Wembley World Finals-Len Silver

[mickthemuppet]

In his weeks Speedway Star Len Silver says that the World Speedway final should stay at Wembley and not be shared with other countries. Biggest mistake ever, the world finals should have stayed in this country  and any British promoter who voted against this should hang their heads in shame. This was he beginning of the slippery slope that British Speedway has been on  ever since. Could you imagine the PDO Darts saying we will give up the finals in England and share them out with other countries like the Netherlands. How could British speedway been so stupid

[PHILIPRISING]

Three  things wrong with that. Wembley didn't want to stage World Finals after 1981 so wasn't an option. And, two, speedway isn't darts and even then other countries, notably Denmark, Poland and Sweden, had as much right to stage a World Final as Britain.

And, of course, the decision had nothing to do with the promoters of the time. Britain's representation at the FIM was via the ACU and the next layer down was the Speedway Control Board. 

Edited January 5, 2018 by PHILIPRISING

[iris123]

It is quite strange even worrying that someone who has been heavily involved in the sport for decades and decades can come out with stuff like that!!! Is it a wonder the sport is in such a bad state in the UK?

[Sidney the robin]

9 hours ago, iris123 said:

It is quite strange even worrying that someone who has been heavily involved in the sport for decades and decades can come out with stuff like that!!! Is it a wonder the sport is in such a bad state in the UK?

 

9 hours ago, iris123 said:

It is quite strange even worrying that someone who has been heavily involved in the sport for decades and decades can come out with stuff like that!!! Is it a wonder the sport is in such a bad state in the UK?

Did you go Iris 1972/75/78/ 81 ????

[iris123]

I was there to support Tommy in 75,though not sure what that has to do with the topic

[Humphrey Appleby]

On 05/01/2018 at 7:57 PM, PHILIPRISING said:

Three  things wrong with that. Wembley didn't want to stage World Finals after 1981 so wasn't an option. And, two, speedway isn't darts and even then other countries, notably Denmark, Poland and Sweden, had as much right to stage a World Final as Britain.

The FIM should have been insisting on minimum facilities and city locations to host the World Final.

Sweden and Poland had suitably sized stadia in cities that could cater for the spectators, but Denmark did not and that was the start of moving major events to fields in the middle of nowhere. In principle Germany also had suitable stadia such as in Munich, but a World Final should never have been allowed to be held at Norden or Pocking.

And if the BSPA allowed the ACU to concur with these decisions, far less abdicating the commercial rights to the sport's premier competition, then it sums up what a short-sighted shower they were. 

[The Voice Of Reason]

Personally, I've always found the Grand Prix style of World Final an utter borefest. It's now just a pantomime of boring, characterless, prima donna riders; complete with an entourage of mechanics and other nobodies, in the pits.

A one-off meeting was so much more exciting; and produced the occasional surprise - such as Egon Muller.

Not sure about only holding the event in Wembley - particularly as this would now potentially be yet another manmade track.

 

Edited January 7, 2018 by The Voice Of Reason

[PHILIPRISING]

3 hours ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

The FIM should have been insisting on minimum facilities and city locations to host the World Final.

Sweden and Poland had suitably sized stadia in cities that could cater for the spectators, but Denmark did not and that was the start of moving major events to fields in the middle of nowhere. In principle Germany also had suitable stadia such as in Munich, but a World Final should never have been allowed to be held at Norden or Pocking.

And if the BSPA allowed the ACU to concur with these decisions, far less abdicating the commercial rights to the sport's premier competition, then it sums up what a short-sighted shower they were. 

THE BSPA were not the custodians of International events in Great Britain and had no power to prevent the ACU/SCB from, as you put it, concurring with these decisions' and were never in possession of the commercial rights to the sport's premier competition so could not abdicate them.

[Humphrey Appleby]

15 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

THE BSPA were not the custodians of International events in Great Britain and had no power to prevent the ACU/SCB from, as you put it, concurring with these decisions' and were never in possession of the commercial rights to the sport's premier competition so could not abdicate them.

I'm fully aware of how things were arranged, but that does not mean those arrangements should have been accepted by those employing most of the professional riders at the time. 

Very different in F1 where Bernie Ecclestone and the F1 teams didn't accept how the FIA were running things. 

[PHILIPRISING]

COMPARISONS between speedway and F1 are pointless 

[Grand Central]

27 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

COMPARISONS between speedway and F1 are pointless 

Indeed.

About as pointless as comparing a CEO for British Speedway with that of the CEO of the FA Premier League.

As some bright spark did before Christmas.

[Humphrey Appleby]

4 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said:

COMPARISONS between speedway and F1 are pointless 

Of course they're not, even if we're talking about vastly different amounts of money.

The F1 teams didn't think they were getting enough money out of the sport, despite the fact they provided much of the show, and took control of the commercial rights. Something that the professional speedway leagues should have done, rather than simply allow the FIM to sell them off and take all the money. 

3 million is nothing like the profits generated by F1, but it's more than speedway is currently getting. 

[George Dodds]

15 hours ago, The Voice Of Reason said:

Personally, I've always found the Grand Prix style of World Final an utter borefest. It's now just a pantomime of boring, characterless, prima donna riders; complete with an entourage of mechanics and other nobodies, in the pits.

A one-off meeting was so much more exciting; and produced the occasional surprise - such as Egon Muller.

Not sure about only holding the event in Wembley - particularly as this would now potentially be yet another manmade track.

 

Surely all the Wembley finals after the mid-50s were on a man-made track as only the base of the bends at Wembley were permanent, the rest was dug out and relaid for each meeting - with varied results; disastrous in 1975, smooth but slick as hell in 1978 and surprisingly good for racing in 1981

[Terry]

24 minutes ago, George Dodds said:

Surely all the Wembley finals after the mid-50s were on a man-made track as only the base of the bends at Wembley were permanent, the rest was dug out and relaid for each meeting - with varied results; disastrous in 1975, smooth but slick as hell in 1978 and surprisingly good for racing in 1981

Prepared by Uncle Len...Nuff said!

[coventry1963]

Out of interest, how did Wembley maintain their track when they were in league Speedway? Was it taken up each week between meetings? I remember going to watch Coventry there and the track bends were so flat that the only overtaking that could be achieved was by getting underneath an opponent, no chance of an outside pass. That was also an issue on several world finals as the lack of banking was a real problem and not conducive to racing, whereas the 1981 final track clearly had an outside line available.

[George Dodds]

1 hour ago, coventry1963 said:

Out of interest, how did Wembley maintain their track when they were in league Speedway? Was it taken up each week between meetings? I remember going to watch Coventry there and the track bends were so flat that the only overtaking that could be achieved was by getting underneath an opponent, no chance of an outside pass. That was also an issue on several world finals as the lack of banking was a real problem and not conducive to racing, whereas the 1981 final track clearly had an outside line available.

It's hard to believe but there was a time when football was the poor relation at Wembley so there were only a handful of internationals and the FA Cup final staged there so after May the speedway could be left in situ - although the Lions had to race away in 1948 to accommodate the Olympics. During the 1966 football World Cup one game was played at White City because Wembley's owners weren't prepared to cancel the lucrative Saturday night greyhound meeting for a mere World Cup qualifier - how times have changed!

 

[longlivefrankie]

I remember being at a Wembley v belle vue match held at Newport in 1970? Presumably because empire stadium unavailable 

[f-s-p]

On ‎8‎.‎1‎.‎2018 at 10:36 AM, Richard Weston said:

Up to a point, Lord Copper*.

However, speedway could learn a few tricks from F1 at Silverstone. Tickets are eye-wateringly expensive, car park £50+ but still 120,000 go.

 

Is that 120k spread over the weekend, or are there 120k people when the green lights go out on sunday afternoon?

[tonyd]

On ‎08‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 8:32 PM, longlivefrankie said:

I remember being at a Wembley v belle vue match held at Newport in 1970? Presumably because empire stadium unavailable 

That was the 1971 season when the Lions raced at Newport for a meeting because their season didn't start at home until June (if I remember right) and there was a problem slotting them in the fixtures . I always thought it was a strange choice of track to race the fixture on, thought they would have gone for one on the London tracks at the time so more home fans would have gone.    ........ Also A young brilliant swede by the name of Tommy Jansson rode for Wembley and scored 1point 

[cityrebel]

On 06/01/2018 at 6:19 PM, Sidney the robin said:

 

Did you go Iris 1972/75/78/ 81 ????

I did sid, I wanted to go with my dad in 69, but he said I was too young. The world finals needed to be shared around the world, to develop the sport globally.