scampispeedway

szkocjasid, for information, a few years ago when Newcastle were strong, it was passed at the AGM of the Promoters that the Overall Team Rider Average could not exceed 50 pts, Ian Thomas didn't like this but it was passed by the majority. Ian found a way round this limit by using Riders who either had not ridden in our league for many years and were assessed at 7.5, or had been injured the previous season, after this the promoters lowered the limit to 45 and this has now been lowered many times as each year passes. The main reason was they could not afford or get the better riders but were quite happy to have a bumper crowd when Newcastle were the visitors and hoped that their team would win.

RuffDiamond, unfortunately in the days when we strong i.e. Ian Thomas's era, we were lucky to get a loyal rider like Tom Owen and we were proud to call ourselves Tom Owen's Black and White Army. Today Teams have make changes every year due to averages and so how can they expect fans to call it their team as some Riders do not belong to you and may ride against you in the future Sadly the days of watching a rider start out as a novice and then develop into a second string then heat leader before he has to leave either because his home club cannot fit him in or his home club want him, have long since gone..

Soupy, I agree entirely with you, it was obvious to most people Newcastle needed a genuine number 1 rider rather than using guests using BWD high average, this situation was not sustainable and if a new rider could not be obtained then that was the time to call it a day.

The main problem apart from getting enough people to fund the revival is getting an attractive competitive team that will win matches at home, all this will cost more money to pay the better riders. This last year most people were not impressed with the overall strength of the team and when you have your number one rider not being available after the first few matches, the weakness of the team clearly showed up as time went on and the crowds slowly drifted away.until it was obvious it couldn't continue.

RD, I think that if Brough Park did come up for sale, I forecast that the price would far exceed what a group of Speedway Fans could afford and not forgetting the charges for the daily running of it.

When the Payoff's were introduced for the 2006 season. that was the time for me to walk away from the sport I watched since 1964, the League Champions should the team who has the most points at the end of all League Matches, not just the ones tagged onto the end. I have kept an eye on things as the years have passed and nothing has happened to make me regret that decision, my general health is so bad now stops me even thinking of returning and I not surprised that attendances are dropping every year.

If I hadn't joined Facebook, I wouldn't know the Memory Night was taking place and so I'm not a surprised it has been cancelled. I doubt if I had attended there would many fans who even remember the Ian Thomas Era there as most have no computer and therefore not on the Internet.

Gazzac, a round trip from Edinburgh to Hailsham is nearly 1,00miles every week and so the chance of this happening is 0%. Do you think any Speedway Fan would undertake such a lengthy trip for every home meetings, I very much doubt they could afford the costs of fuel and finding accomodation on the Saturday Night and not forgetting the wear and tear of their car.

*JJ, i think you are referring to Scotlands greatest poet William McGonagall who wrote about the Tay Bridge disaster and mentioned several times by Spike Milligan and who wrote a book on him.

Unfortunately a lot of the riders in your poem are unknown to most of the present supporters, I only started attending in 1964 and even I had to look up some of the ones that are mentioned in the ode. I remember all of those who rode during my time following the team and know that they were proud of wearing the Diamonds body jacket but as each year passes they will become distant memories of the good old days

Ruffdiamond, as much as I don't like sites like Facebook, I've signed on and found the NSSA Forum, and seen the comments and as I suspected all the stuff that was Speedway related has now been cleared away. That doesn't help any body wanting to bringing back Speedway back to Brough Park and as Barry Wallace stated on Look-North the attraction for Speedway overall has dropped over the years and it no longer provides value for money for the average working family man.

Where can I read the posts on the NSSA Furum ?

Hi John, the Longbenton High School is still in existance unlike the later School I attended, I passed my 13+ exam which allowed me move from the Chillingham Road Senior School to attend the new Manor Park School on Benton Road. This opened in 1960 but I was there for 4 years but sadly it was closed in 2004. due to falling attentdances and budget cuts and the scholars were moved to the huge school on Newton Road.

The Hare is propelled by a cable running along the outer edge of the track and outside you can hear the motor whine as it goes round. One of the track staff has it in their hands and there is an area where the hare is brought to a stop and this allows them to quickly covered it up. I have watched a few Greyhound races on Youtube and seen this happen a lot as well as been to one meeting when we got a pass to attend a Greyhound meeting and put on the odd bet. I never got into the event and couldn't get over the lack of atmosphere whilst watching the races compared to a Speedway Meeting.

At the end of the race, the hare is quickly enclosed with a box and the speed of the hare is regulated so it is always kept just out of reach of the Greyhounds

It was well known in the North-East that they hung French monkey from a sailing ship was wrecked of the coast near Hartlepool. They thought it was a spy and despite being in uniform it was tried and hung on the high steet so that everybody could see what happened to all potential invaders

I did think about going to the Northumberland Show at Bywell that was advertised to take place on the 3/06/2022 when the Club would be putting on a display. As it happens I didn't bother because of the distance to get around all the displays and being outside for such a long time, looking on FaceBook they did have some footage of the Club and only Max Clegg and James Wright had their bikes there and they went around for a few laps on the grass, which has no comparison to riding a shale circuit but I suppose it was the best that could be done on the day. I don't know how many of those people who attended had ever seen or heard of Speedway and then were interested in going to Brough Park the next Sunday but I have my doubts many would bother once the total price of taking a family on a regular basis were carefully looked into.

Nothing major has been moved yet as I looked in from pits gate end of the car park this morning.

If it is true and Brough Park wants to clear all the stuff that had anything to do with Speedway, would they make anybody welcome if they tried to bring the sport back to Newcastle and re-clutter it back again. I can pop into Brough Park in a month or so and see if anything remains of the time Speedway was run there and have a look at the general look of the Stadium..

When Newcastle Speedway was closed in 1985, Dave Younghusband ran some open meetings at Workington, I took my car over with one or two people to see how things were progressing. Unfortunately the attendance never rose to more than 250, I know because from the back straight I counted them and shouted the figure over to Dave on the centre green. It was obvious that unless Workington had a League Team to support not enough people were willing to go for Open Meetings.

Winditon, like you I watched a home Premier League match at Ipswich on BT Sport the other week and what was noticable was the lack of crowds, how can these top flight tracks survive if they are not pulling in the crowds. I suspect that they must be getting by on the Television money but that doesn't go on forever and then what will happen to these clubs when there is no money coming in from that source.

Biffa, if you look at the history of Newcastle Speedway we have to be closed for at least 5 years before someone new needs try to resurrect a new team and hope to get the crowds back in sufficient numbers to make it a viable proposition..

bringbackhalifax, what I wrote was very true as he and he alone decided to run another season and paid the price for that decision, I would not have blamed him one bit if Newcastle closed at the end of last year.

GWC, i think that the land Brough Park sits on can only be used for sport and not housing whilst the Greyhounds are making enough money from the BAGS meetings, I doubt if the present owners are going to sell it off for quite a while. Remember that the Stadium was first built in 1928 for the Greyhounds and Speedway was tried the following year so its sporting history goes back nearly one hundred years.

I think looking at all things about the Sport in general and the closure of Newcastle Diamonds, I will await to see what happens in the close season to see if anybody is willing to take on the huge job of resurectling the Club for 2023. The last owner was the only one who was willing to give it a go and unfortunately lost a lot of money running for two years before cutting his losses and closing the Club mid season. I started watching in 1964 and followed the team home and away for over 40 years and want to say a big thank you to Tom Owen and all the riders who rode for the Newcastle Diamonds from 1975-1983, when we had the greatest success and made going on the away trips such a pleasure to watch the team performing. If nothing happens before the start of next year and I will stop looking on the computer and call it a day.