Unused Venues

[fireblade]

Berrington is still there, overgrown and derelict. What a shame.

[andy moore]

A couple of tracks spring to mind milton keynes because of bob humphries and weymouths old track because of martin yeates wiggy and stan bear.long eaton canterbury elsemere port youve got me going now.

[sliderphil]

Hackney Hawks stadium was Waterden Road in London. A brand new grandstand was built in 1994 and as late as 1995 they held the British Grand Prix there. 1996 was the last season it played host to any racing when it was the "London Lions" home base. As late as 2000 it still looked almost viable that the stadium could be ressurrected. But between 2000 and 2001, vandals got to it big time. The last available pictures are shots from 2001 on the Hackney Hawks website, see hyperlink below. I don't know if anything exists now as I moved to Canada in 2001 and have not followed up. I find the later pictures upsetting.

Regards,

Sliderphil.

 

Hackney Hawks

[mbbunyan]

waterden road has now been demolised.

Following non-league football i get to see a few grounds which have a nice track shape to them but most are far too near housing.

[25yearfan]

Their is quite a few former venues of speedway that still exist and could be suitable places for reopening the sport. Heres a few that would be ideal:

 

Perry Bar greyhound stadium, Birmingham - could stage Elite league.

Odsal Stadium Bradford - Though I think the Bulls Rugby club would need a lot of persuading.

Ellesmere Port Stadium - Tony Mole had his proposed reopening plans turned down 2 years ago.

Great Yarmouh Stadium - Potential for Confernce Laegue, especially coinciding with busy tourist period.

Berrington Lough Berwick - Just sitting there decaying but could make great training/ Conference venue.

Sunderland Stadium - Rebuilt but could still accomodate speedway as old track space is unused inside dog track.

Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium - Old track still inside dog track 50 odd years after speedways demise there though it is tarmaced over. Could be great Elite League venue.

Scunthorpe Quibell Park - Stills looks the same as it did 35 years ago, but is clean and more than adequate though prospective promotors I believe are constructing new speedway set up elsewhere in the town.

Hampden Park Glasgow - Could be used as a grand prix venue though cost would be prohibitive.

Shawfield dog track Glasgow - I believe speedway track still exists - would make a great Conference venue - Paisley Lions maybe?

Milton Keynes Groveway - Viable for Conference League?

Birmingham wheels project Bordesly Green - Training/ Confernce set up?

Brightoon and Hove Greyhound Stadium - 1930's open venue, very plush and would make good feeder track for Eastbourne.

Catford Greyhound Stadium - Another 1930's open venue recently closed but could speedway racing save it from redevelopment?

 

I'm sure their is more but these are the most obvious ones that spring to mind!

[Guest Rod King]

Their is quite a few former venues of speedway that still exist and could be suitable places for reopening the sport. Berrington Lough Berwick - Just sitting there decaying but could make great training/ Conference venue.

Hampden Park Glasgow - Could be used as a grand prix venue though cost would be prohibitive.

Shawfield dog track Glasgow - I believe speedway track still exists - would make a great Conference venue - Paisley Lions maybe?

You have to look at these and consider the catchment areas especially in view of the BSPA's refusal of a licence for a "Norwich" track that was nearer KIngs Lynn than Norwich!

Berwick operates on a very tight budget - two tracks in close proximity would mean that neither would make money.

Hampden Park is only an option in the same way as is Cardiff - large cost, temporary track. And do you believe that 40,000 supporters would travel to Scotland for GP?

For Shawfield, see Berwick! Glasgow struggles to support one team and couldn't support two. If there was sufficient demand and support for a CL team in Glasgow, I'm sure the existing promoters would have done something about it.

 

I think what we should be looking at is untapped resources - places with stadiums that could be used as venues for speedway because there would not be difficulties with planning permission AND because there is a large enough catchment area to support a team. Like Weymouth. Not, apparently, like Plymouth which appears to have failed the "planning permission" test!

[25yearfan]

Your comments Rod King, make a lot of sense but you are looking at it from a different angle to myself. Yes Berrington Lough is very close to Berwicks current home as is Shawfield to Glasgow. But Berrington Lough would make a good training facility, which Berwick don't have the luxury of at their town centre track, Shielfield Park. Conference League racing on a Saturday afternoon at Berrington Lough (team could be called the Border Raiders like Berwicks old reserve team) before the evenings Premier action at Shielfield Park could work so fans could watch both. Obviously sponsorship would have to be found to cover any possible shortfalls and for the fans to get some discount for watching 2 meetings. Likewise a similar deal could happen at Glasgow on a Sunday with fans watching lunchtime speedway at Shawfield then moving onto Ashfield. I've always thought that stand alone Conference tracks are more viable longer term than reserve teams who double up at meetings with their senior team. Riders develop better, through having a properly run meeting of their own, rather than having to be squeezed in at the end of a Senior league meeting, with a worn track to boot. Riders who ride for stand alone tracks would stand a better chance of sponsorship rather than having senior riders taking every available sponsorship at a doubling up set up.

 

As for Hampden Park being used as a possible Grand prix venue, I'd like in the future for the British Grand prix to be shared around Great Britain/United Kingdom. On a 4 year rota the meeting could go to Cardiff, Hampden Park, The new Wembley? and somewhere in Ireland - Dublin maybe? Hampden Park could draw a respectable crowd once every 4 years surely?

 

I think the Swaffham refusal decision has more to it than just its close proximity to King's Lynn - Perhaps Steve Ribbons lack of suitable funds and promotional staying power judging by his short term ventures at Rye House and Wimbledon (Thanks anyway Steve for reopening these 2 even if you needed bailing out) figures very strongly in the BSPA's refusal decision. For the record Swaffham is a clean, spacious, well equipped venue. With plenty of room inside the stock car track for a speedway track and masses of parking space it would make a very good speedway venue - quite similar to Arena Essex. It certainly puts 2 of the nearest speedway stadiums to it, King's Lynn and Ipswich to shame. It's just a crying shame it wasn't situated further dowm the A47 just outside Norwich cause speedway would of been introduced their many years ago.

[Guest Rod King]

I suppose part of the problem is fear by existing promoters that a track located too close to them would rob them of the few supporters that are the difference between break-even and loss making. My expectation is that very few PL promoters make money from the sport and they start the season hoping not to lose too much. This also applies to CL.

The potential upside of creating more interest locally by having competing teams is balanced by the potential reduction in average gate numbers.

We don't have a vast reserve of supporters desperate to attend, nor sponsors queuing up - instead we have died in the wool fanatics who support their local team almost come what may.

And this is also true of the GPs. Of the claimed 40,000 attendees at Cardiff last year, I suspect that very few were anything other than real enthusiasts. Cardiff has the benefit of being closer to the major centres of population (London and the Midlands) than Glasgow and also having a roof which, whether it's needed or not, will guarantee that racing will take place whatever the weather. It is also designed as multi-purpose whereas the English and Scottish Football Associations have decided that they simply want to concentrate on Football at Hampden and Glasgow.

The last big international speedway event to be held in Glasgow was, I think, and inter-continetal final which was staged in the early to mid 1970s at the original Hampden. Despite the promotion that took place, my recollection was that the crowd was something like 5,000. (I am probably wrong on the number but I do recall being surprised at how poor the response was.)

Now Dublin is different! There are greyhound tracks all over Ireland and I just don't know why the sport hasn't caught on there. About 20 (maybe more!) years ago, there were a series of meetings held in Ireland using British riders but nothing seemed to come of it.

Maybe on my next golfing holiday in Ireland, I'll have a look at some of the tracks and see if there is any potential. In days gone by, the lack of betting may have put off the Irish, but that is all changed now. Maybe THIS is our untapped resource?

[salty]

As I have mentioned before on a similar thread, there is a great interest in bike racing in Northern Ireland, but it is all devoted to road racing.

Last meeting held over here afaik was in about 1981/2 at Ballymena involving a Cradley team. Reportedly a crowd of approx 5,000 attended.

Positives for Ireland: Population crying out for top class sport. Ulster Rugby Union matches in the Heineken Cup attract five figure crowds and the Belfast giants Ice Hockey team attract a good following(not so sure that is still the case)

A bike racing culture exists.

Negatives: Bike racing culture is not the same as Speedway culture.

Accessibility for riders/machinery, quickest ferries are about 1 1/2 hours,but that is from Stranraer! Can't see a way round that problem!!!!

P.S. Edgar Stangeland lives over here.

[Guest Rod King]

There was a group of riders that staged a series of meetings in the Republic. I have a feeling there was a connection to the Wembley Lions team that was born out of an Edinburgh/Coatbridge Monarchs team when Ian Hoskins was alleged to have sold the licence - and some of the riders - although he then presented if not promoted at Wembley. I have this thought stuck in the back of my head that Bert Harkins was one of the riders and maybe also Colin Pratt so perhaps it was London teams rather than just Wembley. Someone somewhere will know!

Ulster road racing is, of course legendary, and still produces great riding from Ryan Farquar and the like (not to mention David Jeffries and "Yer Mon" Dunlop, both sadly lost to the sport) but, as you say, biking and speedway attract different audiences.

[Ian]

Ian Hoskins had nothing to do with Wemley's revival in 1970, Rod. The promoter was Bernard Cottrell, a property developer, and nor did Ian Hoskins present the meetings - that duty was shared between two well-known disc jockeys, Ed Stewart and David Hamilton.

 

I saw all of the Wembley home matches that year, and a good many away ones, and my recollection is that the only appearance by Ian Hoskins was as team manager for Newcastle.

 

Former Coatbridge riders in the team that year were Bert Harkins, Reidar Eide and Brian Collins.

[norbold]

I believe Wembley took over the Edinburgh licence and several of the riders - including the ones you mentioned - transferred. Although, you are quite right to say, Ian, that Ian Hoskins then had nothing to do with the Wembley promotion which was run by Bernard Cottrell and Trevor Redmond.

Edited February 12, 2004 by norbold

[Guest Rod King]

Thanks to Ian and Norbold - after 30 years I have recollections rather than exact memories. I hadn't realised that Trevor Redmond had been involved with Wembley and maybe that is where I was getting confused with the Hoskins connection. Trevor "fronted" Glasgow speedway in the mid 1960s and there was always enormous fuss when Ian Hoskins and his Monarchs came west. It was only later that I discovered that Ian was a director of Glasgow's promoting company, so it was another great Hoskins' family wheeze (I nearly said "con" but that would be unfair!) that there was bitter rivalry between the two managements!

[Ian]

Rod, I well remember this "rivalry" from the days when Trevor Redmond was fronting Glasgow (and simultaneously riding at heat leader for them!)

 

Maybe sometimes it's easy to forget that speedway, whilst unquestionably one of the most thrilling of sports, is also about ENTERTAINMENT and SPECTACLE. That means it's at its best when we have rivalries between promoters, riders, team managers et al. Hoskins was the master at this as far as promoters go, and Len Silver was pretty good too; riders like Jack Millen, Kenny Carter and Dougie Templeton could always be relied upon to do their part as riders; and team managers like Dave Lanning in his West Ham days or Dick Barrie at Glasgow understood the value of getting a bit of niggle going.

 

All of these people could use their own personalities (real or invented - it mattered not) to put numbers on the gate and to make sure that the crowd were entertained for the duration of the meeting. The pity of it is that so few speedway people nowadays bother to do this. Most of the riders I have met are personable, interesting and remarkable guys, but is anything done to project this to the crowd at a match?

 

There needs to be a balance in speedway between sport and entertainment. Sometimes we take it all a wee bit too seriously, perhaps.

[Guest Rod King]

David Jefferies of course came from Yorkshire and Joey was 'Yer Maun' Rod.

 

(Rod did you ever do a double act with an Emu? )

Sorry - my post must have been confusing - must be something to do with the accent! "Mon" or "Maun" are both used for the great Joey, and DJs background is well known. But he was another rider who loved road racing in Ulster.

As far as emu's are concerned, I don't think this is the place to discuss my personal life!

[Guest Rod King]

Rod, I well remember this "rivalry" from the days when Trevor Redmond was fronting Glasgow (and simultaneously riding at heat leader for them!)

 

Maybe sometimes it's easy to forget that speedway, whilst unquestionably one of the most thrilling of sports, is also about ENTERTAINMENT and SPECTACLE. That means it's at its best when we have rivalries between promoters, riders, team managers et al. Hoskins was the master at this as far as promoters go, and Len Silver was pretty good too; riders like Jack Millen, Kenny Carter and Dougie Templeton could always be relied upon to do their part as riders; and team managers like Dave Lanning in his West Ham days or Dick Barrie at Glasgow understood the value of getting a bit of niggle going.

 

All of these people could use their own personalities (real or invented - it mattered not) to put numbers on the gate and to make sure that the crowd were entertained for the duration of the meeting. The pity of it is that so few speedway people nowadays bother to do this. Most of the riders I have met are personable, interesting and remarkable guys, but is anything done to project this to the crowd at a match?

 

There needs to be a balance in speedway between sport and entertainment. Sometimes we take it all a wee bit too seriously, perhaps.

Another entertainer was Bill Bridgett - the Doc's uncle. I have a memory of him turning up at Edinburgh in the Powderhall days in a white Rolls Royce and, I think, a white suit!

 

You are absolutely right about entertainment and the whole idea of "promoting" is to do with this. I have often wondered if someone should look to repackage speedway as entertainment rather than sport but then consider wrestling, either Kent Walton style or WWF and realise how bad it could become.

 

So maybe we should repackage as sport? Get rid of arbitrary points limits and operate on a simple divisional basis. May the best team win. There are too few "big money" tracks for the sport to turn into a Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea and the rest situation. If a "big money" track signed up all the best riders, their income would reduce because they would be putting on processional racing. So the need to balance the interest would stop the same few teams dominating the leagues.

 

Just a thought!

[Guest smelgy]

A fascinating and interesting thread. May I add a few comments?

 

In 1964 I was reading the London Evening News aged 9, when I noticed in the entertainments listings "SPEEDWAY" Underneath was a box advert "National League West Ham .v. Norwich". Having been born in Stratford, and living near West Ham football club the fact that a sport I had never heard of had a team called West Ham intrigued me, and I badgered my mother to take me. "You won't like it it's noisy motorbikes" was the stock reply, but I won in the end.

 

Visiting the Temple that was Custom House Stadium I was immediately hooked from race 1. To me as a young boy speedway bikes looked like cycles with one difference - the front wheel appeared "thin" like a bike tyre, and the back tyre obviously belonged to a motor bike. The fact that they broadslid round the bends completed the fascination.

 

Now 40 years later, mountain bikes to me look like speedway bikes. Kids hang around on street corners, with nowhere to go, nothing to do, and yet most of them own and love racing on mountain bikes - BMX etc. Ask them what speedway is, and they haven't a clue. One of the major problems to me is the BBC. They are so establishment it is unreal. To them sport revolves around Football, Cricket, Horse racing, Olympics, Athletics, Golf and Tennis. They have the brass neck to give 250 hours per year coverage of snooker, 200 hours per year coverage of darts, and even 100 hours per year coverage of Indoor Bowls! Speedway? F**k all.

 

That's the problem. Until and unless the BBC even dare to give results, or clips from major meetings, we are up the creek without a paddle. Can anyone reading this actually believe that the results from the British Grand Prix are ignored on the news or sports broadcasts by both the BBC and ITV? Even Channel 4 put the highlights on two weeks later at 7am in the morning!

 

So what can be done? It is up to every fan, to bring along as many children as possible and get them hooked. If you take your child, talk to your neighbours and offer to take their kids. They are the audience of tomorrow. Without them the sport will eventually die, and those of us who are now pushing 50 will only have our memories left, and internet pictures of the really greats of the 50's etc.

 

Wimbledon, I feel are doing their best to encourage. It is currently £10 admission for adults, expensive for Conference league I know, but only £1 for children, although I do expect that to increase this season.

 

If only I could win the lottery, I would scour the country and open a track and make it a success. Many of us want to do that and has been said in earlier threads - the word is PROMOTE!

[SCB]

That's the problem. Until and unless the BBC even dare to give results, or clips from major meetings, we are up the creek without a paddle. Can anyone reading this actually believe that the results from the British Grand Prix are ignored on the news or sports broadcasts by both the BBC and ITV? Even Channel 4 put the highlights on two weeks later at 7am in the morning!

About the BBC, when I bought my car just under 18 months ago I bought it form a man who (did) work(s) for the BBC, infatc he worked for BBC Wales Sport. So, as we were test driving the car (Myself and my dad) we obviously got chatting to him and found this out, so being speedway fans, we asked if the BBC had looked into showing speedway in any way, shape or form and his reply was along the lines of, we(the BBC) wanted to show the British GP(from Cardiff, Wales) so loked into it, but Sky wanted far too much just to show highlights, not even enough for a programme of it's own but they wanted to muhc for the BBC to warrent paying for a few heats to show on Grandstand.

 

He also knew, without us saying anything, about Newport Speedway and he told us about how they had done well in 1999 so we told him that we went to watch the Wapss EVERY week, so he told us how he was sorry about our poor season (having just a week or two before, picked up a wooden spoon!) and he clearly knew a fair bit about speedway, it's background an it's politics so, as we had started, we asked, why can't we have any coverage from Newport Speedway and he told us again, that BBC Wales Sport had looked at it and wanted to keep people up-to-date with Newport Speedway as the Welsh will support anything Welsh and they wanted to help with Newport Speedway BUT AGAIN Sky wanted more money than it was worth to show highlights during there weekly sports round up(Wales on Saturday) on BBC Wales. He pointed out that the BBC had got speedway on Wales on Saturday one week and we told him yes, we watched it and we even have it on video and he told us that it costs a huge anount.

 

So finally, having moaned at him and got what were clearly well researched answers (and we didn't give him time to research these answers, it all happened in a car driving around Cardiff) we asked, why don't the BBC mention speedway in it sports news round ups even if they cannot show video coverage and his answer was, why bother, who is going to watch it to find out how Newport speedway have done for 5 seconds at some point in a 30 minute program and have it looking amatureish as they have no video to show as vidoe was involve sending camera men to Newport (not cheap to beging with) and then paying SKy for the pleasure)

 

 

So there you go, BBC Wales at leats have TRIED (clearly after Skys involvement) and have got nowhere, clearly Terry Russell has sold Sky's sole to Sky, had he only sold EL rights BBC Wales would show Newport Speedway highlights and give it a mention. SO well done Terry Russell and that why I laugh even more when I hear he sold the Right for GB Speedway twice, once to Sky and again to the betting company who were going to show speedway digitally on the BSPA site but TR had to give the 2nd company there money back, prehaps the BSPA should get a man in with experiacen of selling TV rights etc rather than trusting a man who owned a cleaning company for Gawds sake!

[iris123]

That's the problem. Until and unless the BBC even dare to give results, or clips from major meetings, we are up the creek without a paddle. Can anyone reading this actually believe that the results from the British Grand Prix are ignored on the news or sports broadcasts by both the BBC and ITV? Even Channel 4 put the highlights on two weeks later at 7am in the morning!

 

So what can be done? It is up to every fan, to bring along as many children as possible and get them hooked. If you take your child, talk to your neighbours and offer to take their kids. They are the audience of tomorrow. Without them the sport will eventually die, and those of us who are now pushing 50 will only have our memories left, and internet pictures of the really greats of the 50's etc.

 

Wimbledon, I feel are doing their best to encourage. It is currently £10 admission for adults, expensive for Conference league I know, but only £1 for children, although I do expect that to increase this season.

 

If only I could win the lottery, I would scour the country and open a track and make it a success. Many of us want to do that and has been said in earlier threads - the word is PROMOTE!

On another thread i said it was crazy that the British GP was on the same weekend as the Euro Championships start in Portugal!what chance have you got of getting any results or publicity? Also the sport has to sort its self out before it can really gain and grow from television exposure.People in the sport have been pointing out the ridiculous and confusing rules that make the sport a joke.Back in the 60s it was pointed out that in one week Colin Pratt rode for 3 different team(inc for West Ham vCradley and then for Cradley vWest Ham !).Does it still happen today? And i must say as a recently returned fan i`m finding it a bit difficultworking out everything thats going on.This golden joker lark in just laughable!

[loramski_legends]

I know there are many tracks that have made way for housing or other developments, but what about the famous venues that still stand but are not used for speedway anymore.

 

 

Odsal - Bradford

Used for the likes of Bradford Bulls instead and posible in the next few years Bradford City will be playing their as well. Can't see why they can't make room for Speedway as well.