The continuing decline of Speedway

[ouch]

2 hours ago, moxey63 said:

Good memories. I too feel PC could have been WC many times in succession. The times you mentioned are well documented, but in 1979, a week before the WF in Poland, he smashed Eric Boocock's five-year-old track record twice at Halifax in the Golden Helmet, and immediately put that bike away for the Final. However, warming it up before the big meeting in Poland, it blew up. I was at Halifax, and he really did fly in the GH against Ian Cartwright. I remember the 1977 grid incident at Belle Vue too, was there and watched him hobble on the centre green after clashing with it, six days before Gothenberg.

Also in ‘79 PC was programmed to ride after every track grade where is was heavily watered, leading to slow starting PC getting filled in. 

[moxey63]

12 minutes ago, ouch said:

Also in ‘79 PC was programmed to ride after every track grade where is was heavily watered, leading to slow starting PC getting filled in. 

Good call! I also seem to remember he was dogged by engine failure in that Final. It is really tragic to remember that by this time PC was perhaps close to appearing unlikely to win another title. I wonder whether his drive and ambition were diminishing and of course, the 1980 Cradley crash all but put paid to him ever really being a serious contender again. He was still good but probably wasn't as hungry. He'd done it all at the age of 26 and then came that injury which forced him out of the 1981 campaign.    

[New Science]

2 hours ago, Come on the Skipper said:

No they didn't. Hackney stopped riding at The Wick in 1990 and the refurbished stadium hosted the London Lions for a season. 

Speedway history[edit]

Hackney Wick Wolves speedway team raced there before World War II . The Hackney Hawks speedway team rode at the venue from 1963 to 1983. Hackney Kestrels speedway team rode here from 1984 until 1990. In 1996, a speedway team under the name of London Lions rode but it was found to be financially unviable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackney_Wick_Stadium

Ok the London Lions who rode at Hackney. The point is still valid, people are misguided if they think there is a huge speedway fan base in London.

[New Science]

33 minutes ago, mickthemuppet said:

No matter what people say about the decline of spectators at Speedway meetings this can be said about all sports in this country except possibly tennis. The decline is not only with Speedway

But speedways decline is probably one of the most dramatic, probably on a par with greyhound racing . Most other sports are flourishing, Football, cricket, rugby union, league, horse racing, boxing darts and even snooker are on the up

[marko]

The London Lions thing was disaster, the view of the track was terrible, the stand on the back straight was meant to be ready for the start of the season, it never did open.

Meetings were plagued with problems, I can't remember all of them but the one that does come to mind was a meeting postponed after X amount of heats because of a power cut, the lighting or amount of light was fine but health and safety stated the main stand could not be used by the public in such circumstances, it was constantly stupid things like that.

[Hawk127]

The sport is on its knees, fans are deserting the sinking ship, other tracks are on the verge of going out of business, one promoter is intimating that as a professional sport it has had its day for now, when will the BSPA wake and do something?

What will it take for those in charge to do something positive to try and save the sport?  

What about an extra ordinary meeting of the BSPA and a public statement as to what they plan to do?

When will the powers that be stop taking the p... out of the supporter?

Luckily at the moment the clubs have some hard core support who do not what to see their team disappear. All the rumours about new tracks should be quashed and a statement from the BSPA should make it clear that no new clubs will be entertained but these tracks can apply for open licences.

The sport is in possibly the worse state that it has been in a generation.

Do all UK supporters need to act as one and all get together to challenge the authorities?

Having watched the sport since the late 60’s and seen the ups and downs it is sad that it has reached this state. Time for clubs, supporters and all interested parties to work together or soon rather than later racing as we know it in this country will pass into history. Act now or repent at leisure.

[Spl77]

4 hours ago, New Science said:

Didn't Hackney have a purpose built stadium in the 90's. That team went belly up, how many do Lakeside get now on a favoured Friday night ?. This idea that there is a huge market of speedway fans in London is a fallacy 

Hackney started the 91campaign at the wick but they were known as the Hawkes.

[steve roberts]

1 hour ago, New Science said:

Ok the London Lions who rode at Hackney. The point is still valid, people are misguided if they think there is a huge speedway fan base in London.

...or anywhere come to that!

[mikebv]

3 hours ago, moxey63 said:

Good call! I also seem to remember he was dogged by engine failure in that Final. It is really tragic to remember that by this time PC was perhaps close to appearing unlikely to win another title. I wonder whether his drive and ambition were diminishing and of course, the 1980 Cradley crash all but put paid to him ever really being a serious contender again. He was still good but probably wasn't as hungry. He'd done it all at the age of 26 and then came that injury which forced him out of the 1981 campaign.    

PC is still the finest exponent of 'pure' Speedway racing on a bike I have ever had the privilege to see Moxey..

(Which is saying something given the truly exceptional talents that I have been lucky to see over 48 years watching the Sport)..

I've said before on this forum that when 'domestic speedway' was going well so much of it was based on the likes of PC, John Louis, Mike Lee, Dave Jessup, Malc Simmons, Martin Ashby, Gordon Kennett, etc etc etc, being beamed into literally millions of homes regularly on a Saturday afternoon often delivering success to a sporting success starved nation..

There were only three channels and Speedway had fantastic coverage on one of them...

PC truly was the figurehead as he had the 'X factor' but more importantly, England was hugely successful and the domestic Leagues benefited on the back of it..

Belle Vue rode in front of thousands not just because they were Belle Vue but because they had the likes of PC and Mort who many recognised from World Of Sport ripping up tracks around the World riding for England..

Then along came the promotion by the British Speedway Promoters of the Danes, the Yanks and the Swedes..

When Cricket in this Country, and Rugby in this Country, realised that a National Team delivering success would enormously benefit their domestic Leagues, they implemented central contracts to ensure that the best players were well trained and physically looked after..

They realised that a successful National Team would bring crowds in domestically far in excess of what would be delivered by 'Essex' or 'Saracens' doing well domestically in their respective sports..

British Speedway on the other hand thought promoting  the Danes, Yanks and Swedes was a great idea..

That for me was where it started to all go wrong..

And the Sport hasn't recovered since..

 

Edited July 7, 2018 by mikebv

[moxey63]

21 minutes ago, mikebv said:

PC is still the finest exponent of Speedway racing on a bike I have ever had the privilege to see Moxey..

(Which is saying something given the truly exceptional talents that I have been lucky to see over 48 years watching the Sport)..

I've said before on this forum that when 'domestic speedway' was going well so much of it was based on the likes of PC, John Louis, Mike Lee, Dave Jessup, Malc Simmons, Martin Ashby, Gordon Kennett, etc etc etc, being beamed into literally millions of homes regularly on a Saturday afternoon often delivering success to a sporting success starved nation..

There were only three channels and Speedway had fantastic coverage on one of them...

PC truly was the figurehead as he had the 'X factor' but more importantly, England was hugely successful and the domestic Leagues benefited on the back of it..

Belle Vue rode in front of thousands not because they were Belle Vue but because they had the likes of PC and Mort who many recognised from World Of Sport ripping up tracks around the World riding for England..

Then along came the promotion by the British Speedway Promoters of the Danes, the Yanks and the Swedes..

When Cricket in this Country, and Rugby in this Country, realised that a National Team delivering success would enormously benefit their domestic Leagues, they implemented central contracts to ensure that the best players were well trained and physically looked after..

They realised that a successful National Team would bring crowds in domestically far in excess of what would be delivered by 'Essex' or 'Saracens' doing well domestically in their respective sports..

British Speedway thought promoting  the Danes, Yanks and Swedes was a great idea..

That for me was where it started to all go wrong..

And the Sport hasn't recovered since..

 

12

PC made speedway sexy. Even in his latter years, when he struggled a little, he still had that magic style that was exciting. As for World Of Sport, I bet 20-minute slot every three weeks or so gave speedway more pulling power with new fans than all the hours we have every week on satellite. There must be enough old fans out there who don't go anymore that speedway could win back, perhaps, and by winning them back hopefully they'd introduce some of their children or grandchildren. Sad thing is, I bet most people within 10 miles of Belle Vue don't even know the stadium exists. My view is that speedway needs a root and branch review, and it can ill afford to wait until the close season. It should start now.

Edited July 7, 2018 by moxey63

[mikebv]

4 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

PC made speedway sexy. Even in his latter years, when he struggled a little, he still had that magic style that was exciting. As for World Of Sport, I bet 20-minute slot every three weeks or so gave speedway more pulling power with new fans than all the hours we have every week on satellite. There must be enough old fans out there who don't go anymore that speedway could win back, perhaps, and by winning them back hopefully they'd introduce some of their children or grandchildren. Sad thing is, I bet most people within 10 miles of Belle Vue don't even know the stadium exists. My view is that speedway needs a root and branch review, and it can ill afford to wait until the close season. It should start now.

I run a Supermarket 1.6 miles away from the NSS and often mention going to Belle Vue to my team..

My team often then say 'it's a great night at the dogs'...

I do my best to educate and mention it's not 'the dogs' but 'Speedway'...

The comments then range from "Is that still going?" to "Is that still going I used to love going to Speedway"...

The 'World Famous' Belle Vue Aces'?

The 'Manchester United' of Speedway?

The reality is they are not even heard of 1.6 miles away...

That is the size of the task the Sport faces...

[orion]

3 hours ago, mickthemuppet said:

No matter what people say about the decline of spectators at Speedway meetings this can be said about all sports in this country except possibly tennis. The decline is not only with Speedway

I know look at Darts 

[steve roberts]

5 minutes ago, orion said:

I know look at Darts 

...that's, of course, if darts can be regarded as a sport?

[orion]

2 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

...that's, of course, if darts can be regarded as a sport?

its on sky sports ... phil taylor has been placed in sports personally of the year etc ..how do you judge what is a sport ? 

[Ghostwalker]

8 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

...that's, of course, if darts can be regarded as a sport?

I don't know about the English language bit in Swedish we have two words; sport and idrott.
The latter is a more narrow/specific word for sports that are more physical like football, icehockey, tennis, atheltics gymnastics and etc
while sport is more general and also includes stuff like billiards, darts motorsports and other sports that aren't as physical as idrott.

So yes darts is sports.

[moxey63]

29 minutes ago, mikebv said:

I run a Supermarket 1.6 miles away from the NSS and often mention going to Belle Vue to my team..

My team often then say 'it's a great night at the dogs'...

I do my best to educate and mention it's not 'the dogs' but 'Speedway'...

The comments then range from "Is that still going?" to "Is that still going I used to love going to Speedway"...

The 'World Famous' Belle Vue Aces'?

The 'Manchester United' of Speedway?

The reality is they are not even heard of 1.6 miles away...

That is the size of the task the Sport faces...

That is more serious I than I feared. They know what speedway is, just that they don't know it's still there. I know Belle Vue are quite good with publicity on social networks, but is this only reaching speedway fans? 

[waytogo28]

9 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

That is more serious I than I feared. They know what speedway is, just that they don't know it's still there. I know Belle Vue are quite good with publicity on social networks, but is this only reaching speedway fans? 

I think most of the social media marketing is going to existing speedway fans, as far as I can see. For example, unless you boost your post on Facebook how would it reach new people. Unless the fans have to do it  - a new version on "bring a friend"?

[Thornaby48]

14 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

That is more serious I than I feared. They know what speedway is, just that they don't know it's still there. I know Belle Vue are quite good with publicity on social networks, but is this only reaching speedway fans? 

When I was recently at Berwick they had posters in shop Windows and leaflets in the Tourist INfo centre, so they make an effort.

[Spl77]

As a former fan I have kept an eye on this forum over the years and this topic is very interesting but at the same time sad as it appears that the sport I once loved is close to the end. I was driven away 10 years ago but mid season rule changes the farce of guests and tactical rules. I made one trip last season to my local track Ipswich and that was it one trip in 9 seasons! What drove me away was still there guests daft tactical rules and then you got to add in the double up down shake it all around rule. 

As an ex supporter looking in it appears that the main issues facing the sport are that it's to expensive for the fans riders and every one involved. The bikes are to fast the tracks to slick the racing not great. Add in all the daft rules the fact that you no longer have your team because they ride for everyone else the local community cannot form a bond with these guys. You need to cut costs for all provide value for money and have seven guys contacted to your club and your club only. 

I think I read somewhere that Jonathan Chapman suggests a franchise and draft approach didn't the late great John Berry suggest something along those lines in one of his books years ago.? The BSPA need to wake up or this once great sport will be gone by 2020. Work on getting the product and rules right then try and intice the list supporters back and then go out after new ones. While I'm a used to go to speedway man I'm only 42 so not an old stuck in my ways chap. 

[ch958]

would yo or someone explain the details of the franchise/draft plan? Sounds interesting