sparkafag

Surely a business person who understands the control of costs would understand why the introduction of D/U was essential to.... the cutting, control and managing of costs? And would also understand why an upheaval of the sports rules eg “riders can only ride for 1 team” would leave promotions having to adjust budgeting, costs etc at a time when the sport is already on unstable ground. I totally understand people having opinion, views etc re how the sport is run but simply chucking sh*t at promotions with next not to substance, logic or thought is absurdly harsh.

They have found an answer which means there isn’t the need to forget team competitions. While some may have turned their back on the sport as a result of R/R and guests others haven’t. The idea of destroying what is there purely to appease people who no longer wish to attend seems somewhat ass backwards.

I can’t even begin to twist my brain in the shape it has to go to work out how speedway in this country would work if riders could only race for one side. I do have to admit though it is a great alternative to R/R and guests…midseason when riders are inured it can be 3 or 4 v 5. Try explaining that to a new fan.

Quite easy really. It's a sport that's pretty expensive to compete in, thus the number of competitors are limited. If a guy gets injured they draught someone in, it's like a temporary loan system in football...don't worry though it's still a guy on a bike going around a track like the rest of them.

Surely if they enjoy the sport, they enjoy the sport….which is 4 guys going around a track on bikes. If you wanted to boil your head off with intricacies and politics you could convince yourself to despise any sport, thus leading yourself to wonder why you bothered in the first place. The vast majority of sport Football, Rugby, F1, Atheltics ( I could go on) they all have daft rules and political BS that many people don’t agree with….it doesn’t seem to overly impact the attendances of those sports.

I have always found the idea that R/R and guests are what turn potential new fans away a complete fallacy perpetuated by screen names on here, who, typically, only reference the old days of the sport. At first glance to a new fan surely they want to know if they enjoy what they’re watching before they care about the intricacies and politics of the sport, surely for them to know the in-depth rules of the sport someone has told them. Why would a new fan know/care what "rider replacement" is. Eg, a new fan watches a rider like Garrity race for 4 laps….surely they decide they enjoy it, rather than deciding to study their phone right there and then to look up who Garrity actually rides for/guests for doubles up etc? Alternatively, if a regular attendee has taken a new fan who enjoys Garrity, Ward etc and that person turns around at the end of their first viewing of them and says “yes, pretty good”, surely it would take an absolute kill joy to turn around and say…..”Well actually wait till I tell you about the guest system”. A new fan to any sport will decide they like the look of it before investing the time to learn about half the BS that surrounds a sport. Take Speedway, it’s a battle simply getting people inside the run down derelict, half empty stadia to watch four guys go around in circles to begin with, let alone getting people to emotionally invest enough to care about half the things speedway fans get worked up about. I would argue the same case and point re regulars who actually just want to watch a good meeting. I don’t even know how many riders guest/double up for sides in the Lakeside v Coventry meeting last week, nor do I personally particularly care, it was a good meeting, I am fine with that. If you want to convince yourself R/R and guests are killing the sport confirmationbias will eventually lead you to believe you’re correct, even if it isn’t the case. Obsessing over guests and R/R is unhealthy just enjoy watching guys race around the track on a bike.

That’s a good signing this late in the season. I don’t know how he gets on at Edinburgh but he can get around Somerset, Peterborough and Ipswich which should come in handy come Play Off time.

Would a change of race night make a difference to attendances at Berwick? My understanding is that the regulation re race nights was put in place in order to decrease the number of fans who might travel, eg if Berwick was on a Sunday it is taking fans away from Glasgow/Newcastle (although I am not 100% sure if that is correct). It is a big gamble to take but would speedway be better attended in Berwick on a Friday night/Sunday afternoon, even the idea is possibly easier said than done due to logistics re noise regulations in place and attracting riders etc.

Maybe rather than attempting to decide when it is and isn’t acceptable to take cheap shots it best not to bother doing it at all, but at least you have admitted what was aimed at you for long enough.

It is because some fans love the idea of false opposition. It doesn’t just apply with speedway, or even Berwick fans, it is applied across the board in many sports, it is seen as a comfort blanket. Already we have had the club needs someone rich, the NL is a decent alternative under new owners (who?) and now the NL would work with sides who aren’t even in it yet, none of these things are actually possibilities yet, until they are they aren’t a true opposition to the statement released from the club.

I am not entirely convinced by the idea of NL being a cost effective alternative. As was covered on the other thread, the NL is a southern centric league just now, you also have to factor in sides like Kings Lynn and Coventry competing in the league. If fans are facing struggles attending their own track to see an EL team, and an NL team what are the chances of them travelling away to see the EL side AND/OR the NL side at Berwick. Over the past few seasons Cradley have been absurdly dominant so the chances are you wouldn’t even be able to put forward the idea of a winning side (which was a massive upside when Berwick returned in the Conference league before). There isn’t a massive pool of riders in the North, even though it is increasing so you are still going to have to factor in travel costs for riders coming from the South, simply to race NL Speedway. And finally, just how well attended would it be? How low can crowds be before it genuinely isn’t worth the rent and maintenance of the stadium in order to actually run a meeting? More so the cost of say Eastbourne, and the travelling costs involved. Even ignoring all of the factors on a personal note I think you get by if you bring a club back and run it in the NL. The fans in the area haven’t seen the sport for a while, they are enthused by it, heroes come easily if you don’t know who you are watching. If it is a side dropping and you’ve been spoiled with GP meetings, World Champions and PL success I think it is easy for even the diehards to have serious doubts about what they are watching.

Is that not what has happened at Berwick for the last 20 years at least? Is it just fortunate that the people in charge have bankrolled the black holes left when crowds dwindle, injuries stack up etc On another note, the parody accounts “Big John”, “crazy golf” BS chat that is posted on here should have been put a stop to months ago, its utterly pathetic.

I would assume it’s probably beneficial to the PL to keep the pool of riders who can be signed as large as possible rather than to consciously reduce it even further.

That seems really harsh but pretty logical if you are looking at it from the clubs currently in the NL's side of things. You would have to wonder how sustainable Berwick v Eastbourne is for either club at NL level. Berwick would probably only attract about a handful of away fans all season as well by the time you factor in Coventry and Kings Lynn.

Ow you do, and for you...nah I will leave you with the thrill the internet gives you, you and that "ammo" of yours, you really are quite the weapon.

Let it go......it's ok you will survive without craving attention on an Internet Forum

Remember to differentiate between their nuts and them being nuts, might get "your" licence revoked.

You mean you're, at least I hope you do as if you mean "your" you should seek help, but more power to you for trying, you will get there.

What does it matter to you if it's so sad, just leave it be rather than acting like an attention seeking walloper.

Almost, but not quite as sad as your post.

It is pretty safe to assume riders wouldn’t want their scores to be “crash hot”, what an idiotic terminology to use when describing a speedway rider. His scores were impacted because he did “crash” early in the season and returned from it early, his form was gradually improving once he picked up race speed and he has been a huge miss.

Someone who doesn’t care wouldn’t go the effort of stepping on a bike again after his crash against Rye House, that’s an absurdly harsh, and quite frankly daft accusation to level at someone who continues to attempt to build a career in the sport despite enduring the knocks and bumps he has. Either way, I have brought the topic back to the top of the forum just to refresh everyone of that incident and remind themselves of how sickening it was, and just how much passion someone has to show to come back from that.

my mistake, wrong thread.

6 points from 6 rides is hardly something to shout about or the kind of thing to suggest a rider is downing tools while riding for one club but not another. I would assume Berwick fans don’t question Hall because it is quite evident the commitment is there, but at time the craft or speed probably isn’t. The craft problem has plagued him for the majority of his career and the speed issue seems to have crept in lately and plagued him at more clubs than Berwick eg, Redcar, Scunthorpe and Peterborough. He has settled into being what he is now, a decent 4/5 point reserve most weeks. The question is asked re why the likes of Hall and Edberg still have team places, the answer is because most weeks they outscore the other reserves which tends to swing meetings, the recent 13 point haul from the reserves v Rye House shows what a difference scoring reserves make. Berwicks 6 and 7 averages are comparable to most of their counterparts in the league, it is in other areas Berwick are struggling, lack of race winners, but when you lose your top two, one of whom punches above their average at home, it is difficult to compensate that with guests/RR. If the suggestion is that replacing Hall and Edberg with say Carr and Crang turns Berwicks season around, I am going to throw it out there and say it doesn’t, albeit Carr is evidently putting himself in the picture at least, but that has to be caveated by him having a team place last season and his form alarmingly dropping of, so much so that he faced the same questions from fans and calls for the axe that Edberg in particular is facing now.

If trolls bother you so much it’s maybe best to stop the pedantic BS re spelling and grammar every time a statement is released….people in glass houses and all that.