Newspaper Coverage

[customhouseregular]

It strikes me that the British press have forgotten that Speedway exists.

 

In years gone by the World Championship was sponsored by the Sunday Mirror, ensuring National coverage.

 

I vaguely recall attending a meeting at Wimbledon early 70's/late 60's where every race was sponsored by a National newspaper. (Norbold may be of help here).

 

At one time the Daily Mail could be relied upon to give speedway coverage, but they have deserted us.

 

If people who have never seen speedway can not read about it, how are we to attract them through the gates?.

[The White Knight]

It strikes me that the British press have forgotten that Speedway exists.

 

In years gone by the World Championship was sponsored by the Sunday Mirror, ensuring National coverage.

 

I vaguely recall attending a meeting at Wimbledon early 70's/late 60's where every race was sponsored by a National newspaper. (Norbold may be of help here).

 

At one time the Daily Mail could be relied upon to give speedway coverage, but they have deserted us.

 

If people who have never seen speedway can not read about it, how are we to attract them through the gates?.

The Daily Express Spring Classic.

[customhouseregular]

I'm sure a different paper sponsored each race, not just the Express. Could be wrong.

[The White Knight]

I'm sure a different paper sponsored each race, not just the Express. Could be wrong.

I'm sure there was a Meeting actually called:

 

The Daily Express Spring Classic.

 

See below:

 

https://www.speedwayfiction.co.uk/1975headlinesweapr19.html

 

The bottom bit regarding Phil Crump.

It strikes me that the British press have forgotten that Speedway exists.

 

In years gone by the World Championship was sponsored by the Sunday Mirror, ensuring National coverage.

 

I vaguely recall attending a meeting at Wimbledon early 70's/late 60's where every race was sponsored by a National newspaper. (Norbold may be of help here).

 

At one time the Daily Mail could be relied upon to give speedway coverage, but they have deserted us.

 

If people who have never seen speedway can not read about it, how are we to attract them through the gates?.

Looks like The Daily Express Spring Classic could be this particular Meeting. Not necessarily the one you attended - but it was an Annual Event.

[norbold]

I remember the Daily Express Spring Classic as White Knight says, but I don't recall a meeting where every race was sponsored by a different newspaper.

[arnieg]

I'm sure a different paper sponsored each race, not just the Express. Could be wrong.

i think you are right, and that it was:

 

The National Press Trophy at Wimbledon 23 July 1967

[mickthemuppet]

When Speedway was at Wembley just after the war the Evening News would have the whole back page full of that evening meeting with pictures of all the riders and a write up of them and the all the heat details. . The atmosphere was terrific outside the stadium where you could buy favours, rattles, scarves and badges There were usually 50,000-60,000 there for a normal league match and once I think there were 87,000 there. Happy Days.

The next morning the Daily Express would carry the result of the meeting and the scorers.and a write up of the meeting. There were more write ups in the morning papers on Speedway than there ever were about football.

[chunky]

The Mirror and Sun used to post league results, and the London evening papers published the line-ups for that evening's action at the London tracks.

 

Steve

[norbold]

the London evening papers published the line-ups for that evening's action at the London tracks.

 

 

My dad used to bring home the Evening News from work every night. One evening, the 11th May 1960 to be precise, I looked at the paper he brought home and saw that New Cross were racing Norwich that evening. I said, "Can we go?" He said, "Yes." The rest is history!

Edited March 7, 2015 by norbold

[Alan_Jones]

The rest is history!

You should write a book about it...

[Guest]

When Speedway was at Wembley just after the war the Evening News would have the whole back page full of that evening meeting with pictures of all the riders and a write up of them and the all the heat details. . The atmosphere was terrific outside the stadium where you could buy favours, rattles, scarves and badges There were usually 50,000-60,000 there for a normal league match and once I think there were 87,000 there. Happy Days.

The next morning the Daily Express would carry the result of the meeting and the scorers.and a write up of the meeting. There were more write ups in the morning papers on Speedway than there ever were about football.

 

I do recall the mega coverage speedway used to get in the National Press in the 1940s and early 1950s - it was superb coverage and by top writers like Basil Storey, Tom Morgan, Eric Linden, Jim Stenner and Tom Stenner.

The fact is that Wembley and many other tracks attracted more spectators than the current Cardiff GP does. And also, more would be at Wembley probably for one meeting than the combined weekly attendances of all home meetings for speedway at the present time.

Edited March 7, 2015 by Guest

[customhouseregular]

i think you are right, and that it was:

 

The National Press Trophy at Wimbledon 23 July 1967

Thank you.

[mickthemuppet]

The Mirror and Sun used to post league results, and the London evening papers published the line-ups for that evening's action at the London tracks.

 

Steve

The Sun would have had a job publishing Speedway results in the 1940/50's as it never started until 1964.

[iris123]

The Sun would have had a job publishing Speedway results in the 1940/50's as it never started until 1964.

My guess is that is was around then that Chunky meant and not before

[norbold]

The Sun would have had a job publishing Speedway results in the 1940/50's as it never started until 196

The op was talking about the 60s and 70s, so it's quite immaterial that the Sun wasn't around in the 1940s/50s.

[mickthemuppet]

The op was talking about the 60s and 70s, so it's quite immaterial that the Sun wasn't around in the 1940s/50s.

Yer ,the Sun going to have loads of London Speedway to talk about in 1964 when their were only two London Clubs left Ii the Nation League compared to 6 in 1949.

All the big Speedway coverage in the National/London papers dropped once Wembley ceased racing.

Edited March 8, 2015 by mickthemuppet

[norbold]

Still irrelevant to the subject under discussion.

In any case in 1964 Hackney, West Ham and Wimbledon were all open and joined in 1970 by Wembley. So for the first two years of the 1970s there were four London tracks open.in the British League.

[customhouseregular]

As there are no tracks in London are the National press seeing speedway as a Provincial sport, and therefore not worthy of National coverage?.

[Guest]

As there are no tracks in London are the National press seeing speedway as a Provincial sport, and therefore not worthy of National coverage?.

That's a good point IMO.

[van wolfswinkel]

The national paper coverage is poor/non-existent now, (snippets in the Mirror/Sun/Star), remember the tables and results 60s/70s. The local coverage in the Swindon Advertiser is very good, and speedway regularly hits the front page, BBC Wiltshire has live commentary on some meetings, also pretty good on BBCPoints West when Swindon and Somerset are in finals.

Can remember the good coverage in London on the News/Standard, and the old man telling me of a massive crowd at Wembley post-war when his beloved Lions raced against New Cross. Although don't know why he supported the Lions when he lived in sarf-east London. He even had a white jumper with big red lion.

The sport has had a few mentions on the excellent ITV quiz show The Chase.

Wasn't The Sun previously the Daily Herald?

Edited March 8, 2015 by Mad Moose