Football V Speedway

[Trees]

Sit here listening to Norwich football coverage on my radio and thinking it's odd isn't it, footballers just have to basically win to keep their fans happy but that isn't enough for speedway fans. Riders have to win but preferably do it the hard way to keep us happy/keep us coming back for more.

 

Something wrong isn't there? Or are the footy fans on here gonna tell me something different 😉 😃

[SCB]

Really? I think 90%of speedway fans would prefer to see a boring meeting and their team win than any good meeting. It's neutrals and newbies that need to be entertained. Obviously if you win 60-30 every week and theres no passing it will eventually get boring.

[Statman]

I remember some years ago at Somerset, someone started a topic on the then Forum asking if Rebels fans preferred to see Somerset win at home each week, but with little entertainment value or whether they preferred it if the racing was good & close, but it did mean that Somerset would lose at home every now and then.

 

The vast majority 'voted' for the latter scenario..................until, that is, Somerset lost a few matches at home, even though the racing was top drawer, then, boy, did the moaning start!

Edited April 6, 2015 by Statman

[mikebv]

Sit here listening to Norwich football coverage on my radio and thinking it's odd isn't it, footballers just have to basically win to keep their fans happy but that isn't enough for speedway fans. Riders have to win but preferably do it the hard way to keep us happy/keep us coming back for more.

 

Something wrong isn't there? Or are the footy fans on here gonna tell me something different

So many comment on here that Promoter's seem to forget that they are in the entertainment business...

 

In truth, a great number of Promoters don't think they are in the entertainment business, to many, they are simply running a professional sporting organisation with the 100% priority of putting together a team that wins at home regardless of what the racing is like...

 

The reason is a very simple one, and that is that all the entertaining racing in the world wont deliver the crowds needed to meet its costs if the team loses its home matches regularly.

 

Speedway fans do always seem to want utopia when it comes to watching their sport in so much that they want a successful team but this seemingly must be allied at all times, to great racing each week...

 

We don't ask for too much from a Promoter really do we??!!!

Edited April 6, 2015 by mikebv

[customhouseregular]

Speedway Utopia is every heat being raced wheel to wheel, the winner winning by a tyre width and "your" team winning by 2 points having seen the meeting seesaw between both sides, with never more than 2 points separating both teams,

 

at times in the 60's/70's I was watching speedway 2/3 times a week and rarely if ever got Utopia. It never stopped me loving my speedway though.

[iris123]

As a Millwall supporter it took me a few years to discover there was actually any football being played!!!!!

[Triple.H.]

As a Millwall supporter it took me a few years to discover there was actually any football being played!!!!!

You should try a season or two at Oxford you don't know how lucky you are.

Though I'm still a season "glutton for punishment" ticket holder at the theatre of nightmares.

[g13webb]

Strange one really, having been sport mad since the word go, where football in concerned now I take it or leave it. I think it was when money came into it, the sport element decreases. How do people justify footballers ( ie like Rooney, Gerrard) earning more in a week than our Prime Minister earns in a year. To me any realism of life goes out of the window..

 

Now that Big money owners have taken over, the factor of sport in football is non-existent. I still watch the big games, but quickly become non-interested when the effort wanes. I think the sport factor exists more in the lower leagues, then that of the top. Speedway is more about he thrill and excitement.

 

To me the winning is nice, but not at all costs. The competition is paramount, and would rather lose a close fought match every week than have a one sided processions.

[Triple.H.]

In my years of supporting the Oxford Cheetahs Rebels Cheetahs(again) Silver Machine, Cheetahs (again) plus junior teams like the cubs,Lions etc I've seen many an awful team performance much like I have with my football team. I daresay I'm like many people who follow their local team in any sport in that when the good times come you absolutely love it and then the fairweather glory hunters turn up in their droves and leave as soon as the normality returns.

[The White Knight]

In my years of supporting the Oxford Cheetahs Rebels Cheetahs(again) Silver Machine, Cheetahs (again) plus junior teams like the cubs,Lions etc I've seen many an awful team performance much like I have with my football team. I daresay I'm like many people who follow their local team in any sport in that when the good times come you absolutely love it and then the fairweather glory hunters turn up in their droves and leave as soon as the normality returns.

Yes - and those fair weather glory hunters invariably pinch the place you usually stand or sit too. :mad:

[The Third Man]

Really? I think 90%of speedway fans would prefer to see a boring meeting and their team win than any good meeting. It's neutrals and newbies that need to be entertained. Obviously if you win 60-30 every week and theres no passing it will eventually get boring.

 

If you 46-44 every week and there is no passing it will be just as boring

[van wolfswinkel]

As a Millwall supporter it took me a few years to discover there was actually any football being played!!!!!

I went to a game at The Den once and a football match broke out

In my years of supporting the Oxford Cheetahs Rebels Cheetahs(again) Silver Machine, Cheetahs (again) plus junior teams like the cubs,Lions etc I've seen many an awful team performance much like I have with my football team. I daresay I'm like many people who follow their local team in any sport in that when the good times come you absolutely love it and then the fairweather glory hunters turn up in their droves and leave as soon as the normality returns.

That's what pees me off about following The Gunners, saw some right rubbish in the 60s/70s in crowds of about 20000 at Highbury, near relegation, now the posh hospitality brigade moan if they only finish 4th, and you cant get a ticket with 60000 capacity every home game, have to pay to get on waiting list for a season ticket!

[cityrebel]

I went to a game at The Den once and a football match broke out

That's what pees me off about following The Gunners, saw some right rubbish in the 60s/70s in crowds of about 20000 at Highbury, near relegation, now the posh hospitality brigade moan if they only finish 4th, and you cant get a ticket with 60000 capacity every home game, have to pay to get on waiting list for a season ticket!

you can easily get tickets if you become a member. I got one for the liverpool game only two days before the match via the clubs ticket exchange scheme.

[Super Blue]

I do both Speedway and football and find it really strange that If I leave a football match having not won I'm really peeed off but the same doesn't apply if I've been to Speedway and seen a decent meeting with some good racing.

 

If I'm asked which sport I prefer I always reply yes because I just can't decide.

 

I'm definitely more passionate about winning or losing with the football than Speedway but I came home from Peterborough Monday with the Witches having been battered with a c'est la vie feeling.

 

Strange, and I know I am before anybody says anything.

[The White Knight]

I do both Speedway and football and find it really strange that If I leave a football match having not won I'm really peeed off but the same doesn't apply if I've been to Speedway and seen a decent meeting with some good racing.

 

If I'm asked which sport I prefer I always reply yes because I just can't decide.

 

I'm definitely more passionate about winning or losing with the football than Speedway but I came home from Peterborough Monday with the Witches having been battered with a c'est la vie feeling.

 

Strange, and I know I am before anybody says anything.

You seem perfectly normal to me. :approve:

Edited April 8, 2015 by The White Knight

[boz]

I do both Speedway and football and find it really strange that If I leave a football match having not won I'm really peeed off but the same doesn't apply if I've been to Speedway and seen a decent meeting with some good racing.

 

If I'm asked which sport I prefer I always reply yes because I just can't decide.

 

I'm definitely more passionate about winning or losing with the football than Speedway but I came home from Peterborough Monday with the Witches having been battered with a c'est la vie feeling.

 

Strange, and I know I am before anybody says anything.

 

I thought it was just me! Football, i could not really care how well the team plays as long as they win (especially now we are so close to promotion!)

 

Speedway though, I don't mind losing if I have been entertained and seen a good meeting.

[TonyMac]

We've got an in-depth feature in the new issue (67) of Backtrack headed 'Just For Kicks', which explores the links between speedway and football, including interviews with promoters at the only two tracks (Glasgow and Berwick) where the sports still co-exist.

 

Football fans are much less tolerant of their team's failings than their speedway counterparts, hence the endless stream of managerial sackings and ownership changes, much of which results from pressure applied by disgruntled supporters never slow to voice their opinions in every way possible.

 

Also, consider the amount of personal abuse directed at football players and managers, inside the stadiums and on social media, and you realise that those on the 'inside' of speedway get off relatively lightly in times of discord. OK, so the vast majority in football are very handsomely rewarded for their trouble - ludicrously so - but the day will thankfully never come when 40,000-50,000 neanderthals are jeering and abusing one rider for some perceived wrongdoing, or merely for being in the opposition team.

 

The many ridiculous things speedway fans are expected to put up with . . . delayed start-times, endless delays between races, fixture chaos, willy-nilly abuse of the guest rider system, constant rule changes, riders picking and choosing their meetings (add your own personal gripes), etc, etc . . . would not be tolerated by fans of professional football clubs, who invariably pay much more at the turnstiles, even though the game is awash with billions of TV revenue.

 

A major reason for the abuse levelled at those employed in football is due to the obscene amount of money swilling around the game today. Fans, who are paying through the nose to attend games, have a greater sense of entitlement, so they are naturally more demanding. And those who can't afford to attend live games feel equally aggrieved because they have been priced out of what was once the working class men's game.

 

We wouldn't love speedway the way we do if it was ever anywhere near as 'big' as football.

Edited April 8, 2015 by tmc