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Fixture shambles - An annual event


Hawk127

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Just been looking through those few clubs still racing and struggling to rearrange meetings because of the weather. Here we are on October and despite having had a very good summer their have been plenty of teams who failed miserably to get fixtures on when the weather was fine. Excuses will be many but the reality is that no one who is running this so called sport is in control or can manage it.

What is wrong with those who own teams that allow this regular annual event to take place?  Rules need changing and must be robust. Race by a specific date or forfeit the match.

Neither the owners or administrators seem up to the job and they wonder why those who follow the sport are leaving in droves .

Has anyone in a position of authority at BSPA level or running a club the balls to come on this forum and explain why come October the fixtures are still a shambles. Clubs at a least two levels have unfinished business and are rapidly running out of dates but I suspect that the usual excuses will be trundled out. Most fans are fed up to the back teeth with the clap trap that comes from the authorities. You have no respect for those who put hard earned cash into your coffers

If you are one of those owners of a club and have the balls (and I doubt that no one with voting rights at BSPA level will stand up and be counted) it would be interesting to hear, (and please don’t try and tow the party line,), why you individually or collectively as a member of an exclusive club, have allowed the sport to have almost reach its nadir. Why you cannot be honest and tell the most important contributor, the fans the truth and convince every one of us why we should turn up in 2019 is something I doubt has even been considered.

Furthermore what do you intend to do to win back the support of those who have long since drifted off into the sunset. You owe every supporter past, present and future an answer.

I would put money on it that none you at club or BSPA level will come on here and tell the truth but I am happy to be proved wrong.

 

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Exactly what I've been saying in the last few weeks!

 

While not the reason for every club, a lot of the problem is the cut of dates to finish your clubs League fixtures. This is cause many clubs including my local track Ipswich, hold back on staging to many meetings before the 6 week School summer holidays because this period is the time when they attract their biggest crowds, so not staging a home meeting during one of these 6 weeks is not a good financial move.

 

This means that the cut of dates which are normally a week or two after the summer holidays makes things tight and you then get the financial suicide situation of clubs staging more than one home meeting in a week which many fans struggle with in terms of money and/or other commitments!

 

Another reason is the riders unwillingness to ride on a surface that isn't 100%, the Craig Cook led, riders refusal to ride in the Ipswich V Glasgow fixture in August being a prime example. Chris Louis was right in saying that in his day that meeting would of taken place!

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There might be an excuse in Coventry's case as they are dependent on the Leicester track being available? I don't think we'll have to worry about that next season though.

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1 minute ago, 25yearfan said:

Chris Louis was right in saying that in his day that meeting would of taken place!

He might be right but I can remember him on a wet Peterborough track not being at all interested and just riding around at the back in all of his races clearly making no effort. 

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Speedway in October is an absolute farce, we should only be riding in this month if we've had a historically wet summer. League programmes should be completed by end of August, playoffs done in September, no excuse for continuing into when it starts getting cold and wet, and even more so after a summer like the one just gone.

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The Speedway season runs from March until October, so as it's only halfway through October and it looks as if all the fixtures will be complete by the end of the month, I'd say that it's been planned to perfection

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Once the Play-Offs are done with, it seems the season is left like an empty field after a carnival, the remaining fixtures like all the litter that's left. If you're going to have Play-Offs, perhaps draw a line on them being the final act of a season and all tracks must shut.  

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The Championship fixture struggle was down to Rob Godfrey's selfishness and bitterness. Cancelling weeks of team fixtures so he could use their rider's as guests.

Chapman and Godfrey are a disaster partnership for British Speedway. They need to be removed come the BSPA AGM.

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10 hours ago, Gemini said:

There might be an excuse in Coventry's case as they are dependent on the Leicester track being available? I don't think we'll have to worry about that next season though.

Yes Leicester have called off 2 or 3 of our meetings for differing reasons but we have also been very unlucky with the weather. There has been quite a few Sunday's where it's rained, even during the dry spell! However even then we should have plenty of time.

Edited by Woz01
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1 hour ago, iainb said:

The Speedway season runs from March until October, so as it's only halfway through October and it looks as if all the fixtures will be complete by the end of the month, I'd say that it's been planned to perfection

Try telling that to a Workington Promoter or fan, double headers and 3 Meetings in 3 days.

Edited by Fromafar
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2 hours ago, Mike.Butler said:

get rid of the play offs and have meaningful matches for all teams up to end of September. (Matches cannot be postponed on a whim!). October for challenges etc as required.

Trouble with that idea is there probably wouldn't be many 'meaningful' matches up to the end of September as the league winner could have been decided much earlier. At least with the play offs a few clubs are usually in with a chance of reaching them so the battle goes on.  Challenges are a bad idea too as the majority of fans aren't interested, especially on cold dark nights in October. 

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2 hours ago, iainb said:

The Speedway season runs from March until October, so as it's only halfway through October and it looks as if all the fixtures will be complete by the end of the month, I'd say that it's been planned to perfection

Very few meetings during the warm July / August evenings v wasted travel to rain offs or standing in the cold 3 nights a week in October. Yes, great planning. 

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4 minutes ago, iainb said:

22degs at Peterborough on Saturday night

That was 1 night and extremely rare. I’m sure they all knew that would happen back in July / August. No mention of the numerous wash outs, wasted trips, double headers, do I or don’t I risk it. My point is, it’s so unnecessary. 

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I'll agree that having a lot of meetings packed into a short space of time with double headers, against the same opposition is pretty poor but the last home match at Leicester was Monday September the 3rd... 2 months of the season still to go, Belle Vue finished a month early...

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Excellent Post Hawk127 

Promoters often bemoan how the dodgy weather in this country can knock off the gate those vitally required couple hundred or so that make all the difference to them...

Then plan in no fixtures for weeks during the hottest summer for decades....

I think I spot a flaw in their cunning plan...

And even if they say they didn't know the weather would be scorching,  I would suggest there's a better than evens chance of running in July and August than running in October..

 

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4 hours ago, Mike.Butler said:

get rid of the play offs and have meaningful matches for all teams up to end of September.

How does scrapping the play-offs mean meaningful matches for all teams up to the end of September? Without the play-offs if you are not within touching distance of the top of the league your season is over and you are merely going through the motions to fulfil your fixtures.

The play-offs keep the season alive for the majority of teams, as qualifying for the play-offs is mathematically possible until the very end of the regular season.

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