Do Speedway Promoters Ever Come On Here?

[spin king]

Would be very interesting to find out what social media Promoters use and what they do read.

 

I think that they could learn a lot about what fans have to say by reading forums after all fans are their customers and with any business if you don't listen to your customers your business is less likely to succeed.

 

I have long held believe that clubs should have an elected fans elected representative who could be a go between fans and Promoters and maybe spend sometime at end of season to give their views and ideas when the major decisions are been made.

[Ovalman]

Nothing wrong with fans forums, indeed they are a good idea. But they they don't provide instant feedback where as the internet does. As an example, I was commenting on the Colts-Kings meeting about an hour after it had finished rather than 3 months (or longer) later.In addition, the internet (and I accept that there is a deal of rubbish) is a method by which customers can state opinions; foolish to ignore anything that does that, I'd say.It also gives the promotion a chance to respond promptly. At the first meeting I went to on the Island the track was a dustbowl and I complained on their face book page about it. Barry Bishop replied almost immediately, apologising, saying they would try to do something about it for the future, hoped I'd come back and said I could have a pits tour and a centre green visit if I did. To me, that's a near perfect response: an apology, a remedy and a bribe. It contrasts with the hostile and abusive response I got last time I complained to a promoter about the same issue.Same problem, different reply. Needless to say I have been back to Isle of Wight (several times) but not the other track. Doesn't take a lot to be reasonable and polite to a paying customer, but its something several simply do not seem to be able to do - although it doesn't stop them whining about how poor their attendances are.As to the cost of entertainment, Isle of Wight's sweets and tattoo's for children are provided by sponsors, and the bike race round the track costs the promotion nothing. It needn't be the case that you have to shell out a fortune to provide additional attractions.

Went to the white isle about 6 years ago for a meeting, was a friendly place, hardly any passing and a crowd of no more than 200. When you consider 1740 turned up at the first meeting in 96, its not easy promoting the sport on an island with around 140000. A club on the mainland around soton and pompey would have better support probably. Good luck IOW.

[Tsunami]

Went to the white isle about 6 years ago for a meeting, was a friendly place, hardly any passing and a crowd of no more than 200. When you consider 1740 turned up at the first meeting in 96, its not easy promoting the sport on an island with around 140000. A club on the mainland around soton and pompey would have better support probably. Good luck IOW.

Dave Pavitt tried to opt out of the League Cup starters and other cups which are held at the beginning and end of the season. The reason was there was virtually no tourists on the Island, and all the money made was from meetings in a short period mid season in school holiday time. The other meetings were loss leaders.

[chris4gillian]

Went to the white isle about 6 years ago for a meeting, was a friendly place, hardly any passing and a crowd of no more than 200. When you consider 1740 turned up at the first meeting in 96, its not easy promoting the sport on an island with around 140000. A club on the mainland around soton and pompey would have better support probably. Good luck IOW.

 

Southampton did have a team many years ago.

[steve roberts]

Nothing wrong with ex-fans giving an opinion, but the trouble is most of them can't say what they want to say and leave at that, They have to keep repeating the same old points again and again and again. Boring.

 

The other thing that applies to the majority of posters, both present and ex-fans is that they come out with these bright ideas with no thought to the cost side of things. Every idea has to be funded somehow and nobody wants to pay more in admission.Then we have the classic "think outside the box" as if there were viable ideas out there waiting for someone to find them.

 

Most promoters worth their salt have at least one, sometimes two fans forums a year where they meet their paying public face to face. That is the ones that count, that pay to go through the turnstiles and are sufficiently interested to turn up. Of course some fans can't make it due to work etc, but these forums usually contain a pretty fair cross section of those who put their hand in their pocket opposed to those who sit behind their keyboards moaning for the sake of it (I.e. Moxey 63 etc). I would have thought the test is whether the promoters can be bothered to meet the fans, not whether they trawl through the build on Internet forums

At the risk of being 'boring' and 'repeating' myself one-time Oxford Promoter, Steve Purchase, used to engage with the fans thru' the old Oxford Fan's Forum and on one occasion invited a selection of people (myself included) to a pre-season informal discussion just to bandy ideas around.

[Ovalman]

Southampton did have a team many years ago.

Yep closed 53 years ago, the same year as my team New Cross, remember seeing The Great Briggo ride for the Saints. Massive population in the massive conurbation, I lived in Bursledon for a wee while.

[Triple.H.]

 

Southampton did have a team many years ago.

Benny Hill used to go and watch them if my memory is not playing tricks on me.

[uk_martin]

I don't like Rugby Union, don't go and have no interest in it, so the last place you will find me is on one of their forums.

 

That's a shame. Rugby Union is a sport that within my adult lifetime has been transformed from an amateur (and amateurish) game played by mainly ex-public and ex-grammar school men, in a disorganised and unstructured season of meaningless friendly matches between teams where they would have to chip in with their playing "subs" to be entitled to a shirt out of the kit bag. Nowadays, it's the definate #2 sport in the country, followed by millions, between professional teams, that draw crowds that many a football team would envy, in well structured national and international leagues. In the case of Wasps, they have even bought the Ricoh Arena, and have Coventry City as their tenants. Not only that but it's the sport in which England (or any British national team) was the last winner of a major World Cup.

 

That is a transformation in fortunes that speedway would do well to try to emulate.

[Humphrey Appleby]

That is a transformation in fortunes that speedway would do well to try to emulate.

The fundamental difference between rugby union and speedway is that even in the shamateur days, the top clubs were always connected with money. Everyone knew that even if money wasn't actually being stuffed in players' boots, players were attracted to clubs on the back of jobs arranged for them by wealthy backers.

 

It wasn't much of a jump from a so-called amateur sport to a professional one in reality, and as far as I recall, there had long been established leagues in Wales and Scotland. Even England had de-facto leagues thinly disguised as so-called merit tables.

 

Fair enough, rugby union draws some crowds that speedway would envy, but it always did at Five Nations level and in some regions. And I'd argue it's still largely regionally based popularity - I'm not sure that club rugby even at the highest level holds a lot of interest for the average sports follower.

[steve roberts]

 

That's a shame. Rugby Union is a sport that within my adult lifetime has been transformed from an amateur (and amateurish) game played by mainly ex-public and ex-grammar school men, in a disorganised and unstructured season of meaningless friendly matches between teams where they would have to chip in with their playing "subs" to be entitled to a shirt out of the kit bag. Nowadays, it's the definate #2 sport in the country, followed by millions, between professional teams, that draw crowds that many a football team would envy, in well structured national and international leagues. In the case of Wasps, they have even bought the Ricoh Arena, and have Coventry City as their tenants. Not only that but it's the sport in which England (or any British national team) was the last winner of a major World Cup.

 

That is a transformation in fortunes that speedway would do well to try to emulate.

Forced to play the game at school...and I used to get flattened in the scrum! Of course now residing in the north of the country it's rugby league up here.

Edited August 28, 2016 by steve roberts

[Triple.H.]

Speedway Promoters really need to take a good long hard look at sports like Rugby Union/League and Ice Hockey to see what those sports do so well and Speedway generally as a whole fails miserably at.

We have an EL which in reality is p**s poor in comparison to the PL. We can't get a sponsor for the league.

It's a F*****G shambles.

Edited August 28, 2016 by Triple.H.

[steve roberts]

Speedway Promoters really need to take a good long hard look at sports like Rugby Union/League and Ice Hockey to see what those sports do so well and Speedway generally as a whole fails miserably at.

We have an EL which in reality is p**s poor in comparison to the PL. We can't get a sponsor for the league.

It's a F*****G shambles.

I used to go and watch the Oxford City 'Stars' Ice Hockey team and during the first couple of seasons the atmosphere (okay easily generated in an indoor arena) and general presentation was first class...with flashing lights and appropriate music. Really good afternoon/night out...especially when they met the University team!!

Edited August 28, 2016 by steve roberts

[Triple.H.]

Steve

Even they are still at a pretty low level leaguewise it's almost full at the rink for their matches

Mostly local lads in the team

[moxey63]

What good would it do, even if every blinking promoter tuned into this site? We all have differing views of what we want, just as promoters seem to. A thousand of times it's been said, but what is needed is a strong body with no team/club allegiance. So-called promoters should have no say, everything should be left to this separate body. Can't see it though.. it's their money, and promoters can do what they wish. Fans don't like it, they can stay away and the promoter will lose money and close up. But the sport still drips by. Speedway's history has seen calls by fans to improve things, and 80 years on it is still the case. There is no perfect speedway, let's face it. I liked tac subs but not the double bubble; but some fans prefer the double thing. Can't please everyone.

[steve roberts]

Steve

Even they are still at a pretty low level leaguewise it's almost full at the rink for their matches

Mostly local lads in the team

I recall the match between the 'Stars' and the University which ended up as a brawl and had to be abandoned!

 

I'm not a great fan of sports however i used to play/watch football, cricket and snooker (game rather than a sport in my opinion). Used to enjoy watching Ice Hockey (can't skate for love or money) as it contains both skill and plenty of brawn and proved highly entertaining when I used to pop along to the Ice Rink.

 

Remember the speedway magazine of the fifties and sixties which incorporated Ice Hockey within its editorial. There was a link, apparently, between the sports in that fans would watch both on a regular basis. Same applied during the resurrection of Ice Hockey in Oxford where people I knew at the speedway would meet up during the Winter at the Ice Rink.

Edited August 28, 2016 by steve roberts

[Humphrey Appleby]

I don't think fans forums are really going to provide the solutions to the sport's ills. You get too many different opinions mixed with some random ravings about why the team isn't doing well etc.., but ultimately they're mostly representative of the diehards who'll go anyway. It's the people who don't go, or at least don't go regularly whose opinions are more useful.

 

Bottom line though, is that an experienced promoter should have an innate sense of what will work and what won't. Tesco's don't consult me about what to put on the shelves - they select products they think customers will be interested in, price them at a level they think they'll sell at, and in some cases do a little or lot of advertising (whether conventionally or through viral campaigns etc..). If the product isn't right, people go elsewhere and then Tescos have to rethink their strategy or ultimately go out of business.

 

Yes, some companies do consult 'focus groups' as Microsoft did, and they ended-up producing software that pleased few and alienated their long-standing customers. The result has been them losing market share.

 

By contrast, when Steve Jobs returned to a lacklustre Apple, he made them produce products that he thought people should have, not what they thought they wanted. The result was massively rising revenues year-after-year.

 

If public feel speedway provides good entertainment at the right price and at the right time, then they're just not going to care that much about the details.

Edited August 28, 2016 by Humphrey Appleby

[hagonshocker]

I was sat in pub with a speedway promoter once, just chatting away. He said that he regularly posted on here, but in a way that nobody would guess it was him.

 

He also told me of others who posted on here too in the same manner.

 

This was a few years ago, though, when people tended to post about speedway rather than just insult each other or try to guess which posters are the same people using different names, so they probably gave up bothering a long time ago.

I knew Rosco was tr3mm0r....

[Gresham]

Interesting comments on here...

 

I spoke to two Promotors recently ( and no I won't say who they are, apart from one PL and one EL ) and I asked in passing when talking about attendances, whether they ever read this forum.

 

Both said they did occasionally, and both said they ignored any thoughts on here as it was predominately frequented by idiots who have no idea about the sport, or people living in the past.

 

They both said they want to attract new people to the sport...not those who have been before.

 

Interestingly they also said that the in fighting often seen on here, was also a reflection of how it is sometimes with the Promotors themselves.

 

From another angle...I know people who have sponsored riders and Clubs. Also a businessman who was interested in putting money into a Club and getting involved himself at Promoting.

 

The sponsors have all pulled out of the sport, and the businessman said he wouldn't touch Speedway with a barge pole, after meeting some of the Promotors in the sport.

 

His words were along the lines of 'the sport is unsustainable and run by a majority of idiots'.

 

He's a multi millionaire and now is involved in another motor sport.

 

Shame.

[sparkafag]

Interesting comments on here...

 

I spoke to two Promotors recently ( and no I won't say who they are, apart from one PL and one EL ) and I asked in passing when talking about attendances, whether they ever read this forum.

 

Both said they did occasionally, and both said they ignored any thoughts on here as it was predominately frequented by idiots who have no idea about the sport, or people living in the past.

 

 

Cool story and all but….that didn’t happen did it…

 

That’s literally just you trying to impose what you think on other people, you haven’t even made much of a change to the tone or wording, you literally make references like this forum being “frequented by idiots” all the time.

Edited August 29, 2016 by The Mockingjay

[Gresham]

 

Cool story and all but….that didn’t happen did it…

 

That’s literally just you trying to impose what you think on other people, you haven’t even made much of a change to the tone or wording, you literally make references like this forum being “frequented by idiots” all the time.

Yep...I just made it up mate...rolls eyes... I couldn't give a toss what people on this forum think tbh, whether you believe it or not makes no difference in the bigger picture.

 

Just putting it out there....what I think has no relevance. My opinion is worthless, its just words... however, businessmen, sponsors and promotors are. The fact I agree with them has no relevance.

 

There is no point trying to impose opinion on people on a forum...especially if you don't respect many of them. If that's what turns you on, you should get out more fella

 

I'm interested in Speedway.... not what a freaky speedway forum member thinks.