moxey63 Posted October 11, 2014 Report Share Posted October 11, 2014 go to speedwaystar.net and the link to Xtra ... free online every week. But, no, it's not about busty ladies What does Golden DOubles mean then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerowl Posted October 11, 2014 Report Share Posted October 11, 2014 I suppose it's all about what you want from the sport. If you are happy checking the results on the speedway updates pages, looking at various forums for gossip which often turns out to be inaccurate and listening to people with some odd views, then the Star is probably not for you. If you want a magazine that you can read, save and look back on in years to come as a pretty comprehensive record of the sport then it is the best money you will spend all week. I have every Star since its inception and many other magazines dating back to 1928 and it is better that it has ever been. Â People are too concerned with living in the Twitter era where they want instant news at the expense of accuracy, rather than considered reporting in print form. Call me old fashioned, but if the day came when the Star closed, then there would be many people around the world who would miss it. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humphrey Appleby Posted October 12, 2014 Report Share Posted October 12, 2014 People are too concerned with living in the Twitter era where they want instant news at the expense of accuracy, rather than considered reporting in print form. The Star falls between two stools - reporting in a somewhat old-fashioned manner in an era when results and match reports can be found online in real time. It is, and does remain a useful journal of record for the old school reader and future historians, but whether this will be enough to sustain it for future generations remains to be seen. Â It perhaps has more value in the interviews and 'colour' articles which remain relevant even in a new media world, although one does get the impression that subjects are just asked to tell a story/ramble on without any real probing questioning. I suppose the average rider/team manager isn't the most eloquent, but there are some out there with interesting views and stories to tell, and indeed sometimes it even gets published. Â What the Star is very poor at though, is any sort of investigative or even questioning journalism. Whilst I can understand that speedway is a small world and it can't afford to fall out with too many of the 'powers-that-be' (such as they are), I do think some of the coverage of various fiascos has been akin to Soviet-style journalism. I think it's only the tractor production figures and the recipients of the Order of Travel Plus that are missing... Â 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellevueace Posted October 12, 2014 Report Share Posted October 12, 2014 Â As a statto, brought up on Bryan Seery's fantastic articles (in the Star and Ipswich programmes), I got fed up with the Star not including a better breakdown of stats in the winter team reviews - and then people kept asking why the averages were different. Including only total points & averages for everything, including Cup matches, was daft, when a stats-based sport would benefit from better analysis. Â No idea if that has changed? Â Would love to see the Bryan Seery stuff again - here's a real throwback: https://www.speedwayfiction.co.uk/seerysstatistics.html Amazing to see BL II in 1972 when a certain Tiger Louis burst onto the scene - to think he didn't even start speedway until he was 28 years old! Â Thanks for the link, some great names there from an era when the British league really was elite, look at the quality of rider. I still enjoy the mag theres some good articles especially during the winter months, for me theres something about settling down with a read instead of staring at a pc screen, in an age where people are obsessed to an extent with technology (look how many people walk about engrossed in mobile phones) print media is certainly starting to become a second choice. I will certainly renew my subscription. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ch958 Posted October 12, 2014 Report Share Posted October 12, 2014 The Star falls between two stools - reporting in a somewhat old-fashioned manner in an era when results and match reports can be found online in real time. It is, and does remain a useful journal of record for the old school reader and future historians, but whether this will be enough to sustain it for future generations remains to be seen. Â It perhaps has more value in the interviews and 'colour' articles which remain relevant even in a new media world, although one does get the impression that subjects are just asked to tell a story/ramble on without any real probing questioning. I suppose the average rider/team manager isn't the most eloquent, but there are some out there with interesting views and stories to tell, and indeed sometimes it even gets published. Â What the Star is very poor at though, is any sort of investigative or even questioning journalism. Whilst I can understand that speedway is a small world and it can't afford to fall out with too many of the 'powers-that-be' (such as they are), I do think some of the coverage of various fiascos has been akin to Soviet-style journalism. I think it's only the tractor production figures and the recipients of the Order of Travel Plus that are missing... Â Â yes this last point is a problem. Why don't they ask interested parties to write articles and make it clear that it is the writer's view and not necessarily the view of the mag. Perhaps a letters column to express such opinions - emails can be recieved within minutes of production and the magazine is purely acting as a forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salty Posted October 12, 2014 Report Share Posted October 12, 2014 They did have the "Red Flag" column for a time which was supposedly hard(er) hitting editorial comment. Winter editions are much the best for me, I really enjoyed their British World Champions series last year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymondbudd Posted October 12, 2014 Report Share Posted October 12, 2014 Was about to come online with the same points as above. Â I rarely read the club columns, since tonally they are all the same every week. i understand that a balance has to be maintained and I don't expect any hatchet jobs, however they are all so bland. For example Nigel Pearson (I use this example because of his high profile) is never likely to say anything remotely critical of Wolverhampton, Tai Woffinden etc since they all use Pearson media as a service provider. Â In the wider context I do enjoy the news column and features, since these often offer something a little different. The red flag was always a good read and some of Paul Burbidge's pieces were excellent this year. Â I'm generally a fan of the star and Phil Rising's contribution to this forum is highly appreciated, but the often one sided tone of the publication is a real irk of mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moxey63 Posted October 12, 2014 Report Share Posted October 12, 2014 (edited) Agree with tigerowl, as I also buy the mag for keeping. In fact, I never hardly read it, but know it's part of research matter, when I need it. In fact, was disappointed the winter editions only included averages and not match-by-match scorers. Â My favourite parts of the Star, I suppose, are the bits and pieces, the pages that bring the unusual snippets. Results and scores are important, for future generations and historians (and stat nerds). Â I hope the Star returns to providing all the scorers in the winter track reviews. Still not had the time to print out last years, which are online, but hopefully will get chance before they disappear. Edited October 12, 2014 by moxey63 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The White Knight Posted October 12, 2014 Report Share Posted October 12, 2014 (edited) I suppose it's all about what you want from the sport. If you are happy checking the results on the speedway updates pages, looking at various forums for gossip which often turns out to be inaccurate and listening to people with some odd views, then the Star is probably not for you. If you want a magazine that you can read, save and look back on in years to come as a pretty comprehensive record of the sport then it is the best money you will spend all week. I have every Star since its inception and many other magazines dating back to 1928 and it is better that it has ever been. Â People are too concerned with living in the Twitter era where they want instant news at the expense of accuracy, rather than considered reporting in print form. Call me old fashioned, but if the day came when the Star closed, then there would be many people around the world who would miss it. There used to be more "considered reporting" years ago. Not now though sadly. Probably that is my main grouse about 'Speedway Star' it needs to be more controversial - not for the sake of it. The journalism is lacking, most of the Track Reports seem to written by someone at the said Track. They are hardly going to rock the boat are they. Â The Star falls between two stools - reporting in a somewhat old-fashioned manner in an era when results and match reports can be found online in real time. It is, and does remain a useful journal of record for the old school reader and future historians, but whether this will be enough to sustain it for future generations remains to be seen. Â It perhaps has more value in the interviews and 'colour' articles which remain relevant even in a new media world, although one does get the impression that subjects are just asked to tell a story/ramble on without any real probing questioning. I suppose the average rider/team manager isn't the most eloquent, but there are some out there with interesting views and stories to tell, and indeed sometimes it even gets published. Â What the Star is very poor at though, is any sort of investigative or even questioning journalism. Whilst I can understand that speedway is a small world and it can't afford to fall out with too many of the 'powers-that-be' (such as they are), I do think some of the coverage of various fiascos has been akin to Soviet-style journalism. I think it's only the tractor production figures and the recipients of the Order of Travel Plus that are missing... There used to be more of them too. Certainly more 'in depth' than the candy floss efforts these days. Â See above. Â I would still recommend the Magazine though and it is good for Results etc. Edited October 12, 2014 by The White Knight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowandblack Posted October 12, 2014 Report Share Posted October 12, 2014 In my opinion absolutely anything that let's me read about my media-ignored, publicly shunned and culturally forgotten favourite sport has to be good. Internet coverage of speedway is not much more superior. Ok it's more immediate but I like a bit of both. Internet news speedway sites are no less bland... and although there is some critical discussion on this forum you would have to admit that it sometimes feels that most of the main contributions are from trolls and ppl who perhaps actually deep down don't like speedway. Sorry I'm not a regular contributor, a regular reader but I'm not on the inside. Only saying. It's an 'outsider's' observation and I am probably wrong. To say speedway star was better in the 70s or 80s etc is fair enough but it was always warm and sunny in them days too and you could leave your back door open Speedway star is a glorious institution, it has never looked better and the writing is informative and interesting. Thank you Phillip  This is totally unbiased by the fact that my dream job would naturally be to work on producing Speedway Star - why would any other fan think differently? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowandblack Posted October 12, 2014 Report Share Posted October 12, 2014 In my opinion absolutely anything that let's me read about my media-ignored, publicly shunned and culturally forgotten favourite sport has to be good. Internet coverage of speedway is not much more superior. Ok it's more immediate but I like a bit of both. Internet news speedway sites are no less bland... and although there is some critical discussion on this forum you would have to admit that it sometimes feels that most of the main contributions are from trolls and ppl who perhaps actually deep down don't like speedway. Sorry I'm not a regular contributor, a regular reader but I'm not on the inside. Only saying. It's an 'outsider's' observation and I am probably wrong. To say speedway star was better in the 70s or 80s etc is fair enough but it was always warm and sunny in them days too and you could leave your back door open Speedway star is a glorious institution, it has never looked better and the writing is informative and interesting. Thank you Phillip  This is totally unbiased by the fact that my dream job would naturally be to work on producing Speedway Star - why would any other fan think differently? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman2006 Posted October 12, 2014 Report Share Posted October 12, 2014 YOU'RE entitled to your opinion but why resort to comments like that? What's Greg or Nigel done to rock your boat so much? Personally Phil, i think the Star needs to do something to capture the public interest again. It has been the same format for many years now, and when you think that it costs £17 to get into most EL tracks, £2.50, £3.00 for a programme something to eat car parking and Petrol /Deisal to the stadium something has to go.. So the star will be first. reguardless what some might say just to make themselves look good, the majority do not have the money to chuck around nowadays. Yes Phil, there is a market for the Star still, definately, but it needs to be brought into the present. The Bumper copy is good, the Cardiff GP copy is ok, but im sure thast could be improved, but im talking about the normal weekly copy, it doesn't change. Also i know your govened by costs, also, but i hope you don't have plans to put the general price of the star up next season? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The White Knight Posted October 12, 2014 Report Share Posted October 12, 2014 Personally Phil, i think the Star needs to do something to capture the public interest again. It has been the same format for many years now, and when you think that it costs £17 to get into most EL tracks, £2.50, £3.00 for a programme something to eat car parking and Petrol /Deisal to the stadium something has to go.. So the star will be first. reguardless what some might say just to make themselves look good, the majority do not have the money to chuck around nowadays. Yes Phil, there is a market for the Star still, definately, but it needs to be brought into the present. The Bumper copy is good, the Cardiff GP copy is ok, but im sure thast could be improved, but im talking about the normal weekly copy, it doesn't change. Also i know your govened by costs, also, but i hope you don't have plans to put the general price of the star up next season? They could go back to printing it on the same type of paper as Private Eye - that would reduce the Costs. It was like that for many, many years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted October 12, 2014 Report Share Posted October 12, 2014 In my opinion absolutely anything that let's me read about my media-ignored, publicly shunned and culturally forgotten favourite sport has to be good. Internet coverage of speedway is not much more superior. Ok it's more immediate but I like a bit of both. Internet news speedway sites are no less bland... and although there is some critical discussion on this forum you would have to admit that it sometimes feels that most of the main contributions are from trolls and ppl who perhaps actually deep down don't like speedway. Sorry I'm not a regular contributor, a regular reader but I'm not on the inside. Only saying. It's an 'outsider's' observation and I am probably wrong. To say speedway star was better in the 70s or 80s etc is fair enough but it was always warm and sunny in them days too and you could leave your back door open Speedway star is a glorious institution, it has never looked better and the writing is informative and interesting. Thank you Phillip This is totally unbiased by the fact that my dream job would naturally be to work on producing Speedway Star - why would any other fan think differently? I just don't get all this negativity about the Star ,it does what "it says on the the tin" reports on meetings,statistics and interesting articles.Why should it have to controversial and hard hitting.Mr Rising gives you his thoughts on this forum and people still want to slag him off be because he has Star connections ,he would be in a no win situation whatever he done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humphrey Appleby Posted October 13, 2014 Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 (edited) Mr Rising gives you his thoughts on this forum and people still want to slag him off be because he has Star connections Are they his thoughts, or those of his business relationships, as it's often hard to distinguish? Â Most modern entertainment businesses realise the need to engage with social media for all its faults, and the conversion on the road to Damascus seems remarkable given how 'Internet keyboard bandits' were slated for years through the pages of the Star, despite the fact that many promoters were on the mailing lists and web forums under pseudonyms. Â Whilst I'd agree that some people do not always interact in a very respectful manner at times, if you take a particular party line (whether for direct or indirect business reasons) that proves to be somewhat economical with the facts, then it's fair game to be called out by the customers. Specific examples would be 'scientifically controlled shale conditions' and the 'Riga GP being cancelled due to heavy rain'. Â I'd agree that the Speedway Star has probably done well to keep going over the years, and I think it was improved (publication wise) in the initial years of the Rising stewardship. Equally though, there were a number of investors involved, so it wasn't just down to one person. It probably now though, faces the issue (no pun intended) of a ageing readership in an era where the printed media and old-school reporting is on the decline, and I can't see that it can ultimately continue without some sort of change of direction. Edited October 13, 2014 by Humphrey Appleby 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILIPRISING Posted October 13, 2014 Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 Look forward to the Star every week. My collection now has 50 years of the mag. That's about 2 and half thousand of them. Been fantastic for my research and nostalgia. I remember when colour was introduced. How wonderful we thought that was then. Its a great mag that covers the sport generously. My only negative is that there ought to be more space devoted to Junior racing and less for grass track. Let's see who these juniors are and the clubs they ride for. More pages would be nice but obviously cost cutting has to be kept to. When you think the cost of a programme and what little content there is in them the Star wins hands down. I don't buy a programme any longer as i don't want a book of ads. Speedway Star is excellent value once a week in my opinion. Keep up the good work Philip. Oh by the way, when are the remaining GP covers going to be online? Haven't seen the Scandinavian prog anywhere. WILL chase them up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnieg Posted October 13, 2014 Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 1960s - 16/20 pages, two of which were devoted to ice hockey  1970s - Angus Kix - spare me please  1980s - Dave Lanning's drivel, Russell Lanning's rubbish, Alison Lanning's simperings and a design scheme that looked like it owed much to a 5 year old who'd been given free run of the paint box.  While it undoubtedly has its shortcomings I don't think the current version is too bad, given the constraints of its limited market.  It should concentrate on the areas where it can beat the internet:  1) being the journal of record. (Could we have current GSAs during the season and go back to having full tables of riders scores in season reviews)  2) investigative journalism (see humph's comments)  3) Colour pieces (I too thought the Mike Parker series was a great read)  PS I really enjoy the international section - now compare that with the 1970s/80s reporting of events abroad. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moxey63 Posted October 13, 2014 Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 Referring back to Bryan Seery, whose little bits of trivia each week, the nine-point averages that were hard to get in (for any rider), oddments in the winter reviews etc... I still get goosies when I see a Seery's Statistics page... and an Angus Kix one (for different reasons) for that matter. Â Perhaps Speedway Star could give us back our grids of every scorer in the winter reviews - in the format of the initial Daily Mirror books rather than riders reading across, if you know what I mean. Â It would make my winter, that would, Mr Rising.. it certainly would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humphrey Appleby Posted October 13, 2014 Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 1980s - Dave Lanning's drivel, Russell Lanning's rubbish, Alison Lanning's simperings and a design scheme that looked like it owed much to a 5 year old who'd been given free run of the paint box. You must have enjoyed the latest Backtrack then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heathen chemistry Posted October 13, 2014 Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 used to buy it , Â what's put me right off is the biased views, southern tracks mainly poole seems to get a lot of publicity especially when it comes to rule making/changing and there's always a 2 page spread interview with matt ford just around the corner... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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