Lioness Posted May 15, 2003 Report Share Posted May 15, 2003 I'm sure born_2b_mad and the other Wimbledon 'regulars' will make you very weclome when you go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cheetahhawk Posted May 15, 2003 Report Share Posted May 15, 2003 Nice to see another Hackney fan on here SteveC.As my nickname says Cheetahhawk you might guess that I am now an Oxford supporter but beleive me nothing compares to "make it a date,Friday at eight" down at Hackney.Incidently did you see the news at 6.30pm tonight?It was all about the Olympics bid but was coming from The London Stadium Hackney.I could cry when I saw the mess it has become ,lets hope that the Olympic bid is successful and some enterprising promoter then takes over when the Olympics are finished. Don't forget the Vic Harding meeting at Iwade on 29th June,hope you can make it down there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted May 15, 2003 Report Share Posted May 15, 2003 Beat me to it CH......saw it on the Ten O Clock news....boo hoo but...... ideas spring to mind about the other areas they need around there...Hockey stadium, etc...... but i don't think the 80,000 Seater will host a team do you? maybe a GP venue....but it will be like the old White City...60,000 capacity and filled to the brim with air!!! But never say never! Olympics in London.......hmmmm...need to be alot of changes to the old place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addy Posted May 15, 2003 Report Share Posted May 15, 2003 It's 29th June now what happened to 1st June ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted May 15, 2003 Report Share Posted May 15, 2003 It's 29th June nowwhat happened to 1st June ? June 1st is the 3tt at Sittingbourne.... June 29th is the Vic Harding memorial. I believe it was moved because Vics family couldn't make the 1st Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SteveC Posted May 16, 2003 Report Share Posted May 16, 2003 Nice to see another Hackney fan on here SteveC.As my nickname says Cheetahhawk you might guess that I am now an Oxford supporter but beleive me nothing compares to "make it a date,Friday at eight" down at Hackney.Incidently did you see the news at 6.30pm tonight?It was all about the Olympics bid but was coming from The London Stadium Hackney.I could cry when I saw the mess it has become ,lets hope that the Olympic bid is successful and some enterprising promoter then takes over when the Olympics are finished. Don't forget the Vic Harding meeting at Iwade on 29th June,hope you can make it down there. Yeah, I saw the pictures of the London Stadium on the news, it's so sad to see it in such a state. Just as a matter of interest, does anyone know or remember if the old well under the centre green is still there ?, if so, I wouldn't fancy building anything on that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deano Posted May 17, 2003 Report Share Posted May 17, 2003 Does anyone know or remember if the old well under the centre green is still there ?, if so, I wouldn't fancy building anything on that Not putting any cats amongst the pigeons, but Cradley is built on disused mine shafts and Barretts are still keen. Did the London Lions get much support? I never actually went for a league meeting. Seems strange really I'm pretty sure the support would be just as big as Wimbledon's potential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevH Posted May 17, 2003 Report Share Posted May 17, 2003 Did the London Lions get much support? The crowds at Waterden Road were "extremely disappointing", but it has to be said that the promotion could have been better. People living only a few miles from the track were unaware that speedway had returned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BARMYARMY Posted May 17, 2003 Report Share Posted May 17, 2003 friday at eight(hackney speedway) by chris fenn, just wanted to say this book is a absolute must for any hackney speedway fans or fans in general. loads of memories some sad some brilliant. fantastic value. happy reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cheetahhawk Posted May 18, 2003 Report Share Posted May 18, 2003 The crowds at Waterden Road were "extremely disappointing", but it has to be said that the promotion could have been better. People living only a few miles from the track were unaware that speedway had returned. Sadly thats seems to be how speedway is (not) promoted these days, the amount of people in Newport who say we had a speedwya team once or where is the stadium is unbelievable! They all do there shopping a 5 minute walk from the stadium as well! At least we do have some signs up now. This might be stupid, infact it almost certainly is, what going into this new stadium when the olympics ahve finished? Sod all I would guess so why not use it for speedway? Ok, it'll never be full, half full, well not much passed the front row realistically BUT in a plush stadium people may just go an watch speedway there for £13. It coudl then be used for the GP, the 4TT the British Final, Riders Championships and anything else they can fit in with the avaliable dates if it all starts to work. Obviously this requires the government allowing a promoter the rent the stadium on the cheap but surely very little money from a speedway promoter once a week is better than nothing form anyone? How right you are SCB,we were saying exactly the same thing when they first announced the news that London was going to bid for the Olympics. I wonder how many people living near to any present day tracks realise that they have a speedway team on their doorstep,these days the "promoters" are only too happy to leave it to the supporters to bring a mate.All my mates are speedway people and I try as hard as I can to get other people interested,work etc but you can't force people to come and see the best sport in the world. :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted May 18, 2003 Report Share Posted May 18, 2003 The crowds at Waterden Road were "extremely disappointing", but it has to be said that the promotion could have been better. People living only a few miles from the track were unaware that speedway had returned. Sadly thats seems to be how speedway is (not) promoted these days, the amount of people in Newport who say we had a speedwya team once or where is the stadium is unbelievable! They all do there shopping a 5 minute walk from the stadium as well! At least we do have some signs up now. This might be stupid, infact it almost certainly is, what going into this new stadium when the olympics ahve finished? Sod all I would guess so why not use it for speedway? Ok, it'll never be full, half full, well not much passed the front row realistically BUT in a plush stadium people may just go an watch speedway there for £13. It coudl then be used for the GP, the 4TT the British Final, Riders Championships and anything else they can fit in with the avaliable dates if it all starts to work. Obviously this requires the government allowing a promoter the rent the stadium on the cheap but surely very little money from a speedway promoter once a week is better than nothing form anyone? very good point SCB, the stadium i think they are planning would be far too big for a league team, even elite league, but bigger meetings would maybe an option. BUT As i have said elsewhere on another thread, the possibilities of say the Hockey stadium that is planned would be ideal, or maybe one of the other arenas they plan as part of the whole complex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SteveC Posted May 19, 2003 Report Share Posted May 19, 2003 Does anyone know or remember if the old well under the centre green is still there ?, if so, I wouldn't fancy building anything on that Not putting any cats amongst the pigeons, but Cradley is built on disused mine shafts and Barretts are still keen. Did the London Lions get much support? I never actually went for a league meeting. Seems strange really I'm pretty sure the support would be just as big as Wimbledon's potential. The main problem with the London Lions was the lack of viewing facilities, unless you enjoy watching your Speedway behind glass. There was no banked terracing on any of the bends (this was later rectified on the 2nd bend after the British GP), also, the track was absolute rubbish - no reflection on the old track at Hackney. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted May 19, 2003 Report Share Posted May 19, 2003 The £30m that it cost to rebuild Hackney Stadium just shows what could happen if [which I very much doubt] London do get the nod for 2012. The old dome is the same, millions spent, then nothing after a year of opening. This part of London does need a massive amount of money invested in it. If you look around Stratford now it is on the up. With the Channel rail link in Stratford due to open in a few years time, this part of London could well become a success without the Olympics. The main grandstand is used during the day. I think its a Conference Centre with a bar area open to the public. I wrote several years ago to the local MP, he stated that the future of the Hackney stadium site was between Hackney Council and the owners. Hackney Council have always stated that Hackney Stadium was for sporting events and not for housing or industrial units. Hence it's in the mess it is in now, and not a supermarket. The old stadium had so much going for it. Not perhaps in decor, it may have well been falling down but the atmosphere was second to none. Must go and have a look at a Hackney video now, will probably shed a tear to. If the Olympics do come to London does that mean my house will be part of the Olympic village? Plus the price of my house might rocket up, and that would be a result! The site of Hackney Stadium, well they could build the biggest Wetherspoons public house in the world and that would be result! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salty Posted May 20, 2003 Report Share Posted May 20, 2003 Steve C is absolutely right. The viewing at the new stadium was very poor and the track was not conducive to good racing, with very little banking compared to the old track. What kept Hackney Stadium going for years were the lucrative BAGS(Bookmakers Afternoon Greyhound Service) contracts that they had. Hackney dogs were part of Saturday mornings in the bookies for years. When Brent Walker(the original owners) went bust the contracts were lost to tracks like Romford and Crayford and these contracts were not recovered when the new stadium was built. The new owners tried to attract the same sort of punters who have kept Walthamstow so popular, but I don't think they ever had the crowds to cover their investment. I can remember when I first went to the new stadium there were loads of bar staff, but by the end of the London Lions season things were being run on a shoestring. It is a crying shame the stadium is just sitting there not being used. Best case scenario as far as Speedway is concerned is that it gets tarted up for an Olympic bid. Bid loses out to Paris(which is far better suited to running the Olympics than London) and somehow we get the Hawks back in a lovely stadium as the Government try to cut their/our losses. Heres hoping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shazzybird Posted May 20, 2003 Report Share Posted May 20, 2003 Well put Salty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salty Posted May 21, 2003 Report Share Posted May 21, 2003 Jblanch Don't think you have to race at a track to be able to say whether it is a "good" track or not. The meetings I went to in 1996 were definitely not as good as meetings I went to in the 80's, when there was far more banking. Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cheetahhawk Posted May 21, 2003 Report Share Posted May 21, 2003 Salty is right, the track for London Lions was too flat.It was much better when the banking was there in the old days. Having said that I think the racing did improve a fair bit as the season went on in 1996. Pity nobody wanted to carry on running speedway there after that year. :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SteveC Posted May 22, 2003 Report Share Posted May 22, 2003 To be fair, the promotion at the London Stadium did listen to the concerns of the supporters and tried to resolve them. The added some terracing and attempted to change the track (The brought in Malcolm Simmons ), unfortunately, the damage had already been done during the earlier months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salty Posted May 22, 2003 Report Share Posted May 22, 2003 SteveC Don't know about you but I got the feeling that the promoters had made their mind up pretty early that they weren't going to be back for another year. As I remember the end of the season was a bit of a damp squib. Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevH Posted May 22, 2003 Report Share Posted May 22, 2003 SteveCDon't know about you but I got the feeling that the promoters had made their mind up pretty early that they weren't going to be back for another year. As I remember the end of the season was a bit of a damp squib. Regards I agree with you about that decision being taken very early Salty, but in fairness, although clearly suffering a considerable financial loss, they stuck with it and made no attempt to withdraw from the league as many teams have done in the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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