bellevueace

Still think the Aces will be found wanting with a long tail and dont think Anderson will prove sufficient cover for Zagar.

sad to see a city that went so long without speedway struggling for crowds, even a losing team is better than no team at all, the question is does birmingham as a city really want speedway?

Because the product was far better than it is today, even though 30 years ago not everything in the garden was rosy the sport held more appeal, even today people I work with can name Mauger, Briggs, Collins etc, ask them who is world champion today and no one knows and that with a british world champion. The sport needs to find a way of reconnecting with the wider public, silly rules like the double tac and joker have the opposite effect likening speedway more to its a knock out. We can debate forever but the one fact that is beyond discussion is the terraces around the tracks today very sparesly populated, TV was seen as the big breakthnrough its not happened, hopefully it will this season. We can only go off figures quoted at the time and none of us know for sure the exact figures but one thing is certain Wembley for instance was never raced in a half full stadium well not the times I attended, even take 80,000 and nowadays the flagship event is under half that

That's five out of the sixteen GP riders, riders themselves have actually stated they would ride in the EL if it wasn't for the amount of league matches considering their schedule as regards to the GP so I would say it does have some effect, likewise the falling crowds for league meetings prove that television exposure is not having the desired effect on the sport that some thought it would, as for Cardiff released figures have shown a drop off on attendances from the first time the event was staged, for a one off meeting in a state of the art stadium with all the worlds top riders I don't think under 40,000 is impressive at all, a half full stadium when you take into consideration the attendance is made up of every team in the country be it EL,PL,NL, a far cry from when these kind of meetings were into six figures, apart from disrupting the bread and butter of league the GP hasn't really made that much impact at all with the wider general public, in fact the sport is losing support.

Whilst Cardiff is the biggest day out within speedway circles how many people outside of the speedway bubble knows the event is taking place? I notice every year in january in the express theres always a double page sports calender pull out, under the motorsport section the Cardiff GP is never mentioned, people i know and who i work with are oblivious to it, so how effective is it as a marketing tool for the sport in general? Also the crowds at the actual event itself seems to be on a bit of a downward spiral, whilst the GP,s have taken the sport into big stadia in capital cities the league structure in the UK has certainly suffered with the loss of the majority of top riders.

An excellent article and i have to admit i didnt realise the actual severity of his injuries, the seperate article where he speaks about elevating NL riders straight into the EL is spot on. I hope gary gets a position within the sport, i think hes a lot to offer.

Hans Neilsen

Its always easy to delude yourself that facts and figures that you dont want to acknowledge are sad, whats not sad is the fact that the cardiff spectacle is down on numbers, league speedway only for the real deluded is down on numbers. george likened my opinions to jackanory as we dont have official attendances published, well going off that his own opinions are hypocritical as he himself dosent have said facts to support his view. People like you will always bend statistics to suit and as long as the minority stay deluded everything in the garden will be rosy, if official stats were produced there would be the blinkered that would not believe it, but when your at KL have a look round and tell me that crowds arent what they were, this used to be a decent forum but now is populated by people that cant debate without being agressive(not you) and those who view the sport through rose tinted specs to be honest im glad to be off it, can you produce official stats to show sky EL meetings and GP,s are up on viewer numbers? I very much doubt it. Good points well made but many far older sports have also gone through the same upheavels and prospered support wise, both rugby codes, cricket, darts, and snooker to name but just a few.

Aimed at the post not like you at the poster theres a difference. Well you have some official figures you were so keen on, no comments? I await your input with official figures showing a rise in viewing figures, we all know attendance figures at tracks are down as some promoters were quoted in the star as saying they were running to under 1000 paying fans last season, i think Eastbourne quoted 600 for one match.

At one time on this forum people could debate in a freindly manner, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. I follow a non league football club with average gates of around 140 last week we played fc united which pulled in 1008 do you seriously think anyone with half a brain cant see the difference? Anyway the this shows how productive tv is http://www.methanolpress.com/catastrophic-further-collapse-in-cardiff-speedway-grand-prix-viewing-figures-contributes-to-dramatic-further-decline-in-overall-british-audience/ Can you provide factual figures of skys audience rising year on year?http://www.methanolpress.com/tag/sky-sports-speedway-viewing-figures/ As you are so obsessed with official figures heres another

What a stupid reply, standing on the terraces and seeing with your own eyes is fact, no doubt if you stand on the terrace at your own track and your promotion release an attendance figure of 4.000 you would believe it? And is the published Cardiff figure not fact? No doubt in your world speedway attendances are booming?

Well George i dont know about you but i dont need published figures in order to note the decline in attendance figures, at BV for example going back to before the sky deals theres no doubt attendances were better than what they are now with the coverage of the elite league. I follow speedway around the country and the attendances have obviously dropped off, along with promoters admitting they continue to make losses each season, the sparse crowds are obvious. We can see the crowd figures given for the sports biggest meeting at Cardiff each season and the crowds for that have dropped off if the latest figures are to be believed, the stadium only barely sells half the capacity, ive no doubt many stay at home to watch it on the tv which i would say is detrimental in so much as it affects the figures of people coming through the gate, same as a televised league match, i know many who rather than pay on the turnstiles stay at home to watch it on the tele, if sky,s influence was so great we would deninately see a result of that with increased crowds at matches, you only have to look around you to see thats not the case. The actual product wasnt broken and the constant changes the sport has undergone have certainly not proved to be popular in general with the decline in attendances.

Anyway we all have our own opinions but the one thing we have in common is we love the sport warts and all, lets hope the new season can be the turning point. Happy New Year.

Thats a fair comment as regards to stadia, but lets take Cardiff for example, a huge modern facility in the middle of a major city staging the biggest world speedway event of the season and it barely sells half its capacity, so even if this type of stadia was present in major cities the public interest in the sport is not there. Its no doubt a collection of things, top riders missing, the lack of quality racing in general and also i remember going to the majority of tracks nowadays over 40 years ago, and in that time nothing has changed the stadia are just as i remember them from all that time ago. I agree the most important aspect is what happens on the track but in todays world people do expect more for their hard earned money, take cycling for example, the velodromes are ultra modern will all facilities, they are comfortable, good viewing, multiple outlets etc, speedway in comparison is played out in dirty old stadiums, iffy sound systems at many, terrible viewing (kirky lane) and poor catering facilities along with questionable presentation. The stadia generally has never been upgraded and what was acceptable in the 60,s and 70,s isnt today as potential new fans dont want to be paying good money for such shoddy facilities, the die hards have no problem standing in a field supporting their teams but the sport needs to attract new support, what it offers overall obviously isnt attractive hence the very spartan terracing, its not just speedway though greyhound racing is also struggling. Many of the old stadia still exist swindon, coventry, poole, etc and all had packed crowds. No doubt promoters made mistakes when times were good and not upgrading crumbling facilities was one of them, i know many didnt own the stadiums but that lack of foresight by stadium owners is i feel one of the mistakes made. Promoters today seem to think exposure on sky is the answer to increasing crowds, in reality the tv coverage has not encouraged any increase at the turnstiles, changing racing formulas that worked so sky could always have a last heat decider has been detrimental as we now see with the ludicrous T/R and joker. Hopefully the sport can somehow grow again and become more than the minority interest it is yoday. Poole were a big draw because of holder and ward then ward and hancock, promoters try to bring in the GP riders not riding in the UK for early season challenges to give fans a chance to see them and increase their gates, if top riders make no difference at all maybe sky would consider just televising NL meetings? Poole have the best crowds and have two of the best riders in the world leading their team, theres some evidence in there somewhere i think.

Was actually looking at a British Final line up from 1973 the other day, i then compared it to this years event....oh dear

Overheads still had to be met by promoters of yesteryear and also when the entertainment tax was brought in, the difference now is modern day promoters dont actually promote, they bring in some ludicrous rule ie the T/R or joker open the gate and expect people to flock in, im betting all those that prefer PL as the racing is better would change their minds if the likes of saufutinov and all the other top riders that dont race in the UK were in our league, presently people are being asked to pay elite prices for a premier product, lets not also forget even with 15 heats compared to the 13 of old fans are still short changed as the old second halves now dont exsist, its a simple sport with four riders turning left for 60 seconds, that the sport has gone from 60,000 to under 1,000 for league meetings shows instead of writing off yesteryear as people looking through rose tinted specs theres lessons from that era to be learned today.

The world has not moved on in so much that paying punters want value for money, they want to see the worlds best riders on well prepared race tracks, and want good racing rather than the processions we get all to often nowadays. To think we should go back to black leathers, two valve japs and monkey masks is missing the point, going back would mean having the worlds best riders in the elite league, better racing on better prepared tracks and having a British team that could actually compete. Take football has it stayed the same for 50 years you ask well generally yes, the basic principle of the game remains the same now as when finney and mathews played, mind if they had brought in ludicrous rules like a goal counting double, an equivalent joker rule to be used in world cups etc it certainly wouldnt be taken seriously. The actual fact is modern day speedway does not hold the same appeal at all to the general public immeterial to what other activities are around, if the product was right people would support it that the crowds at the top level mainly fall below 1000 in many cases shows the sport has deteriorated dramatically over the years. Sometime you have to take two steps back to take a big step forward.

Ah the good old days, remind me that was when we had packed terracing, all the worlds top riders in the British league, many more meetings, an abundance of world class English riders, dirt on tracks, great racing, team riding, and characters, not to mention far more press coverage in a sport not seen as a minority interest, yes why would we want to go back to that?

Good story, Chris does get some negativity so its good to hear a positive story, i can still picture him about to take the opposition coming off the fourth bend on the last lap of heat 13 at Hyde road, along with PC a spectacular racer, how riders like these would add to the well televised GP series of today, one of the Belle Vue all time greats.

Funny when people realise how idiotic their post was its the old gone for the wind up gag, gets more than just a tad boring.

His injuries were terrible hes going to do well to come back anywhere near his best and it could take a while, perhaps the lesser work load will help him to click back into gear without any danger of any type of relapse.

To be honest what really is the point of the worlds best riders now riding in our so called Elite? Theres no competition for them in so much as the vast majority of their rides are against far inferior riders, beating these riders is like taking candy off a baby most of the time, thats certainly not going to hone the skills needed for the GP,s racing against the world best in poland and sweden is going to be key to maintaining that edge. Imagine a european championship? would be like a nationwide division one team entering the champions league.

Congratulations Somerset, well deserved, a super club i always enjoy visiting.

Funny when people relate to speedways past we get the dinosaur accusations, but in those days we had the best league in the world, real racing, world class british riders, a much fuller fixture list, team riding, and last but not least heaving terraces. Nothing there you can accuse modern day speedway of.

Big well done to Tai, well deserved especially with the injury, lets hope the authorities can use a home world champion to take the sport forward.