The continuing decline of Speedway

[Hawk127]

1 hour ago, Spl77 said:

Well the events at Ipswich tonight just goes to show that this sport is too controlled by the riders and is surely gonna die! 

What is going to get through to these so called riders. The fans have had enough and if these riders cannot control a bike in various conditions thrown at them then give up and find another way of earning a living. No respect, for those who are bringing the sport to its knees. Riders, promoters (with few exceptions) deserve each other. Soon you will be racing in front of no one having pissed off the loyal fans who foolishly stuck with it for far too long. To the riders and promoters I say you all owe the fans big time.

[JC!]

2 hours ago, Hawk127 said:

What is going to get through to these so called riders. The fans have had enough and if these riders cannot control a bike in various conditions thrown at them then give up and find another way of earning a living. No respect, for those who are bringing the sport to its knees. Riders, promoters (with few exceptions) deserve each other. Soon you will be racing in front of no one having pissed off the loyal fans who foolishly stuck with it for far too long. To the riders and promoters I say you all owe the fans big time.

But they risk their lives just to entertain you - you should be grateful and worship the ground they walk on. Or alternatively just go off and do something else like so many others do.

This will be the first year that I haven't attended any meetings since 1974. I am sure I am not missed though, along with the 14 other family members who started off missing a few weeks, then a few more, got out of the habit (because that's what I finally realised it had become, rather than a passion), and have also now stopped going.

A friend of mine went to Ipswich tonight and messaged me what had happened, it doesn't even surprise or shock people any more, it's a terrible shame. 

Edited August 16, 2018 by JC!

[Humphrey Appleby]

Cricket has its issues, but those issues pale into insignificance when compared with speedway. And despite appearing to be run by a bunch of old f**ts, it's always managed to revitalise itself - first with one day, then one afternoon and more recently T20 cricket - when interest appeared to be declining. 

And it certainly commands much better television and sponsorship deals than anything speedway can hope for. 

 

[Spl77]

7 hours ago, JC! said:

 

A friend of mine went to Ipswich tonight and messaged me what had happened, it doesn't even surprise or shock people any more, it's a terrible shame. 

Glasgow were never interested in riding couldn't even be bothered to change. Ipswich were changed and ready to go but apparently one member of the Ipswich side then refused and got the others to change their minds no guessing who that was! Then when given the chance to go on the Mic to explain both captains ran off off like a pair of school girls. 

[moxey63]

3 hours ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

Cricket has its issues, but those issues pale into insignificance when compared with speedway. And despite appearing to be run by a bunch of old f**ts, it's always managed to revitalise itself - first with one day, then one afternoon and more recently T20 cricket - when interest appeared to be declining. 

And it certainly commands much better television and sponsorship deals than anything speedway can hope for. 

 

But, on the other hand, withdraw all the television and sponsorship deals, and how much trouble would it be in? The answer would be where speedway currently is, I guess.  

[PHILIPRISING]

ONE notable comparison ... top performers in both sports ply their trade around the world, representing a variety of different teams.

[moxey63]

1 minute ago, PHILIPRISING said:

ONE notable comparison ... top performers in both sports ply their trade around the world, representing a variety of different teams.

In the same week?

[steve roberts]

35 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

But, on the other hand, withdraw all the television and sponsorship deals, and how much trouble would it be in? The answer would be where speedway currently is, I guess.  

...bit like football in that respect.

[The Cheese]

8 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

ONE notable comparison ... top performers in both sports ply their trade around the world, representing a variety of different teams.

Even had a case of doubling-up this week with Josh Poysden joining Yorkshire on loan for championship games but still part of Birmingham's squad for T20

[orion]

35 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

But, on the other hand, withdraw all the television and sponsorship deals, and how much trouble would it be in? The answer would be where speedway currently is, I guess.  

Well you say that about any sport .the fact is sponsors want to back it and tv stations want to screen because its good .no one wants to do that with speedway because its not .it's not hard to follow 

[steve roberts]

6 minutes ago, orion said:

Well you say that about any sport .the fact is sponsors want to back it and tv stations want to screen because its good .no one wants to do that with speedway because its not .it's not hard to follow 

I do find your posts about the decline and general disinterest in speedway by the media and/or masses somewhat perplexing. Many on here talk of better times in the past but you deride the past as well as the present. When did you first go to speedway and did you ever enjoy the sport as it was (forgetting the present issues now facing the sport) or have you always felt that the sport was never any good and/or to be taken seriously?

[Halifaxtiger]

10 minutes ago, orion said:

Well you say that about any sport .the fact is sponsors want to back it and tv stations want to screen because its good .no one wants to do that with speedway because its not .it's not hard to follow 

The sadness is that is not totally true. I saw an excellent meeting at Somerset on Wednesday and a very decent one at Isle of Wight last night. 

It seems to me that it is a matter of speedway simply not making the most of the opportunity that television coverage allows and doing everything it can to ensure that when in front of the cameras huge effort is put in to put the sport in as favourable a light as possible. Too often we see rubbish meetings in dreadful tracks without any attempt to increase the attendance. That's just not good enough. 

The last club that really went to town when on television were Berwick. Massive advertising, cheaper entry, getting the track in as good a state as possible -  which was rewarded by a big attendance and a repeat visit. That should be par for the course. 

[orion]

Just now, steve roberts said:

I do find your posts about the decline and general disinterest in speedway by the media and/or masses somewhat perplexing. Many on here talk of better times in the past but you deride the past as well as the present. When did you first go to speedway and did you ever enjoy the sport as it was (forgetting the present issues now facing the sport) or have you always felt that the sport was never any good and/or to be taken seriously?

It's easy really .things that worked 30 years ago won't  work now .sadly people like you can't get your head around that hence why you want things like war chants etc to come back .so i dont deride the past at all but understand it's now 2018 not 1975 .

[steve roberts]

46 minutes ago, orion said:

It's easy really .things that worked 30 years ago won't  work now .sadly people like you can't get your head around that hence why you want things like war chants etc to come back .so i dont deride the past at all but understand it's now 2018 not 1975 .

...who said anything about bringing chants back? You need to read my posts more carefully. I was comparing the fact that chants appear to be the norm in football (as well as other sport) but not in speedway apparently despite the continual debate about generating an atmosphere.

So I'm assuming that you went during the middle seventies. What would be helpful is that you were able to highlight things that worked  back then that would work now? Not everything was negative (although there were issues) which is what you keep implying in your posts despite you initiating different. You continually comment about 'now and then' but examples would be appreciated. After all the sport attracted thousands during it's last 'Golden Era' rather than the hundreds it apparently attracts now so it obviously was doing something right which it ain't now! 

Name one aspect of the sport that worked in the past and could be -re-emplemented now to improve the overall image?

Edited August 17, 2018 by steve roberts

[moxey63]

I took on the sport and all its blemishes in 1975. Guests were part of what I accepted. To an outsider that would have been a silly part of the sport. To me it didn't matter, as I loved the sport. Even in the initial years when SKY first got involved and Belle Vue trudged down to Eastbourne with only one of their regular riders, in the early 2000s,  I still accepted it as part of speedway's quirky side. But then things just went off the scale in the years that followed. I think this is when riders began to hold more power than the clubs they were riding for. Doubling up and doubling down came in. Then there was the ridiculous Golden Double, which further questioned my love. To be honest, I started to lose track of who belonged to what team. Riders who began riding for my team, to me, appeared like they were just in it for themselves, they were there because they had the best deal, the best of all worlds, the diary that suited them and allowed them to maximise their earning potential on most nights of the week. Then we have the thing last night, if I'm correct, where Belle Vue couldn't use Craig Cook, who started the season with them and then went out to Glasgow after a few weeks because Tigers had the first choice after Aces' match at Swindon was a rearranged one. But Cook began the year at Belle Vue and therefore, to me, they should have the first call - always. Does that not matter? It has just become too complicated to even bother with rules anymore. Without rules you can keep up with, you're really just watching four men on motorbikes. Yes, I am a long-in-the-tooth fan. I don't think all that happened in the past was the best. But to me right now, British speedway is very much like the Christmas Tree lights you pull out in the first week of December - all mangled up.

Edited August 17, 2018 by moxey63

[Humphrey Appleby]

3 hours ago, moxey63 said:

But, on the other hand, withdraw all the television and sponsorship deals, and how much trouble would it be in? The answer would be where speedway currently is, I guess.  

Most sports would be in trouble - they're all reliant on television and sponsorship these days. Not least because as revenue increases, the competitors not unreasonably expect a significant percentage of it, and as you always have to have winners and losers in sport, it becomes an arms race to sign them. 

Cricket would have to substantially scale back its expenses, but still gets significantly better crowds than speedway, especially at international level. 

But the point is surely that cricket is able to pull in decent television and sponsorship deals, it still get good media coverage, and it has high-level support that speedway can only dream of. 

[mickthemuppet]

31 minutes ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

Most sports would be in trouble - they're all reliant on television and sponsorship these days. Not least because as revenue increases, the competitors not unreasonably expect a significant percentage of it, and as you always have to have winners and losers in sport, it becomes an arms race to sign them. 

Cricket would have to substantially scale back its expenses, but still gets significantly better crowds than speedway, especially at international level. 

But the point is surely that cricket is able to pull in decent television and sponsorship deals, it still get good media coverage, and it has high-level support that speedway can only dream of. 

 

Cricket even with sponsorship and TV is in a very poor state financially  and without the test match money many counties would be on the breadline

[orion]

4 hours ago, Halifaxtiger said:

The sadness is that is not totally true. I saw an excellent meeting at Somerset on Wednesday and a very decent one at Isle of Wight last night. 

It seems to me that it is a matter of speedway simply not making the most of the opportunity that television coverage allows and doing everything it can to ensure that when in front of the cameras huge effort is put in to put the sport in as favourable a light as possible. Too often we see rubbish meetings in dreadful tracks without any attempt to increase the attendance. That's just not good enough. 

The last club that really went to town when on television were Berwick. Massive advertising, cheaper entry, getting the track in as good a state as possible -  which was rewarded by a big attendance and a repeat visit. That should be par for the course. 

Most of the matches are poor as a rule and it's not just the racing it's the whole event that Speedway fails on ..overall speedway is poor in all area's 

[orion]

4 hours ago, steve roberts said:

...who said anything about bringing chants back? You need to read my posts more carefully. I was comparing the fact that chants appear to be the norm in football (as well as other sport) but not in speedway apparently despite the continual debate about generating an atmosphere.

So I'm assuming that you went during the middle seventies. What would be helpful is that you were able to highlight things that worked  back then that would work now? Not everything was negative (although there were issues) which is what you keep implying in your posts despite you initiating different. You continually comment about 'now and then' but examples would be appreciated. After all the sport attracted thousands during it's last 'Golden Era' rather than the hundreds it apparently attracts now so it obviously was doing something right which it ain't now! 

Name one aspect of the sport that worked in the past and could be -re-emplemented now to improve the overall image?

As I explained many time once the uk become not the  first choice of the riders the whole game changed ..so things like second halfs ,Golden Helmet ,solo  events etc etc were never going to work again ..just saying bring them back because they worked in the 70's is naïve and stupid ..it's bit like saying put more phone boxes on the street because they used to take a lot of money years ago .

You and the likes of Moxey do yourself no favours buy keep crabbing other sports that are doing really well just because you don't like them ..I said before you have a breed of speedway fan aged between 55 to 70  a lot who  only turn up on these topics who only aim is to bring back rules when they used to go  

 

[moxey63]

2 hours ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

Most sports would be in trouble - they're all reliant on television and sponsorship these days. Not least because as revenue increases, the competitors not unreasonably expect a significant percentage of it, and as you always have to have winners and losers in sport, it becomes an arms race to sign them. 

Cricket would have to substantially scale back its expenses, but still gets significantly better crowds than speedway, especially at international level. 

But the point is surely that cricket is able to pull in decent television and sponsorship deals, it still get good media coverage, and it has high-level support that speedway can only dream of. 

Most sports would be in trouble without television and sponsorship. But speedway has to be given credit, surely, that it's battled on through more bad times than good. I haven't done a break-down, but I suspect more tracks have been lost to redevelopment than going bust. A lot of speedway's expense and outgoings is the engines, tuners and things they wear for safety.

Sponsorship was afforded all over the place in the seventies and eighties for speedway. But modern day, either they didn't try enough at the time, but it sort of summed things up really, when the sport couldn't gain a backer for the live meetings SKY used to afford it every week.