SteveLyric2 Posted January 24, 2018 Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 18 minutes ago, RobMcCaffery said: Having taken a look through the Premiership fixtures there are still some alarming gaps mid-season at several tracks with more than one case of only one home date in June and others similarly 'thin' in July. For a 'summer' sport we certainly manage to avoid the best weeks of the year. Progress has been made but continuity is still desperately weak at crucial times in the season. As ever it comes across as a desperate rush to get fixtures in before FIM events start and then to rush to catch up after they wind down. Not forgetting one of the World's biggest sporting tournaments in June/July - The FIFA World Cup!! Fixtrure scheduling for minor sports will always take a hit in the even numbered years due to Euros, World Cup, Olympics etc. With attendances already supposedly dwindling, who can blame Speedway bosses for not wanting to run against major sports on TV? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobMcCaffery Posted January 25, 2018 Report Share Posted January 25, 2018 (edited) 5 hours ago, Skidder1 said: Not forgetting one of the World's biggest sporting tournaments in June/July - The FIFA World Cup!! Fixtrure scheduling for minor sports will always take a hit in the even numbered years due to Euros, World Cup, Olympics etc. With attendances already supposedly dwindling, who can blame Speedway bosses for not wanting to run against major sports on TV? The World Cup requires careful scheduling, not abject surrender, but then the extreme, simplistic response is always the easiest when you're too lazy to think things through properly as you so ably prove. By contrast, one of our respected members recently reported on a conversation with a TV sport editor who explained his station's lack of speedway news coverage was because speedway was not a "serious sport". I rather suspect that ours is the only summer sport planning to virtually close down in the face of another sport's tournament. I can't see even the much-maligned stock car racing behaving in such a manner. Next you'll be telling me that the top tier of speedway lost Saturday nights because of Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor. It doesn't reflect well on the BSPA's confidence in being able to get people through their gates, does it? Continuity was always speedway's strength - the public knew each week or at least there would be a meeting on the same night each week, so say Friday night WAS speedway night. Losing that has been a very important contribution to the sport's near demise. Traditionally you never let the fans think there were other things to do in season on your racenight. Now the promoters pick and choose when to run. Is it no surprise that supporters in turn pick and choose when to go? We've given people too many excuses to stop going to speedway, and haven't so many seized on just that? Edited January 25, 2018 by RobMcCaffery 6 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveLyric2 Posted January 25, 2018 Report Share Posted January 25, 2018 (edited) 10 hours ago, RobMcCaffery said: The World Cup requires careful scheduling, not abject surrender, but then the extreme, simplistic response is always the easiest when you're too lazy to think things through properly as you so ably prove. By contrast, one of our respected members recently reported on a conversation with a TV sport editor who explained his station's lack of speedway news coverage was because speedway was not a "serious sport". I rather suspect that ours is the only summer sport planning to virtually close down in the face of another sport's tournament. I can't see even the much-maligned stock car racing behaving in such a manner. Next you'll be telling me that the top tier of speedway lost Saturday nights because of Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor. It doesn't reflect well on the BSPA's confidence in being able to get people through their gates, does it? Continuity was always speedway's strength - the public knew each week or at least there would be a meeting on the same night each week, so say Friday night WAS speedway night. Losing that has been a very important contribution to the sport's near demise. Traditionally you never let the fans think there were other things to do in season on your racenight. Now the promoters pick and choose when to run. Is it no surprise that supporters in turn pick and choose when to go? We've given people too many excuses to stop going to speedway, and haven't so many seized on just that? I wasn 't disagreeing with your earlier point. Just adding that in addition in the even years there are also major international sporting events that some speedway clubs would wish to avoid clashing with!! With the agreement to go to fixed race nights, this may well be made even more difficult. Some of the 'top' teams have lost their Saturday nights due to a greater importance given to other sports with whom they share stadium facilities (and who often own the stadia) OR due to lack of 'top' rider availability! Edited January 25, 2018 by Skidder1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted January 25, 2018 Report Share Posted January 25, 2018 Have I got this right? Usual home race night Wednesday, Somerset, Kings Lynn, Poole. Race night Monday, Leicester, Belle Vue, Wolverhampton. Race night Monday and Thursday Swindon. Race night Monday and Wednesday Rye House. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INCOGNITO Posted January 25, 2018 Report Share Posted January 25, 2018 Will say it's a step in the right direction having different race nights for the two leagues and should have been done years ago really, but better late than never. Hopefully they hey can now do something to create more financial income for the Premiership in sponsorship to then attract some bigger names and cancel the 8 point rule otherwise it has to be looked at seriously next season to create one league with these big teams competing in a stronger league with just one home one away alongside. The only thing with these fixed dates is having gaps between matches which is acceptable in strong levels but at this level a few will be disappointed at meetings every fortnight only 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A ORLOV Posted February 23, 2018 Report Share Posted February 23, 2018 Hearing from one manager that there are now a few issues cropping up re wednesday nights with foreign teams having more wed meetings which might concern certain clubs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWP Posted February 23, 2018 Report Share Posted February 23, 2018 Denmark has always been Wednesday nights. Varde are fridays there also. I guess any teams with Danes, very few Brits ride Danish league, will be have to continue using guests when Danes are required to race at home. Poland due to TV coverage will mainly continue to be Sunday, but some meetings Friday and Saturday to fulfill TV commitments. Again though a few Brits signed in Poland, most are on Warsaw contracts and will never ride unless injury replacements needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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