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Rye House 2018


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3 hours ago, Najjer said:

IF that's true, they're even bigger morons than I gave them credit for. What decent businessman buys a business without doing the relevant checks on what he is actually buying? Surely he has to know the state of it to reflect the value of what he is spending. That just makes them look even more incompetent than what they have been made to look over the last few months or more already. 

the elephant in the room is the Sky/BT tv money. What was promised  to BMR (and other clubs) and when.

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3 hours ago, Najjer said:

IF that's true, they're even bigger morons than I gave them credit for. What decent businessman buys a business without doing the relevant checks on what he is actually buying? Surely he has to know the state of it to reflect the value of what he is spending. That just makes them look even more incompetent than what they have been made to look over the last few months or more already. 

Have you ever bought an old second hand car and find out later when stripping down the engine you find the Manifold Head Gasket was split.

"Theres none so blind as those who wont see"

 

Edited by Rayleigh
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Has another famous club gone to the wall?  Rye House was always a decent evening out, for me a 100 mile return drive, but a pint and a bite in the pub, sit by the river, then in to one of the friendliest clubs around.  But that's dreaming.  Speedway urgently needs reforming, otherwise it's going to die.  And that's no empty threat.  I had limited experience as one of the consortium at Wimbledon back in 1987, but we learnt a lot.  Most of that was from John Berry.  Who remembers back in 1986 when he offered his services to run speedway as a "front man", but he would have been in charge of it?  The promoters then, as they would now, turned down his offer.  With hindsight, he could have been the guy to have saved it.  In football, individual chairman (call them promoters if you wish) run their clubs, but the principal is the FA, and there are some very powerful people running that.  Many years back I had a long talk with Len Silver.  Love him or loathe him (and I'm in the former camp) he knew his onions.  Even almost 25 years ago he told me the sport was being run by "amateurs".  Now, this ISN'T a dig at individual clubs or promoters, but it seems to me that the BSPA as a collective really have some outdated rules and regs, and seem content to let the sport drift.

If memory serves me well, back in 1987 Wimbledon paid (in the then National League (2nd div)), £10 per point and £10 per start, but if I recall, these rates were laid down and agreed by ALL promoters under the auspices of the BSPA.  As there were 78 points up for grabs in the league match, that was £780 that had to be found.  We ran a 5-heat 2nd half with varying rates of pay per race but that pushed the riders total to around £1000 for the night. We paid the GRA £1750 per week for stadium rent, shale, staff, and the hire of the team (they retained the riders contracts).  I cannot remember our programme printing costs, but lets call it around £250 (remember these are 1987 prices).  Various sundries probably came to another £250 so each meeting would cost approximately £3250 to run.  We charged £3.50 admission for adults and £2 for children, with a free programme, so we needed approximately gates of 1300 all in (adults and children) to break even.  The opening night, of course, was well above that, but there were the inevitable dips with some gates of around 750-800, and some of 1500 for special events.

I left the promotion before the season end, but we weren't making any profit, and fair play to the other members of the crew who soldiered on, and eventually made the fatal mistake of taking Wimbledon back to the BL Div 1.  It lasted but 6 weeks before the inevitable happened.

Now, I'm not preaching the gospel in any way shape or form, but as a fan of 54 years I think I know enough about speedway to know when it's being driven into the ground.  Promoters need to promote.  From what I can gather it seems that only Sheffield are taking responsbiltiy for this.  At the end of the day, speedway doesn't need a "Speedway Star" - it needs a "Speedway Czar".

Unless somebody comes along, shakes this sport up, and takes it by the scruff of the neck and is able to get the publicity it so richly deserves, within ten years it will be as relevant as extreme marbles.

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On 7/26/2018 at 5:59 AM, Rayleigh said:

How easy it is to have rose coloured spectacles about Silver

How about winning - He nicked Woffy from Scunthorpe (who actually developed him in the National League)  when we won the league

How about the team - The teams deteriorated year on year (don't mention picking Boxall over Doyle)

How competitive we were - We landed up bottom three year on year (the only team missing us now is Redcar as they are bottom every year)

How about the stadium -, no investment what so ever in fact Health and Safety condemned the stand, so without the money BMR put it the club would have been shut down anyway

How about the crowds - well he oversaw a drop from 1,500 to about 400 each meeting

How about the marketing - quote " if you do like it the way I run it then don't bother coming"

He run the club down in the mid eighties and poor Ronnie Russell (I am no fan of Ronnie) copped it until it closed in 1993

He was given the club back by the fans in 2000 (first night back at Rye House a crowd of over 2,500 and paying the riders around £10 per point (you do the sums)

He run the club down again and poor BMR (I am no fan of BMR) copped it until it closed in 2018

 

Yes I yearn for my club to back, No I don't yearn for it to be run by Silver

just to clear up one point i hear constantly, len silver did not pick doyle over boxhall. len made it clear that doyle was only in for the injured boxhall and as soon as he was fit boxhall would be back in the team. now like everyone i wanted doyley to stay but len stuck to his word and he should be given credit for that.

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Just now, jrm said:

just to clear up one point i hear constantly, len silver did not pick doyle over boxhall. len made it clear that doyle was only in for the injured boxhall and as soon as he was fit boxhall would be back in the team. now like everyone i wanted doyley to stay but len stuck to his word and he should be given credit for that.

even boxhall over doyle!!!

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On 7/29/2018 at 8:16 PM, justobsessedwithspeedway said:

 In football, individual chairman (call them promoters if you wish) run their clubs, but the principal is the FA, and there are some very powerful people running 

But isn’t it the league chairmen who have dragged the sport out of the more it found itself in back in the 70s and early 80s?The FA however saw their major competition the FA Cup turn into a damp squib and also now seem to want to sell off the icon that is Wembley Stadium?

It is the league clubs that have moved the sport into the modern world with new stadia and bringing us back near the top of the sport with new centers to train the youngsters.The FA had their development Centre for years to no effect.And we still have the club v country problem listening to Mourinho this week 

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On 7/29/2018 at 9:02 PM, jrm said:

just to clear up one point i hear constantly, len silver did not pick doyle over boxhall. len made it clear that doyle was only in for the injured boxhall and as soon as he was fit boxhall would be back in the team. now like everyone i wanted doyley to stay but len stuck to his word and he should be given credit for that.

Doyle was signed as a temporary replacement for Boxall. Doyle performed, Steve’s return date was coming up and we could have released another rider (Bowen or Hawkins iirc) and accommodated both, which would have strengthened the team no end. Instead Doyle was let go and Boxall came back, we went on to have a crap year. Fast forward just five or so years and Doyle is a World Champion while Hawkins is retired and Bowen and Boxall are racing in the NL. 

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On 7/31/2018 at 4:25 PM, Ben91 said:

Doyle was signed as a temporary replacement for Boxall. Doyle performed, Steve’s return date was coming up and we could have released another rider (Bowen or Hawkins iirc) and accommodated both, which would have strengthened the team no end. Instead Doyle was let go and Boxall came back, we went on to have a crap year. Fast forward just five or so years and Doyle is a World Champion while Hawkins is retired and Bowen and Boxall are racing in the NL. 

Ben, you really mean Hawkins, there is no way Len would ever let Bowen go back then :rolleyes:

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So here we are on August 7th. Rye House were removed from the Premiership over a month ago on July 4th and made a statement on July 5th which read as follows

"Firstly, we would like to thank all our supporters, dedicated staff and volunteers for their hard work and continued support throughout the season.

It is with great regret that the Rye House Rockets have been forced from the Premiership league following the cancellation of the meeting at home against Swindon on 27th June 2018 by the BSPA.

Our proposal to the BSPA securing the future of the Rye House Rockets was categorically rejected.

We would like to clarify that BMR Speedway Limited continues to operate and remains committed to seeing Speedway as a major part of the future at Rye House Stadium.

The future sees Speedway continuing at Rye House for the remainder of the season and forward into 2019. Updates will be provided on our website: www.ryehouserockets.co. "

Since that statement all there has been is total silence from the promotion. Does anyone else think we have seen the last of BMR Rockets and IF there is racing next season it will be a new promotion?

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14 hours ago, cityrebel said:

If there is racing at rye next season, any prospective new promoters would have to deal with BMR, as they own the lease and the stadium.

I fully understand that the stadium is owned by BMR, who may not be happy with another promotion running the Speedway, but at least they would then be getting some rental income. 

Is anything taking place at present? If not BMR have an expensive white elephant on their hand so rental income or selling up may be attractive to them. 

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Sorry to see Rye go. I saw my first ever meeting at Rye in 1960, watching Mike Broadbank, Geoff Mudge, Clive Hitch, Tommy Sweetman and others. Rye was a regular haunt until 1964 when West Ham reopened.

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On ‎7‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 3:49 PM, startline sid said:

so do you think that racing will continue this year? - sorry up until now I have been very optimistic about the whole new set up but I am afraid I am not now (unless you count a couple of dragons club meetings - no offence to them but they are hardly likely to pull any crowd in). I would love to keep my optimism going and will support any resurrection of the team but...………...

Hi Startline Sid,

It would seem that a scenario is starting to emerge that we might see racing at Rye this season.

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46 minutes ago, Rayleigh said:

Hi Startline Sid,

read a great quote "everything comes to those who are patient"

perhaps people know something I don't but still can not see it happening this year (would be great if it did happen)

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