Team Suits and/or Race Jackets

[Najjer]

17 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

Why do people always revert to the football analogy? That is a true team sport, where one player plays for one team only. 

Marketing is massive, true, but we are talking about a sport that often leaves itself short while trying to look professional. Shiny suits and a clean-sheen look are brilliant, but then silly rules may spoil any new person's interest to diminish after discovering some riders can't make up their minds which ONE two stick to.

Speedway nowadays has never been more detached from a team sport than it is now, and that's after almost 20 years of the soulless teamwear.It's more like F1.

It is alright looking the part, not that this appears to have won that many new fans over the last two decades when even Live speedway is given away for free. I think we're going backwards. Although, I'm sorry to say, not to the 70s.

Because is just about the most professional sport going and this is what just about any sport with serious ambition will strive to be as professional as.

I disagree about your point on it not being a team sport. I'm not naive enough to think riders don't see the Grand Prix as being the holy grail of the sport but team speedway is the best form their is in every country. I refer back to marketing again, it amazes me how inept speedway promotor's are at marketing. They have to get the basics right first. The first part of any brand or image that you are trying to sell is the associated colour and then in speedway terms, the team nickname. I've said many times before it amazes me aswell that teams haven't adopted what Kings Lynn done a few seasons ago where every rider all had matching fork covers with the team colour and main sponsor on. In any photo of a speedway rider the one place every time you can pick out a sponsor is on the fork covers... Why do you think in every grand prix that's where the main sponsor is? Because their marketing is actually good!

[moxey63]

34 minutes ago, Najjer said:

Because is just about the most professional sport going and this is what just about any sport with serious ambition will strive to be as professional as.

I disagree about your point on it not being a team sport. I'm not naive enough to think riders don't see the Grand Prix as being the holy grail of the sport but team speedway is the best form their is in every country. I refer back to marketing again, it amazes me how inept speedway promotor's are at marketing. They have to get the basics right first. The first part of any brand or image that you are trying to sell is the associated colour and then in speedway terms, the team nickname. I've said many times before it amazes me aswell that teams haven't adopted what Kings Lynn done a few seasons ago where every rider all had matching fork covers with the team colour and main sponsor on. In any photo of a speedway rider the one place every time you can pick out a sponsor is on the fork covers... Why do you think in every grand prix that's where the main sponsor is? Because their marketing is actually good!

Can I ask how long you've been attending speedway?

The Grand Prix promoters have more time to promote their meetings every two-to-three weeks, they have all the big names there, so marketing works. I suppose the people who run the GPs are much more professional than the used-car salesmen that run the domestic scene. I recall the trouble the sport had when trying to get a single sponsor in almost 20 years of Live league racing on SKY - despite team suits and the like. As I say, I think promoting GPs is totally different to league racing. That's just 11 or so meetings at the height of summer in Europe.. not 25 or so in a climate where it rains much of the summer. 

[Najjer]

2 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

Can I ask how long you've been attending speedway?

The Grand Prix promoters have more time to promote their meetings every two-to-three weeks, they have all the big names there, so marketing works. I suppose the people who run the GPs are much more professional than the used-car salesmen that run the domestic scene. I recall the trouble the sport had when trying to get a single sponsor in almost 20 years of Live league racing on SKY - despite team suits and the like. As I say, I think promoting GPs is totally different to league racing. That's just 11 or so meetings at the height of summer in Europe.. not 25 or so in a climate where it rains much of the summer. 

Since 2000.

[moxey63]

24 minutes ago, Najjer said:

Since 2000.

Thought as much.

I don't think that gives you the knowledge to criticise people who saw the sport in the 70s. They only wish the sport could return to half what it was then. It is frustrating. I saw it back then, and the 80s and 90s. Do you know what, it was about the time you began attending that it started to decline at the rate it is? People who saw the 70s have the experience of what it was then... compared to now when we hand-clap a stadium staging a British GP as a  "success" when only a half sell-out. That's with all the marketing and no chance of a rain-off.  Wembley attracted almost 100,000 for World Finals. 

Speedway, I'm afraid, is no longer a team sport. It has lost the tribal feeling that football has, as so many of your riders fight the following night with another gang of lads in another team. They are merely agency workers, self-employed, who will take any booking to earn a few bob.

I wish you could have experienced from what we had in the 70s to what we have now. I don't think marketing alone will rewind the age of time.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2018 by moxey63

[Grachan]

7 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

Thought as much.

I don't think that gives you the knowledge to criticise people who saw the sport in the 70s. They only wish the sport could return to half what it was then. It is frustrating. I saw it back then, and the 80s and 90s. Do you know what, it was about the time you began attending that it started to decline at the rate it is? People who saw the 70s have the experience of what it was then... compared to now when we hand-clap a stadium staging a British GP as a  "success" when only a half sell-out. That's with all the marketing and no chance of a rain-off.  Wembley attracted almost 100,000 for World Finals. 

Speedway, I'm afraid, is no longer a team sport. It has lost the tribal feeling that football has, as so many of your riders fight the following night with another gang of lads in another team. They are merely agency workers, self-employed, who will take any booking to earn a few bob.

I wish you could have experienced from what we had in the 70s to what we have now. I don't think marketing alone will rewind the age of time.

 

 

I would say it gives Najjer plenty of knowledge. 2000 is nearly 20 years ago, and the points he makes are very valid.

Yes, speedway was more succesful in the 1970s, but it was a different time. Were speedway the same now as it was in the 1970s it would look so dated that it would attract even lower crowds than it does now.

Team suits are one of the positives of this faltering modern era. The 70s hsve long gone, as have the trends of that time. Life moves on and speedway needs to move with it.

[moxey63]

6 minutes ago, Grachan said:

I would say it gives Najjer plenty of knowledge. 2000 is nearly 20 years ago, and the points he makes are very valid.

Yes, speedway was more succesful in the 1970s, but it was a different time. Were speedway the same now as it was in the 1970s it would look so dated that it would attract even lower crowds than it does now.

Team suits are one of the positives of this faltering modern era. The 70s hsve long gone, as have the trends of that time. Life moves on and speedway needs to move with it.

Speedway died with the warcry.

[Grachan]

3 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

Speedway died with the warcry.

Can you imagine what the younger generation would think of a bunch of old fogies doing "2, 4, 6, 8 Who do we appreciate.. R O B I N S Robins......"?

My 14 year old son enjoys speedway. I bet that would soon put him off!

[moxey63]

Seriously, though, the discussion is about race suit vs race bibs and that the modern fans like the suits more, as it represents the team ethic much better. But then they don't mind members of their team racing for other teams here, there and everywhere.

[BurntFaceMan]

6 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

Seriously, though, the discussion is about race suit vs race bibs and that the modern fans like the suits more, as it represents the team ethic much better. But then they don't mind members of their team racing for other teams here, there and everywhere.

It's more than just the team ethic, it's everything. It looks cool, it's the image, it's the brand. If there is one thing the powers that be don't get (and trust me, there is a lot that they don't get) it's branding.

I've never known a sport to be so out of touch with the modern era. 

[martinmauger]

Ideally both, but most suits don't match or show the correct number.  Eastbourne changed their club colours to suit their sponsor, fair enough if helps keep their club in business, but the suits don't even have a logo or 'Eagles' on the front....

[moxey63]

On 5/29/2018 at 9:57 AM, PHILIPRISING said:

BUT Sky wanted to make it easier to tell one team from another. It's a team sport. Just imagine if footballers all wore different outfits.

Phil, imagine if footballers jetted across Europe playing for other clubs, and then also turned out in the lower leagues in this country. Wouldn't happen - so why should speedway allow it? It's because it's gone too far now, so the comparison between speedway and football is silly. One is a professional sport, the other lives up to the circus image many in the press regard it as.

[PHILIPRISING]

KNOW what you are saying but footballers can earn a top wage at one club. What about cricketers who play for all sorts of teams around the world.

[moxey63]

33 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

KNOW what you are saying but footballers can earn a top wage at one club. What about cricketers who play for all sorts of teams around the world.

Didn't know that about cricketers - do they play for different teams in the same week, as riders do. If it's off-season over here and they play elsewhere, it isn't as bad.

I know footballers earn a decent living and don't need any more work (apart from endorsements), but if speedway wants credibility it has to stop riders spreading themselves too thinly. It wasn't so bad in the olden days, with tracks having two or three individual meetings to supplement riders' earning power, the rider was riding for themselves wasn't really a problem. But open meetings became unpopular and riders after that began racing in foreign leagues and multi-teaming in this country. 

The only thing that'll stop this is for it to be cut out. But that'll never happen now. So the sport will consider drifting, in my opinion.

Edited May 31, 2018 by moxey63

[stevehone]

i've said it before but race suits HAVE to be the best option right now for identifying riders/teams.

so many riders are now (rightfully) wearing a neck brace which seems to cover the logo/sponsor/team name, i think there needs to be a re-think over designs again so sponsors don't get fed up when their name is covered up

[The White Knight]

6 hours ago, Najjer said:

I can't wait to see Kane in a green shirt at the World Cup, Dele Ali in a yellow one and Lingard in a blue one... with an England bib over the top. We'd be a laughing stock.

All I see here after reading this thread is people who watched speedway in the 70s and 80s "it was better in our day". Marketing is massive nowadays and it makes sense that it is better to market something that looks more professional than a multicoloured jigsaw puzzle.

I started supporting Speedway back in 1964. 54 years ago.

I am 100% with moxy63 on this one. If I thought that race suits had brought anything positive to the Sport I would agree with najjer. To my mind it hasn't, what it has done is remove a sense of colour from the Sport. There is no 'Little Boy Blue', 'The White Ghost', The' Red Devil' these days - they all look the bloody same.

Change to suits has done nothing but remove a sense of identification with Riders. It has sanitised the Sport in a way that has removed any sense of individuality.

You ask why there are no characters in Speedway like there was in the past - I am not saying that Race Suits caused lack of characters, but they are a contributory factor. The Riders are no longer allowed to show any  individuality. Individuality was how the Characters emerged.

By the way - Speedway WAS better in our day and that is without rose tinted spectacles.

[Sidney the robin]

In my day bloody hell i am old i loved to see riders show there own personalities the leathers often showed that.The biggest five  for me over the years were  Ivan,  Booey boy  Blue,   Red devil Broady,  Alan Cowland  and as always John Davis now John Davis would be great in this era a real showman great with the younger fan and was always professionally turned out.People think the 70s/80s were backward times but the monkey mask went  black leathers went and new helmets come in which at the time was massive.I think this myth about the sport being miles behind the times is nonsense the main thing is get the PRODUCT right (i.e. the entertainment factor and the racing.

[Aces51]

I've followed the sport since the mid 50's and I prefer team suits. They present a more professional image and a team identity. It's not by any means the most important issue facing speedway now but if you were starting afresh and intending to present a modern image team suits would be a part of it.

 

[Gambo]

Whilst not intending this as a slight on Coventry Storm, oops, I mean Bees, or any other NL team, Eastbourne and Birmingham really looked the part in their team race suits. Eastbourne even had matching green boots!

[OldRacer]

14 hours ago, moxey63 said:

Didn't know that about cricketers - do they play for different teams in the same week, as riders do. If it's off-season over here and they play elsewhere, it isn't as bad.

Actually, yes some do. From memory, James Tredwell was playing one day cricket for Kent and was allowed to play championship cricket for Sussex at the same time.

The ECB are about to launch a new competition that will take place during the county season and will include the top 25% of county pros playing for another arbitrary team in addition to their counties.

Edited June 1, 2018 by OldRacer

[steve roberts]

16 hours ago, Grachan said:

Can you imagine what the younger generation would think of a bunch of old fogies doing "2, 4, 6, 8 Who do we appreciate.. R O B I N S Robins......"?

My 14 year old son enjoys speedway. I bet that would soon put him off!

...funny, though, that fans have no problem singing inane chants at football matches.