TheGuvnor

Cheer up. It’s Christmas, life’s too short.

Case of crossed wires. No need to be childish.

Not hard to scroll up two posts, is it?

Should have said in my post above that is what should happen. Not what is happening. Apologies for any confusion! Nothing worse than a season ticket that doesn’t offer any form of enticement for having it. Not the same sport but my old Football League season ticket (dropped when it stopped being value for money) used to allow me to miss three or four games a season and still be getting a good deal. On top of that was priority cup tickets and other perks. Once I dropped the season ticket I then missed more and more games. Now I pick and choose. Bad move from the club who now miss out on my money completely, plus extras such as food and drinks. Better to have a discounted bum on a seat than no bum on a seat. Life happens and people will miss an event here and there. It’s important for Speedway promotions in particular to make sure they don’t lose out on a season ticket sale because one missed meeting would render the purchase of said season ticket pointless.

The season ticket costs £X for the 11 guaranteed meetings. If you have a season ticket you get entry at a reduced season ticket holder price for additional meetings.

As a casual fan these days (thanks to the loss of my club) Pedersen is one of the few names that would make me go out of my way to go to a domestic league meeting.

The last thing we need is world class riders wanting to ride here…

The GPs aren’t big enough for that to work. There wouldn’t be enough interest. That interest will only wane if we’re oversaturated with Grand Prix meetings. British Speedway is killing British Speedway.

What constitutes a “proper” fan is always an interesting/sensitive subject and ultimately one without a right answer. Even the negative comments come from a place of wanting the best for the sport I find and frustration at how it is being run. Ultimately nobody would be here if they didn’t care on some level.

Some are school age. Travelling to race is part and parcel of the sport. Always has been.

Bit pathetic that they had to regionalise it in a six team league and then they still couldn’t complete the fixtures.

That’s a fence that doesn’t pass the Pepsi challenge…

Cook is probably the poster boy for a generation of British and Australian riders who have been hampered by the relaxing of the doubling up rules roughly a decade ago. Those riders in the past would have had to make a real fist of it trying to become serious top level riders in Poland and on the world scene or accept that a career as a top tier mid-order/second tier heatleader was for them. As it is they can just do the rounds with two teams in Britain which is no good for anyone. That’s on the rule makers not the riders by the way. Cook always seemed to be unsure whether to take the plunge or not. If he had he may have achieved even more than he has. Hopefully he enjoys his speedway going forward and leads a happy life because he’s a class act. Mental health is a harrowing thing and too often goes unchecked or downplayed.

Absolutely. I see neither as good value for money. A Speedway programme even less so.

Further down the pyramid they are, with cost being a key factor. Comparing Premier League football to speedway at any level is disingenuous of course because the money involved and levels of revenue are chalk and cheese. I dread to think of what level of football speedway equates to. These things are subjective but £3.50 for an A5 magazine chock full of adverts and content that can be found online doesn’t strike me as value. Each to their own of course.

Holder had a good year in Poland (averaged more than Bewley, Woffinden, his brother). I don’t think we’ll ever see him trouble the sharp end of the GPs again but he’d be a class act in the Premiership. Especially looking at the other heatleaders he’d be coming up against.

You do care though, otherwise you’d not be here.

The difference between speedway programmes and those at most other events is that filling the programme in is part of the event in itself. That’s where the money is made from them and perhaps they prevail while football, with a much bigger audience, is turning away from a physical entity because they don’t make money and are a waste of resources (business head on here, not knocking those who collect programmes). If I had a club I’d be going digital with an app. Give the option for the fan to have the score update automatically or to fill it in if they so wish. For those who want a physical race card it’s as simple as printing them a race card for the meeting off as they enter the stadium, for a small fee to cover the printing. Better for the environment, cheaper for the club and customer and keeps those happy that like the interactive element that scorecard filling provides.

A stopped clock is right twice a day.

The minimum average in theory prevents teams from using a complete no-hoper on a 0.5 average and only giving him three rides a meeting while building stronger with the other six. Teams don’t need a leg up by being allowed to sign the best rider in the league on an average that’s been discounted by almost a point-and-a-half.

Arguably scaling back is precisely what the sport needs to then grow once more. The top tier clings on to delusions that all the GP riders will come back one day while every man and his dog is allowed to double up so they don’t have to stretch themselves trying to get a ride abroad because they can meander around the UK leagues, pay the mortgage off and not have to get a proper job.

Would be nice if we could get to a point where a minimum British rider quota per team was put in place. Clearly we’re a long way off of that. It would improve the standard or British riders produced and only the best overseas riders would be sought to race here too. Win-win.

It’s time for the sport to move into the future. That being an app with a scorecard that updates automatically. They could even charge a small nominal fee to use it across a season and might even turn a profit. Shock horror.

Yeah but there’s no rider guarantees this year so that’ll sort this whole mess right out…

I wonder how many clubs actually turn a profit. Perhaps it’s long overdue that at one of these AGMs the promotors sat down together and agreed between them it’s time to cut their cloth accordingly. In the current economic climate any enterprise that’s held as a hobby and loses money hand over fist is going to be the first thing jettisoned if things get tight. A business that breaks even or turns a profit, no matter how meagre, has a stronger chance of survival.