More On The Decline Of British Speedway

[van wolfswinkel]

Got to agree with the guy who wrote a letter to the speedway star this week.When Leigh Adams was weaving his magic at Swindon nobody was moaning about the paintwork.I went to the playoff final in 2009,it was ram packed,didn't put anyone off attending that night.

Yep great atmosphere in the 5000 plus Abbey crowd that night, the noisy 500 hundred or so football-style Wolves fans, even though the Robins couldn't pull back the deficit twas a good evening. The 2012 final against Poole couldn't compare with only 2700 there. What happened to the missing 2000 Robins fans!

 

Good article in yesterday's Racing Post, comparing the demise of dog racing to speedway after big crowds for 20 years after the war, the days of trilby hats, Petula Clark in the hit parade, and self-flavoured crisps!

The racing is just as good now, but perhaps the stadiums/presentation are still stuck in the 60s/70s. Far too expensive and not VFM nowadays, unless you go to GP at Cardiff.

Edited November 2, 2014 by BIG ROBIN

[oldtimer]

The crowds would return if a fans could actually watch the named 1 to 7 of the home and away teams, and the presentation, music and a bit more of an effort to create an atmosphere.

[moxey63]

You only have to summon a few quirks of the strange world of the speedway rider and the nomadic ways. For instance, from memory I think practically all of Wolves' 1996 title winning side went on to ride for Belle Vue at some point. Surely this was purely a case of fitting in names for a season knock-about while the proper employers found ways to employ them the year on.

 

Then there was the oddment back in 1980, Norwegian Reidar Eide turned out for four different clubs! Yes, that's right... FOUR different clubs! It was rare then.

 

Now, decades on, speedway's ability to keep some form of structure has failed miserably and allowed the latest stop-gap quirks - those being Double-Uppers and Double-Downers; Fast Trackers...

 

All fans want to see, a genuine sport with rules that stick, riders who grow with the club to become favourites and not one-season Charlies.

 

At Belle Vue, for instance, we have had many rider down the last decades, there simply because it was either that.. or speedway's shelf of standbys.

 

Fans need to associate with riders who represent them. Otherwise the stand-in rider will end up spending longer at the club than the tiring supporter.

[New Science]

Yep great atmosphere in the 5000 plus Abbey crowd that night, the noisy 500 hundred or so football-style Wolves fans, even though the Robins couldn't pull back the deficit twas a good evening. The 2012 final against Poole couldn't compare with only 2700 there. What happened to the missing 2000 Robins fans!

 

Good article in yesterday's Racing Post, comparing the demise of dog racing to speedway after big crowds for 20 years after the war, the days of trilby hats, Petula Clark in the hit parade, and self-flavoured crisps!

The racing is just as good now, but perhaps the stadiums/presentation are still stuck in the 60s/70s. Far too expensive and not VFM nowadays, unless you go to GP at Cardiff.

Only difference between 2009 and 2012 , new silencers !

[Trees]

We all know that if we are going to try to keep teams of equal strength we won't be able to keep teams together, although it should always be possible to keep a few .....

[SGP]

NO money, no improvement. Sad, but true.

[Trees]

We need all those blinking armchair fans to get out and attend live racing :-)

[bigcatdiary]

We need all those blinking armchair fans to get out and attend live racing :-)

Which brings us nicely back to what fans want see, close exciting racing on a well prepared tracks which allows overtaking NOT one line follow the leader motorways.

 

As for the SCB, yet another body controlled by Harkess and CVS as they control the MC, complete waste of time.

[Fromafar]

As Leicester Hunter has stated, too many riders are racing in too many leagues, and this has taken something away from speedway's being.

 

Riders must glance around the pits, and ask... how many in opposing starting slots, for example, could be sharing the same team jerseys later that week?

 

As a fan, that is a long held view.

 

You need the rivalry, the crowd response when their team is up against rivals, rivals that also wish to secure the best result for their team. But riders must feel divided by having so many teams. It certainly decreases speedway's credibility for a sport a serious fan wants to associate with.

 

I am sorry to go on about it, but a rider cannot be committed to any one set of fans or team, if he's riding for several teams. I am always put off by watching the "friendly derby" in football (Everton v Liverpool) because the mere thought of it not being blood and thrust, not as important, reduces its importance. It does to me, anyway.

 

It is important for speedway, to get the team ethics right. We are more or less just running with the flexibility of a school yard football match, in that teams have no affinity to the fans they (pretend) to want to grab glory for.

 

I think it was Ole Olsen, back in the day, who held back from getting friendly with any opponent, as he feared he wouldn't want to beat them as much.

 

Totally agree we need Team ethic to return not just watching whoever turns up for you Team this week,Promoters don't seem to want to address this issue though,just keep saying there is not enough riders to go round which I don't accept.

[IainB]

Leicester is a great stadium

It's almost impossible to get an unobstructed view at Leicester unless you're on the very front row of the perimeter, which is very poor for a bespoke speedway stadium. Other than that it's a nice place to go. The track seems to be better with the better quality riders on it

[Tigerite]

Not sure why the seats were removed (possibly after the Taylor Report on stadium safety?), but if the owners can sustain the stadium without seating then they will. I don't think greyhound fans want to sit down, unless they prefer to be behind glass in the bars.

.

Yes the seats on the home straight at Owlerton were taken out after the Taylor Report. Safety in sports facilities in Sheffield have been heavily scrutinised since the Hillsborough disaster, so Owlerton (at great investment to the owners) has complied with these and we have excellent venue at Sheffield. I believe the recent restaurant extension cost around £2m on it's self. Edited November 3, 2014 by Tigerite

[van wolfswinkel]

Only difference between 2009 and 2012 , new silencers !

Only difference between 2009, Swindon lost final(after finishing top), and 2012 Swindon won final(after not finishing top!).

[moxey63]

I noticed my interest began declining more after the Tactical Substitute was taken out in the mid-00s. It isn't rose-timted glasses, as I was mid-30s at the time, but I noticed matches became less interesting. Even the most boring speedway, racing-wise, used to keep one interested, when teams could use TS.

 

Some may scoff, but speedway fans love being strategists, just look at the interest in speedway manager games and programme filling, keeping records etc.

 

Speedway isn't entirely about the racing aspect, it's the enjoyment of filling in the scores, guessing what managers do to fight back, which isn't as exciting with the Golden Double. The old TS, teams could throw in a series of muscle-testing scenarios to help either keep the scores respectable or put things right.

 

Just my opinion, one of them, why speedway went wrong.

Edited November 3, 2014 by moxey63

[Trees]

Which brings us nicely back to what fans want see, close exciting racing on a well prepared tracks which allows overtaking NOT one line follow the leader motorways.

As for the SCB, yet another body controlled by Harkess and CVS as they control the MC, complete waste of time.

Sort of but I know plenty of armchair fans who will never return to the sport, many too old (waiting to die ;-) - poor old excuse when there are 80 year olds attend!), not interested enough to pay at the turnstiles or just like it from their living room but never consider going.

We need to target those who want to get out BUT if we get them there in the first place we need to get them back and that's down to what we give them in the first instance ie excitement, banter, a sense of in-it-together (club) .... in other words a bloody, good night out! Fans should never be taken for granted, they are the life blood!

 

Mr Ford took a few of us fans for granted in one of the abandoned championship semis at Poole last month, there we stood, a handful of us, admission tickets in our hands, watching one of the turnstile women counting out the takings, asking nicely for our money back please because we can't afford to make the 400 mile round trip again. So his co-promoter says, sorry people we can't give your money back as we haven't reconciled the takings!!!! Ha bloody ha ha, what a load of old tosh!

If it wasn't for a speedway mate living down there I would never be setting foot in his stadium again!!

To make things more annoying I asked him to give me my money back for the registered post and the sae's we had to send him to get our money back but of course nothing!!!

[Leicester Hunter]

 

Mr Ford took a few of us fans for granted in one of the abandoned championship semis at Poole last month, there we stood, a handful of us, admission tickets in our hands, watching one of the turnstile women counting out the takings, asking nicely for our money back please because we can't afford to make the 400 mile round trip again. So his co-promoter says, sorry people we can't give your money back as we haven't reconciled the takings!!!! Ha bloody ha ha, what a load of old tosh!

If it wasn't for a speedway mate living down there I would never be setting foot in his stadium again!!

To make things more annoying I asked him to give me my money back for the registered post and the sae's we had to send him to get our money back but of course nothing!!!

All a bit different to the Somerset experience last year.

 

On 23rd August 2013, a group of five of us went to the OTA to Somerset's match with Ipswich. The match was rained off after 4 heats. As we all stood in the bar wondering how we were going to get to Somerset again before the end of the season, an announcement was made over the tannoy. Readmission tickets could be used for the restaging or other league matches in 2013, but get this - if for any reason you couldn't make it back before then, they would be honoured at any Somerset league or cup fixture in 2014. All you had to do was keep your readmission ticket and matchday programme safe and use them to gain entry to the match of your choice.

 

Now that's what I call customer service. Recognising that supporters may not be able to get to another fixture that season, so use your ticket anytime over the next 12 months or so. It automatically gets round any nastiness regarding claiming your money back, and is good PR for the club at the same time. I did comment at the time that I couldn't imagine an Elite League club doing the same thing, and that view hasn't changed.

 

All five of us used our tickets to attend the Newcastle match in July this year and didn't get any hassle at the turnstyles at all. Kudos to Somerset, I say. A professionally run club who put on a good show and know how to treat the punters. As a neutral now, I know who to give my hard earned cash to if I want to see a match in the future....

Edited November 3, 2014 by Leicester Hunter

[Falcon Hammer]

All a bit different to the Somerset experience last year.

 

On 23rd August 2013, a group of five of us went to the OTA to Somerset's match with Ipswich. The match was rained off after 4 heats. As we all stood in the bar wondering how we were going to get to Somerset again before the end of the season, an announcement was made over the tannoy. Readmission tickets could be used for the restaging or other league matches in 2013, but get this - if for any reason you couldn't make it back before then, they would be honoured at any Somerset league or cup fixture in 2014. All you had to do was keep your readmission ticket and matchday programme safe and use them to gain entry to the match of your choice.

 

Now that's what I call customer service. Recognising that supporters may not be able to get to another fixture that season, so use your ticket anytime over the next 12 months or so. It automatically gets round any nastiness regarding claiming your money back, and is good PR for the club at the same time. I did comment at the time that I couldn't imagine an Elite League club doing the same thing, and that view hasn't changed.

 

All five of us used our tickets to attend the Newcastle match in July this year and didn't get any hassle at the turnstyles at all. Kudos to Somerset, I say. A professionally run club who put on a good show and know how to treat the punters. As a neutral now, I know who to give my hard earned cash to if I want to see a match in the future....

Somerset are probably the best run speedway club, great honest and hard working promotion, who CARE about their customers. Earlier this year I got stuck in traffic and missed the first half of a meeting - Got reduced admission without having to ask...

[New Science]

Only difference between 2009, Swindon lost final(after finishing top), and 2012 Swindon won final(after not finishing top!).

So 2000 fewer Swindon fans decided not to attend the play off final solely because the team did not finish top the league ?

Edited November 3, 2014 by New Science

[Halifaxtiger]

All a bit different to the Somerset experience last year.

 

On 23rd August 2013, a group of five of us went to the OTA to Somerset's match with Ipswich. The match was rained off after 4 heats. As we all stood in the bar wondering how we were going to get to Somerset again before the end of the season, an announcement was made over the tannoy. Readmission tickets could be used for the restaging or other league matches in 2013, but get this - if for any reason you couldn't make it back before then, they would be honoured at any Somerset league or cup fixture in 2014. All you had to do was keep your readmission ticket and matchday programme safe and use them to gain entry to the match of your choice.

 

Now that's what I call customer service. Recognising that supporters may not be able to get to another fixture that season, so use your ticket anytime over the next 12 months or so. It automatically gets round any nastiness regarding claiming your money back, and is good PR for the club at the same time. I did comment at the time that I couldn't imagine an Elite League club doing the same thing, and that view hasn't changed.

 

All five of us used our tickets to attend the Newcastle match in July this year and didn't get any hassle at the turnstyles at all. Kudos to Somerset, I say. A professionally run club who put on a good show and know how to treat the punters. As a neutral now, I know who to give my hard earned cash to if I want to see a match in the future....

 

One of my pet grievances is full price for an old programme with an insert - its nothing less than a rip off. Somerset did them for half price and Debbie Hancock even explained her position in the insert, which is a welcome change. The only other club I know for certain does that is Plymouth.

[moxey63]

This may be of some interest, a piece I've just put together after I came across an article in the December 29th, 1984 edition of Speedway Star. Is it Groundhog Day!

The plight of British Speedway is worrying at the moment, but long time fans have always been fed a diet of tracks losing money and whispers of going to the wall.

 

 

With every generation, speedway tends not to offer its faithful much in confidence about its present or future well being.

 

 

In the last edition of Speedway Star of 1984, an Open Letter by A. R. James, General Manager of Wimbledon Speedway, placed his position on the difficulties a manager had of running his speedway.

 

 

How far, in 30 years since, has the sport grown, stagnated or sunk?

 

 

SKY's millions in the past 15 years, from my casual observation, has been allowed to trickle away with every paying customer that's been allowed to stray, and not having been replaced by a new one in return; by increasing running costs and to the pay cheques of men that the crowds come to see.

 

 

Back then, in 1984, Mr James wrote that speedway "continues to exist by grace and favour of greyhound racing or stockcars."

 

 

Sounds familiar.

 

 

James revealed that Plough Lane budgeted £12,000-£15,000 a year for advertising. He scoffed at recent comments attributed to speedway promoters from riders and press who advised on giving free tickets outside other entertainment occasions, to help stem a tide of dwindling support for speedway.

 

 

The Wimbledon superior reported that Wimbledon had lost a five-figure sum during the 1984 campaign – which in figures accounted for 125 fans per match.

 

 

Ex-World Champion Michael Lee, for one, had put his name into the ring to help out a sport that had suffered a dip in popularity in recent years.

 

 

Lee’s idea of pitching a bike inside cinema foyers and handing out free tickets to customers, was, as James likened it to, similar to Tescos doing likewise at Sainsburys’ stores.

 

 

Lee volunteered for publicity fixes. But James denied these efforts by riders or officials would have done much. He remained adamant that stunts and shouting, they achieved nothing and weren’t long lasting.

 

 

James reversed the scenario, and asked if, for example, a Wimbledon supporter would really be persuaded to attend a ballet at Sadler’s Wells, if somebody was handing out free tickets at Plough Lane one week.

 

 

He poured scorn on the idea, and asked why the cinema would really put on the line, the risk of losing a customer to a rival entertainment, just to help out a sport that is using its premises to pinch its customers!

 

 

His belief that speedway’s problems circa 1984 were due to a fundamental shift in social patterns and expectations. The overwhelming majority of your contemporaries no longer go out in the evening in order to purchase entertainment.

 

 

The advent of video machines in the home and an array of films on tape to watch were now endangering speedway’s being.

 

 

People, James argued, are not grateful of a free ticket for something they don’t want to do anyway. Plus, there is no such thing as a free ticket, as it’s going to cost in travel and refreshments.

 

 

The underlying argument from the Wimbledon boss, as of today’s way of thinking, I suppose, was… the “bring a friend” attitude. Bring them; not just one week, but also every week, was his defence.

 

 

Then there was another piece, by the retiring John Titman, who criticised British promoters for their lack of promoting.

 

 

In Australia, said Titman, they HAVE to promote… otherwise no one would turn up.

 

 

In Britain, the soon-to-be retiring Aussie ridiculed the British method… of printing a fixture list in March, and then expecting people to show up every week… for the next seven months!

 

Edited November 4, 2014 by moxey63

[SCB]

 

In Australia, said Titman, they HAVE to promote… otherwise no one would turn up.

 

 

In Britain, the soon-to-be retiring Aussie ridiculed the British method… of printing a fixture list in March, and then expecting people to show up every week… for the next seven months!

If only we did have that these days!