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Encouraging Young People To Become Fans!


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What are the pricing like in GB for kids/teens?

 

My team charges £17 for adults (£15 for pre-purchase), £13 for students (ages 17-19) and people aged 65+ although Id is required to get discount.

youngsters aged 12-16 pays £5 and kids younger then 12 enter for free.

 

Our meetings also starts half an hour earlier then yours and we also have speedway schools for kids which also attracts them to the regular meetings.

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I'm always amazed that when I go to a tourist information office or motorway services there are hundreds of leaflets for pottery museums, miniature railways and cat shelters but none for any nearby speedway tracks.

 

I'm also a fan of drag racing and you will see leaflets for Santa Pod in almost every motorway services in the country and drag racing is even more of a minority sport in this country than speedway.

 

These leaflets cost pennies these days with digital printing. Even if the promoters can't afford this (!) ask a heat sponsor to pay for it instead of a heat.

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If you want to attract a younger crowd, then im not sure print ads are the way to go. Social media advertising could be done effectively, for free or at a very low cost.

 

"I am not sure" print ads are the way forward....

 

Local Newspaper, Radio, TV...

They have to be worth go's, surely......?

As a starting point.... And Sony forget, there's not many young promoters... A closed shop of old fogies seem to rule the Speedway roost ...........

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What are the pricing like in GB for kids/teens?

 

My team charges £17 for adults (£15 for pre-purchase), £13 for students (ages 17-19) and people aged 65+ although Id is required to get discount.

youngsters aged 12-16 pays £5 and kids younger then 12 enter for free.

 

Our meetings also starts half an hour earlier then yours and we also have speedway schools for kids which also attracts them to the regular meetings.

Coventry Elite League prices are pretty similar to yours. There is nearly always a second half with youngsters riding in the MDL too so better value than some tracks.

ADULTS £17

OAPS/STUDENTS £13

CHILDREN (UNDER 16) £3

CHILDREN (UNDER 11) FREE

Programme: £2.50

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I watched a lad delivering a free paper earlier on our industrial estate. His mum drove him into every car park and right up to each factory door as she does every week! The xbox generation; unbelievable!!

Would I NO!
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Speedway needs to shed a lot of its "old" image.

 

Maybe it should look at its current World Champion, who does appeal to the young.

 

All the best

Rob

Yes Rob - I agree with you - BUT - will they?

 

Tai is a very marketable commodity for Speedway, and watching 'Five World Champions in a Room' the other night made me realise just how much Tai does, and perhaps, even more importantly, could do for the Sport.

 

He needs the support of those at the top (he may have it) but he can't do it all on his own.

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Not sure I would appreciate a load of teenagers loitering on the terraces with their side partings and espadrilles. Speedway is ideal for the mature sports fan and we should embrace the anoraks, badges, plastic bags and flasks.

I was at Rye House on Saturday night and the old lady next to me smelt of Murray Mints which is far more preferable than Obsession for Men or whatever it is the kids wear these days.

Thrillpool are you real. Without the teans and the younger ones still at school, going to see speedway with thier parent or granparents then in ten years time, all will be left are a bunch of old dodders in wheelchairs, I am 63 and getting closer by the year to meeting my maker. I would love to see more and more young folks at all our tracks around the country to help keep speedway going into the years to come. We need them to follow the sport in the future.

Maybe you should start your own league with only over 70's allowed in the stadium and all the riders to have a minium age to be able to race of 60. See how long your league would last and the clubs because in less than ten years every or most of them will be long gone.

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Being honest, who ever takes notice of flyers, newspaper ads, or even those leaflets they post through your door for a takeaway or pizza?

 

We all were introduced to speedway, more times than not, by a family member of friend. Because there are leaflets in motorway cafes, advertising different things, how many of you have actually attended the event advertised?

 

There has got to be an interest. For example, if you know a family member or friend is off to the speedway, you are more likely to cadge a night out with them. A flyer or newspaper advert usually ends in the bin (flyer) or the newspaper is turned another page.

 

Speedway's best form of advertising is fans bringing prospective fans along.

 

But then there lies the problem... will the new people actually put up with what long-time supporters have? Can you imagine a 17 year-old, say, putting up with standing there for hours while trackstaff try to prepare a track after heat 1, when it was found the track hadn't been prepared properly since the last meeting?

 

I don't think so. You have to have a love for something to be messed about by it so much. Youngsters of today won't give it another opportunity to impress, especially when they, too, notice the stadium is full (well, sprinkled) with doddering old blokes.

 

Speedway's future lies with the current fans, who must try to inflict on their younger associates the meaning of speedway.

 

We all think, being speedway fans, that anyone who hasn't attended a meeting are missing something.

 

One example is this. How many of you have tried to get someone to watch a TV programme on our recommendation? We like it, so everyone else will. The same with music, food, and even books. It's our taste, and so everyone else must like it.

 

But there has to be an attraction for anyone who hasn't tried something before.

 

We have all done the classic thing... taking a bit of someone else's order from the end-of-week takeaway,a bit of sauce for example, after being offered a try. We didn't fancy it by just reading it was number 23 on the flyer, instead going with what we know.

 

But after sampling just a little, you decide to yourself plump for that particular meal the next week. And that's it... hooked!

 

That is what speedway has to do. Free tickets don't work, I feel, and just make the product appear cheap. You know there's a reason when someone offers you something for nowt.

 

How many of us went along after seeing some ad or flyer? There is too much of a world out there since we first went, too many other attractions, and so the sport has to be just right, no cock-ups on the first date.

 

It is getting the newbie long for the first match that is the problem. The second task.. is keeping them.

Edited by moxey63
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Thrillpool are you real. Without the teans and the younger ones still at school, going to see speedway with thier parent or granparents then in ten years time, all will be left are a bunch of old dodders in wheelchairs, I am 63 and getting closer by the year to meeting my maker. I would love to see more and more young folks at all our tracks around the country to help keep speedway going into the years to come. We need them to follow the sport in the future.

Maybe you should start your own league with only over 70's allowed in the stadium and all the riders to have a minium age to be able to race of 60. See how long your league would last and the clubs because in less than ten years every or most of them will be long gone.

 

I think you failed to detect the humour mate

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Speedway should take a look at the family fun days at horse racing venues, all under 18s free admission and things to do for the kids. Problem is most clubs run on a weekday evening so kids have school next day. Loads of kids at Blunsdon when they had the free Easter egg and air-horns giveaways, but some were sodding nuisances running around!. The kids these days can't interact with the riders as you could years ago when you could wander round the pits getting autographs from well known riders.

The riders used to come into the crowd at Swindon after the meeting to sign autographs a couple of years ago but that seems to have stopped now.

Rosco mentioned about getting out into local schools to promote the sport but it hasn't happened. The local club is not such a part of the community as STFC is.

When I was a nipper half the kids from the estate jumped on the special buses to go up to Blunsdon on a Saturday night, when you could climb in for free! Funtimes!

Edited by Mad Moose
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I think you failed to detect the humour mate

Yes, I think a 'Woosh' is in order here. :lol:

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Speedway should take a look at the family fun days at horse racing venues, all under 18s free admission and things to do for the kids. Problem is most clubs run on a weekday evening so kids have school next day. Loads of kids at Blunsdon when they had the free Easter egg and air-horns giveaways, but some were sodding nuisances running around!. The kids these days can't interact with the riders as you could years ago when you could wander round the pits getting autographs from well known riders.

The riders used to come into the crowd at Swindon after the meeting to sign autographs a couple of years ago but that seems to have stopped now.

Rosco mentioned about getting out into local schools to promote the sport but it hasn't happened. The local club is not such a part of the community as STFC is.

When I was a nipper half the kids from the estate jumped on the special buses to go up to Blunsdon on a Saturday night, when you could climb in for free! Funtimes!

What do you mean when you used to sneak in Moose? I saw you struggling to get your leg over the other week!

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