Jason Doyle

[Shadders]

Tracks aren't the problem, it's the bikes themselves. More difficult to handle than they were a decade ago leading to the more inexperienced riders getting into difficulties and causing accidents.

Fixed race nights, home one week away the next is all well and good, but if there are rain offs (wind off at one track) it could lead to no home meetings for up to a month, maybe longer. Financial suicide for some promotions

Edited September 2, 2017 by Shads

[A ORLOV]

Tracks aren't the problem, it's the bikes themselves. More difficult to handle than they were a decade ago leading to the more inexperienced riders getting into difficulties and causing accidents.

Fixed race nights, home one week away the next is all well and good, but if there are rain offs (wind off at one track) it could lead to no home meetings for up to a month, maybe longer. Financial suicide for some promotions

Add to that if your home meeting has a rubbish team visiting and there is a good meeting on tv, how many will stay at home and watch the one on tv.

Still prefer fixed nights with guests for injuries only.

Edited September 2, 2017 by A ORLOV

[SteveLyric2]

Fixed race nights only serve one purpose. "Global" superstar riders. But do they really put more people on the gate?? If Doyle was appearing at Edinburgh or Glasgow, could I get friends who have been once a year to go and see him win by half a lap? No.

 

Monday and Thursdays are all fine and well, if you are self employed or retired, or a Polish or Swedish speedway fan. It is no good if you work 9-6 all days or have a young family. I have followed the sport for nearly 40 years and this will be the first season with less than double figure meeting attendances and I have to be honest, I don´t miss it as much as I thought I would.

 

If you have a home meeting every other week, and then throw in a rain off or two, people will find better things to do. Fixed nights on Monday or Thursdays may make riders unaffordable. I would much rather see 4 riders competing closely, and socialising with fans post meeting or doing local promotion activity - at whatever level, than a big shot, tweeting from the airport, off to go and earn another quick buck.

 

 

 

 

If BSPA were a promotional and marketing body, they would ask, "What do fans want", not "What do riders want to fit into Swedish and Polish schedules".

Agree in principle - but didn't the BSPA (Buster and Rob Godfrey)hold a fans forum at the start of this season to get fan views?? One of the big problems with fan opinion is there is a huge mix of preferences ie if you put 30+ fans (1 from each club) plus a few that have stopped attending in a room you would likely get 30+ preferences as to the best way forward, including regional and divisional differences - aside from many of the basic issues eg top riders v regular speedway at any level; guests v doubling up/down; admission prices; speed/power of machinery etc etc etc

Edited September 2, 2017 by Skidder1

[Theboss]

JC do you not think we need to wrestle the sport back from riders dictating direction?

 

Understand they are important but they have to realise if they drive enough supporters and promoters away, there will be no speedway for their over inflated egos.

I agree, however this problem did not exist a few years back so what has changed?

 

In my opinion the BSPA have become to lenient and also failed to recognise that by trying to keep hold of top level riders at any cost has allowed this 'British speedway is crap' attitude to filter down to riders who should be respecting the clubs and appreciating the support they get from fans.

 

Time has come to start again and build the sport with fresh views and a long term vision. For fans and riders to be a part of the club and not made to feel alienated by the promoters and easily cast aside when it no longer suits.

Agree in principle - but didn't the BSPA (Buster and Rob Godfrey)hold a fans forum at the start of this season to get fan views?? One of the big problems with fan opinion is there is a huge mix of preferences ie if you put 30+ fans (1 from each club) plus a few that have stopped attending in a room you would likely get 30+ preferences as to the best way forward, including regional and divisional differences.

Just because they held a forum does not mean they had the intention of listening and implementing any of the ideas.

 

From what I can see it was just a PR exercise which has not been repeated since. The question time through social media was also nonsense as questions had to be submitted prior giving the people in charge a chance to pre select the ones they wanted to answer.

 

Some season ticket holders at Lynn have recently been ignored on twitter because they asked why they were financial worse off this season then fans who did not have a season ticket and wether the club would reimburse them.

 

'my ball my game' must surely spring to many peoples minds?

[Star Lady]

I agree, however this problem did not exist a few years back so what has changed?

 

In my opinion the BSPA have become to lenient and also failed to recognise that by trying to keep hold of top level riders at any cost has allowed this 'British speedway is crap' attitude to filter down to riders who should be respecting the clubs and appreciating the support they get from fans.

 

Time has come to start again and build the sport with fresh views and a long term vision. For fans and riders to be a part of the club and not made to feel alienated by the promoters and easily cast aside when it no longer suits.

 

 

Spot on, far too many tails trying to wag the dog.

 

Unless and until all promoters realise that fans are the biggest part of a club the sport is doomed. Top riders can whinge all they like but if the terraces are empty it's just so much hot air.

[John Scrutton]

TRYING TO PUT SO MANY MEETINGS IN THE LAST FEWS DAYS WHY THE SEASON DOSENT END TILL THE END OF OCTOBER

[Authorised]

It needs to be recognised that International Speedway riders are - especially if British based - limited companies, and do not share the same goals as the companies (British Speedway tracks) with which their services are supplied. Their wages do not drop if attendances go down because of an absurd race day. The goals are so mis aligned right now that riders who have done VERY well this season out of British Speedway are willing to publicly belittle the sport. Whilst they have complete freedom of speech, if British Speedway goes part time status, it will hardly be in the interests of, say, Rory Schlein Racing Limited (just an example, I know he is no longer international speedway, but has been very quick on twitter to cut the sport down this year).

 

It appears that International riders expect British Speedway to act as a filler for the international speedway week, on the quiet, off nights. However, the working week is the same throughout Europe. Quiet nights will reduce the attendances here, and even additional income such as bar takings will drop. It will not achieve the goals of the promotional company at the tracks - profitable and healthy attendances.

 

If it was Leicester on Saturday, Poole on Wednesday, Wolves on a Monday, or Ipswich on a Thursday and Edinburgh on a Friday.....you know that if you are in the area, during March to October, there will be a fixture to go to. Get a fixture list that will make the riders limited companies work hard - none of this mid summer breaks for 3 weeks, and use them to promote the sport. They need to share the same goals.

[Starman2006]

TRYING TO PUT SO MANY MEETINGS IN THE LAST FEWS DAYS WHY THE SEASON DOSENT END TILL THE END OF OCTOBER

Alledgedly.

[orion]

Fixed race nights only serve one purpose. "Global" superstar riders. But do they really put more people on the gate?? If Doyle was appearing at Edinburgh or Glasgow, could I get friends who have been once a year to go and see him win by half a lap? No.

 

 

If fixed nights is done with only the premiership riding on thou's night it serves loads more than one purpose ..never understood this this thing that top stars don't bring in bigger crowds .. in football .if Messi plays at Swindon town next week the crowd would much bigger even if he much better than the rest, and you could used that example in nearly every sport . But somehow in speedway it's different ? I don't think so .

Edited September 2, 2017 by orion

[Bald Bloke]

If fixed nights is done with only the premiership riding on thou's night it serves loads more than one purpose ..never understood this this thing that top stars don't bring in bigger crowds .. in football .if Messi plays at Swindon town next week the crowd would much bigger even if he much better than the rest, and you could used that example in nearly every sport . But somehow in speedway it's different ? I don't think so .

Big stars do bring bigger crowds in any sport imho.I'm not sure how speedway pay.If say Swindon pay Dolye £3000 a meeting.If they pay away wages as I think they do they will be paying £6000 per home meeting,going on one home and one away meeting.Would Doyle put 350 on every home gate.I'm not sure

[orion]

Big stars do bring bigger crowds in any sport imho.I'm not sure how speedway pay.If say Swindon pay Dolye £3000 a meeting.If they pay away wages as I think they do they will be paying £6000 per home meeting,going on one home and one away meeting.Would Doyle put 350 on every home gate.I'm not sure

The question of can we pay for them is quite clearly another matter and in most cases we can't ...but to say they don't bring in better crowds is madness ..I am sure the main reason for fixed nights is to stop fixtures clashes between the leagues meaning that there is no clashes for the double up riders so teams can track there normal 1 to 7 's .if also brings some better riders back then all the better .

Edited September 2, 2017 by orion

[Midland Red]

Talk of two fixed nights? I recall the days when I'd attend Birmingham (Mon), Leicester (Tue), Coventry (Sat) every week, coupled with occasional trips to Sheffield (Thu) and Wolverhampton (Fri) - oh, and Wembley on the Saturdays in 1970 when stocks were at Brandon

One year, my job took me occasionally to Exeter, and that was always planned so I was at County Ground on the Monday night

Wouldn't be able to do all that again on fixed nights - it was the only way to see speedway, as it wasn't on tv (television - that's still one of the main reasons in my opinion why attendance levels at tracks have fallen, it's much too easy to sit back in the armchair to view our wonderful sport)

[A ORLOV]

Big stars do bring bigger crowds in any sport imho.I'm not sure how speedway pay.If say Swindon pay Dolye £3000 a meeting.If they pay away wages as I think they do they will be paying £6000 per home meeting,going on one home and one away meeting.Would Doyle put 350 on every home gate.I'm not sure

Did the number of fans drop off when Jason was injured and not riding, no. It was a successful team that pulled in the numbers.

[orion]

Did the number of fans drop off when Jason was injured and not riding, no. It was a successful team that pulled in the numbers.

We were not even on a winning run when Doyle was missing the home matches ..the crowds for the wolves and Belle vue matches were way down on what you would expect .rosco confirmed that at the time .

[Grachan]

We were not even on a winning run when Doyle was missing the home matches ..the crowds for the wolves and Belle vue matches were way down on what you would expect .rosco confirmed that at the time .

This is true. I remember him saying on tv and in the press that we were winning and needed the fans to come out and support the team.

[A ORLOV]

We were not even on a winning run when Doyle was missing the home matches ..the crowds for the wolves and Belle vue matches were way down on what you would expect .rosco confirmed that at the time .

Jason was injured and started missing meetings from June 29th, which was the start of the winning streak, he was replaced till July 27th and then injured again on Aug 3rd till 18th. All this was during our winning streak and apart from a couple of meetings the numbers were good.

[orion]

Jason was injured and started missing meetings from June 29th, which was the start of the winning streak, he was replaced till July 27th and then injured again on Aug 3rd till 18th. All this was during our winning streak and apart from a couple of meetings the numbers were good.

? THE numbers have been poor this year ..surely you must have been reading rosco asking why the fans are not supporting a winning side etc and asking people to turn up .

[A ORLOV]

? THE numbers have been poor this year ..surely you must have been reading rosco asking why the fans are not supporting a winning side etc and asking people to turn up .

They were up to a point, but what we are discussing is did the crowds drop off just because Jason was not riding and apart from a couple of meetings I do not think they did. As the winning streak became longer the crowds seemed to increase, now it could have been because Rosco put a call but I would imagine the main reason was it was because we were winning .

What could have been the reason for any drop off in fans could have been all the stupid weeks of no meetings, three home premier meetings from May 1st to end of June was a joke

[keef robin]

Probably nearly as many turned up for the recent 5 matches in 11 days, as the whole of the season.

I remember going to I think it was the Kings Lynn match in May when they lost, never seen so few at The Abbey, so quiet, near bottom of table, dismal.

Crowds seemed to pick up end of July for Rye House after the team had those 3 away wins in a row, thrashing Bell View and Pool, and zooming up the table, with Muesli in side.

So the Pole not the Aussie has increased the crowds!

Edited September 3, 2017 by beefy keefy

[topaz325]

Fixed race nights only serve one purpose. "Global" superstar riders. But do they really put more people on the gate?? If Doyle was appearing at Edinburgh or Glasgow, could I get friends who have been once a year to go and see him win by half a lap? No.

 

Monday and Thursdays are all fine and well, if you are self employed or retired, or a Polish or Swedish speedway fan. It is no good if you work 9-6 all days or have a young family. I have followed the sport for nearly 40 years and this will be the first season with less than double figure meeting attendances and I have to be honest, I don´t miss it as much as I thought I would.

 

If you have a home meeting every other week, and then throw in a rain off or two, people will find better things to do. Fixed nights on Monday or Thursdays may make riders unaffordable. I would much rather see 4 riders competing closely, and socialising with fans post meeting or doing local promotion activity - at whatever level, than a big shot, tweeting from the airport, off to go and earn another quick buck.

 

As other sports look to "stretch their playing week", be it Rugby League on Thurs to Sunday, Rugby Union from Fri to Sun, or Football all 7 days.....it amuses me that a sport was there before all of them in being a 7 day sport. You could take in a couple of tracks a week from the Midlands if you wanted, and there is nothing like an intensity of a consecutive night Cup Final (Glasgow, Edinburgh), or a 2 fixture Easter Monday (Cradley, Coventry). The sport will lose something special, but it has lost a lot over the years.

 

I wonder how much of the crowd drops are due to fans "doubling up" at multiple tracks during the summer months, and now, not. As anyone in marketing will tell you, it costs a lot more to get a "new" fan than to retain your existing one. I was first on the forum in 06-07, when I called for an independent BSPA. The Sport has since struggled through decision making with no real back up or research. Matt Ford once called for less meetings similar to Poland, and then during the winter, called for more!

 

I believe Speedway should have the intensity of a 7 day sport, low gate prices and lots of racing.....similar to say, NBA. It would probably be directly employed riders only, but if you also got them doing promotional work, it can suceed. If that means losing the last couple of GP riders, then so what? British Speedway needs to prioritise it´s needs over that of the GP or Monster Energy.

 

If BSPA were a promotional and marketing body, they would ask, "What do fans want", not "What do riders want to fit into Swedish and Polish schedules".

Great post.