Rye House 2018

[Reliant Robin]

28 minutes ago, Racin Jason 72 said:

Surely Redcar Ipswich and Sheffield would be in the same position that rye house are now in. Why is it ok to possibly kill three tracks just to prop up the premiership?? 

It's not ok to kill 3 tracks, certainly not, but trotting out the 'prop up the Premiership' line is laughable.

Tracks need to run on best night to suit them, that should be their choice.

The problem comes with all of the doubling up that has been allowed to increase year on year giving all sorts of clashes and pieced together teams as well as causing a mess with averages between the two leagues. This needs restricting first and foremost.

Clubs should then run on the night they think suits their fanbase best. Clubs with assets should have first call in all instances on those riders, even for re-arranged fixtures. We'd then see which league is propping up the other. It would encourage the Championship to invest in fresh talent rather than relying on borrowing riders from the other league.....and vice versa.

It won't happen overnight as it has gone too far, but restrictions on doubling up are vital should 2/3 leagues remain.

Edited to add, if there is financial trouble at Rye, I hope they can come out the other side. If that means the BSPA backtracking on FRN then so be. We shouldn't be losing Clubs over a silly choice of nights made in November.

Edited June 28, 2018 by Reliant Robin

[mikebv]

1 hour ago, Daniel Smith said:

We'll get into a situation where Rye House moves to a Saturday but the away clubs refuse to reschedule the fixtures. Same if Belle Vue go Friday's, clubs will refuse to move their original dates.

With Denmark, Poland and SEC, GP practice running Friday's, Poland, SEC, SGP Saturday's a change to the calendar now is pretty much a no go.

Dan Bewley's World U21 meetings so far, and the meetings he will miss typifies British Speedway and all that is wrong with it...

Dan should never have to miss a single meeting as he should be a major drawer card for the Sport with every track wanting him to appear, as (away) I am sure he could attract those more irregular visitors to the sport who will know his name and reputation, and (home) ensure his own fans dont feel brassed off as he is elsewhere. (Even more so if they lose that match)!!

Instead I suspect some teams are even targeting these dates (if not already booked) to go up to Worky as they will feel "we have a chance if they've not got Dan"..

The same will be true of the teams who still have to ride at home v Worky. "Let's try and rearrange on a night when Dan cannot be there" may well form part of any planning process...

There are weeks and weeks of 'No Speedway', then, when all Leagues and FIM individual competitions come to the 'business end' of the Season, the riders who do well (invariably therefore the ones you want to watch) always seem to be riding 'elsewhere'...

It cannot be beyond the whit of man to run British Speedway's fixtures around what the FIM and other Countries have already set in stone..

And it is truly incredible that, rather than colllectively work together, teams will try and put one over each other to try and win something that is defined by their very own operating model, as even less valuable than 'tin pot'...

I actually think that one of the reasons there will never be an independent figurehead running the Sport over here is because they would simply not accept meetings voluntarily being arranged/taking place without the 'top riders' being available.

Imagine explaining to a Barry Hearn type character, if they were in charge, that you thought it was a 'great idea' to run a Speedway Meeting knowing full well that your best riders/biggest attractions wouldnt be there?

You would hear the laughter all the way to Poland..

[chunky]

Following on from my earlier post, I would just like to elaborate a little. There ARE a number of posters on here who make intelligent and balanced posts, but they too are often shot down because someone didn't didn't agree with them; that is where the problem lay.

Now, with reference to Phil's comment about Polish speedway benefiting from clubs being in towns where speedway is the major attraction; the fact remains that they are "in town". I have said before that in Britain, speedway grew as a "city-centre sport". Because of a number of factors - in particular, the Great British NIMBY - we have been forced into rural areas, where people aren't exposed to speedway. Of course, we have always had rural tracks, but look at it now. Not one track in London. During my lifetime, we have lost Norwich, Exeter, Bradford, Cradley, Bristol, Hull etc... These were all in urban areas, and easily accessible. Not only were they accessible, they were VISIBLE to anyone who passed by the place!

To me, it is incredible - and incredibly sad - that the vast majority of people now have never even heard of speedway, let alone know what it is. Back in the day, as popular as speedway was, we still attracted a very small percentage of the population - but nearly everybody knew what it was! We used to complain when people said they didn't go because speedway was "first out of the gate wins". Today, it's a struggle to find somebody who knows we have a ruddy gate!

I know we all feel that the modern sport is "watered down". Yes, I used to love seeing the big stars, but you know what? It is speedway RACING, and as long as there was some decent racing, I was happy.

Steve

[Al Stewart]

When I was young Rye House was a training track staging meetings at what would now be National League level. My first visit was for I think the Ronnie Moore Trophy won by Lou Sansom. I remember Rocky Coutts and Charlie Benham being in it. Great entertainment.

Then they took over from the late lamented Rayleigh and became a second-tier track. In the Infradex years they were a superb team with Garrad, Fiala, Smith, Hubbard and others (Silver, Cox etc also). Edinburgh generally got slaughtered there from 1977 onwards.

Then they had some weaker sides but it was still an entertaining venue. In the Monarchs’ best years we won there quite a few times. Len Silver saved the track from extinction.

Then we come to the new promotion. Presumably they have been successful in their other fields and thought they could invest and then rake in the profits. This is where other promoters should be firm. I know it isn’t easy but Speedway desperately needs to guard against naïve promoters with big ideas. Unless they are so keen and so wealthy they are prepared to lose millions, they have to be made to understand what they are getting into. Remember the Reading Bulldogs?

It will be another very sad blow if we lose this historic venue.

[foamfence]

16 minutes ago, chunky said:

Following on from my earlier post, I would just like to elaborate a little. There ARE a number of posters on here who make intelligent and balanced posts, but they too are often shot down because someone didn't didn't agree with them; that is where the problem lay.

Now, with reference to Phil's comment about Polish speedway benefiting from clubs being in towns where speedway is the major attraction; the fact remains that they are "in town". I have said before that in Britain, speedway grew as a "city-centre sport". Because of a number of factors - in particular, the Great British NIMBY - we have been forced into rural areas, where people aren't exposed to speedway. Of course, we have always had rural tracks, but look at it now. Not one track in London. During my lifetime, we have lost Norwich, Exeter, Bradford, Cradley, Bristol, Hull etc... These were all in urban areas, and easily accessible. Not only were they accessible, they were VISIBLE to anyone who passed by the place!

To me, it is incredible - and incredibly sad - that the vast majority of people now have never even heard of speedway, let alone know what it is. Back in the day, as popular as speedway was, we still attracted a very small percentage of the population - but nearly everybody knew what it was! We used to complain when people said they didn't go because speedway was "first out of the gate wins". Today, it's a struggle to find somebody who knows we have a ruddy gate!

I know we all feel that the modern sport is "watered down". Yes, I used to love seeing the big stars, but you know what? It is speedway RACING, and as long as there was some decent racing, I was happy.

Steve

When I was younger I could visit Bradford, Belle Vue, Halifax, Sheffield and Doncaster, all by public transport and home again the same evening. Now groups of young friends can't get to many tracks and the entry price would probably put them off anyway. Only one of those tracks now exists and I'm no longer inclined to visit that at my age, lack of transport and the cost. You mentioned London, I used to have trips down to those tracks, my favourite being Wimbledon. I watch the sport on TV, the big events are OK but some of the league matches are terrible, all the crowd in one small corner of a sh**tip of a stadium and tracks that suited old uprights but not modern machines. Speedway in this country has a sort of sepia image of flat caps, belted raincoats and going home looking like a miner. I think it needs to be run around weekends and Bank Holidays, so as to become a paying hobby, rather than a main means of making a living. It needs someone to have the bravery to enforce it, before it disappears in a cloud of dust.

[OveFundinFan]

5 minutes ago, foamfence said:

When I was younger I could visit Bradford, Belle Vue, Halifax, Sheffield and Doncaster, all by public transport and home again the same evening. Now groups of young friends can't get to many tracks and the entry price would probably put them off anyway. Only one of those tracks now exists and I'm no longer inclined to visit that at my age, lack of transport and the cost. You mentioned London, I used to have trips down to those tracks, my favourite being Wimbledon. I watch the sport on TV, the big events are OK but some of the league matches are terrible, all the crowd in one small corner of a sh**tip of a stadium and tracks that suited old uprights but not modern machines. Speedway in this country has a sort of sepia image of flat caps, belted raincoats and going home looking like a miner. I think it needs to be run around weekends and Bank Holidays, so as to become a paying hobby, rather than a main means of making a living. It needs someone to have the bravery to enforce it, before it disappears in a cloud of dust.

2 of the tracks still exist - BV and Sheffield

[iris123]

I said a while back that trying to make all tracks fit into a league model doesn’t work.Maybe have one,2 or 3 tracks running an open licence outside of the league system would help save them....

What we have is dead weight tied around the leg of some tracks and we are always pandering to the weak teams.It hasn’t worked.Like you i have seen some terrible league meetings on tv where riders can hardly get round the track and terrible crowds with no atmosphere.That just isn’t going to help the sport,no matter what night of the week you run.And one big problem we now face that we didn’t before is that football now takes place practically every day,so no way of avoiding the clash

[foamfence]

6 minutes ago, OveFundinFan said:

2 of the tracks still exist - BV and Sheffield

Belle Vue exists as a club but Hyde Road is long gone as a track.

[OveFundinFan]

4 minutes ago, foamfence said:

Belle Vue exists as a club but Hyde Road is long gone as a track.

Same public transport will get you there....its only a few hundred yards away (as you probably know)

[Phil The Ace]

34 minutes ago, foamfence said:

Belle Vue exists as a club but Hyde Road is long gone as a track.

No. We got better now

[stewmac]

3 minutes ago, Phil The Ace said:

No. We got better now

And yet, much lower crowds...

[The Little Un]

You have two choices with British Speedway:

1) Abolish All Double Up Riding with the exception of one Professional League and the National League (no rider to race in all three leagues). This would enable more teams to race on the nights they wish to; doubling up really prevents this.

2) Alternatively find enough teams who will ride on Monday, Wednesday or Thursday and call that league the Premiership. Then the remaining teams could race on Friday, Saturday or Sunday with no riders in either the Polish League or the Speedway GPs and call this the Championship league.

The National League could still race on any night but all riders signed to a Professional League would have to give priority to that league.

Of course if they abolish doubling up you could race on all nights except Tuesday or Sunday (The National League being exempted).

As long as you have doubling up you cannot have anything other than fixed race nights for either the Premiership or the Championship.

 

[foamfence]

1 hour ago, Phil The Ace said:

No. We got better now

I agree that the current track is the best in the country by miles, that wasn't the point I was making.

[foamfence]

1 hour ago, OveFundinFan said:

Same public transport will get you there....its only a few hundred yards away (as you probably know)

Yes but I'm getting on a bit and wouldn't fancy the trip home in the evening.

[Hawk127]

Whilst the powers that be can share some of the blame for the current state of things, perhaps the fan base being so fixed in their ways does not help. Many tracks dare not run anything other than a league or cup meetings simply because the fan base does not want to see individual meetings and running the club on the limited number of meetings is in itself no longer enough to make it viable given the pay demands and cost of machinery. I still don’t quite understand the lack of interest with individual meetings when some of the better racing on TV has been those featuring individual riders.

Perhaps if you had an individual championship that meant something to all participants and it could attract a sponsor or decent pot of winnings this might throw up one or two characters which the sport needs. You could have riders representing clubs and the gross points scored by those representative riders go towards awarding a team championship.

On the reverse it might just be that league racing as currently set up will not work in this country any longer. Perhaps it has had its day as a seven man team sport. Riders rarely ride as a team and as has been said on many threads most riders want to earn a living and really don’t care who they ride for as long as they are on the track being paid.

Clubs should be allowed an open licence and the new perhaps have the option of running league racing where strict rules apply to teams and rider availability and others run at NL level with individual meetings and challenge matches etc and if necessary put on a two wheeled evening with a reduced league racing format, short track and perhaps some other form of racing. It is difficult but one thing for sure i# that joe public have fallen right out of love with the current format, lack of meetings and racing on nights that don’t work for a variety of reasons for most of the punters.

i still think that it needs to put its own house in order and if that means going back to basics so be it but forget the other nations, start ploughing our own furrow.

[Shadders]

6 hours ago, HAMMER180 said:

 if I was a rye season ticket holder I would be spitting feathers by now.

No season tickets at Rye House

[wealdstone]

As far as I can see no official information has come forward regarding this dreadful shambles, indicative I imagine of the arrogant disregard for fans shown by those in charge in just about every and any crisis

[Predictor]

Clubs always raced on the night that was best for them. Hardly any children at Rye House this season. Bring back Saturday so it becomes a family sport again.

[W9 Lion]

I hope (and pray) that maybe the situation at Rye House is similar to the Leicester situation in the 2016/17 closed season. The BSPA were working to try and keep the club on track. They thought that any statement put out (to clarify the situation) may compromise the negotiations with the interested parties who wanted to take over the club. Fingers crossed that Rye House survive at least until the end of this season and into a healthier future.

[idh]

11 minutes ago, wealdstone said:

As far as I can see no official information has come forward regarding this dreadful shambles, indicative I imagine of the arrogant disregard for fans shown by those in charge in just about every and any crisis

or is someone trying to rescue a situation?