Anyone Else Considering Walking Away From Speedway?

[Poole Quay 7]

After a long winter without speedway I always look forward to the start of another season.

 

The thought of an extended year without speedway is horrible and not for me.

[B.V 72]

 

Just as a matter of interest how many times have you actually supported Poole this season, apart from on here, because I know you don't live anywhere near the track?

 

My pet hates ~ messing around at the start and tractor racing. Just get on with it then maybe we could have a second half involving the young NL lads to give them more track time. We get told the tractor grading is 'to put the shale back on the racing line' but my reply to that would be 'what shale?'

Ok Gemini so your pet hates the messing around at the start and tractor racing.Do you agree with her lol.

Edited September 19, 2016 by B.V 72

[damosuzuki]

 

Sometimes, it is good to see why something is going so wrong that even diehard fans are getting disillusioned.

 

You ain't a diehard fan ffs. You only want to go if it's the highest level. What do you want people to say?

 

Old guys get fed up with their life and project that dissatisfaction onto Speedway.

[Fromafar]

Would we be talking about this subject if the sport was attracting new fans in decent numbers.Its anyone prerogative to walk away and ask a question though.

[stevehone]

speedway isn't necessarily the problem, 4 riders doing 4 laps, the fundamental product is great, but the things that are pushing people away are the rules and the way things are run.

I dislike double up/down, I dislike guest riders, but I have to acknowledge that they are a necessary evil in the sport these days as the clubs need riders to put on a meeting and there isn't enough to go around for the number of clubs we have for everyone to have a squad.

we need the AGM to look at the riders that are pretty much holding the sport in this country to ransom, leave them out of the teams, and go with the riders that want to ride here. we need to get back to basics and work from there, if we don't then the sport will implode and become something along the lines of the current grasstrack setup with very few clubs and irregular fixtures.

teams need to limit the cost of flying riders in/out for all the meetings, there isn't the money in the sport to keep doing it.

 

I've been volunteering at a couple of clubs for a few years and every now and again things happen that make me wonder what the hell I'm doing still going, but then I see the racing at Peterborough which is 4 laps of pure adrenalin, and I realise how lucky I am.

And I don't want to lose that feeling

[stevebrum]

After a long winter without speedway I always look forward to the start of another season.

 

The thought of an extended year without speedway is horrible and not for me.

 

You can always try get yourself to some winter amateur meetings where it isn't uncommon to get 60 races in a day!

Works for me!

[LisaColette]

 

Just as a matter of interest how many times have you actually supported Poole this season, apart from on here, because I know you don't live anywhere near the track?

'

I only live 30 min drive away (you make it sound like I like I live on the moon!) I have been mostly in the summer hols not sure what that has to do with me saying a thread is depressing. Fans have been moaning about the decline of British Speedway since I started going 20 odd years ago.

[moxey63]

Would we be talking about this subject if the sport was attracting new fans in decent numbers.Its anyone prerogative to walk away and ask a question though.

 

Exactly.

[blueherb777]

I am in the situation where I do not know if I am fed up with Speedway or watching NL is just not for me.

I used to go to Arena Essex/Lakeside until Kent Kings got going.

I have only been to a few Kings meetings this season.

I went to the Kings v Birmingham (NL Trophy Final) a while back and could not believe how low key it was,and it was supposed to be a Final? (Is it because it was NL?).

I went to the Kings v Brum (KOC Semi)last week and left before the end.

 

So I do not know if it is NL or Speedway in this Country.

I do love watching the Swedish League and you get close racing with the top class riders.

 

 

[robert72]

So many changes needed to make it attractive again, think the end is coming as a professional sport.

[Terry]

I still find speedway jolly entertaining. Although I must add, if Nige and Kelv ever walked away, then I would follow..

[Starman2006]

You can always try get yourself to some winter amateur meetings where it isn't uncommon to get 60 races in a day!

Works for me!

Because it probably doesn't cost you a bean...That would work for you, wouldn't it Steve...

[Gemini]

I only live 30 min drive away (you make it sound like I like I live on the moon!) I have been mostly in the summer hols not sure what that has to do with me saying a thread is depressing. Fans have been moaning about the decline of British Speedway since I started going 20 odd years ago.

Well. at least you answered the question thanks. My mistake sorry as I thought you lived further away, although not quite so far away as on the moon.

[LisaColette]

Well. at least you answered the question thanks. My mistake sorry as I thought you lived further away, although not quite so far away as on the moon.

Ha ha Fair enough! I'm pretty much half way between Poole and Southampton.

[sommelier]

Hurrah!! This thread is more depressing than Eastenders!

Do you go to speedway much ?

[iris123]

So many changes needed to make it attractive again, think the end is coming as a professional sport.

Like free passes for ex riders who could chat about the old days to fans?

[Ovalman]

Also at the end of my tether after 45 years. I don't want to be at a stadium for over 2 hours (it's 2016 and most of us have busy lives), 90 minutes maximum unless there's a serious injury.

But the 3 main things

1, stop this messing around at the start!

2, stop this messing around at the start!!

3, stop this messing around at the start!!!

It's getting very tedious, doesn't appear to be a problem in other Countries, so it must be our rules and refs are too weak. Obviously getting rid of Chris Gay would be a start in that department, refs like him seem to get pleasure seeing riders burn out clutches.

A bit of a homophobic post wanting to get rid of a Gay person. There is a lot of fannying around at the start though.

I bloody loves me speedway as they say round these ere parts, and will love it even more when Swindon get their new stadium so I don't ave to take me own seat! It was better years ago but we have to move on and look for the positives in this still great sport.

Edited September 19, 2016 by auntie doris

[sommelier]

I have been involved, albeit in a small way with the track prep at Leicester since 1981, and when Leicester closed, still kept involved with Kings Lynn until around 1989, and I have loved speedway, since 1972.. Apart from a brief 4 yr stint supporting Long Eaton during the Leicesterless years, I have always believed that the top division in the UK was where I wanted to be..

 

When Leicester joined the Elite League 3 seasons ago, I was finally happy, or so I thought..

 

But things have gone from bad to worse, what a bloody shambles this league is. Promoters that don't promote, riders that well, at best, use this league for pin money, no loyalty, no team spirit, and most have no thought for the paying fans.

 

I have always tried to make allowances for them, the riders, but now I am so disillusioned with speedway, I think this will be my last season as a supporter and volunteer..

 

I don't think I want to drop to premier league, or national league, I want to see the best that is available, end of......

 

Unless, the AGM makes some radical changes, and stops sitting on its arse and self congratulating itself, that's me done....

To be honest next year will pick & choose my meetings in the UK, but will be going to Poland most w/ends next year

[LisaColette]

Do you go to speedway much ?

Enough to have my own opinion, thanks. So you can take your condescending tone somewhere else.

[R87]

 

The problems in the sport have been rife for so long now, but I've always said that the infamous 2010/2011 winter saga bankrupted British Speedway's remaining credibility. It dealt a blow to the already fractured Elite League which has never been healed (indeed, once Coventry and Peterborough were re-admitted, the attitude seemed to be; "lets sweep it under the carpet and hope nobody notices).

 

It now literally staggers on from year to year, where the odd tweak to the rules at every AGM merely make the rules so confusing that even the people that introduced them appear to need a degree in nuclear physics to understand them.

 

The doubling-up rule was introduced in 2002, but has now got out of control and given more riders and excuse to allow complacency to set in a generation of riders like Simon Stead and David Howe stayed in the comfort zone for far too long. OK they may not have been good enough to go any further in any case, but they never really gave themselves enough of a push.

 

But lets not pretend Speedways problems are confined to the Elite League. The Premier League and National League are equally flawed.

 

The PL has far too many foreign riders in it, with nowhere near enough British talent making the national progression for YDL to NL, to PL and finally EL. Many criticise Elite League promoters for being self-interested, but its rife in the Premier League as well (how has Kenneth Bjerre been allowed to get a Premier League berth?), while Premier League matches are hardly being played out to packed out venues week after week (neither is the Elite League of course).

 

As for the National League, well the gulf in quality is now far too wide and doesnt allow for good racing. Ive been to all but one Birmingham match this season, and although the team have been brilliant, I have not enjoyed the lack of competitive racing its noticeable that the crowds at Birmingham have dropped this year has well. This league was designed to help bring riders through (which in fairness it has done over the years) but its in danger of becoming a platform for stand-alone clubs to bully their way to success, while clubs who are always going to be feeders such as Buxton face missing out on the windfall of selling on a talent they have nurtured due to the stupidity of not allowing National League clubs to have assets.

 

The sport is simply stuck in an era where its customers no longer live. The presentation of meetings was stale when I started going to Wolves in the early 1990s, yet nearly three decades on it remains the same. Meetings are allowed to drag on with little thought to the people on the terraces. The only delay that can be excused is for bad crashes where riders are injured or the fence has been damaged. Apart from that, there should be no excuse for not getting a meeting completed within 100 minutes. Weve had a brilliant season this year in terms of results, but I dont believe the entertainment value at Monmore is anywhere near as good on a consistent base as it was pre-2011.

 

Referees are equally culpable for not enforcing the rules and the slow procedure on race nights (with Tony Steele being one of the worst culprits for the latter). OK a lot of riders didnt like Frank Ebdon, but at least he knew how to keep a meeting moving.

 

When its run properly and everything clicks, there is no better sport to watch than speedway. However it tests the patience more and more frequently.