RobMcCaffery

The story is rather more complex than that but yes, the mov to weekday racing delivered the killer blow. Getting the raceday right is vital now. I hope the Comets' choice works.

I'd include that under incompetent promotion.. The BMR era is firmly over. It not only saw the Rockets rightly thrown out of the league but their incompetence is being used to prove that the sport is unviable there. The damage may not just be temporary. Sadly we don't gave a .Northside to escape to. Well done on all you have achieved. I look forward to being part of the set up that brings the Rockets back to Workington, hopefully in '24. Regards, Rob. Bear in mind we have links with the Courtney family.......

Rye House closed due to an overambitious and incompetent promotion. Some of us are still trying to repair the damage.

I really must apologise for the exchanges with Hyam and Harris and breaking my assurance that I wouldn',t make further posts here. Unfortunately I saw there was movement on the thread and thought it best to check its content. The two persons concerned have been persistent troublemakers which is distressing when all we are trying to do is rescue our speedway. In my case I promised my family this would be my last involvement in speedway matters. I was tempted to get involved at the track if it reopened but still being stressed out at nearly 3.30 a.m.tells its own story. It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't in hospital. The sport really does have some shocking followers. Well they can't be considered supporters. Still a lack of sleep is a useful reminder not to get involved again. Why can't we just enjoy a great sport?

That would be extremely welcome. I don',t believe it though.

James, my message to Hyam also applies to you. You have previously accused us of being 'Dreamers living in La La Land' then later as bullies trying to force a poor innocent landlord to do what we want. We have and are putting in a great deal of unpaid work and I'm dam ed if we deserve the infantile rubbish from you. If you are trying to call be a liar then do so properly. We could use the libel damages to help fund the campaign. Just w he at ma me es you think you have the right to be so offensive to us. Since when is it s crime to try to save our speedway. It took Oxford 15 years.., If you and Hyam wonder why news is often not published here just read your offensive postings and try to work it out. Just who the hell do you think you people are?

John, there is little change to my message dated 1/2/22. I thought I was being quite thorough there. Quite frankly, after the crass mischief you have caused us here and in Facebook you are the last person whose demands I would feel obliged to answer. EVEN IF YOU TYPE IN CAPITALS. If there is significant news we publish it, normally in more reliable places than this. Yes,matters are progressing, albeit slowly but lawyers are involved and it inevitably is drawn out. It is a battle of wills and I can assure you I will NOT compromise our work by releasing information prematurely to you. If you are trying to suggest that we are lying and nothing is going on please stop insinuating and state openly your motivation in this harassment. Our barrister loves defamation work. Can you leave us to get in with an incredibly complex task in peace please? We are all working as volunteers so please take off the cardboard 'investigatve reporter' hat.

I will make a very brief return to clarify some points made here. Yes, I do have a very detailed knowledge of what is going on, having served throughout this saga as an advisor to Steve Ribbons. We have been friends for many years. I have therefore read and advised on all correspondence between the Rye House Action Group, the leaseholders, Carter & Bailey, the land owners, The Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, the planning authority, East Herts Council and also the SCB. I also supplied information to the public via the Speedway Star and social media. I even trusted this forum to accept the information I was sharing in good faith. Sadly while most responses were intelligent and respectful about our efforts others saw personal vendettas as far more important. At the point where I ceased posting here I also told Steve to 'leave me out of the loop' for some time while I dealt with my own ill-health. After a good break I hope now to resume assisting. I will however keep postings here to an absolute minimum. Here is the current situation: All is on hold until the planning application is heard by the council. We hope that this will not be delayed too much further. We have issued a detailed proposal which would see the speedway track restored and racing resume. This was at the invitation of the kart promoters who even suggested that we might be able to resume racing in time to join the NDL in 2022. They subsequently changed their position to say that our proposal was now to be included in a list of options to be considered after seeing their planning permission granted. Much work has taken place. The stadium and race track have been modified but not irreversibly. We have engaged specialists to assess the way to reinstate and crucially the cost. We do have access to funds that would pay for track reinstatement and entry to the NDL. We have the technical, legal and financial resources to see this project through. Steve is a key player but far from the only. We are not dreamers but sadly right now we are in the hands of the kart promoters. THESE THINGS TAKE TIME. I am not going down the road of this being a starting point for what is too often damaging and ill-informed speculation. Our priorities lie with the job in hand, not satisfying the egos of the darker side of the BSF. Sorry to the decent contributors. Rob McCaffery. (51 year fan)

It is all academic. I have resigned from The Rye House Action Group and will be taking no further part in speedway beyond spectating. Quite frankly, after v50 years I've had enough. I still enjoy watching the sport but there are too many people involved who I would normally keep well clear of in life. You can only compromise your standards so far and for so long. Thanks for dismissing genuine feelings as paranoid ramblings - it's clear II didn't pitch them low enough. Speedway is full of great people. Sadly it is also full of low lifes, cowards who hide delight in social media where they can hide behind keyboards and the 'safety' and 'freedom' of childish fake names. They know that if they tried such behaviour they wouldn't last long so here they can be 'free', and if the victim complains they vilify them as 'weak'. Some of you are so full of self-justified hypocritical rubbish that they can barely see straight. The "Who duz ee fink ee iz" "I'll show im" mentality rules. No, I don't want to play your stupid games. All I wanted from the BSF was genuine information and informed comment. I should have realised most of it dried up long ago. All I wanted to do was save Rye House. There's no money involved, just a wish to help, despite being housebound and in constant pain. I suppose I got what I deserved. I should have sat on the sidelines saying it was impossible or insulting the organisers for bothering. Thank goodness I have plenty of other interests that involve civilised, intelligent people. May God damn you all.

Thanks Andy. It's sadly not a matter of 'seeing sense'. I know these are not fully representative but nonetheless some are very damaging if left unchallenged. People are taken in and worse still there are people who have a vested interest in blackening our reputation can, and have seized on the opportunity offered to try to blacken us with the authorities with whom we are conducting fragile discussions. It really is a tense and personal poker game and I know it also exhausts Steve at times. Add in my other health problems and eventually something snaps. This is all very easy - until you do it.

Just one final point before I go. There was a discussion in another, now deleted thread whether Rye House could operate in 2022. There in fact have been verbal discussions with one of the landlords which suggested a deal for 22 was possible. Whether the work could be completed on time of the BSPL would sanction this is another matter, so the comment in that other thread that there was no chance of RH running in 22 was rather wide of the mark. As I've said, funny how some people know more about our business than we do. Yes, I'm best out of it.

That would be great except people do believe him. Someone's threatening to report him to the council, SCB and BSPL. It would be wonderful to just turn your back. Anyway it's not just him, it's the other nutters and my health - I've quit the action group. I was already in a bad before this came up.

Just what is the point? I'm already fighting ill-health. Enough is enough. The utter rubbish I've had to put up with for the crime of trying to resurrect the Rockets now it's the "Fit and proper person" angle. Your words of encouragement are rather flimsy given your preceding comments. My record within speedway should be robust enough. Clearly it isn't. Time to put myself first. I'm sure Steve will cope. Don't believe the utter rubbish that's written about him. What's the point of all this effort if it's going to be constantly undermined. But then you all know more than me. Who needs hours on the phone sorting out policy and tactics, responses to correspondence with the park authority, Carter & Bailey, East Herts Council plus trying to get the local media onside and making sure that we are closely following SCB requirements, no you all know far better.... I still love this sport. God only knows how and why. Time to retire to the terraces and work through Edinburgh's superb video archive. Speedway and too many of its fans and me? We just don't fit. I believe in honesty and friendship, rather than aggression and deceit. Better things to do. As was once said. "You can't be reasonable with unreasonable people". I'm sure Rye House will do fine without me, probably far better. Now where's that queue of willing alternatives? Time to return to my own standards. Rob (A Rocket 1971-2021)

Yes spectator accommodation is basic, but so were Buxton and Linlithgow. I agree with the name. Some of you may be interested to know that the revived, nomadic Rye House team of 1999 nearly had a temporary home at Iwade.

Speedway's incomplete without the Eagles - and Canterbury, (but Kent will do instead). I was hoping you'd be running the Seagulls in '23. Anyway, it's the track running that matters.

Steve walked away a long time ago. As for me I find it hard to tolerate injustice and malevolent postings. IO try to keep up with matters affecting speedway and more specifically our plans. Of course we mean well. I've been a Rockets fan since they were at Rayleigh and despite the poisonous attitudes of too many supporters I still love the sport deeply. Despite illness I am helping Steve for no payment, just love of the Rockets. When I see ill-informed people undermining our efforts of course In see red. The intention was to see this campaign to its conclusion then walk away back to the "terraces". It seems if wse do win the fight I will still be wanted and needed. Lord knows why. I'd rather just watch Edinburgh's marvellous back catalogue of old season's videos. Isn't there something wrong with me having to walk away from social media than the abusers?

If we can reach agreement with our landlords at Rye House our intention, BSPL permitting, would be to run NDL. If the agreement is reached quickly enough and the weather allows the work to complete in time to meet the BSPL deadline we could aim for 2022. This is rather unlikely but you never know. With us, Oxford, Eastbourne and maybe Iwade all possibly running NDL sides in 2023 the situation could well be far less bleak in 18 months.

Check the facts. They are available. Just another gutless keyboard warrior hiding behind a childish name.

Me? That's hilarious. Thanks for emphatically proving my point. Brian and I are trying to help people. What are you doing? Typical sad keyboard warrior. Go find someone else to bully.

I know the feeling, my family managed to move me to the Midlands from late 1976, just in time to miss the great Fiala/Garrad/Mullarkey team. They moved me back to London judt in time for the '79 title theft by the Bog Moggies. I had a solution - pretend I was going out for Sunday drives in the Midlands - then head south. This all coincided with three years at uni in Liverpool. I can still remember the sheer seediness of the carriages back from Euston late on Sundays. It's not always easy to be a supporter. There's still a way to go but we might look at streaming. We're hopefully going to attract fans from all over London and the south east (large in area but sadly small in numbers) who might be interested in what we're doing but not able to travel to all our meetings and would buy a stream to fill the gaps. I'm studying the excellent service offered by Edinburgh and a similar 'in-house' service might be an idea. Let's get the track back first.......

Thank you. Bad news travels fast, but not always in the right direction. A lot of people made false assumptions. Thank you for your support and apology. Much has changed but little actually destroyed. It still could go wrong but at least we have put up, a damn good fight.

Sadly we've had similar problems at Rye House. Too many people seem to think that it makes them seem to have superior intelligence if they post negative rubbish, as if lazy cynicism is a sign of wisdom. To them it's all just a sad little game and respect for or understanding of the efforts and strain being put in don't concern them. They seem to think they can say what they want and if anyone is hurt then it's the victim's fault for being weak. It's the modern world. Try to get them involved in what you are doing and they'd run a mile. You have a fine record of campaigning to save or revive Birmingham and it you who earns respect, not them. Sadly you have another fight. I know you will give it your best again. Your efforts will be long remembered after their pettiness. They are just too stupid to realise the damage they cause - just starting with demoralising those trying to help others. After despairing because of the behaviour of this kind of 'supporter' It looks like we may be on the brink of success, as explained in the National League section. May you eventually feel as elated as we are right now as we stand on the brink of success.

If Steve pulls this off you'll have to come down for the reopening. Why not bring the 'Dale Devils ;-)

It might be necessary to retitle this thread "Rye House 2023", or even 2022. A detailed proposal has today ben submitted to landlords Carter & Bailey that, if accepted, will see the Rye House track restored along with all facilities necessary to stage the sport. A Saturday night race day is proposed, with Sunday afternoons as the alternative. We have offered a realistic rent proposal. There has been a fundamental change in attitude by C&B, at least by part of it. IF the agreement is accepted......................the fight will be over. We could be on the brink of saving the Rye House Rockets. We have the requirements for track licencing from the SCB. We have the money to pay for the track reinstatement and air fence. All we need is for C&B to unite and accept the deal. No, I don't believe it either.

As ever with speedway there could be more to it. I think Cearns selling up won't have gone down well. That removed any certainty.