The Future Bright...

[foamfence]

 

There are indeed indications that attendances have improved at some tracks but probably in hundreds only rather than a much needed upturn in the thousands.

I looked for a speedway mention in one National newspaper today - the sport managed one-and-half lines in small print tucked away in the Classified Results.

It needs far more coverage than that to indicate a revival is on the way - hence my previouscomment about "what is the point of all this youth development."

Recent attendances I have seen mentioned elsewhere on the BSF in other threads have been 250 for Lakeside Hammers v Belle Vue Colts and 350 for last week's meeting at Isle of Wight.

There are always exceptions. IOW is a bit isolated and we already have a thread running about affordable ways to actually get there. Personally, I wouldn't visit Lakeside if it were free and it wasn't exactly well supported when in the Elite League, not that I wish the club any ill, I just dislike the track.

[Guest]

There are always exceptions. IOW is a bit isolated and we already have a thread running about affordable ways to actually get there. Personally, I wouldn't visit Lakeside if it were free and it wasn't exactly well supported when in the Elite League, not that I wish the club any ill, I just dislike the track.

 

Fair comment foamfence. I accept fully what you say and respect your point of view.

[moxey63]

There's always one isn't there.

 

 

The last world class rider England produced was? And don't say Tai Woffinden....

 

And how many times since have supporters got excited about the next pretender?

 

And... apart from Tai Woffinden, who doesn't really count, he was tutored in Aussie... who was England's last Grand Prix meeting winner?

Edited May 8, 2017 by moxey63

[The White Knight]

 

you are correct of course but won't the 'asset' question come up? X, Y or Z team benefitting from coaching they don't actually provide themselves and conversely will the BSPA or whoever object to the expense of training someone else's asset?

 

It could be funded by a tax of sorts but you can't see that being popular. It highlights the lack of unity in the sport, which is essentially 30 different businesses loosely associated

Very loosely. :sad:

[Sidney the robin]

The last world class rider England produced was? And don't say Tai Woffinden....

 

And how many times since have supporters got excited about the next pretender?

 

And... apart from Tai Woffinden, who doesn't really count, he was tutored in Aussie... who was England's last Grand Prix meeting winner?

 

A different world now Moxey but i think a couple will come through and challenge Cook/Lambert in the future at domestic level anyway.

[hobnob]

 

 

The last world class rider England produced was? And don't say Tai Woffinden....

 

And how many times since have supporters got excited about the next pretender?

 

And... apart from Tai Woffinden, who doesn't really count, he was tutored in Aussie... who was England's last Grand Prix meeting winner?

 

Chris Harris

[Vince]

I would say that having a lot of lads filling team spots in the top two leagues is far more important than having one reach the GP's or even be World Champion. I firmly believe that having local youngsters in the team is one of the few ways you will attract and keep young spectators.

 

Of course the more people in the PL the more chance that one will develop into a GP rider but the important thing is to allow the youngsters to get as far as they can and enable them to stay in the sport long term.

[moxey63]

 

Chris Harris

 

Thank you! And it was back in 2007... 10 years ago.

 

How time flies.

 

Think of all the young lads with we all thought were destined for the top that have since ended their careers after that promise had long gone and the expectations too..

I would say that having a lot of lads filling team spots in the top two leagues is far more important than having one reach the GP's or even be World Champion. I firmly believe that having local youngsters in the team is one of the few ways you will attract and keep young spectators.

 

Of course the more people in the PL the more chance that one will develop into a GP rider but the important thing is to allow the youngsters to get as far as they can and enable them to stay in the sport long term.

 

 

You echo my thinking. A strong league foundation is much more important, I feel to fans, than GPs. Give me seven riders in a side every week, just that side, giving their all, and let those with GP ambitions just let them get on with it. I got into speedway because it was a team sport. The mid-seventies, when your team was your team, all your boys. I lost interest when my team, the riders in it, were tooting and shooting all over the globe in other leagues, all over our domestic leagues in a doubling-up and down pathetic scenario.

 

Not bothered about Britain's next world star. Just give me someone who can be associated with my team... maybe even several

[Tsunami]

 

Thank you! And it was back in 2007... 10 years ago.

 

How time flies.

 

Think of all the young lads with we all thought were destined for the top that have since ended their careers after that promise had long gone and the expectations too..

 

 

You echo my thinking. A strong league foundation is much more important, I feel to fans, than GPs. Give me seven riders in a side every week, just that side, giving their all, and let those with GP ambitions just let them get on with it. I got into speedway because it was a team sport. The mid-seventies, when your team was your team, all your boys. I lost interest when my team, the riders in it, were tooting and shooting all over the globe in other leagues, all over our domestic leagues in a doubling-up and down pathetic scenario.

 

Not bothered about Britain's next world star. Just give me someone who can be associated with my team... maybe even several

I see 'confused of Manchester' is still at it. One minute he is trying to decry the efforts asking when was the last time we produced a GP winner, and now saying he just wants to see Brits in his team. By his own admissions on here, he never used to pay to get into BV in the days of the Speedway Mail, and has repeatedly said he wouldn't go and watch speedway now even if they gave him a free lifelong pass.

 

Move on.

[moxey63]

I see 'confused of Manchester' is still at it. One minute he is trying to decry the efforts asking when was the last time we produced a GP winner, and now saying he just wants to see Brits in his team. By his own admissions on here, he never used to pay to get into BV in the days of the Speedway Mail, and has repeatedly said he wouldn't go and watch speedway now even if they gave him a free lifelong pass.

 

Move on.

 

I was merely trying to point out how British fans get all excited about the next prospect... our next World Champion whose crowning will immediately unlock the media's realisation that speedway is a special sport that not only the odd-bods like. I was highlighting the fact that it was 10 years ago since one of our golden riders actually gave the flag-wavers something worth waving for.

 

I was merely pointing to the fact that domestic speedway is more important than keeping that flag for another 10 years... that George Cross T-shirt, the whacky shorts. Bemoaning the fact that 45,000 half-filled Cardiff and yet the press didn't even mention us.

 

Perhaps it lacks press interest because they see it as a dis-organised sport, a one-day here, the it's gone sort of thing.

 

Without a decent league structure, why would the press bother reporting what most people see as a monster-truck sort of thing in Wales? To them, they see speedway as the great unwashed sport that the strange folk like.

 

In fact, it's that fragile.. I wouldn't buy a season ticket.

 

Coventry..... vanished like that.....

Edited May 9, 2017 by moxey63

[foamfence]

 

I was merely trying to point out how British fans get all excited about the next prospect... our next World Champion whose crowning will immediately unlock the media's realisation that speedway is a special sport that not only the odd-bods like. I was highlighting the fact that it was 10 years ago since one of our golden riders actually gave the flag-wavers something worth waving for.

 

I was merely pointing to the fact that domestic speedway is more important than keeping that flag for another 10 years... that George Cross T-shirt, the whacky shorts. Bemoaning the fact that 45,000 half-filled Cardiff and yet the press didn't even mention us.

 

Perhaps it lacks press interest because they see it as a dis-organised sport, a one-day here, the it's gone sort of thing.

 

Without a decent league structure, why would the press bother reporting what most people see as a monster-truck sort of thing in Wales? To them, they see speedway as the great unwashed sport that the strange folk like.

 

In fact, it's that fragile.. I wouldn't buy a season ticket.

 

Coventry..... vanished like that.....

The press gave up on Speedway when several 'leading' riders admitted fixing races.

[moxey63]

The press gave up on Speedway when several 'leading' riders admitted fixing races.

 

 

Didn't help. But speedway's had most of its publicity when it's been a negative incident... race-fixing, Kenny Carter.

Edited May 9, 2017 by moxey63

[BWitcher]

 

Thank you! And it was back in 2007... 10 years ago.

 

How time flies.

 

Think of all the young lads with we all thought were destined for the top that have since ended their careers after that promise had long gone and the expectations too..

 

 

Think of them.. it won't take you long.

 

You could multiply it by a large number for the number of Poles who didn't live up to the early promise.

 

The point is, as was explained to you earlier in the thread, only a very small % will ever reach the top. The larger crop you have coming through, the more chance you will have. For a long time GB hasn't had much of a crop coming through, there are signs that is beginning to change. That can only be a good thing.

[Grachan]

 

 

The last world class rider England produced was? And don't say Tai Woffinden....

 

And how many times since have supporters got excited about the next pretender?

 

And... apart from Tai Woffinden, who doesn't really count, he was tutored in Aussie... who was England's last Grand Prix meeting winner?

 

Why can you not include Tai Woffinden? He started here in the bottom leagues as a 15 year old. Seems pretty valid to me.

 

When Aussies come over here and ride in the UK I bet you, and many others, feel that they earned their stripes in the UK, so why can you not say the same about a British rider?

[Trees]

We just need to support the young, talented guys that we do have and hopefully they will get to the top ....

[CUFC_Brummie]

Things have definitely improved, you're never going to get instant results overnight, there were people bemoaning the EDR system after the 1st year for lack of progress but with youth development schemes it's always going to take time and the benefits will improve the longer it goes on if it's successful, and I think the results of the last few years show that it is. This is our 3rd year in the NL now and each season there have been not just more 15/16 year olds coming in at the start of each season, but of a better standard and probably more importantly more readily equipped to cope and compete with the rest in the league immediately rather than taking 3 or 4 months to get up to speed. What Neil Vatcher has done with pretty limited resources so far is impressive.

 

The crop over the last two years in that sort of age bracket are the best the country's had in the 10 years I've been following the sport IMO, that doesn't mean that any of them are going to necessarily be GP superstars, but what is promising is that if they aren't then this isn't a "golden generation" as such, it is a conveyor belt that is now churning out good quality riders every year that are coming in at a higher standard, and I've no doubt we'll be in a much stronger position with regards to the national side (and as a consequence at World Championship level) in the next decade, and maybe sooner.

 

The only question is whether the sport can survive financially to help these guys flourish as much as they need to, the start of the conveyor belt is rolling along nicely but the back half of it is stuttering and will chuck them off if it doesn't smooth out a little bit...

[speedibee]

I'm glad you mentioned Neil Vatcher. I don't know him but I had a brief chat with him in the bar before the swc at Belle Vue and his enthusiasm for the young lads coming through and about to come through was incredible.

yep ,young kids at all costs , never mind lads who have been around for a while learning their craft and waiting for their shot , if it's 15 give it a team place ,great policy will see the sport move forward dramatically , I saw a couple of kids riding battery op motorbikes last week , I told their dads , Get in touch with Vatcher he will have them signed up to a team before their 6th birthday, lets have a national league full of kids whose only qualification is being under 16 , the crowds will flock in .................

[foamfence]

yep ,young kids at all costs , never mind lads who have been around for a while learning their craft and waiting for their shot , if it's 15 give it a team place ,great policy will see the sport move forward dramatically , I saw a couple of kids riding battery op motorbikes last week , I told their dads , Get in touch with Vatcher he will have them signed up to a team before their 6th birthday, lets have a national league full of kids whose only qualification is being under 16 , the crowds will flock in .................

Bitterness isn't becoming. ;-)

[Vince]

I think it's a valid point to some extent that if you have older lads coming in from other sports they should be able to take advantage of the training on offer or even if you have a lad been around the amateur scene for a while but suddenly makes a breakthrough to NL standard.

 

However if you've been around for several years without breaking into the league it seems unlikely that you will progress much further in all honesty. It's still a fact that time and again I've seen in Speedway that hard work and dedication will make for a better career than natural talent.

[moxey63]

 

Why can you not include Tai Woffinden? He started here in the bottom leagues as a 15 year old. Seems pretty valid to me.

 

When Aussies come over here and ride in the UK I bet you, and many others, feel that they earned their stripes in the UK, so why can you not say the same about a British rider?

 

 

Thought he started in Aussie.