Sheffield 2018

[RobHowe]

16 minutes ago, Moranboys said:

i do understand you to a point but surely putting on junior individual meetings is pretty much financial disaster.i am a season ticket holder but don't think that i can be bothered to drum up enough enthusiasm to attend.yes,well done to the promotion for getting a meeting on but not enough interest in it for me.shall save the petrol, programme and parking costs and put it towards the cardiff weekend.

But that’s what I mean about being damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

Personally I think it’s a great idea - just a shame I’m on holiday

But if they hadn’t put this meeting on some people would be complaining about there being a two week gap. 

They seemingly can’t do right by some fans. 

Which I find baffling given that I don’t see a long line of would-be promotors waiting outside Owlerton.

Edited July 9, 2018 by RobHowe

[4thbender]

17 hours ago, Stoneroses said:

No meeting this week, top gun the week after. The fixtures this season are a joke, I've started bringing my new partner to speedway for the first time this year. How do I explain the gaps between team meetings and keep her interest in a new (to her) sport? I now know how the workington fans feel. I've been a regular for over 45 years and every Thursday during the summer was speedway night, now I don't know if I can be bothered anymore. Something needs sorting for next season.

 

As things stand at the moment, our home season will finish on 23 August, with two weeks of the kids' summer holidays still to go! (Just for comparison, the 2017 home season finished on 23 OCTOBER!)

At the other end of the spectrum, Workington's home Championship programme didn't get underway until 23 June.

The lunatics really have taken over the asylum.

[Tigerblade]

14 hours ago, RobHowe said:

But that’s what I mean about being damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

Personally I think it’s a great idea - just a shame I’m on holiday

But if they hadn’t put this meeting on some people would be complaining about there being a two week gap. 

They seemingly can’t do right by some fans. 

Which I find baffling given that I don’t see a long line of would-be promotors waiting outside Owlerton.

I couldn't agree more with you Rob, I apologise to those posters if it wasn't meant that way, but it seems like the Sheffield promotion are being blamed by many for the lack of home fixtures, when every team is suffering with the same thing this year due to the fixed race nights. Look at Peterborough - obviously I am aware that they have Showground availability issues as well, but they're racing at home Friday and Sunday this weekend, and then don't have another home fixture until August 5th, which is a double header, then the next home fixture is 9th September!

At the Berwick meeting on 14th June I heard a group of people moaning like hell about the fact we'd not had a home fixture the Thursday before (we were at Ipswich, who have also had similar fixture issues), and the fact we weren't going to be having one on the 28th, saying all the stuff about people getting out of the habit etc. Then the same folk the week afterwards were slagging the promotion off because we'd arranged the Scunthorpe KOC meeting for the 28th when the England v Belgium game was on. Which was known about at the time of their original criticism. 

[Blackadder]

According to the Sheffield Star, Kyle is hoping to return for Friday's visit to Lakeside.

[RobHowe]

6 hours ago, 4thbender said:

As things stand at the moment, our home season will finish on 23 August, with two weeks of the kids' summer holidays still to go! (Just for comparison, the 2017 home season finished on 23 OCTOBER!)

At the other end of the spectrum, Workington's home Championship programme didn't get underway until 23 June.

The lunatics really have taken over the asylum.

Generally the kids go back on Monday 3rd so that’s only one week of the holidays with no home fixture.

And if, as you say, things stay as they stand currently we will have had just three Thursdays with no home meeting up to the end of the season (not including the one rained off meeting in April) - 17th May, 7th June (when we were away at Ipswich) and 12th July.

Compare this with other tracks that are really struggling and I don’t see an issue.

Obviously if we were to make the playoffs then that’s probably at least one home meeting in September. 

Last season we had six rained off meetings (I think) and one Thursday with no meeting - and we were forced to run on Mondays and tried to host a doubleheader on a Sunday to squeeze all the fixtures in. Something which I understand ultimately cost the club money.

If we’d had six rained off meetings this season we wouldn’t have had enough Thursdays free to accommodate them.

So have the lunatics really have taken over the asylum, or are we simply looking at clubs trying their best to fit their fixtures in and around the availability of their home track?

Edited July 10, 2018 by RobHowe

[RobHowe]

45 minutes ago, Tigerblade said:

I couldn't agree more with you Rob, I apologise to those posters if it wasn't meant that way, but it seems like the Sheffield promotion are being blamed by many for the lack of home fixtures, when every team is suffering with the same thing this year due to the fixed race nights. Look at Peterborough - obviously I am aware that they have Showground availability issues as well, but they're racing at home Friday and Sunday this weekend, and then don't have another home fixture until August 5th, which is a double header, then the next home fixture is 9th September!

At the Berwick meeting on 14th June I heard a group of people moaning like hell about the fact we'd not had a home fixture the Thursday before (we were at Ipswich, who have also had similar fixture issues), and the fact we weren't going to be having one on the 28th, saying all the stuff about people getting out of the habit etc. Then the same folk the week afterwards were slagging the promotion off because we'd arranged the Scunthorpe KOC meeting for the 28th when the England v Belgium game was on. Which was known about at the time of their original criticism. 

Exactly mate. Some fans seemingly just want something to complain about. Which is their prerogative. But I don’t see what benefit it is to direct their complaint at the people trying to run the club.

The free Thursdays have been known since the fixtures were released, so why didn’t people arrange to do something else on those nights? Or stay home and watch some speedway on YouTube or something?

[4thbender]

49 minutes ago, RobHowe said:

Exactly mate. Some fans seemingly just want something to complain about. Which is their prerogative. But I don’t see what benefit it is to direct their complaint at the people trying to run the club.

The free Thursdays have been known since the fixtures were released, so why didn’t people arrange to do something else on those nights? Or stay home and watch some speedway on YouTube or something?

Seems like this forum has been taken over by the establishment appeasers. Soon we radicals will have no-one to moan to.

Edited July 10, 2018 by 4thbender

[RobHowe]

38 minutes ago, 4thbender said:

Seems like this forum has been taken over by the establishment appeasers. Soon we radicals will have no-one to moan to.

You couldn’t be further from the truth if you tried! 

I’m certainly not part of the establishment, nor am I an appeaser. I’ll gladly share a drink with you one Thursday night to demonstrate this.

But what I am is a realist; someone who realises that running and promoting speedway is not as easy as some fans believe. And I believe, in what are challenging times for the sport, that we should in the main support those that are running which club we support.

Without these guys there would simply be no speedway. And then we’d all have something to really complain about.

[4thbender]

20 minutes ago, RobHowe said:

You couldn’t be further from the truth if you tried! 

I’m certainly not part of the establishment, nor am I an appeaser. I’ll gladly share a drink with you one Thursday night to demonstrate this.

But what I am is a realist; someone who realises that running and promoting speedway is not as easy as some fans believe. And I believe, in what are challenging times for the sport, that we should in the main support those that are running which club we support.

Without these guys there would simply be no speedway. And then we’d all have something to really complain about.

I bet you're a remainer too.

[Tigerblade]

1 hour ago, 4thbender said:

Seems like this forum has been taken over by the establishment appeasers. Soon we radicals will have no-one to moan to.

Not a bit of it, it just frustrates me when folk contradict themselves in order to suit their own arguments. I've never even met the "establishment" in this case (the Sheffield promotion)

[RobHowe]

53 minutes ago, 4thbender said:

I bet you're a remainer too.

Oh yes.

I’m a diversity and inclusion supporting, non-voting leftie, socialist Guardian reader.

You’d love me.

[4thbender]

8 minutes ago, RobHowe said:

Oh yes.

I’m a diversity and inclusion supporting, non-voting leftie, socialist Guardian reader.

You’d love me.

Appeasement... you missed out "a diversity and inclusion supporting, non-voting leftie, socialist APPEASEMENT Guardian reader."

[RobHowe]

41 minutes ago, 4thbender said:

Appeasement... you missed out "a diversity and inclusion supporting, non-voting leftie, socialist APPEASEMENT Guardian reader."

[romans lovechild]

the problem with people having a bash at the promoters is due to them being in charge of the sport, football fans have the f.a. or fifa to complain about,cricket fans have the ecb to moan at, we have a sport run by the promoters, i understand the reasons why less racenights were voted through,we have rules tinkered with mid-season,but now in the 21st century is it not time for the sport to have its own independent governing body. 

[szkocjasid]

17 hours ago, romans lovechild said:

the problem with people having a bash at the promoters is due to them being in charge of the sport, football fans have the f.a. or fifa to complain about,cricket fans have the ecb to moan at, we have a sport run by the promoters, i understand the reasons why less racenights were voted through,we have rules tinkered with mid-season,but now in the 21st century is it not time for the sport to have its own independent governing body. 

But what if an independent governing body voted in a rule all 11 Champ promoters disagreed with & thought it would costs would be prohibitive? Can't see promoters wanting to give it a chance! 

[romans lovechild]

then its tough,they either tow the line or sell up, turkeys dont get to vote for christmas in real life,but our promoters do.

if there was an independent governing body they would surely make sure the sport is cost effective.so that scenario probably would not arise.

[sparks123]

On 9 July 2018 at 6:34 PM, RobHowe said:

I understand your frustration but, given that the schedule has been known for many months now, I find it strange that people are seemingly surprised by this and feel the need to complain about it.

In my opinion a couple of issues have created this situation.

Firstly despite the horrible weather the country experienced throughout March and April we actually only lost one meeting to the weather.

And secondly we didn’t progress in the Shield and KOC as we perhaps thought we would.

Given both of those it’s a fair assumption that these “gaps” in the schedule were created deliberately to accommodate re-scheduled meetings and additional fixtures in the two aforementioned competitions.

That we subsequently haven’t needed to use these dates up has created this situation.

But rather than have a 2 week gap the club / promotion have done something about it and arranged an individual meeting - potentially at some cost - to limit this to just one week.

So aside from creating other fixtures out of thin air I’m at a loss to know what they are supposed to do.

Its frustrating for me because I’m free this Thursday when there’s no meeting and then I’m away for the next three Thursdays on holiday when there are meetings. But that’s life.

I just wish some fans could see the positives and the efforts that the club / promotion have made and are making to give us as much continuity throughout the season.

Sadly in the eyes of some fans the club / promotion are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

Shame the fixture wasn't on the fixture list earlier as you have lost the Berwick bus as it's going to Swindon instead. Was supposed to be Sheffield, Somerset and Cardiff.

[RobHowe]

7 hours ago, sparks123 said:

Shame the fixture wasn't on the fixture list earlier as you have lost the Berwick bus as it's going to Swindon instead. Was supposed to be Sheffield, Somerset and Cardiff.

It is a shame, but I’m guessing because the gaps in the schedule - this week just gone and next week - were initially left blank to account for further meetings in the Shield and the KOC (or perhaps potential rain offs from earlier in the season) it wasn’t possible to announce this meeting until very recently when it became clear that we hadn’t advanced any further in those two competitions. 

[RobHowe]

On 7/11/2018 at 10:09 PM, romans lovechild said:

the problem with people having a bash at the promoters is due to them being in charge of the sport, football fans have the f.a. or fifa to complain about,cricket fans have the ecb to moan at, we have a sport run by the promoters, i understand the reasons why less racenights were voted through,we have rules tinkered with mid-season,but now in the 21st century is it not time for the sport to have its own independent governing body. 

One of the issues that “minor” sports like speedway have is that they very much rely on the good will of the team owners to act in the best interest of the sport.

However, and without being disrespectful, I’m not convinced that any owner is going to take instruction from an “independent” governing body at this stage. Call me cynical but I’m not sure in a such a minor sport that an independent individual could be found that wouldn’t end being influenced by one or more owners. 

So for me a governing body is not the answer.

What I believe is the answer is the team owners coming together to act in the best interest of the sport that they and we all love.

Peter Oakes in this week’s Speedway Star makes reference to the problems that ice hockey in the UK experienced in the early 2000’s. At one point the top flight was down to just five teams due to teams folding mid-season. But after much soul-searching and fan involvement the then team owners came together to create a business model that would enable the teams and top flight league to survive and then ultimately prosper. As a hockey fan I remember this period very well.

The EIHL that was created out of that period went through a few rocky years before starting to stabilise and ultimately grow. As Peter points out many of the teams can boast growing attendances but the league is still basically run by the team owners. 

I’ve kinda moved away from UK hockey in recent years but I still keep an eye on it, and of course particularly the Steelers. As Peter says in his piece, there’s a lot that speedway could take from the experience that UK hockey went through 10-15 years ago.

Edited July 14, 2018 by RobHowe

[Charlieboy]

Looking at the league table there is only us and Redcar with no away points which doesn't make for good reading if you want to get into the play offs.I think tomorrow is a really big meeting for us,if we can get something from the meeting it might give us a lift when we take on our remaining away fixtures.Shanes will be a big miss tomorrow as he was awesome last year for us at the show ground.