The Month Of June...

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

That Post mirrors my view excactly Rob.

 

We, at Sunderland, didn't have a great Team back in 1971 but the important thing was they were OUR Team. They were OUR Riders and we loved watching them and talking to them.

 

When Speedway lost that personal touch - I think that, to an extent, it lost it's soul.

this i believe is so true ,

[RobMcCaffery]

My happiest season must have been the 1999 Rye House revival when we raced all our matches away from Rye House. The spirit through the team, administration and those supporters who actually backed us rather than pour scorn on the whole project made every match precious. The team knew they were fighting for something more than a few quid and it worked.

 

Mind you, there was one occasion when one rider came back into the pits in a fury and flung his race jacket into a corner. A few of us had to remind him that we would give a heck of a lot to wear it. It quickly brought him round.

 

In a minority sport the fans HAVE to feel involved. It's what keeps sports like ice hockey, basketball and non-league football going, a sense of genuine pride and a determination to beat the odds. You need to share a drink after meetings, have the odd social event, and ideally the combination of both, the good old 'Northern Tour' for the southern clubs and vice-versa for those in the north.

 

You can't make that happen with fractured fixture lists, constantly changing teams and rider absences. TWK is right, it needs a soul. It's still, there in some cases but just not widespread enough.

 

There are more important things than winning - being still in business for years to come, for example. Sadly too many fans today can only follow success which really makes you wonder if we are attracting the right people for a sustainable sport.

[SCB]

In a minority sport the fans HAVE to feel involved. It's what keeps sports like ice hockey, basketball and non-league football going, a sense of genuine pride and a determination to beat the odds. You need to share a drink after meetings, have the odd social event, and ideally the combination of both, the good old 'Northern Tour' for the southern clubs and vice-versa for those in the north.

I think thats where things started to fail for me. I remember going to Coventry up to about 2008 and after a meeting we'd go in the bar, there was a DJ playing music, most of the riders would be in there and while I wasn't one for chatting to the riders myself it meant there were quite a few people in their having a laugh and a good time. This was slowly killed off over time - Mick Horton wasn't interested in doing it as it didn't make him any money (how short sighted!) and it died a death. I remember a few times leaving the stadium at 1 and 2 am after having more than a few beers afterwards.

 

The club encouraged riders in by providing them with a buffet and we'd always go and finish it when the woman at the counter told us they were done A speedway meeting was only half of the night, the rest was spent in the bar with friends.

 

Celebrating in the bar after winning the title in 2010 was another good night. Matt Ford had lost the champagne so the riders went to the bar and bought champagne and sprayed it all over the bar Apparently Matt Ford wasn't happy his carpet was ruined

[RobMcCaffery]

At Rye House in the 70s/80s we almost always had a disco in the top bar after meetings. It was all part of the day, Speedway at 4.30 then a social evening afterwards. You didn't need to twist most riders' arms to be there either.

 

I saw the rot set in at Hackney at the same time though - riders leaving meetings early so they could get down to Dover for their proper pay day on the continent. At least Barry Thomas was there to keep the social side going.....

 

My wife's favourite memories of being a Hackney Hawks supporter aren't of wins on the track but having fun with the riders and fellow supporters.

 

Yes, I soon put a stop to that

[steve roberts]

At Rye House in the 70s/80s we almost always had a disco in the top bar after meetings. It was all part of the day, Speedway at 4.30 then a social evening afterwards. You didn't need to twist most riders' arms to be there either.

 

I saw the rot set in at Hackney at the same time though - riders leaving meetings early so they could get down to Dover for their proper pay day on the continent. At least Barry Thomas was there to keep the social side going.....

 

My wife's favourite memories of being a Hackney Hawks supporter aren't of wins on the track but having fun with the riders and fellow supporters.

 

Yes, I soon put a stop to that

During Nigel Wagstaff's tenue at Cowley he introduced a post meeting discussion with one or two riders in the bar after the meeting. It proved to be quite popular with the fans I seem to recall.

[waiheke1]

 

I have the data for the PL:

 

81 absences (58 guests inc 5/6 "no facility" and 23 where r/r used)

 

Injury - 36 (Charles Wright and Jason Garrity 5 absences head the list - Leicester (10) have the most and Belle Vue (1) the least.)

 

riding abroad - 25 (13 FIM mtgs, 7 'domestic' and 5 'no facility' [3 SEC, 1 longtrack, 1 grasstrack] - Belle Vue head the list with 7 instances)

 

Doubling Up - 18 (Erik Riss 3 times - Leicester 6 and Somerset 5 are most frequent users of facility for double-uppers)

 

illness - 2 (Josh Bates and Dany Gappmaier)

 

Note r/r was used in 18 of the 38 injury/illness absences vs 5 of 43 in cases of riding elsewhere

 

For comparison in 2016 absences (no up to end of June in brackets)

 

• Injury 73 (21) [nb first half of last season was unusually low)
• riding abroad 58 (18) [inc one where no rider was used following an objection to Poole's choice of replacement for Adam Ellis)
• doubling-up 22 (7)
• illness 10 (3)
• suspend/withholding serv 8 (5)
• other 4 (1) [3 family reasons, 1 attending civic ceremony in Poland!]

I would expect the number of facilities for riders riding elsewhere (both in the CL and abroad) to increase in the second half of the season as more fixtures are re-arranged ones

 

nb There is an element of judgement. For example I have assumed Erik Riss was riding in an FIM meeting (TWO days later) when a guest was used for him on 3 June although this was not the reason publicly announced. Also there are a couple of examples of riders riding abroad who would have been absent anyway due to a doubling up commitment (e.g. Gappmaier on 15 June)

Thanks arnieg. So out of 58 guest uses, 20 were more or less unavoidable as caused by injury/illness. Possibly could be reduced by saying guests can only be used for hl, for other riders number 8 or nl rider to be used.

Of the other 38 instances, I'd be amazed if at least 30 couldnt be avoided with better fixture planning.

So, with just a little effort the number of guests could be more than halved.