The continuing decline of Speedway

[waytogo28]

9 hours ago, topaz325 said:

Speedway now not weekly but monthly.

Occasionally or from time to time, when the weather allows and the local promoter feels like it.

 

20 hours ago, secsy1 said:

Sometimes change is good but you must take notice of what the public WANT

And that is something the BSPA have consistently resisted over the last 20 years. "A let's try this, it might work " attitude prevails without thinking it through or listening to, or even asking for fan's feedback .

[topaz325]

Highlighted by Workingtons problem in the SS this week, nothing new really Speedway at Workington has been in decline for quite a few years now.

[screm]

17 hours ago, topaz325 said:

Highlighted by Workingtons problem in the SS this week, nothing new really Speedway at Workington has been in decline for quite a few years now.

It seems that every season we see clubs struggling to make ends meet financially, I dont want to be the profit of doom but it can only be a matter of time until we start losing clubs and along with it supporters to the sport.

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

1 hour ago, screm said:

It seems that every season we see clubs struggling to make ends meet financially, I dont want to be the profit of doom but it can only be a matter of time until we start losing clubs and along with it supporters to the sport.

Freudian slip there?

If only there was a profit to make a prophecy about!

[waytogo28]

7 hours ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

Freudian slip there?

If only there was a profit to make a prophecy about!

Without the support of those Kind, Generous Well Endowed sponsors, ends would never have been met. No profits have been there for a long time.

[moxey63]

Just going through the 1980 magazines and came across a letter. The writer experienced at the turnstile one night another supporter enquiring, before he paid, about who wasn't riding in the line-up. When the turnstile operative gave the reply of four names, he walked off and said he'd save his money. The letter writer felt it was another fan lost to the sport. How many have followed this path? How many lost through rain-offs when promised the meeting would be on?

The writer, even then, said a fan wants to know who is riding and not line-ups filled by everyone and everyone.

And so we have the problem of speedway's decline almost 40 years on - with present day mish-mash more off-putting than even in 1980, perhaps, when the sport was thriving. 

Individual meetings were becoming less popular back then - but now we have a raft of such meetings dressed up as league, as many fans can't identify with who's in their colours, they'll be in someone else's at the drop of a finish flag. Most riders are now riding as individuals - team mates one night, racing against those team mates the next, a series of testimonials.

 

Edited June 16, 2018 by moxey63

[Tsunami]

On 6/9/2018 at 8:25 PM, waytogo28 said:

Without the support of those Kind, Generous Well Endowed sponsors, ends would never have been met. No profits have been there for a long time.

.........and promoters.

[topaz325]

All sponsors are vital to promotions and more even more to riders wether it’s a few quid or many thousands.

[cinderfella]

Well just to keep this post going I've just noticed that every Glasgow rider is now doubling up or, in the case of Jack Thomas, down.
I don't care what anyone, rider, fitness expert or psychologist says but no one can give 100% to two or more jobs especially with the amount of travel involved in speedway.
Fans are yet again being short changed while the sport is being diluted by stupid rules.

[waytogo28]

Running matches against England football matches on free TV seems a no brainer but at King's Lynn and Wolverhampton they appeared to have paid the price. I was there at KL and there well less than 1,000 in the place I feel sure. Were no other dates really available? 

[moxey63]

18 hours ago, cinderfella said:

Well just to keep this post going I've just noticed that every Glasgow rider is now doubling up or, in the case of Jack Thomas, down.
I don't care what anyone, rider, fitness expert or psychologist says but no one can give 100% to two or more jobs especially with the amount of travel involved in speedway.
Fans are yet again being short changed while the sport is being diluted by stupid rules.

 

 I have been saying this for yonks. That's why I'm out!

[Fromafar]

19 hours ago, cinderfella said:

Well just to keep this post going I've just noticed that every Glasgow rider is now doubling up or, in the case of Jack Thomas, down.
I don't care what anyone, rider, fitness expert or psychologist says but no one can give 100% to two or more jobs especially with the amount of travel involved in speedway.
Fans are yet again being short changed while the sport is being diluted by stupid rules.

Add riding abroad to some of them and you will see how their performances can vary from week to week.

[foamfence]

On 6/16/2018 at 2:49 PM, moxey63 said:

Just going through the 1980 magazines and came across a letter. The writer experienced at the turnstile one night another supporter enquiring, before he paid, about who wasn't riding in the line-up. When the turnstile operative gave the reply of four names, he walked off and said he'd save his money. The letter writer felt it was another fan lost to the sport. How many have followed this path? How many lost through rain-offs when promised the meeting would be on?

The writer, even then, said a fan wants to know who is riding and not line-ups filled by everyone and everyone.

And so we have the problem of speedway's decline almost 40 years on - with present day mish-mash more off-putting than even in 1980, perhaps, when the sport was thriving. 

Individual meetings were becoming less popular back then - but now we have a raft of such meetings dressed up as league, as many fans can't identify with who's in their colours, they'll be in someone else's at the drop of a finish flag. Most riders are now riding as individuals - team mates one night, racing against those team mates the next, a series of testimonials.

 

Absolutely right! Speedway in this country is too dominated by foreign riders and lame duck clubs that drag all the others down. I started watching in the fifties when foreign riders (with the exception of Aussies) were quite rare. For me the biggest decline started at places like Cradley, when they filled their sides with big name overseas riders and their fans would support them over British riders in international events. Everyone is allowed their opinion but I'm just not interested in watching club sides without any British riders, you even get it in the second tier some seasons and therein lies another problem, the second tier has been allowed too much independence, it should be a stepping stone for British riders, instead of the top tier having the recent draft system. Talking of tiers, to make something grow better you need to prune it, one league with the clubs that aren't even paying their riders on time or ever (in some cases), being chucked out. You might howl in protest but I lost Halifax, Bradford (several times), Doncaster and Castleford, with the exception of Halifax, they just weren't well enough supported. I could suggest some of the poorer clubs going NL but even that has long since abandoned the pay structure that it was meant to have.

[moxey63]

Still going through old mags, and back in 1978 Belle Vue were celebrating its 1502 member to the Supporters’ Club. I know it is 40 years since, but perhaps the lure of following a team – you needed to join the club to travel on club coaches – was one of the reasons. Belle Vue, admit ably, had an attractive side, but they had a decent line-up for much of the seventies.

 

My belief - back then; it was the lure of following a side you could identify with. They were your boys, which you felt all sort of emotions when they won and lost. Racing was no better, but you had the belief that it was your side. You were energised to follow it on its travels, even the odd individual meeting that one of your riders was in at some far off corner of the country.

 

But that has gone. And so-called promoters scratch their scratched-scarred heads wondering why.

 

Speedway has suffered a continuous decline since 1978, but modern day speedway puts two fingers up at the fans that want that team ethic back we had even 20 years ago. When you see men on television riding in a Swedish match and scoring well after having had a bit of a stinker for your club just 24 hours earlier, it makes you think – why should I support a team of riders who don’t really mind what they net for you or your team, because they have a preferred match in Sweden or Poland later that same week? 

[Fromafar]

2 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

Still going through old mags, and back in 1978 Belle Vue were celebrating its 1502 member to the Supporters’ Club. I know it is 40 years since, but perhaps the lure of following a team – you needed to join the club to travel on club coaches – was one of the reasons. Belle Vue, admit ably, had an attractive side, but they had a decent line-up for much of the seventies.

 

My belief - back then; it was the lure of following a side you could identify with. They were your boys, which you felt all sort of emotions when they won and lost. Racing was no better, but you had the belief that it was your side. You were energised to follow it on its travels, even the odd individual meeting that one of your riders was in at some far off corner of the country.

 

But that has gone. And so-called promoters scratch their scratched-scarred heads wondering why.

 

Speedway has suffered a continuous decline since 1978, but modern day speedway puts two fingers up at the fans that want that team ethic back we had even 20 years ago. When you see men on television riding in a Swedish match and scoring well after having had a bit of a stinker for your club just 24 hours earlier, it makes you think – why should I support a team of riders who don’t really mind what they net for you or your team, because they have a preferred match in Sweden or Poland later that same week? 

Unfortunately that's what it is all about nowadays with riders,how many meetings can I ride a week ,doesn't matter who for.

[moxey63]

I'm not kidding myself that speedway forty years ago was perfect either - for in one 1980 fixture  Bobby Schwartz of Reading and Hackney's Finn Thomsen pulled on Aces' jacket as guests in one match - despite both of their teams challenging the Manchester club for the league title! And it happened late enough in the season - mid-September - to have had an influence on the title race. 

Edited June 19, 2018 by moxey63

[racers and royals]

11 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

I'm not kidding myself that speedway forty years ago was perfect either - for in one 1980 fixture  Bobby Schwartz of Reading and Hackney's Finn Thomsen pulled on Aces' jacket as guests in one match - despite both of their teams challenging the Manchester club for the league title! And it happened late enough in the season - mid-September - to have had an influence on the title race. 

Wish you hadn`t posted that as it`s reminded me that in the same season we(the Racers) had the Kai Niemi guest farce. I thought i had just got over it  but i`m not so sure now.

[sharpandroid]

Have you ever worked somewhere where the people talk continuously about it closing, eventually after several years, even tens of years the place closes.

It's called a self fulfilling prophecy.

This thread is a bit like that.

Why don't those people find something else to do.....

[moxey63]

9 minutes ago, sharpandroid said:

Why don't those people find something else to do.....

 

Like how far our heads can get in the sand before we stop breathing?

[Aces51]

As someone who also started following the sport in the 50's I must say that it doesn't bother me if Belle Vue riders race for other teams so long as they are available when we race. When we had riders like Soren Sjosten and Gote Nordin I didn't regard them as any less members of the team just because they also raced for their Swedish teams. In recent times Belle Vue have had a lot of continuity of riders from year to year and I identify with the likes of Cook, Fricke Worrall and Bewley as our riders, just as much as I did with Collins, Morton, Sharpies, Johnston etc.

The real problems are many and varied but some examples are; the silly rules that have to be amended within weeks, the inconsistent application of the rules, the ever increasing costs of machinery, too many riders thinking they are entitled to race as a full time job, losing the opportunity for PL clubs to race at the weekends, many promoters ignoring, rather than embracing, the fans and making them feel they are the integral part of the sport that they are, poor presentation, the failure by the BSPA to get the message out there that Speedway is alive and an exciting sport to follow, etc., etc., etc.