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People that blame the Rose-Tinted spec scenario on older supporters memories of the 1970s speedway currency is desperate.

 

Speedway 2013 is tuck-shop business compared to 1970s.

 

We have all aged in that time.

 

Like a human, speedway isn’t as attractive as back then.

 

Like the male hairline, support has receded during 40 years.

 

Same with teeth, there are simply too many gaps on the terraces compared to then.

 

And, lastly, British speedway and us old ones find it increasingly hard nowadays to arrange dates.

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We are lucky at Somerset as fans can go to the pits up to 7pm, and riders come into the club house after the meeting and are interviewed and there is a rider of the night presentation. After the victory parade riders also walk off the track through the crowd back to the pits so there is an opportunity for photo's or autographs. It seems from reading the posts on here that Somerset is unique in this respect. However the presentation as at most tracks is not very good, and could be improved for very little or no extra cost. Most fans know what is wrong with the sport, but for some unknown reason speedway is the only business I can think of where the people who run it take little notice of their customers. Mr Rising mentions the case of Stefan Nielsen who had to be replaced by a National League guest, he goes on to say the common sense solution would be to apply the new average, but you can count on one hand the common sense solutions made by the BSPA.

Edited by oldtimer
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MIKE Beale was a staff man with the Daily Express who went on to become cricket correspondent for the Daily Star. He originally came from the Midlands and was, for a brief time, Ole Olsen's manager, pre-Pete Adams.

 

Thanks for that.

Extra information is always welcome.

 

People that blame the Rose-Tinted spec scenario on older supporters memories of the 1970s speedway currency is desperate.

 

Speedway 2013 is tuck-shop business compared to 1970s.

 

We have all aged in that time.

 

Like a human, speedway isn’t as attractive as back then.

 

Like the male hairline, support has receded during 40 years.

 

Same with teeth, there are simply too many gaps on the terraces compared to then.

 

And, lastly, British speedway and us old ones find it increasingly hard nowadays to arrange dates.

 

Well done.

My memories of the seventies at Hyde Road and The Shay are as pink tinged as anyones.

They were truly wonderful times.

 

Thankfully.

I seem to have aged slightly better than your poor self.

The difference between a fine wine and cheap plonk. I suppose.

My sympathies are with you.

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We are lucky at Somerset as fans can go to the pits up to 7pm, and riders come into the club house after the meeting and are interviewed and there is a rider of the night presentation. After the victory parade riders also walk off the track through the crowd back to the pits so there is an opportunity for photo's or autographs. It seems from reading the posts on here that Somerset is unique in this respect. However the presentation as at most tracks is not very good, and could be improved for very little or no extra cost. Most fans know what is wrong with the sport, but for some unknown reason speedway is the only business I can think of where the people who run it take little notice of their customers. Mr Rising mentions the case of Stefan Nielsen who had to be replaced by a National League guest, he goes on to say the common sense solution would be to apply the new average, but you can count on one hand the common sense solutions made by the BSPA.

I do think the Premier League is much more like the "Old Days" as most of the riders don't have to rush off abroad somewhere and can spend time to chat to the fans. Interesting comment about the walk from the pits to the dressing room, for many years at Rye House the riders had to walk the length of the home straight to get from Pits to dressing room it was a great chance to encourage the riders or hurl friendly abuse at the away team all great fun.

Edited by Cockney Rebel
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Have a look at September 06th 1976. All the back pages were almost given over entirely to speedway on that day

Check out the papers rom July 1st/2nd 2007. Chris Harris got a LOT of coverage. Im not sure he made any back pages but I bought all the papers that day (possibly the only day I have ever bought a newspaper in fact) to see what was said after strolling into the bookies to pick up my winnings.

 

I had a breif flick through after Tais win last month and guess what? Bugger all. So even in 6 years we've gone from half a page in most papers to a paragraph in a few of them. Maybe it being the British GP for Bomber adds some bias?

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APART from representatives of Speedway Star, there are no British journalists at ANY SGP events outside of the UK. A few do attend Cardiff but there is almost complete disregard for most motorcycling events and particularly speedway by national newspapers here. It is a different story in Denmark and Poland, of course, but here speedway doesn't sell newspapers.

 

A Brityish winner AT CARDIFF might get a few pars but I guess that'a about it. The biggest coverage in UK papers during my time for any single event was Michael Lee's victory in 1980. It made the back page lead across all of the tabloids I believe... certainly it was one of the few occasions that I enjoyed that feat with the Daily Express.

 

But it was also a Friday night with an early start (6pm UK time) and I know I had the story written and across in time for all the editions that evening.

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The bottom line is how could Birmingham's Chris Harris help their rivals Wolverhampton Wolves increase their lead at the top.

 

This is why speedway will never be regarded as a serious sport by the media and most credible journalists.

 

They don't mind it in cricket though.. and they can sometimes have a player from the opposing team play for them!

Edited by BWitcher
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They don't mind it in cricket though.. and they can sometimes have a player from the opposing team play for them!

 

Yes and soon as that the match is no longer deemed first class cricket & all records do not stand in the first class game as was recently in the England v Essex ashes warm up game at Chelmsford.

Edited by longlivefrankie
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If the 1998 Ipswich team had been allowed to stay together (Rickardsson,Gollob,Nicholls,Louis etc)they would have been untouchable for at least 5 years.The points limit would have been over 50.The best thing about speedway is that no one team dominates and the honours are shared around.Keeping league winning sides together would create the equivalent of footballs Premier League.

But economics would probably mean some would leave as you can't afford 5 number 1 riders. I think the winning team should be kept together if that promotion wants to, the breaking up of successful teams is the main reason the sport is in decline.well one of them anyway

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But economics would probably mean some would leave as you can't afford 5 number 1 riders. I think the winning team should be kept together if that promotion wants to, the breaking up of successful teams is the main reason the sport is in decline.well one of them anyway

 

I don't :D

 

I'd say that every team having an equal opportunity at the start of every season is one of the sports strong points, particularly when successful teams can use their financial muscle to ensure that they stay successful. Its something Poole, for example, have managed to do with the odd exception for many years despite the restrictions of the points limit.

 

Better that than having a football style situation where 5 or so clubs are guaranteed to dominate and the rest are nothing more than also rans season after season after season with no prospect of winning anything meaningful.

Edited by Halifaxtiger
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Yes and soon as that the match is no longer deemed first class cricket & all records do not stand in the first class game as was recently in the England v Essex ashes warm up game at Chelmsford.

 

Not talking about friendlies. There's been a 20/20 game just recently where a player was caught out by a member of his own team (who was fielding for the other team).

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But economics would probably mean some would leave as you can't afford 5 number 1 riders. I think the winning team should be kept together if that promotion wants to, the breaking up of successful teams is the main reason the sport is in decline.well one of them anyway

It wouldn't have taken that much more expenditure for Swindon to have retained all of last years team(Doyle,Stead and Lampart)although it would have given them a large advantage over everyone else building to 41.
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