The continuing decline of Speedway

[iris123]

11 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

Interesting observation and suggests that nothing can be taken for granted...even football with all the media hype that exists!

I have already pointed out a couple of times that the Premier League held a meeting last season on the problem and the competition from esports!!!!No wonder things go round in circles here lol

Edited July 31, 2018 by iris123

[steve roberts]

36 minutes ago, iris123 said:

I have already pointed out a couple of times that the Premier League held a meeting last season on the problem and the competition from esports!!!!No wonder things go round in circles here lol

...constantly and without fail although I am sometimes selective in what I read personally!

Edited July 31, 2018 by steve roberts

[iris123]

1 minute ago, steve roberts said:

...constantly and without fail although I am sometimes selective in what I read personally!

Therein lies one of the big problems here and why we go round in circles.......no names mentioned

[steve roberts]

2 minutes ago, iris123 said:

Therein lies one of the big problems here and why we go round in circles.......no names mentioned

...oh go on! Name some names...be a devil!

[iris123]

4 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

...oh go on! Name some names...be a devil!

Think your right to stay schtumm are respected........constantly.I expect you to respect my right,just this once 

[steve roberts]

13 minutes ago, iris123 said:

Think your right to stay schtumm are respected........constantly.I expect you to respect my right,just this once 

Ah yes! Respect...something that occasionally goes amiss on this forum whatever the subject and/or discussion and/or opinion and continual discrediting of some posters.

To my knowledge I've never shown disrespect to any comment that you may have made...disagreed perhaps...but never disrespected.

...now we're both guilty of going round in circles!

Edited July 31, 2018 by steve roberts

[Spl77]

Last night I watched the TV meeting from Lynn followed by Zielona Gora v Leszno no contest in which was better. Polish league any day not just because of the bi names but for the simple reasons that you could feel the atmosphere coming over though the TV fans chanting making noise. I think that there was more noise coming from the field over the road than in the stadium at Lynn. The whole polish set up just looks so professional from the way the whole thing is presented. 

As a side note the it was also interesting to hear how many heat wins the riders have had individually during the season. 

[GWC]

1 hour ago, Spl77 said:

Last night I watched the TV meeting from Lynn followed by Zielona Gora v Leszno no contest in which was better. Polish league any day not just because of the bi names but for the simple reasons that you could feel the atmosphere coming over though the TV fans chanting making noise. I think that there was more noise coming from the field over the road than in the stadium at Lynn. The whole polish set up just looks so professional from the way the whole thing is presented. 

As a side note the it was also interesting to hear how many heat wins the riders have had individually during the season. 

And was the racing better, big names don’t necessarily mean it’s better racing.

[moxey63]

1 hour ago, GWC said:

And was the racing better, big names don’t necessarily mean it’s better racing.

Exactly. 

[Spl77]

2 hours ago, GWC said:

And was the racing better, big names don’t necessarily mean it’s better racing.

As I said it wasn't down to big names being present but the overall presentation. But yes the racing waa better. 

[Ovalman]

If only all meetings were like the one at Zummerrzet last night. Very good racing and passing, and big crowd on a decent summer's evening.

It was finished at 9.00 with an interval.

Edited August 2, 2018 by auntie doris

[Skid Sprocket]

I have often thought that what attracts kids to football is the fact that they can play themselves whether it is organised at school or out of school in the local park playing in their hero's shirt.

Speedway cant do that, except for the very few, what speedway could do is open the tracks up on a weekend or even summer nights and let the kids race on their pedal bikes. maybe a couple of laps per heat.

Organised into age, ability and bikes you could even have "trainee" start marshals and refs for those interested in that side.  I'm sure once the kids got into the stadium and onto the track they would start to think about coming to see the big lads ride especially if there was a rider on site to give a demo and advice.

[ch958]

14 minutes ago, Skid Sprocket said:

I have often thought that what attracts kids to football is the fact that they can play themselves whether it is organised at school or out of school in the local park playing in their hero's shirt.

Speedway cant do that, except for the very few, what speedway could do is open the tracks up on a weekend or even summer nights and let the kids race on their pedal bikes. maybe a couple of laps per heat.

Organised into age, ability and bikes you could even have "trainee" start marshals and refs for those interested in that side.  I'm sure once the kids got into the stadium and onto the track they would start to think about coming to see the big lads ride especially if there was a rider on site to give a demo and advice.

well i used to tear around a working mens club carpark which was grit - the back straight was downhill - i'm sure i was doing 70 mph at times haha

for any Smoggies reading it was Cargo Fleet Club

[mikebv]

1 hour ago, Skid Sprocket said:

I have often thought that what attracts kids to football is the fact that they can play themselves whether it is organised at school or out of school in the local park playing in their hero's shirt.

Speedway cant do that, except for the very few, what speedway could do is open the tracks up on a weekend or even summer nights and let the kids race on their pedal bikes. maybe a couple of laps per heat.

Organised into age, ability and bikes you could even have "trainee" start marshals and refs for those interested in that side.  I'm sure once the kids got into the stadium and onto the track they would start to think about coming to see the big lads ride especially if there was a rider on site to give a demo and advice.

My lad plays Sunday League Football...

His Club has teams from U8 to U18...

There must be around 200 lads/girls in the whole of the Club..

They play in a League that has 40 teams per age group over Four Divisions.. 

Thats approx 400 different teams in total...

That's approx 8000 lads and girls..

Many of the games are played on adjacent pitches so three times on a Saturday and on a Sunday all pitches are full of kids playing football, coaches coaching football and lots and lots of parents, guardians, friends, relatives etc etc of the kids watching football..

Why dont Speedway clubs sponsor their local League and set up 'roadshows' at the various game venues each weekend..?

They could either do giveaways or flog £5.00 tickets for adults with kids free.. (These people invariably are not attending Speedway now so hardly any threat of loss of revenue I would suggest)..

Plus you would get 'teams' turning up together which can only encourage further visits as individuals won't be 'the only kid there' which looks to be often the case currently..

(As BV have a football pitch in the middle of the track maybe they could even put some short games on during the interval or maybe a longer game before the Speedway starts)?

It costs approx £3000 to pay for the end of season prize giving day trophies...

My team (BV) must have circa 20 different football Leagues in and around the Gtr Manchester conurbation, in towns such as Stockport, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Inner City Mcr, Bolton, Wigan, Tameside...

A huge amount of U18's to be made aware of the Sport and targeted...

Add to Football, you have Rugby, Cricket, Hockey, Lacrosse and even Cycle Speedway Leagues, (many U18 riders of which don't attend Speedway)! (?)...

There are lots of opportunities to get Speedway noticed in its local community with many not costing the earth to do so..

Edited August 4, 2018 by mikebv

[Spl77]

1 hour ago, Skid Sprocket said:

I have often thought that what attracts kids to football is the fact that they can play themselves whether it is organised at school or out of school in the local park playing in their hero's shirt.

Speedway cant do that, except for the very few, what speedway could do is open the tracks up on a weekend or even summer nights and let the kids race on their pedal bikes. maybe a couple of laps per heat.

Organised into age, ability and bikes you could even have "trainee" start marshals and refs for those interested in that side.  I'm sure once the kids got into the stadium and onto the track they would start to think about coming to see the big lads ride especially if there was a rider on site to give a demo and advice.

That's a fantastic idea. I've never worked out why the promotion here in Ipswich don't do more with the cycle speedway club. When I was a kid I wanted to be a speedway rider but never had the opportunity however I found out about cycle speedway and I did that. They could have a rider at the club in Whitton every week and then open up the Foxhall track once a month to the any kids who want to come along and use pedal power. Hats of to ipswich thou on the tie up with the football club that is great promoting. 

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

2 hours ago, Spl77 said:

That's a fantastic idea. I've never worked out why the promotion here in Ipswich don't do more with the cycle speedway club. When I was a kid I wanted to be a speedway rider but never had the opportunity however I found out about cycle speedway and I did that. They could have a rider at the club in Whitton every week and then open up the Foxhall track once a month to the any kids who want to come along and use pedal power. Hats of to ipswich thou on the tie up with the football club that is great promoting. 

Drew Kemp is a product  of cycle speedway too......

[2ndbendbeerhut]

Tbh cycle speedway has more action than most speedway these days.... and free to watch.

[Skid Sprocket]

1 minute ago, 2ndbendbeerhut said:

Tbh cycle speedway has more action than most speedway these days.... and free to watch.

In my original post suggesting using the track it was not to bring cycle speedway in as an alternative (maybe something in that) but more as a fun run around the track much as kids kick a football in the park.

[moxey63]

I think we're going a bit far here by wanting other forms of entertainment. It's speedway ffs and there should be no reason to attract people for any other reason than watching a properly run sport. Speedway is thrilling, but the thrill goes for the newcomers the longer they have to stand around waiting for the next race. waste of time trying to introduce newcomers if you're going to instantly lose them. No gimmicks like double points, no teams being near the bottom after a few months and then signing a few better riders and coming good just at the right end of the season (I didn't even mention Poole). It's like Popeye eating some spinach and growing big muscles. The qualifying matches for the Play-Offs allows this. As long as the team gets there, even if they just scrape it with a much better side than began the season, then they are quids in. Belle Vue lost some fans that they managed to win back a few years ago when Wolves brought in Woffinden to eventually come good in the PO Final after BV had made all the running. Ridiculous. Get the rules right, make it simple, fewer gaps between heats and fewer restarts because of a rider getting a quicker start. There is nothing worse on a cold night than gaps between heats. Nothing worse on a cold night than gaps and having to watch someone trying to entertain you with another form of a show while there's a speedway match going on. Again, the latest BT Sport matches have overrun. Why? 120 minutes to do 15 heats and we still run out of time. It's wrong to make the public think they're getting value for money the longer they're out of the house, but most of the time is spent wishing they'd hurry up with the next race.

Edited August 4, 2018 by moxey63

[Skid Sprocket]

24 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

I think we're going a bit far here by wanting other forms of entertainment. It's speedway ffs and there should be no reason to attract people for any other reason than watching a properly run sport. Speedway is thrilling, but the thrill goes for the newcomers the longer they have to stand around waiting for the next race. waste of time trying to introduce newcomers if you're going to instantly lose them. No gimmicks like double points, no teams being near the bottom after a few months and then signing a few better riders and coming good just at the right end of the season (I didn't even mention Poole). It's like Popeye eating some spinach and growing big muscles. The qualifying matches for the Play-Offs allows this. As long as the team gets there, even if they just scrape it with a much better side than began the season, then they are quids in. Belle Vue lost some fans that they managed to win back a few years ago when Wolves brought in Woffinden to eventually come good in the PO Final after BV had made all the running. Ridiculous. Get the rules right, make it simple, fewer gaps between heats and fewer restarts because of a rider getting a quicker start. There is nothing worse on a cold night than gaps between heats. Nothing worse on a cold night than gaps and having to watch someone trying to entertain you with another form of a show while there's a speedway match going on. Again, the latest BT Sport matches have overrun. Why? 120 minutes to do 15 heats and we still run out of time. It's wrong to make the public think they're getting value for money the longer they're out of the house, but most of the time is spent wishing they'd hurry up with the next race.

You are right in all you say rules etc need changing including the BSPA but when I suggested a supporters group to try and influence the BSPA with clearly defined priority changes as a group (ok so it might not have worked)  only one other forum member took the idea seriously.

If a supporters "influence" group is a non starter then all we can do is try and encourage supporters through the turnstiles. The vast majority of the public dont even know they have a local speedway track.  My idea is not to have other forms of entertainment but to get more kids aware of their local track.