Team Suits and/or Race Jackets

[chunky]

1 hour ago, Chadster said:

I accept that race suits are good for uniformity and professionalism, but that Sheffield suit is ridiculously fussy, odd bits of blue, black and white with a tiny splash of yellow. I'd make the same obsevation about the Ipswich and Belle Vue suits from what I've seen. One of the things that's being lost in this fussiness is team identity and particularly  through the use of team colours. Anyone looking at those Sheffield suits would have a hard job guessing that the club colours, which you'd prsumably want to use on publicity etc, are blue and yellow.

That is exactly the way I feel! There is nothing wrong with having team suits, but they just seem so damn busy now. It isn't just the names of the sponsors either...

We had team leathers years ago, and teams like Leicester, Wolves, and particularly Rye, looked great. The thing was that the designs were simple, and striking. There is no reason we can't do that now... Again, there is nothing wrong with having a team suit AND a race jacket.

Steve

[*JJ]

At least with the present Birmingham race suit, you can easily see them!

 

[Harry The Goat]

A photo showing all 7 riders wearing similar suits may look good, purely as a team photo, but it's worth bearing in mind that speedway *isn't* football or rugby etc. By which I mean the whole team is never out on the field, as it were, 'in play', at the same time. Just two riders from each team, in each race. For which there are helmet colours and starting positions.

The modern trend of covering racing suits in adverts/sponsorship baffles me. Does this advertising really work? Does anybody read these markings? They're a distraction.

[Fenboy]

In my humble opinion nothing beat the old Mildenhall Fen Tiger team leathers back in the day - simple but brilliant.

[JanAndersen]

Much prefer racejackets to the race suits. 

[Sotonian]

1 hour ago, JanAnderson said:

Much prefer racejackets to the race suits. 

So do I, especially bold uncluttered ones. Those Sheffield kevlars above make the team look like car mechanics.

[ray c]

Poole's colours have always been blue how does Matt ford allow woryna to wear red . What a joke ?

Edited May 8, 2018 by ray c

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

If matt doesnt like it then he needs to pay for suits

Id say that by going with jackets he doesnt care what the rider chooses underneath

[Tigerblade]

On 5/3/2018 at 8:21 AM, Midland Red said:

I just wonder whether, to any newcomers to the sport, those in the top photo - when they've donned their helmets and goggles - all look too much the same

Never mind newcomers... A few 40 plus years of fandoms got mixed up the other week.... Charles Wright's #5 on his race jacket was somewhat squashed and looked like a 6 from distance, and in one race where he was in red, blue was changed from #7 (James Shanes) to #6 (Jack Smith) at the last minute, and was announced as Jack Smith being in red!!! As well as the people next to me, it also confused the announcer and even with people trying to shout across, it wasn't registering at first! 

[Ghosty]

On 5/4/2018 at 12:32 PM, Fenboy said:

In my humble opinion nothing beat the old Mildenhall Fen Tiger team leathers back in the day - simple but brilliant.

1. These were not covered in sponsors. 2. Distinctive Yellow & Black.  3. Riders still wore Race Jackets over the team suits may-be the best of both worlds?

[The White Knight]

I am firmly on the Race Jacket side of the argument. It is far, far easier to pick out your own Team's logo on a Race Jacket, whereas the Team Suits are very anonymous and frequently you cannot make out the Logo because of Sponsors names and their logos.

I have always felt that way.

That is half the problem with Speedway. The Authorities are always fannying about with changing things that aren't important and ignoring things that are.

[Bald Bloke]

On ‎08‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 9:20 AM, ray c said:

Poole's colours have always been blue how does Matt ford allow woryna to wear red . What a joke ?

I think race suits look better, more professional, but the Poole team in that pick don't look bad.. Apart from the racing red of Woryna. Looks gash.

[The White Knight]

1 hour ago, Bald Bloke said:

I think race suits look better, more professional, but the Poole team in that pick don't look bad.. Apart from the racing red of Woryna. Looks gash.

The different leathers added a certain colour to proceedings.

Heaven forbid we try to brighten things up a bit.

[Bald Bloke]

1 minute ago, The White Knight said:

The different leathers added a certain colour to proceedings.

Heaven forbid we try to brighten things up a bit.

But that red...Looks crap.All the rest ok

[Shale Searcher]

On 03/05/2018 at 8:11 PM, chunky said:

That is exactly the way I feel! There is nothing wrong with having team suits, but they just seem so damn busy now. It isn't just the names of the sponsors either...

We had team leathers years ago, and teams like Leicester, Wolves, and particularly Rye, looked great. The thing was that the designs were simple, and striking. There is no reason we can't do that now... Again, there is nothing wrong with having a team suit AND a race jacket.

Steve

The Lions suits of the very late 1960's, 70's and even 80's were still designed to be worn in conjunction with club race jackets, that combo looked good...... 

[PHILIPRISING]

On 4/29/2018 at 1:44 PM, steve roberts said:

...personally I always preferred race jackets and the choice of individual leathers. It made it easier identifying one rider from another.

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.

[Sotonian]

4 hours ago, 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.

Race jackets still allow for that.

[chunky]

6 hours ago, 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.

Let's go back to black leathers, then! Fine wi' me... 

Thinking about it though, this is another thing that makes speedway unique; by simply using race jackets, it must be the only major team sport where individual members can be dressed differently.

Steve

[Najjer]

On 5/29/2018 at 2:26 PM, Sotonian said:

Race jackets still allow for that.

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.

[moxey63]

56 minutes 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.

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.

Edited May 31, 2018 by moxey63