tried it, watch one Sunday afternoon/evening to see how it can/should be done. Finally, where do the Witches go from here? Is a wholesale clear out required and get in some up and coming talent with a view to next season (assuming they have one at this level)

Processional sadly and having watched the Polish meeting this afternoon, the quality of racing was far better and this sort of presentation leaves you wondering why anyone bothers. Gate and go.

Good meeting and Brady Kurtz was Mr Entertainment weaving his way through from the back. Not sure why Timo left gaps big enough to allow a whole team to pass him. Zagar also got his act together eventually.

It will need a miracle to turn this around. On the plus side, Emil and Jason are crowd pleasers and more often than not show how it can be done. Apart from these guys the team is a shambles. King and Thompson need to be put out to grass and given that the chances of a play off place are becoming remote, try some new talent and hope that the current set up league wise survives another season. Not convinced that the sport can continue as is and the current arrangements show why more meetings are needed to bring on the talent not the current farce with once every three weeks or so for a home meeting. If you cannot change and start having meetings be they individual, four team or pairs in addition to the joke of league racing than every promoter needs to think long and hard and decide if it is worth continuing with the current set up. While the powers that be piss from a great heigh on Nora events, they are also killing off the sport as we all know it.

Possibly one league with clubs racing on nights that best suit them not dictated by overseas race nights. In reality the league as it stands aspires to something it cannot possibly achieve with the real returns for high flyers being Poland therefore why does the U.K. try to compete by paying some stars top dollar (and yes the likes of Doyle etc deserve it) with a long tail in each team of second strings when in reality the sport in this country can not afford those top guys. If you look at the three top teams in the region, they would be hard pushed between them putting out a competitive team that could operate in the top Polish league. It can go one of two ways in the future, complete revamp under the BSPL or Nora. The way some clubs have been treated recently, many will need to consider what will work best for them, a dictatorship running the show or the show being run with spectators in mind.

Britain’s Got Talent has more entertainment and that is saying something give the presentation on show. Who sold out to Eurosport? Oh well always BSN and next season.

Unfortunately the racing cannot live up to that from Poland. Crowd levels don’t come anywhere near and the atmosphere is flat and now you have the commentator talking horse sh.. about to meetings in one day. No hope for the sport in this country. Would today’s current crop of riders coped with the meeting schedule back in the 70’s and 80’s, I doubt it.

Sorry but do not know. Just watched the announcement on Discovery and no names were mentioned.

Well down to Kings Lynn. Great signing and what a meeting it will be between Ipswich and the Stars.

On Discovery + and it really is amateur status. Give up and stick to streams from Poland on Sunday.

Simply filling in at the moment with mindless drivel of interviews. No wonder the sport is on its knees. Currently showing pictures of the supporters. Bit like Euronews with no comment.

Interviews on Discovery plus. Sold out by the arseholes who signed up the rights to this shower who are showing the sport and you have to wonder what the agenda is/has been of the BSPL and any other authority who has had a say in this farce.

It has seemingly been delayed by 30 minutes. Sums up the sport. Crap presentation crap timing, better that clubs/stadia give some credence to Nora events and stop the Vatchers of this world calling the shots. Time this guy was eliminated from the sport.

Looking back, on the May bank holiday in 1973, May 26th you had nine meetings Kings Lynn v Leicester, Belle Vue v Wolverhampton, Cradley v Reading, Halifax v Exeter, Berwick v Boston, Canterbury v Peterborough, Rayleigh v Teeside, Swindon v Oxford and a WCQR at Coventry. On bank holiday Monday nine meetings were taking place and between the 24th and 31st May the fixture list showed 53 meetings were due to take place. I afraid that is when speedway was really worth turning out for and many a happy Saturday night spent at the Weir watching leaping Len and the Rockets. Sadly the last season at the stadium.

Perhaps it should be like American Football, the Poles grace us with a league match in this country and show the BSPA how it is done. Imagine two top clubs from Poland racing in Manchester or Ipswich or Poole and have it televised live on a Sunday afternoon. I guess we just have to dream on but the sport in the U.K. is nowhere near the level that will generate enthusiasm amongst the punters that it does in Poland. Sadly it is past its best in this country.

Sorry but it just does not compete with Poland at all levels. They have more queuing up for the toilet in a Polish meeting than are on the terraces and excitement is as good as paint drying. U K speedway needs to take a look at how you get people interested, this will not do it.

Maybe with a few hundred supporters and naff all in atmosphere. The U K simply cannot compete at this level. Also rans comes to mind

In the U K some moan about day time racing, some moan about Sunday meetings but look what you can do with the right riders, an enthusiastic group of supporters and even with the earlier abandoned meeting, the Poles know how to put on a show. U K speedway is so far behind and anyone who has not dropped in on a live stream from Poland should give it a go. You wonder why anyone bothers with speedway U.K.

Back to reality tomorrow on Eurosport

What a final race. That sums up what great sport it can be in the right conditions with a superb crowd. Well done to both teams

I thought only the U.K. was capable of this type of shenanigans. Fans very vocal, brave or foolhardy decision, we will never know but I would not want to be an official at the stadium.

Maybe it was a system issue. When I posted those were the numbers quoted. Thank goodness it was not that bad.

If speedway updates is correct, 99 viewing. What does that say about the meeting? If it is correct it is sad really that the sport has fallen from being a spectacle to an event followed by a fickle bunch of supporters and one has to say is it any wonder that clubs run solely league meetings and dare not risk putting on anything else. Unfortunately the sport is dead in the water and it will take something special to get it back to the halcyon days of league, cup, 4TT and individual classics. If this does not send a message to promoters nothing will. For those still loyal to the sport, it may be that the days are numbered in terms of the current league set up in the U.K. if GP riders cannot not bums on seats such as Poole last evening then it really is time to go back to grass roots.