keepturningleft Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 Currently on the GP thread, and on countless other occasions on these threads, the issue of value for money at a speedway meeting crops up i.e. two hour meetings but only 20 minutes of actual action blah blah. During my main period of watch speedway which was in the late 60's and most of the 70's and 80's, not once did I ever consider that I was being short changed in the value for money department. The feeling and perception was that you had had a full and complete night's entertainment. I'm not sure why that no longer seems to be the case with many people. I'm sure the meetings must have run for two hours or so as now. I read the speedway star religiously in those days and cannot recall the letters pages ever being bombarded with fans complaining about poor value for money as far as the amount action was concerned. A speedway race lasts just over a minute, but with good races that minute is completely manic, intense, nerve wracking and exhilarating - and you get 20 (or so), of them. That always appeared to be enough, exactly right, and as much as mind and body could handle. When we had 13 heat matches, many fans would leave the stadium and not bother with the second half rider of the night stuff - they were happy with just 13 races! To completely fill 2 hours, you would have to have 120 races! Perhaps the packed stadia in those days added to the overall experience and buzz of attending a meeting and the perception of time was completely different. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cityrebel Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 There were a lot more characters in all forms of sport in those days, they contributed to the atmosphere and helped put bums on seats. In this era of political correctness, everybody has to behave or they are hounded by the press. There are no heroes anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The White Knight Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 There were a lot more characters in all forms of sport in those days, they contributed to the atmosphere and helped put bums on seats. In this era of political correctness, everybody has to behave or they are hounded by the press. There are no heroes anymore. No real villains either. :sad: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 No real villains either. :sad: It'll be worse still when Nicki retires! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customhouseregular Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 A very valid point ktl. I can't remember how much it cost to visit West Ham 50 years ago. or what proportion of my weekly income that represented. I do know that with all the associated costs I could not afford to attend meetings today. The subsequent post re heroes and villains is a good one. I would look forward for weeks to the visits of Briggs, Boocock, Broadbank and many others. It strikes me that the riders I would really want to see, if I could afford to go are not here. Think Woffinden, Hancock, Hampel etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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