apology to workington speedway .

[jenga]

this is an apology to mr Steve Whitehead , co promoter of workington speedway .

                                                                                                                                               on the 23rd of June i went to attend my usual Saturday sport @ workington . i paid my entrance fee and as i was going through the checkpoint i was stopped and by stewards and then mr Whitehead came over with Laura and took my ticket off me and gave me my money back . he then told me i was banned from workington speedway and handed me a hand written letter . 

after a conversation..  mr Whitehead and i came to an agreement and i was able to gain entry to the stadium . mr Whitehead was upset about some of the posts i had put on the B.S.F...  reading back on them , some were a little bit naughty .

i can only say sorry for any disruption in the promotions households that  i have caused . i am a fan of long standing and have always supported my local team. 

i hope the promotion will continue to let me into Derwent Park in the future . i dont/cant do the cut/past or links . .

i am hoping that the promotion can let me know if i will be allowed in for the remainder of this seasons meetins . a P.M or a post will do .

i will go back onto the lakeside v workington and quote my posts from that thread .  as these posts seem to be the ones that broke the camels back .

 

once again i can say only sorry for any disruption i have caused .    

thanking you...  Jenga .                 

 

 

Edited June 29, 2018 by jenga

[Bryce]

I'm astonished that a club reported to be struggling financially would want to ban a loyal paying customer for expressing an opinion. Having read the offending posts I can't say that I found them to be all that outrageous. Perhaps not the politest, and maybe some offense could have been taken by Mr Whitehead, but surely criticism from fans is part of the job in sport. Jenga has made a fulsome public apology for any offense caused, I would hope that would be the end of it.

[comet49]

Hoping you’re down again marra

[Flappy]

I'd tell them where to stick it personally.  If they only want happy clappers then it'll end in tears 

[JamesB]

I have to say that I am shocked and appalled by this.

We live in a democratic society where an individual's right to free speech is absolute and not a privelage. I have read many of your posts and at times some are incoherent and others I may disagree with, however I absolutely support an individual's right to express their opinion. 

[4thbender]

This is the most appalling piece of heavy-handed bullying tactics it is my misfortune to come across in British speedway. The minute we witness team promoters taking action reminiscent of 1930s Nazi Germany is the time to pack it in. I for one will not be visiting Workington Speedway again and would urge other fans to do likewise.

Jenga is a prolific contributor to a popular fans' forum, has amused us on here for years and I hope will continue to do so.

[ruffdiamond]

11 minutes ago, 4thbender said:

Jenga is a prolific contributor to a popular fans' forum, has amused us on here for years and I hope will continue to do so.

Totally agree, a cult hero and hopefully 'common' prevails.

[Lewis]

I think the apology was meant to be it and thats it, you guy trying to defend him is not helping his case, wrightly or wrongly.

 

[JamesB]

4 minutes ago, Lewis said:

I think the apology was meant to be it and thats it, you guy trying to defend him is not helping his case, wrightly or wrongly.

 

I am not trying to defend him, I am genuinely appalled that an individual's right to free speech is threatened in this manner.

[ruffdiamond]

26 minutes ago, Lewis said:

I think the apology was meant to be it and thats it, you guy trying to defend him is not helping his case, wrightly or wrongly.

 

It would appear to be a little niave to put an apology on social media then, IMO.

[New era Panthers]

57 minutes ago, JamesB said:

I have to say that I am shocked and appalled by this.

We live in a democratic society where an individual's right to free speech is absolute and not a privelage. I have read many of your posts and at times some are incoherent and others I may disagree with, however I absolutely support an individual's right to express their opinion. 

Should not be a reason for you to apologise Jenga  Workington  speedway should be apologising to you. For there way of trying to ban you for speaking your mind and it is only because you care and shown your passion for Workington  that you have made these statements and if they can't take the criticism without banning fans then they soon will not have any fans to ban. Perhaps they should take advice from Ged  how to handle criticism he took some flack last season and has come out of it o/k

[Carlislecomet2]

I honestly can't believe what I am reading here. I know why Jenga has apologised, but don't see why he should have been put in that position for expressing his opinion in the first place. I think that it is a certain Mr Whitehead that needs to apologise, not you Jenga.

As others have said we live in a society (thank goodness) where we supposedly have the right of free speech.

If our promoters are so sensitive to criticism from one of their most loyal supporters that they are prepared to ban him from attending then they are in the wrong profession, and we as a speedway club are on a far slippier slope than we all thought.

One of the reasons Jenga is so prolific on here is because there is a huge vacuum where the official Comets website should be keeping us all up to date with what is happening and (this year) not happening with all things Comets.

I don't always agree with Jenga's posts and yes sometimes they are a little confrontational, but for goodness sake we are mostly (if not all) adults on here and it is a forum for public debate.

One thing that is obvious is that Jenga cares passionately about the club and if the promoters are willing to ban the likes of him, then we really are truly f***ed.

Edited June 29, 2018 by Carlislecomet2

[PE7Panther]

Yawn.

I honestly couldn't give a stuff if he's banned from Workington Speedway or not......  oh but I really wish somebody would ban the irksome numpty from this forum.  

 

[Halifaxtiger]

7 hours ago, JamesB said:

I have to say that I am shocked and appalled by this.

We live in a democratic society where an individual's right to free speech is absolute and not a privelage. I have read many of your posts and at times some are incoherent and others I may disagree with, however I absolutely support an individual's right to express their opinion. 

That doesn't mean that we are free to make scurrilous, vicious and unfounded attacks on individuals. There must be some sense of rationality, truth and fairness in what we post.

Having said that, I have never had cause to think that Jenga's contributions would fall within the above description.

In these days where every paying fan is like gold dust, you have to be very careful and very certain about taking such an action. To do so utterly without warning - and it seems that that is the case - is far too heavy handed for my liking and will attract the bad publicity that it has. I have a huge amount of time for Workington Speedway but this is an own goal that will do their credibility no good whatsoever.  

A good friend of mine once posted some strong criticism of his team's track surface - completely justifiably, and he wasn't the only one - on here. The person responsible for the track sought him out, verbally abused him and attempted to persuade the promotion to issue him with a ban (and he has been a long term and passionate supporter). The promotion then insisted that he apologise and he did so, out of fear that he would not be able to attend again. 

I was appalled that a genuine fan was treated in such a way. I would suggest that there was only one person who should have been shown the door, and it wasn't him.

One of speedway's worst failings is the way it treats its paying customers and sometimes I think they will never learn. Engage, not confront. 

[Richspeedway]

Totally ridiculous of the management to do this like said in previous posts. Forums like this are for fans and people to air there views (if you like them or not) If Whitehead got offended by the comments then I think he needs to grow up or gain a thick skin as on other posts people debate and argue on here as that is what a forum is for people to put their opinions, and some comments people need to let them go over your head and ignore. If Whitehead gets angry maybe he should just not come on here otherwise he will ban every fan who has an opinion.

[cityrebel]

A lot of sports forums are treated with contempt by the powers that be. They are happy to take our money, but we are not allowed to have a voice.

[Byker Biker]

In this situation impartiality is almost impossible, we have the version of events posted above to consider how we react. This is a bold step by Jenga to retract and make good the possible damage inadvertently caused. Inadvertently because he clearly loves Speedway and the Comets in particular to the point where he is prepared to capitulate. Jenga should be applauded, well done.

My real point is this, I believe both parties should be cut a fair bit of slack over this. A confrontation that has been bubbling since the start of the season that possibly could have been headed off at the pass along the way. This is what happens when frustration has to be expressed, it's emotional and at times impulsive.

Did Jenga intend to offend? Of course not. Did Steve intend to cause a backlash and own goal? Of course not. The desired outcome ought to be both parties calming down and agreeing a way forward that includes a line of communication other than on a public forum.

I have read the concerning comments from Broc Nicol's family in the States concerning his signing for Sheffield, they are pleading with fans to give him a chance after so many negative remarks from people who have never met the kid. All of those posters did not intend to hurt Broc's family back home they were just expressing their opinions and concern for their club's ability to succeed. This is just another example of unintended consequences from relatively negative posts, we are all human and most more sensitive than we let on. Peter Mole has publicly criticised those keyboard warriors and he won't be the last.

The Workington promotion are under immense pressure from the performance of the business to the needless politic -ing within the BSPA. All three Promoters have made tremendous personal sacrifices to the detriment of their lifestyles and families to keep the club going and at times there has been no end to the personal criticism they have faced so inevitably their tolerance thresholds are low. They too should be applauded, again well done.

Is it all worth it? Put yourselves in their shoes and find out

Edited June 30, 2018 by Byker Biker

[SharpenRake]

45 minutes ago, Byker Biker said:

In this situation impartiality is almost impossible, we have the version of events posted above to consider how we react. This is a bold step by Jenga to retract and make good the possible damage inadvertently caused. Inadvertently because he clearly loves Speedway and the Comets in particular to the point where he is prepared to capitulate. Jenga should be applauded, well done.

My real point is this, I believe both parties should be cut a fair bit of slack over this. A confrontation that has been bubbling since the start of the season that possibly could have been headed off at the pass along the way. This is what happens when frustration has to be expressed, it's emotional and at times impulsive.

Did Jenga intend to offend? Of course not. Did Steve intend to cause a backlash and own goal? Of course not. The desired outcome ought to be both parties calming down and agreeing a way forward that includes a line of communication other than on a public forum.

I have read the concerning comments from Broc Nicol's family in the States concerning his signing for Sheffield, they are pleading with fans to give him a chance after so many negative remarks from people who have never met the kid. All of those posters did not intend to hurt Broc's family back home they were just expressing their opinions and concern for their club's ability to succeed. This is just another example of unintended consequences from relatively negative posts, we are all human and most more sensitive than we let on. Peter Mole has publicly criticised those keyboard warriors and he won't be the last.

The Workington promotion are under immense pressure from the performance of the business to the needless politic -ing within the BSPA. All three Promoters have made tremendous personal sacrifices to the detriment of their lifestyles and families to keep the club going and at times there has been no end to the personal criticism they have faced so inevitably their tolerance thresholds are low. They too should be applauded, again well done.

Is it all worth it? Put yourselves in their shoes and find out

Well said and well said Jenga 

[waytogo28]

4 hours ago, Halifaxtiger said:

The promotion then insisted that he apologise and he did so, out of fear that he would not be able to attend again. 

Should this fate befall me at King's Lynn Speedway, it will only prove the point that all Dictators "win" by intimidation and suppression of thought and opinion from paying customers. I will walk away proudly. Never fear such people or what you might think they hold over you.

[Bagpuss]

While the promotion probably shouldn't have taken the steps that it did, if you are a pillock on a public forum on a daily basis you are eventually going to get some kind of comeback.