Speedway Star Toothless Pussycat

[iris123]

Guess it was a pity there never was a decent speedway fanzine.At least i never saw one that matched some of the football ones.Possibly one of the problems was that with football you had thousands of people walking the streets up to the stadium to sell to and didn't need to be on club property.With speedway because of stadium/car park you need to be in front of the stadium to sell your mag and if you are going to have some hard hitting articles they probably won't want you there.Quite probably won't want you there even if there are no such articles anyway.Speedway seems very suspicious of anything new

[george.m]

Reading through this and the Sky Deal threads the sooner the season starts the better .... paranoia overload!

 

Where's the Book Depository and the Grassy knoll when you need them?

 

 

Any truth in the rumour "Once a Jolly Swagman" was funded by the KGB to reduce speedway attendances?

Apparently the Russians were aware of MI5 anti-communist propaganda leaflets being distributed at meetings, along with subliminal message broadcasts over stadium PA systems.

 

I blame "Once a Jolly Swagman" for reduced attendances, team/stadium closures.

Slough being the most notable victim!

Edited January 26, 2014 by george.m

[Humphrey Appleby]

MYSTERIOUS backers of Speedway Star? We have no mysterious backers and I resent the suggestion that we do.

 

 

I think you're taking things too seriously. I guess you missed the smiley at the end...

[YerRopes]

 

The only problem with that being that unless it resulted in 'Poole taking all the blame', it would still be seen as non-contentious by many on here!! Whereas the full report in the Ss did explain the circumstances and who was responsible for making decisions on the night - but of course that didn't suit some people's agendas!!

 

Nonsense Skidder

.

All anyone wants is a fair and 'above board' sport. Should there be any shenanigans by any club then a full and thorough investigation should take place with the results published in full...and any penalty accepted with grace - wouldn't that be good

 

You are super defensive of Poole and blame any criticism of your team on 'some people's agendas', this is laughable and happily ignores some of your club's antics over recent seasons..

[Conkers in Gravy]

It doesn't have to be - you can find out all sort of things on the Internet in a matter of hours. Such as the Speedway Star's official circulation that was supposedly confidential even though it could easily be found on a public website with a small amount of effort.

 

 

There isn't necessarily any corruption, but it would still be interesting to know where the money is flowing from and to, who owns which riders, how much are commercial rights worth to the SGP and BSPA, what's happening to Go-Speed, and who are the mysterious backers of the Speedway Star ;-)

 

It will no doubt be argued that the great unwashed have no right to know this sort of thing. I disagree - people interested in the sport have every right to know, and in many cases the information isn't secret if you wish to find it anyway.

 

I agree you don't want to fill the whole magazine with such things, but the occasional spread would be interesting.

 

I'm not saying it wouldn't be good to see some more in-depth examination of the sport, but speedway is so small-time now that there's not many of us who would want to read it. Most of the reports in Speedway Star are written by freelancers or reporters with other publications who are earning a bit of cash on the side (I used to be one of them). For the money the Star was able to offer, I could never justify the time to do anything more than a match report and a round-up of the local track's news.

 

And journalists can be more expensive than you'd imagine! It's easy to say it's just a couple of hours on the internet, but if you're talking about the kind of length and depth of feature the Star might want, you need to arrange and conduct interviews, check facts (some journalists do!) and then write the several thousand words. An experienced freelancer costs somewhere between £15 and £25 per hour - a lot of money for a small publication facing an already hefty freelance bill.

 

I'm with you in wishing for more from the Star, but I can understand why they maybe have to take what seems like the line of least resistance.

[cyclone]

One excellent facet of the Speedway Star that is being ignored on here is the superb display of photos, both past and present.

 

I've yet to see anything on the net that matches quality and volume of illustrations appearing in the Star on a weekly basis

 

 

[salty]

Anyone know what happened to the new magazine that was launched at the start of last season? Is it still going?

[robolots]

For the record I am not expecting the speedway star to be the gutter press, but just have a more in depth coverage of some of the issues good and bad with speedway rather than what some one has already alluded to here and not just be a match report and basic news mag.

I'm definitely on the outside of the clique, but from my involvement with speedway I could tell things that would make much more interesting reading both positive and negative.

[ColinMills]

For the record I am not expecting the speedway star to be the gutter press, but just have a more in depth coverage of some of the issues good and bad with speedway rather than what some one has already alluded to here and not just be a match report and basic news mag.

I'm definitely on the outside of the clique, but from my involvement with speedway I could tell things that would make much more interesting reading both positive and negative.

yep, know what you mean..think others do, but like most, they just give up and walk away

[Guest]

The problem with investigative journalism is that it's expensive for the what you get in the end. Employing a suitably able or qualified journalist to dig out maybe one story a month is beyond the budget of small publications like the Star (they spend enough just to get reports and news from all the country's tracks) and few, if any, freelancers are prepared to take on that kind of work for limited return. It's a problem faced by all kinds of newspaper and magazines. It doesn't matter whether there's a web of lies and corruption at the heart of the sport or not - and I suspect there isn't - it's just not worth anyone's time or money to unearth it.

 

I happen to think Speedway Star does a pretty good job considering it's audience is limited to a tiny number of competitors and a few thousand regular spectators. Few other minority sports have a weekly magazine of similar quality.

 

I was in the RAF in 1952 when on a visit to Belle Vue i discovered the then Eric Linden edited 'Speedway Star." I have been a reader ever since and have no quibbles in regard to its content.

I think the emphasised quote especially to be praiseworthy. 'The Star will always shine for me.'

[tigerowl]

I think I have got a weekly speedway magazine for every week from 1935 to the present day and, in my opinion the Speedway Star is better than it has ever been.

 

If you want gossip, discussions about the bad things in speedway, good opinions, mad opinions - they are all contained in this forum somewhere.

 

If, like me, you want a record of the sport, great pictures and reports from the furthest flung places in the world where speedway is held, the Star ticks all the boxes and is worth every penny.

[PHILIPRISING]

I think I have got a weekly speedway magazine for every week from 1935 to the present day and, in my opinion the Speedway Star is better than it has ever been.

 

If you want gossip, discussions about the bad things in speedway, good opinions, mad opinions - they are all contained in this forum somewhere.

 

If, like me, you want a record of the sport, great pictures and reports from the furthest flung places in the world where speedway is held, the Star ticks all the boxes and is worth every penny.

 

THANKS for those comments and fortunately there are still many who concur. Fully respect the views of everyone on here, even those I don't necessarily agree with.

[ColinMills]

ss like everything, can be improved upon..i recall getting the ss as a kid and trawling through it to cut it up

(sorry pr) to make scrapbooks, was great when you got your fav rider in colour..and was good when the whole back page was

full colour picture..also think as a spectator, pics were better with riders in individual colours, before team colours emerged,

for me, lost a bit of colour from the sport...I guess it was for the neutrals, but again, just one of those lost things in speedway

[manchesterpaul]

I just find the speedway star boring and have done for years. I stopped buying it when Wimbledon closed midway through 1991.

 

Ummm! you say you've found it boring for years but the last time you bought it was in 1991! How do you know whether or not they might nowadays have a page 3 beauty and 'exciting' content lol.

 

On the other hand, many of us think we are lucky to have such a quality and well presented magazine for our minority sport, and at such a reasonable price. Everyones different.

 

I'll second that and have gone into details as to why on several occasions in these forums.

 

 

 

The letters page is the pits. It seems as if they sort out the most uninteresting letters or those that more or less repeat the same as last week. I can't remember the last time read a really thought provoking letter.

 

Come on 'E I Addio' send one in to them then. Remember though to make it interesting, thought-provoking and not repeating anything from the previous weeks hee hee.

 

Anybody can compile a bunch of press releases together, The Star is a waste of money in my eyes.

 

To be honest i think the collation of news - even if merely press releases - from each of the tracks in one place is a strength of the magazine.

 

How long would it take you to seek out on the web each clubs official website and also their local news media outlets in order that you don't miss something. With the Speedway Star you can simply flick through the pages and read whatever story catches your eye.

 

I realize when it comes to news in general how greatly redundant the printed press has become in the face of the minute-by-minute updating and instantly interactive internet, however a magazine that collates news and articles on a specific subject can still hold it's own. Incidentally, how is the Speedway Star website (not online issue) for breaking news? is it like Sportowefakty where they publish and update stories all day long or does it merely serve as a vehicle for advertising the magazine with the barest token nod to news stories?

 

I haven't purchased a printed newspaper for some 15 years due to their very latest news having been printed the evening before and therefore considerably out of date and now 'yesterday's news'. Admittedly, i also can't bear to look at any of the national newspapers because of their farcical political bias and the accompanying very damaging misinformation and disinformation (ok and blatant lies too with some of them), it all makes it a waste of time to even read them. On a comparative note whilst some on here complain about the extent to which the Speedway Star won't veer away from the official line of the BSPA etc - and clearly they frequently have a very solid stance of 'see no evil, hear no evil, report no evil' - we do get the benefit of knowing that often we are at least getting the actual facts of the matter on many occasions.

[Humphrey Appleby]

Come on 'E I Addio' send one in to them then. Remember though to make it interesting, thought-provoking and not repeating anything from the previous weeks hee

Would it get ever get printed though? This week's lead letter was an appallingly sycophantic affair thanking BSI for 'rescuing' the SGP. Quite aside from what are they rescuing it from, but do people really believe they're doing it out of love?

[manchesterpaul]

Would it get ever get printed though?

 

Oh of course that's a thought that escaped my mind for a moment. For all we know there are some great letters not being printed, actually come to think of it that is very likely indeed.

[cityrebel]

I might have stopped buying the star in 1991, but i still get back issues given to me on a regular basis. A quick glance at these tell me all i need to know.

[Conkers in Gravy]

Pinegen did launch a monthly magazine to go alongside the Star in the 1990s (98?) to provide more in-depth features - I wrote a couple of pieces for it - but it didn't last long. Speedway Star, on the other hand, has been with us for decades and has seen off all the opposition which tells us that, while some on BSF don't like it, many (or at least enough) speedway fans do like it.

[KEITH M]

The one easy way to get your letter published in Speedway Star is to sign it John Chaplin

[Guest]

 

Oh of course that's a thought that escaped my mind for a moment. For all we know there are some great letters not being printed, actually come to think of it that is very likely indeed.

 

 

The one easy way to get your letter published in Speedway Star is to sign it John Chaplin

 

A letter to an editor does not guarantee it's automatic publication. What a letter writer may consider is his 'indignant complaint' may well fall into the category of libel. If that's the case and has been sent by Mail it then heads either for the spike or if as amail just stays in an email file.

Edited January 27, 2014 by Guest