British Grand Prix 2012

[PHILIPRISING]

Don't the stewards ever ask for your tickets as proof of seat area when you are going into the different area? maybe IMG do give out lots of complementary seats so a fair minority or maybe majority are Freebies!!

 

I'm tempted to try this next year but then again if we all keep trying to not pay our fair share the event will not be there anymore. Wonder did the date of this years Gp affect the crowd or are less people inclined/cant afford to go??

 

WE will never know for sure but personally think it did. However, there was no choice given that the stadium had to be "shut down" for several weeks before, during and after the Olympics.

 

But also the affects of the recession, people losing their jobs, no genuine British contenders, lack of Polish riders (undoubtedly fewer Polish fans than in 2011), people going on holiday after the Olympics must have played a part too.

 

But let's also keep this in perspective. I very much doubt that 38,000 people attend British speedway in any given week. Lower crowds across the board in the UK will also affect the Cardiff attendance, just as it does the circulation of Speedway Star. Our sales are down this year but I don't see that as a reflection on the quality of the magazine. If 20,000 more people attended speedway in the UK each week and our sales didn't go up I would be worried. We cannot separate one from the other and nor can BSI when it comes to the British GP.

 

I also think that a few people have got blase about Cardiff and forget what the British GP was like at Bradford and Coventry. It is now a major sporting event on a scale comparable with FA Cup Finals, cricket test matches, etc. And for those who still don't understand the necessity of a roof at a stadium for an event of this magnitude I despair having got drenched just walking outside the Millennium on both Friday and Saturday but not having a care in the world about the track or the meeting going ahead.

[ShadowCaptain]

I said months ago that the attendance for Cardiff would be down . What do you expect . Every single GP this season has been down on the previous season. The gates at Ullevi and Italian GP's were truly terrible. People have only so much money to spend and coming after the Olympics a little less .Then there was the problem of Cardiff with the cricket in competition and the hotel prices going through the roof.

 

And the decision, enforced by the Olympic activity at the stadium, to hold a speedway meeting during the football season!

 

Cardiff has become the kind of event you would recommend to a friend, who would probably love the excitement and the noise and the razzmatazz, but has become commonplace for the 10-year veteran. The formula is successful, but has hardly changed inside the stadium since the first meeting. No surprise, perhaps, that some supporters are becoming jaded.

 

The draw was unkind to the meeting. The better riders met each other in early races (heat 2...), so the best of the racing came early in the meeting, with later races tending to feature two contenders, and two whose chances had gone. Perhaps a tweak might be to get rid of the random draw, and 'seed' the draw so that the leaders in the standings before the meeting are scheduled to meet in heat 20, the next four in heat 19, and so on.

 

I am greatly in favour of extra entertainment in the arena, but using a dance troupe forty yards from the crowd might require some explanation. Rather than music, perhaps the entertainment should feature something else from the sporting arena. The requirement to have so much in place on the centre green before the meeting (fireworks, etc) precludes, for example, an artificial BMX track. but the motorcycle stunt riders that performed in a previous meeting were phenomenal.

 

Outside, Cardiff remains Cardiff, and it is a pity that there is no other covered stadium available that could or would host the meeting. Speedway fans can be raucous, but are generally well-behaved. Walking round Cardiff, with bottles being thrown, stones being thrown, and fights occurring, none of which included speedway fans, was more than disconcerting, and personal safety could well be a factor in determining whether to return.

[Mark]

Live Golf from New York or not, it's totally indicative of the lack of regard Sky has for speedway.

 

There's always ways of sliding back the beginning of the next programme, especially sport and in particular American sport where it happens all the time.

 

I might be wrong but speedway is the 2nd or 3rd highest viewed sport on Sky but it remains a minority sport in the UK based on crowd numbers. Maybe we should just be greatful it's on Sky so we can all watch every GP and live league matches each week.

[george.m]

With all the discontent amongst some forum members about pre-match entertainment, size of crowd, quality of racing, price of tickets, etc is it not about time BSI seriously considered moving the British GP to Slough?

[Humphrey Appleby]

I'm tempted to try this next year but then again if we all keep trying to not pay our fair share the event will not be there anymore.

 

I think it would be better to ask how complimentary tickets are getting into the hands of touts and being sold at knock down prices.

 

Perhaps they actually are complementary tickets though - given out to make the crowd look bigger..

[Mark]

With all the discontent amongst some forum members about pre-match entertainment, size of crowd, quality of racing, price of tickets, etc is it not about time BSI seriously considered moving the British GP to Slough?

 

Good post. I'm surprised that some members make the effort to go to Cardiff as there is so much to dislike or moan about. Maybe they would be happier with no British GP and no Sky coverage.

[PHILIPRISING]

I think it would be better to ask how complimentary tickets are getting into the hands of touts and being sold at knock down prices.

 

Perhaps they actually are complementary tickets though - given out to make the crowd look bigger..

 

EVER the cynic

[Humphrey Appleby]

I might be wrong but speedway is the 2nd or 3rd highest viewed sport on Sky

 

I'd be quite surprised if that were still the case. I think football, cricket, rugby league, rugby union and F1 will have better viewing figures these days, and certainly the last figures I saw for speedway had seen a significant decrease from a few years ago. That's not even taking into account the likes of darts.

 

Of course, it's difficult to compare like-with-like when it comes to viewing figures for particular sports, but I doubt speedway would even be in the top five nowadays.

[keef]

I might be wrong but speedway is the 2nd or 3rd highest viewed sport on Sky but it remains a minority sport in the UK based on crowd numbers. Maybe we should just be greatful it's on Sky so we can all watch every GP and live league matches each week.

 

Although the figures issued say less than 30% of homes subscribe to Sky Sports channels, so 70% cant watch it(unless they go to the pub like myself).

 

[quote name='PHILIPRISING' timestamp='1346064570' post='216891

 

Interest in speedway began to wane when Denmark kept winning everything. One night I called the Express Sports Desk before filling a report and was asked "who won?" I replied "Denmark" and was greeted with "not those bloody Danes again. When are England going to win something.

 

BIT of both really. British speedway really doesn't warrant any national newspaper coverage these days in my opinion. The lack of a British World Champion or British success in the SWC doesn't help either but national newspapers are now notoriously dis-interesrted in most motorsport, especially the two-wheeled variety.

 

Ironically, there are now far more pages devoted to sport than there were 20 plus years ago when the likes of Dave Lanning, Peter Oakes and I afforded some space oif most days of the week. And, as mentioned earlier, the News of the World were brilliant when Havvy won despite have a full programme iof soccer that same day.

 

Much of it now is down to the mentality of those in charge. Sports Editors used to have a wide-ranging interest in all sports and that influenced their decision making. I took over as speedway correspondent for the Daily Express when they were involved in the Spring Classic. The then SE, Ken Lawrence, liked and enjoyed speedway but more importantly he saw it as a genuine sport which was worthy of equal billing when the occasion demanded. But in those days the likes of Bruce Penhall were household names despite not being British.

 

When John Davis won the Spring Classic Wimbledon I had to do a running report of 29 paragraphs followed at the end by a complete re-write. The report was on the back page of all editions of the Daily Express the following morning.

 

Interest in speedway began to wane when Denmark kept winning everything. One night I called the Express Sports Desk before filling a report and was asked "who won?" I replied "Denmark" and was greeted with "not those bloody Danes again. When are England going to win something."

 

Would it ever change? Don't honestly know but a British winner in front of 40,000 people at Cardiff would push a few buttons. But that ain't going to happen any time soon!

 

 

 

SORRY but it seems like it!

 

 

Definitely, the English were top dogs in the 70s, until the Danes and Yanks tookover in the 80s. British speedway started going downhill in mid-80s and hasn't really recovered.

[Wackie]

I think it would be better to ask how complimentary tickets are getting into the hands of touts and being sold at knock down prices.

 

Perhaps they actually are complementary tickets though - given out to make the crowd look bigger..

 

We did the same 2 years ago, and brought complementary tickets off some bloke outside the stadium wearing an IMG lanyard! It did cross my mind that IMG were selling off the complementary tickets cheap just to generate a bit more income.

[kevtheslice]

We had a blast! Took our 6 year old son for the 2nd year running. Like many others bought cheap seats but in front row of upper tier at exit of turn four. Six of us cost £177! Same price would have got four of us into a Premier League football match with worse view! Thought crowd was smaller than last year but atmosphere much better, probably as result of better racing than 2011. Sad next year clashes with end of school holiday week as will probably be away somewhere and not be able to get the Cardiff and make do with seeing it on Sky.

[fazergill]

 

A while ago, a westminster politician declared that internet forum sites were the meeting place for all the whingers of the world.

How true that often appears to be.

I am sure an exit poll conducted last night would have concluded from the overwhelming majority of the 30 odd thousand fans that a thoroughly marvellous time had been had by all.

Yet, an infinitesimal minority will infest this site on their mission to recruit new members into their 'World of Complete Misery' club.

What the hell is there not to like about Cardiff?

It's a spectacle to match almost any sporting event in this country which is remarkable for a sport which otherwise suffers from such a low profile.

If you don't like Cardiff - don't go to it, or watch it on tv - and stop boring the rest of us us to death with negative and unhelpful balderdash.

 

Bravo - well said

 

As a newbie to this site I do find it to have quite a few negative speedway "fans"

I for one am a glass half full kinda person & look for the positive's in any meeting I watch

[PHILIPRISING]

THERE are no IMG lanyards as such. The same lanyards (which have never included any IMG logo) are used for all passes including those for track staff, guests, media and officials.

 

You cannot seriously believe that a company like IMG would risk sanctioning someone selling cheap tickets outside the stadium.

 

Much more likely that someone (track staff for example) provided with complimentary tickets decided to try and make a quick buck.

[jimmy jimmy]

Speedway won't get coverage until there is a genuine UK contender to win. Then I believe they will cover it more, especially with some proper PR behind him. Moto GPvgets little if any paper coverage, I bet very few people know what Cal Crutchlow looks like outside of Moto GP fans, as he isnt in the hunt to win. The BBC give the Moto GP series the same coverage sky gives our GP series, but the national press give it nothing as well.

Edited August 27, 2012 by jimmy jimmy

[Wackie]

Would track or support staff be outside the stadium 30 minutes before tapes up flogging complementary tickets? And why would they have about 200 of these tickets in sequential order, are IMG that generous with their freebies?

[manchesterpaul]

Speedway won't get coverage until there is a genuine UK contender to win. Then I believe they will cover it more, especially with some proper PR behind him. Moto GPvgets little if any paper coverage, I bet very few people know what Cal Crutchlow looks like outside of Moto GP fans, as he isnt in the hunt to win. The BBC give the Moto GP series the same coverage sky gives our GP series, but the national press give it nothing as well.

 

You wouldn't have had to have any interest in motor sports to have enjoyed the tension and marvelled at the manner in which Chris Harris won the British Grand Prix. However, that year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year show, lasting hours?, didn't spare the needed just over ONE MINUTE to show his great and entertaining achievement........errrrrm 'nuff said!

 

Another issue was the rubbish advert. Nobody knows Harris, Hancock, Holder and Crump so them saying on camera talking about winning Cardiff meant nothing. You need to show racing, crashing and fireworks.

Precisely!!! ADVERTISE the speed, colour and generate excitment, not boring old chat by 'stars@ you mightn't actually know!

 

As i mentioned elsewhere the other day;

 

The fact that speedway is such a visually exciting sport makes the omission all the worst. I wouldn't mind but most of the general sporting public simply are not familiar with the riders, their characters or their history so that weakens the 'drama' of the personal statement aspect of it all.

 

Whilst unlike a decade ago most people now are aware of what speedway is, mainly thanks to Sky, i notice that a lot of websites including the very large official ones do feel the need to have a section invariably called 'What Is Speedway'. Admittedly they are usually well worded and do make the sport sound exciting. Even though we hear it ad nauseum i still love the phrase 'No brakes, no gears, no fear'. Many outsiders to the sport even though they know what speedway is are unaware that the bikes have no brakes and such a fact invariably raises an eyebrow and interest.

[Trees]

Would track or support staff be outside the stadium 30 minutes before tapes up flogging complementary tickets? And why would they have about 200 of these tickets in sequential order, are IMG that generous with their freebies?

Depends if they want to boost official numbers ........

[orion]

 

 

Much more likely that someone (track staff for example) provided with complimentary tickets decided to try and make a quick buck.

 

Track staff are hardly likely to be outside the staduim selling tickets 30 mins before start time are they ?

[MattK]

Speedway won't get coverage until there is a genuine UK contender to win. Then I believe they will cover it more, especially with some proper PR behind him. Moto GPvgets little if any paper coverage, I bet very few people know what Cal Crutchlow looks like outside of Moto GP fans, as he isnt in the hunt to win. The BBC give the Moto GP series the same coverage sky gives our GP series, but the national press give it nothing as well.

 

I wasn't following speedway back in 2000 when Mark Loram won the world championship and I can't remember any coverage if the event in the mainstream media.

[Backless]

 

 

I might be wrong but speedway is the 2nd or 3rd highest viewed sport on Sky but it remains a minority sport in the UK based on crowd numbers. Maybe we should just be greatful it's on Sky so we can all watch every GP and live league matches each week.

 

I don't have any viewing figures, but let's assume you're correct.

 

If speedway is in the top half dozen sports in terms of viewing figures, why should we "be grateful" about the coverage?

 

In fact the shoddy way the cut off the presentations on Saturday is all the more deplorable.

 

Sky charge a hefty fee for their sports channels, that includes any gratitude from me.

 

I'm equally grateful to the baker who bakes the bread I BUY, the oil company who provide the diesel I BUY and indeed anything else provide for me that I PAY FOR.