Derwent Park..update on Town RL forum

[Piotr Pyszny]

13 minutes ago, geoff100 said:

With brow beaters like u no wonder people stopped going , have been going to speedway since the start in the 70s have never seen a " rubbish " meeting yet at derwent park as for no meeting on your long weekends bad planning on your part or mr godfrey at scunny, as for a brighter future at a new stadium not a cat in hells chance.millom rugby club had 1200 on a cold sunday in feb to watch local lads take on a team from abroad i forget where ,people standing on grass banks to watch do 750 reg town fans need an 8000 stadium costing 100,000000 over 50 yrs ?

Millom Amateur Rugby League Club (the average National Conference League crowd at Devonshire Road is circa 250) were playing Red Star Belgrade in the Challenge Cup. If the racing is so wonderful at Derwent Park, why has everybody stopped attending meetings? Since reopening, Comets have managed to reduced attendances from 4,000 to 400. Even by speedway's lamentable standards, that's some going. As for my bad planning, I haven't arranged any aspect of my life round speedway's fixture list since 1996. Since 2008, I doubt I've attended more than 10 meetings. Another lapsed supporter of a failing sport, unlikely ever to return to watching regularly. I'm afraid your remarks about the new stadium for Workington typify the small-mindedness, limited horizons and paucity of ambition so apparent in west Cumbria. Good luck in your sporting backwater.

[jenga]

1 hour ago, Piotr Pyszny said:

 

I was told last week (by a source close to Workington FC) Derwent Park has been earmarked as a site for nuclear industry support facilities. Once Reds and Town depart for the shiny new stadium, and a much brighter future, the bulldozers will move in to Derwent Park and raze the place. Isn't the vandalized dump that is the Northside training track sufficient to accommodate what little interest in speedway survives in Workington?

sorry to edit your post . i think the site has the ok to run speedway for another 3/5 years according to the council .lol .

i think you may be getting mixed up with  B.N.F.L.  (But Not For Long). or some other company attached to the newc industry . BNFL are wanting to use some, if not all  of the office space at  the new stadium for their workers and have added more plans to the new site for themselves . derrwent park still lives on atm, .

northside will never be given the ok to run speedway on a league bases and was solely built to help kids have a go at speedway , plus the odd star having a blip round . its too small and may need re enforced  trump style walls to keep out the big rats .

the reason speedway is on its tots is because fans only visit now and again  (10 meeting since 2008 takes some doing) dont think i could manage that many lol .

if you are so un interested in speedway , why come on here and twist your double edged blade deeper into the wound that british speedway has . 

 

Edited April 8, 2019 by jenga

[Piotr Pyszny]

3 minutes ago, jenga said:

sorry to edit your post . i think the site has the ok to run speedway for another 3/5 years according to the council .lol .

i think you may be getting mixed up with  B.N.F.L.  (But Not For Long). or some other company attached to the newc industry . BNFL are wanting to use some, if not all  of the office space at  the new stadium for their workers and have added more plans to the new site for themselves . derrwent park still lives on atm, .

northside will never be given the ok to run speedway on a league bases and was solely built to help kids have a go at speedway , plus the odd star having a blip round . its too small and may need re enforced  trump style walls to keep out the big rats .

No, I'm not confused. I'm aware BNFL (and others) are taking office space at the proposed new stadium. My informed source advised Derwent Park also will become a site for activity related to the nuclear industry. It won't be retained for speedway (or any other sport).

Edited April 8, 2019 by Piotr Pyszny

[jenga]

access to the site could be a problem and exiting it also could be a hazard . but money talks . 

anyhow , get back to your fly fishing in the derwent and leave us alone .

[Piotr Pyszny]

11 minutes ago, jenga said:

access to the site could be a problem and exiting it also could be a hazard . but money talks . 

anyhow , get back to your fly fishing in the derwent and leave us alone .

Actually, I've never understood the appeal of fishing (fly or otherwise, in the Derwent or any other river). But thanks for trying to 'second guess' me. From an outsider looking in (though I did work four years in west Cumbria), it seems strange football, rugby league and speedway (I'll disregard Workington Rugby Union Club because, owing to its sub-100 crowds, it's an irrelevance) couldn't all be accommodated at Workington's new stadium. A missed opportunity, and likely the death knell for speedway in the town.

Edited April 8, 2019 by Piotr Pyszny

[TotallyHonestJohn]

2 hours ago, Piotr Pyszny said:

I was told last week (by a source close to Workington FC) Derwent Park has been earmarked as a site for nuclear industry support facilities. Once Reds and Town depart for the shiny new stadium, and a much brighter future, the bulldozers will move in to Derwent Park and raze the place. Isn't the vandalised dump that is the Northside training track sufficient to accommodate what little interest in speedway survives in Workington?

 

56 minutes ago, Piotr Pyszny said:

Since 2008, I doubt I've attended more than 10 meetings. Another lapsed supporter of a failing sport, unlikely ever to return to watching regularly. I'm afraid your remarks about the new stadium for Workington typify the small-mindedness, limited horizons and paucity of ambition so apparent in west Cumbria. Good luck in your sporting backwater.

Honestly 

If this is the supporting information to your application for the position of West Cumbria International Tourism and Communications Officer I don't think you will be getting called for an interview somehow...

I was at both home Glasgow meetings in 2017 and I am not sure which one you are on about here that you attended (1st or 2nd); however the first one saw Chris Harris and Simon Lambert guesting for Workington on the 29th of July and even Paulco from Glasgow who was doing the updates (in tandem with Kevcfc from Workington) stated at the end of the meeting "Fair play, cracking ride by Harris, well done Workington, very entertaining meeting. Beaten by the better team"...  Workington were 16 - 26 down by heat 7 and the final result was 48 - 45 in their favour and I fully agree with the comment made by Paulco it was a cracking meeting.

The second meeting was a 47 -43 affair to Workington on the 23rd of September with Rich Lawson of Glasgow putting in the fastest time of the season in heat one and with Workington trailing (or drawing) most of the meeting it was Heat 13 where we saw one of the best races at Dewent Park for a long time when Matt Williamson had a ding dong with Rich Lawson passing him on the last bend to grab second place, then in Heat 15 Mason Campton had a "Royal Rumble" with Richie Worrall on the track then coming off the track we had a "Handbags" moment between the two of them with a melee in the pits. Pure entertainment.

As for the crowds; I got all the crowd figures off Steve W and looking back at the first meeting there were 753 people in and that was when Maryport Blues; Kendall Calling and Cockermouth Show were all on the same weekend, so no mean figures there especially as stated with all the other events happening at the same time however Harris will have had an effect. Week later against Scunthorpe match crowd 430 (just for reference)  then the second Glasgow meeting there were 698 in so where you get your figure of 450 from is beyond me!!! However you do correctly state that the crowds at both of these matches were enhanced by the fantastic travelling support that Glasgow receive and there will have been an enhancement from the Bewley effect with him being a local lad.

As for your source I would suggest that he only has a paucity of information and the same paucity of brain cells to go with his take on the situation, this whole stadium situation will hinge on the up and coming council elections and there is a large groundswell of opinion against this new stadium "Vanity Project" and Derwent Park may stay as the main sporting venue, the folk of West Cumbria will tell you better than me about the internal politics between the Football and Rugby teams and how long the council have tried to get them both into one stadium to free up saleable land. As an outsider myself looking in (adopted Cumbrian now I reckon) I can see Dewent Park being redeveloped rather than any new stadium being built but we will see; however this wont help the Speedway.

As for your "Vandalised Dump" jibe aimed at Northside; well;  granted it would need to be developed into a Redcar/Scunthorpe type of motor park and the council have said they would be open to this happening, personally I wont be holding my breath and Derwent Park still has 9 years I believe on the lease and it was mooted for the Speedway to take it over for 3 or 4 years whilst somewhere else could be developed for them but again this seems to have been a "Pie in the sky" comment made by the council and the Speedway have been dumped on from a great height, absolutely shafted.

However many thanks for your concern and your support is greatly appreciated.

Regards
THJ

Edited April 8, 2019 by TotallyHonestJohn
missed out key word

[Piotr Pyszny]

Thanks for all that, THJ. I appreciate your passion and commitment to the cause.

It's odd, though, isn't it, that Cumbria still cannot muster a single, fit-for-the-21st-century sports stadium. Not one! There are plenty of instances (eg Brighton, Exeter, Huddersfield, Hull, Middlesbrough, Stoke) elsewhere in England where a new sports stadium has had a galvanizing effect, on both its occupying club (or clubs) and the wider community. They're much more than vanity projects. They make a real statement about a place, and its ambitions.

Why, in your view, have Derwent Park attendances for speedway fallen so drastically? When Comets reopened, Derwent Park was the place to go and there was a real buzz about speedway. I know because I attended several meetings when in that neck of the woods. However, on my last visit, in 2017, talking to the people around me on the first bend terrace, the atmosphere was one of gloom and despondency.

[Taylorj]

3 hours ago, Piotr Pyszny said:

I'm not sure laughably shambolic speedway - its days surely numbered in Britain - is in any position to poke fun at other sports. Last time I was at Derwent Park to watch speedway, a perfect summer evening in 2017, the crowd numbered about 450 - and that included a hundred or so following the visitors, Glasgow. There was barely a single genuine pass in the entire meeting. Absolute rubbish, frankly. On four subsequent occasions I was over in Cumbria for long weekends, Comets didn't even have a match to watch!

I note, despite Workington FC's desperate struggles this season, recent crowds at Borough Park have been 504, 476 and 379 (they're official attendances, by the way; I'm guessing speedway is too embarrassed to reveal how many punters pass through its turnstiles). Is level eight football, I wonder, more appealing than level two speedway?

I was told last week (by a source close to Workington FC) Derwent Park has been earmarked as a site for nuclear industry support facilities. Once Reds and Town depart for the shiny new stadium, and a much brighter future, the bulldozers will move in to Derwent Park and raze the place. Isn't the vandalized dump that is the Northside training track sufficient to accommodate what little interest in speedway survives in Workington?

Shame you didn't attend in 2018 then when Workington Comets scooped the board and won the treble and everything on offer in Speedway , huge crowds to see them do so  So forgive me for not getting over enthusiastic about a FC playing a Sunday League division let alone in a Stadium that holds 8000, laughable !!!  Compare that to a winning Speedway Team racing on bikes with no brakes ......I know whats much more exciting  

As for the "little" interest its more the financial side that is stacking against Workington , so stick to what you know...in Cumbria we call that 'Nowt'  !!

[TotallyHonestJohn]

16 minutes ago, Piotr Pyszny said:

Thanks for all that, THJ. I appreciate your passion and commitment to the cause.

It's odd, though, isn't it, that Cumbria still cannot muster a single, fit-for-the-21st-century sports stadium. Not one! There are plenty of instances (eg Brighton, Exeter, Huddersfield, Hull, Middlesbrough, Stoke) elsewhere in England where a new sports stadium has had a galvanizing effect, on both its occupying club (or clubs) and the wider community. They're much more than vanity projects. They make a real statement about a place, and its ambitions.

Why, in your view, have Derwent Park attendances for speedway fallen so drastically? When Comets reopened, Derwent Park was the place to go and there was a real buzz about speedway. I know because I attended several meetings when in that neck of the woods. However, on my last visit, in 2017, talking to the people around me on the first bend terrace, the atmosphere was one of gloom and despondency.

Honestly

Carlisle United stadium isn't too bad and quite modern but West Cumbria seem to be the "poor relations" in the county being perceived as "off the beaten track" (the M6) to my mind, its a fantastic place to live and work and the people are great but I honestly can't put my finger on it, Don't know if it is under-funding or local authorities without any vision. As stated its the people who live there who have a much better grasp of what is going on in the area than I have (as a part timer). Politics and that's not just the Party type at a national or local level its also the politics with mutual hate and distrust between the Football and Rugby clubs and the Speedway is a bit of a pawn in all of that 

The malaise in Speedway isn't just peculiar to Workington the Sport appears to be dying on its backside everywhere in the UK and again all you need to do is read the posts throughout this forum and see what people are saying with regard to the failings within the sport in general (some of them very sensible). Costs; Rider Demands; Venues; Promoters and Promotions and there lack of action and empathy, Supporter expectations Arrogance (perceived or otherwise) of the BSPA and there apathy towards the sport. Lots of things working against the sport not including kids who have many and varied things to do now rather than come to Speedway and before cars were so cheap how many Dads and Granddads went to work on a motor bike rather than in a car so there was more of an affinity to two wheels rather than four back in the day which has been slowly eroded.

Sports venues do galvanise communities however in a country and especially a county where Football and Rugby are held up as the sporting activities to follow they get precedence and the "New (Vanity Project) Stadium" will be central to these sports rather than Speedway, which is even more ironic after the Comets exploits last year and the plight both the Football and Rugby are in at present. Also back in the day of 2000; 3000.and 4000 crowds half of those guys will have passed away by now and again rather than go out and promote the sport; promotions have sat on their hands and not brought in new (replacement) fans. The whole thing needs a shake up from top to bottom but the BSPA are struggling IMHO to adopt new ideas quick enough. Moaning on here wont resolve the issue and money is the driver, without funds and income its a game where you eventually blow your brains out trying to sustain and maintain something on a shoe string.

We are where we are and it will take an awful lot of good will from many and varied parties I believe if Speedway is to return; or a fan of Speedway to win the lottery (me please! me! me! me!) and then have a "Vanity Project" of their own (at Northside)

Oh and I am not sure you get my humour but never mind the content above is genuinely sent.

Regards
THJ

 

[jenga]

any chance of putting all your posts in a book ? i think it will be a best seller .?

a few more of those  long posts from you and he will be shivering in his boots !

[A.N.Other]

4 hours ago, Piotr Pyszny said:

Since 2008, I doubt I've attended more than 10 meetings.

You are one of those people responsible for the drop in attendances then arent you !  

[Piotr Pyszny]

22 hours ago, A.N.Other said:

You are one of those people responsible for the drop in attendances then arent you !  

Oh, I am. Like thousands of others since the early 1980s, I stopped attending meetings because I felt speedway no longer represented value for money. I put my disposable income into other, less amateurish sports.

[SteelShoe]

1 hour ago, Piotr Pyszny said:

Oh, I am. Like thousands of others since the early 1980s, I stopped attending meetings because I felt speedway no longer represented value for money. I put my disposable income into other, less amateurish sports.

Speedway has its problems, don't really think anyone on a speedway forum needs you to spell it out 1.  What do you get out of posting on here anyway ? go wield your inflammatory pen on a forum of the more professional sports you purport to watch.  

[A.N.Other]

7 hours ago, SteelShoe said:

Speedway has its problems, don't really think anyone on a speedway forum needs you to spell it out 1.  What do you get out of posting on here anyway ? go wield your inflammatory pen on a forum of the more professional sports you purport to watch.  

[A.N.Other]

On 4/9/2019 at 1:22 PM, Piotr Pyszny said:

Oh, I am. Like thousands of others since the early 1980s, I stopped attending meetings because I felt speedway no longer represented value for money. I put my disposable income into other, less amateurish sports.

So can I ask why on earth are you still taking part in a speedway forum ? 

[jenga]

On 4/9/2019 at 1:22 PM, Piotr Pyszny said:

Oh, I am. Like thousands of others since the early 1980s, I stopped attending meetings because I felt speedway no longer represented value for money. I put my disposable income into other, less amateurish sports.

you mean something like premiership football where they all fall over as if they had been shot . yea , proper pros !

[Derwent]

A company that Laura had a 50% stake in has just been wound up by the High Court over an unpaid tax bill owed to HMRC of >£300k

[singy13]

On 4/9/2019 at 1:22 PM, Piotr Pyszny said:

Oh, I am. Like thousands of others since the early 1980s,

He is clearly in the majority regarding speedway non attendees......A laal town like Workington had a high percentage pro rata re population who used to follow the Comets, I base this on the comments re Belle Vue on Wednesday.

Because I was just amazed to read on the Premiership area of this forum stuff regarding Belle Vue attendances....it seems only around 700/800 turned up on Wednesday night...an obvious clash with local top soccer match would have certainly affected that figure. But what really astounded me was a guy writing "we didn't manage our usual 1800".....blimey usual 1800????.. this is for speedways most famous team in a brand new(ish) stadium....and held in the UK's third largest city to boot.

It just, if ever needed, confirms speedway is in rapid decline. I can recall going to the old Hyde rd. stadium and being sat amidst 10,000 fans, but never less than 2,000....

....oh by the way great to see that young Dan is on the way back to top form.

And another 'by the way'....I see on the Town RL forum talk regarding the upcoming Allerdale council elections...it is apparently feared that if Labour do not gain the overall majority of seats on the council the 'new stadium project' could be seriously hindered by the Cons' and Independents....

Edited April 12, 2019 by singy13
bit extra added.

[jenga]

last part of the post  is just pure blackmail from the cuntcil big wigs .

[singy13]

12 hours ago, jenga said:

last part of the post  is just pure blackmail from the cuntcil big wigs .

Was that a spelling error......i.e. the word prior to big wigs??