g13webb Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 Well yes, kids do go to evening football matches, but not as many as to Saturday or Sunday afternoon games. The object of the exercise has to be to get more people through the gates and I know a person or two who stopped going when their kids got to school age and I'd bet many others on here do too. For some I suppose cost is/was the factor but for others it's school the next day. One of speedway's problems is getting lapsed supporters back through the turnstiles so giving them less reasons to lapse has to be a step forward. Just a question. Do those Premier League clubs that run at the weekend get massive gates, bearing in mind the Kids aren't at school..???? Kids are important, but they are not the governing factor. The sport needs supporters through the gates, but most of all they want those supporters who pay full whack to get in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Blachshadow Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 Just a question. Do those Premier League clubs that run at the weekend get massive gates, bearing in mind the Kids aren't at school..???? Kids are important, but they are not the governing factor. The sport needs supporters through the gates, but most of all they want those supporters who pay full whack to get in. Today's kids are tomorrow's adults. Who in speedway gets 'massive' gates these days? Kids don't come on their own, a full-whack payer or two usually accompanies them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shale Searcher Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 Just a question. Do those Premier League clubs that run at the weekend get massive gates, bearing in mind the Kids aren't at school..???? Kids are important, but they are not the governing factor. The sport needs supporters through the gates, but most of all they want those supporters who pay full whack to get in. Surely, the first priority is to stop the existing supporters leaving the sport in droves first? As you cannot easily fill a bath with the plug out? Let's get the plug securely in place first....?? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Lady Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 However many teams the EL has, each team MUST have a tie up with a PL club (possibly 2 if numbers permit) preferably run their own NL team or at least the equivilant of the MDL. All guests/replacements must come from those clubs and the team average cannot go over whatever is the ball park figure. PL should either run their own NL side (or their EL club has one) or if that's not possible have a tie up with one of the independent NLclubs. It might lead to uneven teams for a season or so but we have that now. At least the guests etc would have loyalty to the higher level club they are guesting for and the fans could have the feeling that they are "our" riders. Who knows it might even mean a few Brits actually progressing and we all want that. Replacing number 1s in the EL is not easy so a pool of non EL riders who are willing to do the odd guest appearance in the case of an EL team having 2 of the top 3 riders out with injury. Prior commitments etc are not a reason to bring in a guest from the pool and only so many such substitutes allowed per season. I know the above is very simplistic but it should appeal to the BSPA because it's cheap 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g13webb Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 I know the above is very simplistic but it should appeal to the BSPA AND because it's cheap Sorry Star Lady!! but It had to be edited :rofl: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldyman Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 (edited) What speedway needs is to break away from the people that run it now and then ask Barry Hearn to run it. Just look what he has done with the likes of darts and snooker. And if he won't take the sport over, at least try and book some time with him and ask him his views on how to improve our sport, or at least the entertainment side of it. Edited July 2, 2014 by Baldyman 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedibee Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 Just a question. Do those Premier League clubs that run at the weekend get massive gates, bearing in mind the Kids aren't at school..???? Kids are important, but they are not the governing factor. The sport needs supporters through the gates, but most of all they want those supporters who pay full whack to get in. leicester get the same now as they did when they were in premier league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g13webb Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 leicester get the same now as they did when they were in premier league. So! I don't refer to the sport as them as us. to me we're all in this together regardless of which club or what league you're in. I was answering a post who thoughts Kids were the No.1 priority. I just asked the question, do teams, running at the weekend, get this massive support with kids able to go. What league, what venue is irrelevant. If Leicester get the same support now as they did before, then good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinMills Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 So! I don't refer to the sport as them as us. to me we're all in this together regardless of which club or what league you're in. I was answering a post who thoughts Kids were the No.1 priority. I just asked the question, do teams, running at the weekend, get this massive support with kids able to go. What league, what venue is irrelevant. If Leicester get the same support now as they did before, then good. if you take the days the sport get good turnouts (bank holiday), are the kids coming because they like speedway? i ask that, as when its advertised, all you hear is a bouncy castle and face painting!!.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Blachshadow Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 (edited) So! I don't refer to the sport as them as us. to me we're all in this together regardless of which club or what league you're in. I was answering a post who thoughts Kids were the No.1 priority. I just asked the question, do teams, running at the weekend, get this massive support with kids able to go. What league, what venue is irrelevant. If Leicester get the same support now as they did before, then good. I never specifically made kids the number one priority. You posted matches should be on two successive given days and suggested Wednesday and Thursday, but also posted that any other successive days would be fine. I suggested Friday and Saturday which would help get parents with school-age children (who don't want their kids out till ten o'clock on a pre-school evening) going to speedway. Out of interest, what's your reason for Wednesday and Thursday other than KL riding on a Wednesday? I recall Peterborough's crowd dipping when they moved from Friday to Thursday, one of the reasons given that fewer parents with school-age children were able to come on Thursday. Speedway likes to market itself as a 'family sport'. How about running on days when it's easiest for families to attend. Edited July 2, 2014 by Vincent Blackshadow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketrod Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 Keep it simple, Monday or Wednesday or Thursday night is Elite league night, those clubs who want to be involved, set up a squad of riders who want to be involved and are able to commit for the whole season. no guests, rider replacements, start Easter finish September. Everyone knows where they are and where they need to be. All other teams contest premier league or whatever structure you want to call it for any night/day they want. Doesn't matter if its same night as Elite league. People are voting with their feet, who wants to spend weekly £15-£20 watching three regular riders plus guests or reserve guests and rider replacement. Its only the die hards that are keeping the sport alive,once they stop going which is what they are doing now, speedway is left with nothing. Tradition is fine but unless a modern practical solution is found soon,tradition will kill speedway as we know it, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinMills Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 would be nice to make the cup finals special occasions as well. instead of a dreary wet octobr night 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben91 Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 Radical thought here but: One race night a week (it can be done regardless of what any nay-sayers think.) Teams face each other once home and away so will be at home once a fortnight. Teams to be made up of a squad, 3 British riders to be included at each meeting as a minimum including both reserves, to increase to 4 Brits in 1-2 season's time. All EL sides to run a NL side who can race home meetings on the night the EL side are away, hence developing more British riders. And perhaps most importantly: No more pleading poverty from promoters, run their clubs within their means and actually do something to get fans through the gates rather than threatening them with closure if they don't turn up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthur cross Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 However many teams the EL has, each team MUST have a tie up with a PL club (possibly 2 if numbers permit) preferably run their own NL team or at least the equivilant of the MDL. All guests/replacements must come from those clubs and the team average cannot go over whatever is the ball park figure. PL should either run their own NL side (or their EL club has one) or if that's not possible have a tie up with one of the independent NLclubs. It might lead to uneven teams for a season or so but we have that now. At least the guests etc would have loyalty to the higher level club they are guesting for and the fans could have the feeling that they are "our" riders. Who knows it might even mean a few Brits actually progressing and we all want that. Replacing number 1s in the EL is not easy so a pool of non EL riders who are willing to do the odd guest appearance in the case of an EL team having 2 of the top 3 riders out with injury. Prior commitments etc are not a reason to bring in a guest from the pool and only so many such substitutes allowed per season. I know the above is very simplistic but it should appeal to the BSPA because it's cheap Very surprised someone who's usually among the most realistic and sensible posters on this forum has come up with so much utopian rubbish on this occasion. It's often hard enough at the moment finding a suitable guest, especially to cope with an injury one night requiring a guest booking the next night ... now you're restricting clubs to only being able to use guests/replacememts from clubs to which they're already linked. All you're going to do (on a far too regular basis) is force a team manager to book a guest several points under-strength because that was the only guest left that ticked the club-tie-up box ... hey presto, that guest proves dreadfully uncompetitive just when nearly everyone on this forum is crying out for evenly-matched line-ups !! Clearly there are some semi-official tie-ups already in existence ... one you'll be well aware about already is a prime example with King's Lynn as a Wednesday-Elite track having both its reserves in Newcastle's 1-to-7 using Sundays in the Premier. But good luck telling either Rob Lyon or George English that their options are restricted within that useful link when they need to find a guest !! ... and what happens (especially with rescheduled fixtures once the weather's taken its toll) when linked clubs are all racing on the same night ? !! The whole concept of "guests allowed or no guests at all" is another debate entirely but if you're going to keep the concept of guests, forget any club-linked loyalty ... the vast majority of fans will gladly accept a guest as "one of ours", even if it's only for that night, the moment he wins a race for them or unexpectedly beats a much higher-rated opppnent ... similarly, I've seen plenty of guests clearly wanting to do well when riding for that club for the first time ever, mainly because they wouldn't mind the same phone call again if it needs making in the future !! And as for having a spare pool of Elite number-1-standard riders willing to be on some sort of standby for the odd guest booking ... how on earth are you going to fund that, either by all the teams collectively persuading a couple of riders like Nicki Pedersen or Andreas Jonsson to have a couple of bikes handy somewhere in the UK ready for them to fly in at short-notice when they're needed somewhere or, alternatively, each team putting a dent in its cashflow by paying its occasional superstar a retainer to guarantee he'll keep a stack of dates in his diary clear in case that emergency call comes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topaz325 Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 First it was Birmingham tonight its Coventrys turn to put out a virtual PL side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Lady Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 Very surprised someone who's usually among the most realistic and sensible posters on this forum has come up with so much utopian rubbish on this occasion.It's often hard enough at the moment finding a suitable guest, especially to cope with an injury one night requiring a guest booking the next night ... now you're restricting clubs to only being able to use guests/replacememts from clubs to which they're already linked.All you're going to do (on a far too regular basis) is force a team manager to book a guest several points under-strength because that was the only guest left that ticked the club-tie-up box ... hey presto, that guest proves dreadfully uncompetitive just when nearly everyone on this forum is crying out for evenly-matched line-ups !!Clearly there are some semi-official tie-ups already in existence ... one you'll be well aware about already is a prime example with King's Lynn as a Wednesday-Elite track having both its reserves in Newcastle's 1-to-7 using Sundays in the Premier.But good luck telling either Rob Lyon or George English that their options are restricted within that useful link when they need to find a guest !! ... and what happens (especially with rescheduled fixtures once the weather's taken its toll) when linked clubs are all racing on the same night ? !!The whole concept of "guests allowed or no guests at all" is another debate entirely but if you're going to keep the concept of guests, forget any club-linked loyalty ... the vast majority of fans will gladly accept a guest as "one of ours", even if it's only for that night, the moment he wins a race for them or unexpectedly beats a much higher-rated opppnent ... similarly, I've seen plenty of guests clearly wanting to do well when riding for that club for the first time ever, mainly because they wouldn't mind the same phone call again if it needs making in the future !!And as for having a spare pool of Elite number-1-standard riders willing to be on some sort of standby for the odd guest booking ... how on earth are you going to fund that, either by all the teams collectively persuading a couple of riders like Nicki Pedersen or Andreas Jonsson to have a couple of bikes handy somewhere in the UK ready for them to fly in at short-notice when they're needed somewhere or, alternatively, each team putting a dent in its cashflow by paying its occasional superstar a retainer to guarantee he'll keep a stack of dates in his diary clear in case that emergency call comes. I appreciate the compliment, thank you kind sir. Fair enough there are flaws in my plan - ruddy big ones it seems. However for the good of BRITISH speedway and riders I believe all clubs should have tie ups both above and below them, to provide progression for British riders. I doubt I'm the only person sick of mediocre (or worse) foreigners being brought in as the saviour of clubs only to treat them as a means to earn cash when they have no other meeting to ride in. Obviously clubs would have to chose their affiliations carefully. As you say Lynn and Newcastle works well. The pool of riders was an afterthought to appease those people who insist that "big names" are the only riders who can provide good racing - not something I believe. In conclusion I ain't got a clue how to save the sport but neither it seems have the BSPA, the fast track system being the exception that proves the rule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinMills Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 omg. what a shambles. the coventry line up sums up why speedway is finished as a respectable sport......sport in crisis or what!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherwatcher Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 If it dosen't happen next year it will happen in a couple of years down the line. The EL league other than the clubs that can afford to do so will not be having a top GP rider as thier No1 rider because the funds will not allow it. So you will end up will maybe 3 or 4 clubs that can field the top riders and every year the same teams will be the same ones at the top of the league. The riding these days is far from competative with the top riders going out in front and not bothering where thier team mate is as long as they win. It is OK if you have weekday meeting unless you want it to keep the young fans from going. One good thing of going to Leicester is with it being on a Saturday I can take my 9 year old grandson with and he loves his speedway. The Monday night meeting that is being shown on sky counts us out as he would be dead beat the next morning. If they run in the week then an earlier start time is needed so that you could get home at a reasonable time. I have a 25 mile ride back home after the match and if we stay to watch the second half we are not then getting home until nearly 11pm. The point made about guest riders also needs looking at in earnest there have been at least 3 matches this year where 4 or more riders have been missing from a team at the worst I think it was 5 riders. The fans want to see a team that they can relate to not something that resembles a band of wandering travellers. Belle Vue this week at the Lions are missing 3 riders, so you can only guess at the quality of riders that they will be able to find to fill these places. Our stadiums are getting very tired, when you look at the Polish tracks it makes ours look like something from out of the Ark, some have had very little work done to them in years. As for the fans that go to Leicester, I must say that they have a very good following there, with quite a good mix of age groups. If this went to a mid week fixture I think you would see a big drop in the number of fans that go. Many families would be ruled out and a lot of people would stuggle to find the cash mid week. The promoters have a very hard task in this day and age getting any bums on the seats, gone are days of the 50's and 60's mainly because there is so much going on now that people have a bigger choice, plus the fact that speedway is so badly promoted, I as I said live 25 miles away from my nearest stadium, unless you knew about it and you where interest in the sport or went on the internet, you would never even know that the sport existed. There just is not advertising within the sport. You can't get people to go if they don't even know it is there in the first place. Not all of us are die hard speedway fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 (edited) Surely, the first priority is to stop the existing supporters leaving the sport in droves first? As you cannot easily fill a bath with the plug out? Let's get the plug securely in place first....?? Great point... if only there was some kind of communication link available where those who have become so disillusioned that they no longer attend, could tell those who run the sport why they simply have given up... what a great asset it would be to actually get 'data based feedback' from your ex customers delivered in a critically constructive delivered manner... if only such a thing as maybe a 'fans forum' on the internet or even a weekly magazine dedicated to the sport existed, then I am sure those who run the sport would reflect on the feedback available with an open mind, and see that the many self inflicted wounds over the years could be reversed, just by making a few fundamental positive changes to both the entertainment levels of the night and the integrity of the sports' administration..... who knows, maybe even acknowledging the fans' feedback and suggestions on possibly how to improve the sport/why they no longer go may result in 'one or two' coming back to it and investing their hard earned cash once again on a 'night out at the speedway'... damn, if only such a great communication vessel existed... Edited July 2, 2014 by mikebv 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfsbane Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 The cynical realistic ones among us might think that the BSPA may be happier with 8 teams instead of 10. Sky money divided by 8 instead of 10. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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