LESS IS MORE?

[Terrace Grumbler]

21 hours ago, TonyH said:

The whole industry needs to take a good look at where it’s heading and consult the old guard (riders & Promoters) of yesteryear very quickly. They knew how to make it viable. There is an answer somewhere, but I’m afraid it won’t change until it’s too late.

Subject to the years when Newcastle hasn't run I've been following the sport since the mid-70s and the doom merchants have been vocal in the last 25 years or so.

That said, this is the first year of a curtailed fixture list and we'll have to see how it works out. My glass is half full at the moment.

If we don't have (nominally equal) north and south divisions in a couple of years time, and "one big league" a few years after that, I'll be surprised, though.

[Terrace Grumbler]

18 hours ago, Tsunami said:

You called Victor Meldrew ?  

Nope, I don't have his number!

Fingers crossed for Sunday.

[leander]

On 13/04/2018 at 10:35 AM, 4thbender said:

Words might fail YOU, but happily they haven't yet failed ME. Maybe your powers of observation have also failed you.

In 2017 there were 360 Championship matches; this year there will be 220 (that's a 39% reduction - with one MORE team!)

I began supporting the Tigers 52 years ago, but this is the first time I've felt that my loyalty is being taken for granted. Once summer really gets underway, with a load of blank Thursdays in the fixture list, fans like me might get out of the Speedway habit. After all, there are many alternative Thursday night distractions:

• Quiz Night at the Red Lion
• Crown Green Bowling at Hillsborough Park (they're after new members)
• A round of golf at Worrall Road
• Leave for the caravan a day early and have an extra-long weekend
• Have a swim at Hillsborough Leisure Centre
• For those with more eclectic tastes there's Spearmint Rhino or (dare I say!) Naked Night at La Chambre.

With the exception of the latter, these are all Thursday options I'm planning to take up over the course of 2018. If Speedway wants to reverse the trend of diminishing numbers on the terraces it had better get its act together. Otherwise fans like me might discover that there's life outside Owlerton Stadium.

Yes, and ONLY Ipswich managed to complete all their fixtures before the cutoff date for the playoffs. Despite a completely manic fortnight just before with double headers, teams running twice a week to try and get up to date. Most teams were still trying to complete league fixtures well into October. If this doesn't prove there were TOO many fixtures last year than what does.

More league fixtures possibly but you'll have to get rid of the playoffs so teams can run until at least the end of September instead of August, playoffs excepted.

[East End Fan]

Many years ago, in what might be called the "Good Old Days" of Speedway in the 70's, one of my best friends was a promoter and with that

association, I learned about a lot of the problems that he faced.  One of them was wet and rainy days. What he told me was that in spite of,

maybe, working hard to get the meeting on, far too few people attended anyway, so money was lost in spite of all the effort.  So he changed his

whole attitude to such situations and called a meeting off when the weather looked "Iffy".  He still got criticised, but at least kept his bank balance

intact.

[Moranboys]

43 minutes ago, East End Fan said:

Many years ago, in what might be called the "Good Old Days" of Speedway in the 70's, one of my best friends was a promoter and with that

association, I learned about a lot of the problems that he faced.  One of them was wet and rainy days. What he told me was that in spite of,

maybe, working hard to get the meeting on, far too few people attended anyway, so money was lost in spite of all the effort.  So he changed his

whole attitude to such situations and called a meeting off when the weather looked "Iffy".  He still got criticised, but at least kept his bank balance

intact.

nice post

[25yearfan]

Its a difficult question to answer!

 

Last season I felt their were to many matches in the 2nd Division especially when riding teams twice at home and away. The novelty of seeing teams twice over wears of. It OK in a big League where you see most teams only once.

 

Anyway most tracks don't run individual or challenge matches nowadays because people don't support them. At Ipswich which I suspect must be in the top 5-6 best supported tracks in the Country, they used to run the Star of Anglia and 16 lapper individuals as well as challenge matches but don't do any now.

 

Look abroad, where in Sweden they run less meetings but get bigger crowds. In Poland again they have less meetings and much bigger crowds. Even in Poland which is the best attended speedway nation in the World, non League meetings aren't well attended!

 

On the weather question, this spring so far has been horrendous weather wise and running substandard meetings in poor conditions aren't good for the sport because those attending get wet and fed up while many most don't bother attending at all!

[4thbender]

13 hours ago, 25yearfan said:

Its a difficult question to answer!

Last season I felt their were to many matches in the 2nd Division especially when riding teams twice at home and away. The novelty of seeing teams twice over wears of. It OK in a big League where you see most teams only once.

Anyway most tracks don't run individual or challenge matches nowadays because people don't support them. At Ipswich which I suspect must be in the top 5-6 best supported tracks in the Country, they used to run the Star of Anglia and 16 lapper individuals as well as challenge matches but don't do any now.

Look abroad, where in Sweden they run less meetings but get bigger crowds. In Poland again they have less meetings and much bigger crowds. Even in Poland which is the best attended speedway nation in the World, non League meetings aren't well attended!

On the weather question, this spring so far has been horrendous weather wise and running substandard meetings in poor conditions aren't good for the sport because those attending get wet and fed up while many most don't bother attending at all!

Speedway has never been able to make up its mind about whether it's a team sport or a circus for daredevil showmen. For my money, they should drop the pairs, the fours, the league riders' championships and all the other window-dressing events (which are just meaningless dross). They should concentrate on a single league of 18 - 20 teams and a regionalised cup competition. League play-offs should be consigned to the dustbin, and the simplified structure of a single league and a cup competition could guarantee all teams a solid programme of 25 home matches per season, potentially a few more for teams with a good cup run.

Speedway could learn a lot from those other "dying sports" of cricket and rugby. Through sharpening up the presentation and encouraging greater partisanship they have turned around their fortunes and crowd numbers have gone through the roof.

I remember as a lad going to Bramall Lane to watch Geoffrey Boycott bat for a day and a half. By the third day of the match there was no-one left in the ground. Compare that to a Twenty/20 match last summer at Headingley when the terraces were packed, alive and buzzing. Speedway needs to ask itself what its own version of that looks like. Trust me - there are solutions, but it needs people with vision and ideas. Rationing the sport to reduce financial losses is a losers' charter and, if that's the best the promoters can offer, they should be hounded out of the sport.

[RS50]

Just been on Sheffield Archives Section, and looked at 2006 season, noted that season, they held 32 home matches (with 3 post-poned dates).     Certainly a lot more than will be run this year.
It was evident prior to the season that there would be less matches, with the Championship Shield replacing the second round of league matches. Also look at the pricing. Admission on the night increases, but season ticket prices reduced.
I realise that some call off are inevitable, but what I find annoying is the speed at which they are called off, and the slowness with which they are re-arranged. Last year, Newcastle V Sheffield, called off April, re-arranged for October.  This year, four matches I would have gone to have been called off (2 Scunny, 1 Buxton, 1 Sheffield). Only 1 has been re-arranged. The sooner dates are announced, more likely I will go to them. If promoters don't bother, then why should I? They lose money, I save if I don't go.
Even when promoters re-arrange dates I feel they could communicate better with fans. 2 years ago Sheffield re-arranged a match to be on a Wednesday. I only noticed this by co-incidence, as I was looking at fixture list for other information (according to another forum poster the stadium was not available Thursday so why was the match originally scheduled for this date?). Why was this never brought to fans attention?. In the programme for the match it was stated this was Sheffield's first home match on a Wednesday for nearly 50 years. Simple communication can help