Ben Fund

[waytogo28]

1 hour ago, kitten2502 said:

I'm sure if you email Paul Ackroyd he would be able to confirm on way or another for you - ackroyd-p@hotmail.co.uk

Sorry, I should have posted. he contacted me from my initial post and has confirmed the arrival of my donation ( in lieu of going to the Ben Fund meeting ). It was just very odd and raised my suspicions ( totally cleared up now ) that there was some problem. Maybe everyone else who can't get there will chuck in something. I hope some can and do.

[diamond@heart]

Any news on riders taking part in this yet?

[boz]

Short message on Redcar website, meeting has now been postponed.

[Racin Jason 72]

Hmmmmm my guess is rider apathy to blame. Hope I’m wrong 

[leander]

1 hour ago, Racin Jason 72 said:

Hmmmmm my guess is rider apathy to blame. Hope I’m wrong 

I doubt it. I think it's time the Ben Fund organisers named and shamed those riders who have been approached and refused. There are four Premiership and four championship clubs still active (not including Lakeside and Peterborough who are riding that day). Notwithstanding the GP on the saturday, it is appalling that the organisers can't get 16 riders to turn up and ride. Supporters are willing to put themselves out to attend what is essentially a "nothing" meeting and contribute to a fund that benefits the RIDERS, yet it would appear that the majority can't be arsed to ride.

I think it should be a condition of every clubs BSPA membership that they provide a minimum of one rider to ride in the meeting, and a condition of every riders contract with their club that they ride (for minimum expenses) if requested by their club unless they have a VERY VERY good reason not to (i.e. injury)..

[lucifer sam]

On ‎9‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 12:17 PM, waytogo28 said:

Ben Fund Donation via the online Paypal facility: I made a donation earlier this morning and got a curious Error message and cannot clarify if everything is OK with that link. Or even if my donation went through.  If anyone has done this recently and had a similar problem please let me know. It was just odd and a little suspicious.

I've made a donation this morning and there is an error message, but it seems to occur during the redirect to the SRBF website and AFTER payment is confirmed.  I've already received confirmation by email that my payment has gone through.

I will let Paul Ackroyd know about the error message, but it doesn't stop people making donations.

Edited October 2, 2018 by lucifer sam

[StevePark]

 

[lucifer sam]

21 minutes ago, StevePark said:

 

Cheers Steve - that's the twitter I added earlier.

I'm guessing that, with the postponement of the meeting, there might be a few donations after the next few days, so just wanted to re-assure people that their money is going through to the fund.

[archie21]

I totally agree with naming the riders who have turned down to ride especially if they have had a donation from the fund or should they themselves be required to make a sizeable donation back to the fund if they turn down the invitation for no valid reason. 

[screm]

3 hours ago, archie21 said:

I totally agree with naming the riders who have turned down to ride especially if they have had a donation from the fund or should they themselves be required to make a sizeable donation back to the fund if they turn down the invitation for no valid reason. 

In the statement released it appears that part of the problem is that now there are fixtures being arranged that is taking riders away from the original field so you could just as well ask why is the clubs and/or the BSPA doing this, it may not just be down to the riders. There may well be good reasons but I am struggling to understand why clubs had so many empty regular race nights during the hottest, driest summers in years that saw the deadline extended at least once.

[crescent girl]

6 hours ago, archie21 said:

I totally agree with naming the riders who have turned down to ride especially if they have had a donation from the fund or should they themselves be required to make a sizeable donation back to the fund if they turn down the invitation for no valid reason. 

Absolutely correct, and l'd go further - why not a season-long poll by text, etc, for all fans to vote for the rider from their club (and maybe one from another team) they would most want to see in the event? 

The text line being one of the cash-raising type the TV companies use, which itself donates money from each vote to the SRBF? 

Maybe then, if a rider refuses to turn out when his own fans have voted him in, we might think that he might also not want to claim from the Fund if he fell on hard times? ? 

[leander]

4 hours ago, screm said:

In the statement released it appears that part of the problem is that now there are fixtures being arranged that is taking riders away from the original field so you could just as well ask why is the clubs and/or the BSPA doing this, it may not just be down to the riders. There may well be good reasons but I am struggling to understand why clubs had so many empty regular race nights during the hottest, driest summers in years that saw the deadline extended at least once.

The thing I find strange is after the original fixture was cancelled in March (due to the weather) the re-arranged date of Sunday 7th October was chosen because, at the time, there were no fixtures on this date and Poland would be finished as well. The date was in the calender long before any team could be certain of reaching the play-offs. Redcar offered to hold the restaging because the Peterborough Showground was UNAVAILABLE on that Sunday. Yet the fixture causing the clash is Peterborough v Lakeside at the  "NOT SO UNAVAILABLE" SHOWGROUND". 

 

Edited October 2, 2018 by leander

[racers and royals]

8 minutes ago, leander said:

The thing I find strange is after the original fixture was cancelled in March (due to the weather) the re-arranged date of Sunday 7th October was chosen because, at the time, there were no fixtures on this date and Poland would be finished as well. The date was in the calender long before any team could be certain of reaching the play-offs. Redcar offered to hold the restaging because the Peterborough Showground was UNAVAILABLE on that Sunday. Yet the fixture causing the clash is Peterborough v Lakeside at the  "NOT SO UNAVAILABLE" SHOWGROUND". 

 

Poland was never ever going to be finished by the 7th October- Relegation/promotion play-offs were in the calendar last December.

[screm]

52 minutes ago, leander said:

The thing I find strange is after the original fixture was cancelled in March (due to the weather) the re-arranged date of Sunday 7th October was chosen because, at the time, there were no fixtures on this date and Poland would be finished as well. The date was in the calender long before any team could be certain of reaching the play-offs. Redcar offered to hold the restaging because the Peterborough Showground was UNAVAILABLE on that Sunday. Yet the fixture causing the clash is Peterborough v Lakeside at the  "NOT SO UNAVAILABLE" SHOWGROUND". 

 

Statements have been released so we will have to take them at face value, though as you point out there is the odd discrepancy, maybe some people think us punters are that stupid. Biggest crime in all of this is that a meeting isnt taking place that should be, and given the cause that it supports organisers, riders, clubs should be ashamed of that. 

[Noodles]

1 hour ago, leander said:

The thing I find strange is after the original fixture was cancelled in March (due to the weather) the re-arranged date of Sunday 7th October was chosen because, at the time, there were no fixtures on this date and Poland would be finished as well. The date was in the calender long before any team could be certain of reaching the play-offs. Redcar offered to hold the restaging because the Peterborough Showground was UNAVAILABLE on that Sunday. Yet the fixture causing the clash is Peterborough v Lakeside at the  "NOT SO UNAVAILABLE" SHOWGROUND". 

 

Maybe it the showground was unavailable then but then became available after Redcar was announced? 

Perhaps the landlords were holding the date for an event which cancelled or was provisionally booked & never materialised? 

[leander]

1 hour ago, racers and royals said:

Poland was never ever going to be finished by the 7th October- Relegation/promotion play-offs were in the calendar last December.

My mistake. I thought the Extraliga Playoff final was the last meetings of the Polish season, apart from 1 or 2 Individual events.

[KIRKYLANE]

very sad that the ben fund meeting has been cancelled..... it plays a very important part in British Speedway and has done for a long time.

A few riders are brilliant and regularly take part.. sadly others should think hard about exactly what the Ben Fund does...they may need help at some time in the future

[Al Stewart]

There are four groups of riders as far as the Ben Fund goes. Firstly there are riders good enough to bring in fans who are regularly committed to the event. This group includes Ben Barker, Steve Worrall, Chris Harris, Rory Schlein.

Secondly there is an equally committed group of not-so-good riders who will always ride but really just make up the numbers. They deserve equal applause.

Then there are those who will do it if pushed and if they have nothing better to do. They will then pull out without any feeling of guilt if a paid booking crops up. A substantial number of riders did that on this occasion. They don't realise that this is the LAST meeting you should pull out of, not the first.

And finally there are those who won’t even consider doing it. They get asked and don’t even return calls.

Support from the promoters comes from just one or two who are prepared to offer tracks to stage the meeting or to push their riders into competing. But generally they are not supportive, individually or as a group.

Because I am involved I do know a lot of scare stories about riders and promoters who don’t give a damn about the Ben Fund. I consider it truly shocking. But I can’t name names unfortunately because that has to be Paul Ackroyd’s call. Fortunately Paul is a strong character otherwise the whole business would bring him down.

[archie21]

All nice to know Al But it is time that the group 3 and 4 riders are all named, I bet that these riders are first in the queue for a hand out.

If you don't contribute you should not receive !! 

[Ghosty]

8 minutes ago, Al Stewart said:

There are four groups of riders as far as the Ben Fund goes. Firstly there are riders good enough to bring in fans who are regularly committed to the event. This group includes Ben Barker, Steve Worrall, Chris Harris, Rory Schlein.

Secondly there is an equally committed group of not-so-good riders who will always ride but really just make up the numbers. They deserve equal applause.

Then there are those who will do it if pushed and if they have nothing better to do. They will then pull out without any feeling of guilt if a paid booking crops up. A substantial number of riders did that on this occasion. They don't realise that this is the LAST meeting you should pull out of, not the first.

And finally there are those who won’t even consider doing it. They get asked and don’t even return calls.

Support from the promoters comes from just one or two who are prepared to offer tracks to stage the meeting or to push their riders into competing. But generally they are not supportive, individually or as a group.

Because I am involved I do know a lot of scare stories about riders and promoters who don’t give a damn about the Ben Fund. I consider it truly shocking. But I can’t name names unfortunately because that has to be Paul Ackroyd’s call. Fortunately Paul is a strong character otherwise the whole business would bring him down.

Agree 100%..........