The White Knight Posted June 24, 2017 Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 I mentioned this team earlier - they had Storer, Brown and Keeter all struggling from time to time yet stuck with them. I'm sure the fans were behind them and formed a bond. DD/DU simply has to go if the sport wants credibility - if it doesn't - fine, carry on and I do not believe there aren't enough riders - they said that in 1969 when bl2 expanded but they found riders ok I don't think that the word credibility enters in to the minds of the 'Powers that be'. It can't - if it did - Speedway would be a vastly different and probably a far more popular Sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trees Posted June 24, 2017 Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 Everybody says they want the team to stay the same so they can identify with the riders. As soon as they lose a home match, everybody wants changes made. Promoters can't win on this one. Yep, fans want to win in any way possible and are as ruthless about team changes as some promoters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The White Knight Posted June 24, 2017 Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 Yep, fans want to win in any way possible and are as ruthless about team changes as some promoters. Not all Fans are like that - I would just like my Team to support. You know - the way I did forty or fifty years ago. Riders to relate to, to talk to, to become friendly with, to have a Pint after a Meeting together, socialise. Most of them haven't time for us nowadays. We are only the punters, the paying customers if you will, just like any other business. Hell's Bells - they can't even give us an enthusiastic wave when introduced to the Crowd - at least they didn't when I last went. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted June 24, 2017 Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 (edited) Belle Vue, Swindon, Somerset, Workington, Birmingham and Kent all kept the same declared side last year.BV did but they had that many guests it was a bit like Triggers brush in Only Fools where he proudly boasted that he had used the same brush for 20 years...... It only had had 17 new heads and 14 new handles! 😁 Edited June 24, 2017 by mikebv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trees Posted June 24, 2017 Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 Not all Fans are like that - I would just like my Team to support. You know - the way I did forty or fifty years ago. Riders to relate to, to talk to, to become friendly with, to have a Pint after a Meeting together, socialise. Most of them haven't time for us nowadays. We are only the punters, the paying customers if you will, just like any other business. Hell's Bells - they can't even give us an enthusiastic wave when introduced to the Crowd - at least they didn't when I last went. That's it really for you, there's nothing like your own team and you don't have one, the passion only your home team gets has gone ....... but yeah of course the riders need to get into their heads that the people on the terraces are important .... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedibee Posted June 24, 2017 Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 As long as Nigel was riding I didn't mind who the other 6 were . and as long as he won his races against his opposite number ,i didnt bother who won or lost the meeting .. Ahhh the innoncense of youth ..;/lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted June 24, 2017 Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 (edited) The White Knight is correct. The sport has become a band of mercenaries with no loyalty to a team who zig-zag all over the country, pulling on different race jackets every night and then zoom off into the sunset to do it all again tomorrow. The situation is made worse by the promoters who want to chop and change every week looking for an extra half point per match from someone and SOME fans who aren't happy unless the 'team' is winning every week at home. The rest of the fans who actually want to see a team representing their town or city with loyalty shown by both the promotion to the riders and riders to the fans, either have to pay up and shut up, watching a disparate group of kevlar clad strangers riding round every week, or in some cases (mine included), stop going altogether because they are sick of watching the stupid circus week after week. All the time, the hard core fans are being alienated and the new fans, if there are any, soon lose interest when they realise what a farce the system is. Great post.... Sadly the sport is too far down the line to ever change in this country.... It's now purely in survival mode only.... Literally tens of millions of pounds of Sky money thrown away to deliver what we have today, ie. Mickey Mouse meeting after Mickey Mouse meeting masquerading as a Professional Sporting League.. My 14 year old lads local Football League has more credibility and integrity that any of the British Speedway Leagues, and they don't charge me nearly twenty quid to watch their fixtures.... Edited June 24, 2017 by mikebv 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 26, 2017 Report Share Posted June 26, 2017 (edited) Over the years since the late 1940s here have been many changes in speedway, all designed to attract new and retain the then spectator base. The first, as I recall, was to motivate tracks into changing the surface from the old cinders to shale, designed to make races faster basically. And the first real benefit was that the move also did away with those spectacular legtrail riders because the new surfaces were not compatible with their style of racing. Probably the second change of importance came in the mi-1950s when guest riders were introduced. That in the long-term has moved on resulting in the benefits that has brought together with the now much-loved rider-replacement. There have been other exciting developments akin to those I have outlined. Can anyone recall other beneficial changes to speedway? Edited June 26, 2017 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted June 26, 2017 Report Share Posted June 26, 2017 (edited) . Can anyone recall over beneficial changes to speedway? When that John Hyam retired.........If i remember correctly he was the editor of the Speedway Star when speedway had a major decline and lost many big names in the sport trackwise.The negativity hasn't stopped though,nor has the constant harking back to the 1940s.Gone they are.Get over it I imagine you meant "Can anyone recall other beneficial changes to speedway?" Edited June 26, 2017 by iris123 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 26, 2017 Report Share Posted June 26, 2017 I imagine you meant "Can anyone recall other beneficial changes to speedway?" Correct. Original post amended from over to other! Word changed and originally missed because of the predictive spelling on the forum and my not reading back the comment carefully before posting on group. And I was not editor of Speedway Star when I retired. The departure from Speedway Star was early 1962 - retirement from work came 35 years later in a non speedway environment of my working life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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