uk_martin

IF there are 15* teams to make up your "one big league" then you'll need to find 30 "rising stars". Honestly...are there enough riders out there deserving of that accolade? Sorting out the 75 "senior" riders will be interesting too. With all but 6 or 7 riders doubling up/down between the leagues, the standards are more or less the same now anyway. * - assuming the 2021 compliment of teams less Birmingham & Newcastle. Can't honestly see Eastbourne or Swindon returning either (and where would they get their riders from if they were to return?)

New age culture - there's always someone to blame for everything, and it's always someone else. Just surprised that nobody's blamed Boris Johnson for the Brummies demise yet. He cops the blame for everything else, innit?

Yes he is - Smolinski's out through injury. https://www.speedwayofnations.com/son/news/article/9240/smolinski-out-of-son-semi-finals Any other fake news ?

It's not allowed. Reality and speedway don't belong together.

I gave up...it was a warm and muggy evening, and then they stop the meeting to test out everyone's patience. I went home before my frustration boiled over into something nasty. Not sure if or when I'll be wanting to go back again either. No wonder everyone's falling out of love with the sport...Poole put on a pantomime last week then Redcar put on a farce this week. Next week, they'll stage a comedy, and one day there'll be a real drama. The problem is that they want us to paying to see speedway the sport not these theatrical performances.

It took 91 years to arrive. Blimee.

And I'm not saying it's good or it's bad...just that to change things in any way, needs thinking through. BSF is full of people with "headline ideas" that they might want to drop when they see the complexities of implementing them.

That's 19 teams...add IoW to that, and it's 20 teams. Here's some food for thought for you. There are currently little more than 130 riders spread out across our 3 leagues. Where are the other 10 coming from (or 3 of IoW are excluded again)? Where's the injury cover? Or are you looking at 6-man teams? What's the plan for rider allocation? Are you planning on scrapping doubling down? (Everyone else wants to see the back of it) Can you compel the top 63 in the averages to fill up the British League places, leaving the National League to allocate the rest? And what basis do you suggest for building teams up in each of the leagues if you have one league of big hitters and another league of low attainers? Have you asked the fans of teams such as Plymouth, Birmingham, and Edinburgh what they think of being in the National League with a team made up of what's left at the bottom of the barrel? Birmingham for one, rejected National League speedway, Plymouth has started at the bottom and has ambitiously shown desire to move up in life and Edinburgh has known life at the top of it's own tree for a long time. You'll be asking fans in far flung places to be making sacrifices in the quality of their own entertainment, that they are expected to pay for, for the benefit of those clubs struggling elsewhere. How long before compassion fatigue sets in?

A club whose own long term future is also far from certain, we learn....does the word "jinx" spring to mind?

How many tracks up and down the UK would be available for an all-day Saturday event?

Without trying to sound like I'm justifying the pathetic BSPL decision, I don't think you can apply "restriction of trade" here. If they have the summary powers to impose disciplinary action for breaches of their rules, then so be it. No different to a footballer being suspended by the FA for bringing the game into disrepute etc etc. It still doesn't make their decision, based on whatever grounds "in the best interests of British Speedway" though. More nails for the coffin, anyone?

IF you can find the mythical farm in Wales where all the stuff that makes up their stadium is being kept in storage...

Where were you when they taught irony at school?

There were a few very visible fans from Kent, and a few from elsewhere as there always are, but I wouldn't put in in the "few hundred" category. Fairer to say that some old time supporters answered the call including the Moles and the Drurys who were also seen there last night, so they were doing their bit for the Brummies again!

It won't be ONE last chance though, will it? IF the attendance is good enough THIS Wednesday, then the fans will have the same gun pointed at their heads the next Wednesday. EVERY Wednesday becomes the next "use it or lose it" Wednesday. The writing is on the wall, and sooner or later, when the fans will tire of being blackmailed into attending, that'll be it, sadly.

Let's go back to the good old days of the World Final highlights on World of Sport, the Saturday after it happened. We knew what we were getting in those days, and were happy to get what we got. In those days, if you wanted live speedway, you got off your arse, paid your money and went to see the meetings. Consequently attendances were much higher. The current generation of "fan" wants it all, wants it now and wants it for free. They are "entitled" and have their "rights", you know, No wonder the sport is falling apart.

Don't confuse activity with productivity. Yes he worked hard but his goal was always money orientated. Sponsors were king, or rather the revenue from sponsors was king. The fans interests were further down the pecking order. An example of this was when he had the centre green advertising boards placed in such a way that you couldn't miss seeing them...at the expense of being able to see the riders going down the back straight. Remind you of something? TV stations who prioritise advertising over content? Don't forget whose idea it was to diminish the value of the things that fans held most dear, stuff like the Brummies logo, which was relegated to an afterthought on those advertising billboard racing suits. Short term gain for long term pain. Advertisers and sponsors will only pay if they get their name exposed to the public, and by treating the paying public as second class citizens, their numbers were bound to diminish which meant that the long term viability of speedway to advertisers and sponsors would diminish. So when the fans realised that they were paying full admission for being able to see only 75% of the racing, and it wasn't "their" team any more, but a team at the mercy of advertisers, I think the rot set in, I'm afraid, destined to go untreated and downward spiral to get to where we are now. Fewer and fewer fans every week, getting older by the day, reducing gate receipts and also removing the fanbase from the target audience of advertisers and sponsors, causing them to pull out too, further reducing revenue...a vicious circle.

Rumours eh? It was BT's to lose, and they sure made sure they lost it. As did Sky before them.

a) what's wrong with offering cheap alcohol? Pubs have been promoting student nights on just that basis for years. Ibiza holidays are promoted on the back of cheap alcohol too. Damn, that word "promoting" again. So alien to the "sport" of speedway b) £17ish for an adult at speedway and free for kids, and Birmingham are threatening closure because not enough are coming through the door at those prices. Cricket charges £25 for adults and £7 for kids and is regularly sold out, If that's not a failure for speedway, then what is? That fasle myth that mikebv blows out of the water so well, that Polish speedway is cheap for the fans. It may look like it to us but it isn't to the Poles. Wherever you go, entrance to speedway is about the same as 4 or 5 pints of beer down the pub, whether that's in Poland or in the UK. You get better value and more bangs for your buck in Poland though. I've seen parades of classic cars, demonstrations of other sports, parachutists, aerobatics displays overhead, and all sorts in the mini-break after heat 10, It's a simple thing. Polish speedway is not cheap, but you get great value on track with the best riders for your money and you get value added additions added to the mix to send you home happy and wanting to come back for more. And it works.

"Multiple offers? Wow! Between who? If the competition was between Eurosport and Premier Sports, they chose the lesser of the evils. Not exactly the same as competition between BBC ITV C4 & Sky Sports, is it?

It's dead easy to praise someone who gives you something for nothing, innit? Your new best friends. Wait a minute though. Birmingham (one amongst many) were running with "Kids for a Quid" in one guise or another since 2007. If lowering the price, or giving admission away for next to nothing was the answer, then the terraces would be awash with young people in their late teens and early 20's now, wouldn't they? I mean, how many 17-20-year-olds are at Berwick now, having been bitten by the bug in their pre-16 years and are now paying full price at the gate? How do you answer that one without sounding negative? I know that the answer to the same question at Birmingham will result in a big round number. Basically, the experiment that everyone hung their hopes on has failed. (just waiting for the "I know someone who knows someone who came in as a kid for a quid" smartarse who just wants to be contrary) Sadly in the rush to the bottom of the admission price barrel has resulted in promoters taking the eyes off the ball when it comes to quality of the product. Whilst Rugby, Darts and Cricket have reinvented themselves time and again, and now have full venues, and attract competition from TV stations for the broadcasting rights, speedway still tries to offer the same old same old 1950's product without any thought to new ways of doing things. And all for the fear of losing the 70-80 year old "regular" fan base that's kept the sport going. There will come a day however when it'll be time to crack some eggs to make an omelette...

If I book a table, then that's between me and the club. Nobody else needs to know. Contrary to that, and completely outwith the the courtesy of confidentiality, and the good practises of privacy protection, that website has no rights to publish peoples names on thee internet. Simple as. Especially as they don't even ask anyone's permission to use their name on their web site. And if they are as cavalier about people's privacy, they are probably equally cavalier about data protection, so god knows what protects people's credit card information from being accessed by those who aren't entitled to it. It's not scaremongering, it's common sense. I don't want any budding burglar to know that my place will be empty for a set number of hours, and they can help themselves without worrying about me returning. And I don't want someone hacking my credit card information from that web site's database either. Fill your boots if you are happy with that lackadaisical attitude towards your personal security, but it ain't for me.

Maybe they are more computer savvy than they are given credit for...and also savvy enough as not to trust a third party ticketing web site with a shoddy attitude towards online privacy and probably data protection?

I'm sure that the £1 refund is worth a great deal more to some than it is to others. I seem to recall one Brummies fan choosing to drive to Leicester all season when the re-opened, instead of following the Brummies, just to save £1 a week on his admission. No doubt those eager to save 100 pennies will also print out their own race cards so that they won't need to buy a programme too

The message from their last couple of press releases suggest that every penny counts. The Brummies are the ones asking for charity on their Just Giving web page. I wouldn't hold my breath for charity to come the other way.