greyhoundp Posted August 7, 2019 Report Share Posted August 7, 2019 Yesterday i had to make a delivery to Hinckley Point (Power Station) all visitors to the site are required to have an escort, The person escorting me was a young guy who would be about 25 years old, and lives in Bridgewater, last week he went to watch his footy team over at Cardiff, he said there isnt a lot happening in Bridgewater and its 40+ miles up to Bristol, naturally i asked him how often he goes to the Oaktree arena, he looked at me gone out, wheres that ? i said just up the road on the A38, why whats there ? Speedway, Speedway whats that ?. This is the problem with our Sport Promoters simply do NOT do enough to get the Sport out there.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigACE Posted August 7, 2019 Report Share Posted August 7, 2019 Promotion of our Sport does not exist imo. A person follows it because a member of their family does. Or they stumble across it. I have only ever lived in Bolton and Wigan and i ever never heard/seen anything advertising Speedway. Yet these 2 Towns have one of the biggest Clubs and the best track in the World so near. Belle Vue of course. More needs to be done. We are the fans now. What about the future ones ?. As it stands they will be with their techno gadgets. If they do get up off their backsides and take up a Sport it will be only football. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortythirtyeight Posted August 7, 2019 Report Share Posted August 7, 2019 (edited) Chicken and egg time. If a club has no money , and just about every club is losing money every week, then how do you spend money you haven't got on trying to get enough new people to come through the turnstiles to even cover the cost of your advertising? Glasgow openly admit to spending £100,000 on advertising last year and it made no difference whatsoever to the average size of their crowd. Its alright saying speculate to accumulate but it didn't work in Glasgow . Edited August 7, 2019 by Fortythirtyeight 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topsoil Posted August 7, 2019 Report Share Posted August 7, 2019 Fans on this forum do a great job of "promoting" the sport. Don't think I would ever go to a meeting if I was to base my judgement on most of the posts on here. 2 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesHarris Posted August 7, 2019 Report Share Posted August 7, 2019 Lack of general interest or just promoters stuck in the past? I work only a mile or so from Brandon stadium and when I mention the speedway to some of my younger colleagues they don't seem to know what I'm on about. Most assume it's some sort of car racing. Most folk my age or older have been or at least know of the Bees. Even when on holiday I have been talking to fellow Brits and they come from say Poole or Sheffield and I ask them "ah I bet you know of the speedway track there then" most look bemused and again car racing is the first thing that comes to mind unless they are speedway followers of cause. Don't even go down the route of asking if they have heard of Tai Woffinden. But another major factor in this debate is do most promoters simply still live in the 80's and just assume all they have to do is open the gates, charge top dollar and a few thousand will turn up to watch? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve roberts Posted August 7, 2019 Report Share Posted August 7, 2019 I certainly don't bother mentioning speedway where I live (York) but I have to say working within the tourist industry I do meet people from around the country and the number of times people say that they used to go. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 7, 2019 Report Share Posted August 7, 2019 I rate among the 'used to go' fraternity. Last visit October 2005 - the finale at Wimbledon. I have never seen a live meeting since. Nearest track now is 50 miles away at Sittingbourne. Impossible to get home from there late at night by public transport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waco Posted August 7, 2019 Report Share Posted August 7, 2019 I have lost both my nearest tracks ,,Lakeside 16 miles and Rye House 34 miles...now just visit Kent And Mildenhall when my grandson is riding there,But I have to say it is no fun,with the horrendous amount of traffic on the roads these days..travelling these distances sometimes is it worth the expense and trouble....Promoters need to make a lot more effort to attract new local fans if speedway is to survive much longer..IOW and Kent seem to be two clubs making the effort,,,But some promoters haven't a clue..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortythirtyeight Posted August 7, 2019 Report Share Posted August 7, 2019 2 hours ago, steve roberts said: I certainly don't bother mentioning speedway where I live (York) but I have to say working within the tourist industry I do meet people from around the country and the number of times people say that they used to go. Why don't you mention it? There are group of around a dozen people from York travel to Redcar each match, 4 of them are new to speedway this season as I was speaking to them only last week at Redcar, they read about it in the Whitby Gazette of all things. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve roberts Posted August 7, 2019 Report Share Posted August 7, 2019 52 minutes ago, Fortythirtyeight said: Why don't you mention it? There are group of around a dozen people from York travel to Redcar each match, 4 of them are new to speedway this season as I was speaking to them only last week at Redcar, they read about it in the Whitby Gazette of all things. That's interesting...never managed to find anyone who has heard of speedway in York so I gave up bringing the subject up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted August 7, 2019 Report Share Posted August 7, 2019 That is the thing that saddens me. It's not a case of people not being interested, but the fact that we have gone from the second most popular spectator sport in Britain to something that nobody has even heard of... How the hell does that happen? Steve 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted August 8, 2019 Report Share Posted August 8, 2019 I actually think plenty of people have heard of the sport as when you mention it, often you get told "is Speedway still going?" Or, "I used to go and watch Speedway years ago".. Their recollections of the sport though would be of a fairly cheap night out, stood in a decent sized crowd , with plenty of partizan based noise and atmosphere... A world away from what they would encounter today should they ever revisit... Many tracks do try locally to advertise, however, for example, standing in supermarket foyers giving leaflets out isn't going to deliver the kind of impact to make any real tangible difference.. It needs a more joined up national campaign I would suggest, using modern media techniques, where the sport generically is sold with the clubs being covered within that campaign. Get that 'brand recognition' out there for the sport as a whole, and then the work done locally can be backed on to it.. Millions of pounds leave the sport every season nationally in riders salaries, with a total figure that would be truly eye watering given the crowd levels and standing of the sport I would think.. Riders that, the vast majority of whom, will not bring in one extra punter to any track, anywhere, as their names mean nothing outside the sport, yet hardly anything gets spent in advertising the sport nationally as the collectively, exciting, high octane, adrenaline pumping sport it can be.. Maybe all deciding to channel more of what they already spend each season into advertising their sport would deliver better results than just paying it all out to riders? Bringing in just 20000 extra punters across the country per week (in essence a drop in the ocean), would make a massive difference to the sport and everyone then would benefit long term.. Individual tracks, all doing their own thing on a 'small time' basis, will not deliver that increase in numbers across the country.. Maybe a joined up, national, modern media led campaign, would? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 8, 2019 Report Share Posted August 8, 2019 (edited) 12 hours ago, chunky said: That is the thing that saddens me. It's not a case of people not being interested, but the fact that we have gone from the second most popular spectator sport in Britain to something that nobody has even heard of... How the hell does that happen? Steve Could it be speedway is like some items in a supermarket that are eventually 'taken down'? A question of it having reached its 'sell by' date? At least so far as Britain is concerned. It's 14 years since I last saw a live speedway meeting and don't have any desire to do so now. My main interest in speedway is what are known as 'the good old days' - a period that ceased for me sometime in the late !970s. Edited August 8, 2019 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gresham Posted August 8, 2019 Report Share Posted August 8, 2019 I was at Somerset v Glasgow the other week, and ended up chatting and watching, with three lads from the press. Two localish, and one from a National. Seems one was working and the other two were invited along by the guy working. One of the Journos piped up...' I think I've covered every sport, including dog training classes...but I've never covered Speedway, it must be the last sport to tick off covering'... He then added...' how did I not know about this sport? It's great... I'd come every week'. Make of that what you will... At least it made a good impression. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halifaxtiger Posted August 8, 2019 Report Share Posted August 8, 2019 17 hours ago, craigACE said: Promotion of our Sport does not exist imo. A person follows it because a member of their family does. Or they stumble across it. I have only ever lived in Bolton and Wigan and i ever never heard/seen anything advertising Speedway. Yet these 2 Towns have one of the biggest Clubs and the best track in the World so near. Belle Vue of course. More needs to be done. We are the fans now. What about the future ones ?. As it stands they will be with their techno gadgets. If they do get up off their backsides and take up a Sport it will be only football. Not totally true. Isle of Wight do shows, carnivals, posters, banners, leafleting - nothing is too small. If you read the Isle of Wight v Mildenhall thread, one fan is going simply because of encouragement by the promoter. It can be done, and it doesn't have to be ridiculously expensive. Hands on, personal contact is far more beneficial than an advertising billboard. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris116 Posted August 8, 2019 Report Share Posted August 8, 2019 13 minutes ago, Halifaxtiger said: Not totally true. Isle of Wight do shows, carnivals, posters, banners, leafleting - nothing is too small. If you read the Isle of Wight v Mildenhall thread, one fan is going simply because of encouragement by the promoter. It can be done, and it doesn't have to be ridiculously expensive. Hands on, personal contact is far more beneficial than an advertising billboard. That one fan is currently on the ferry as I am spending the day on the Steam Railway before enjoying the racing this evening. The Wightlink ferry has TV's all around it and I have just seen a very good advert for the Speedway, although I hope we don't have a crash like the one shown! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halifaxtiger Posted August 8, 2019 Report Share Posted August 8, 2019 4 minutes ago, Chris116 said: That one fan is currently on the ferry as I am spending the day on the Steam Railway before enjoying the racing this evening. The Wightlink ferry has TV's all around it and I have just seen a very good advert for the Speedway, although I hope we don't have a crash like the one shown! Quick recommendation : buy the Island Liner ticket and do the electric railway as well. A lot of the stock is older than that on the steam railway !! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris116 Posted August 8, 2019 Report Share Posted August 8, 2019 2 minutes ago, Halifaxtiger said: Quick recommendation : buy the Island Liner ticket and do the electric railway as well. A lot of the stock is older than that on the steam railway !! I already have my electric railway ticket and as a volunteer guard on the Mid Hants Railway I get very cheap travel on the Steam Railway. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrybishop Posted August 8, 2019 Report Share Posted August 8, 2019 1 hour ago, Chris116 said: That one fan is currently on the ferry as I am spending the day on the Steam Railway before enjoying the racing this evening. The Wightlink ferry has TV's all around it and I have just seen a very good advert for the Speedway, although I hope we don't have a crash like the one shown! I have to say it was my decision to inlude the crash at the end of our marketing video on the ferry - not because I wanted one it in, but really to end the video with a shock to the viewer... high impact.... I think the video on the ferry has brought dividends this year and we have spend thousands in market ing this year on the ferry, shows, radio, newspaper, magazines, banners... we do as much as we can cut out cloth to, but I know there is further scope to improve our non social media marketing and as for the social media marketing this is of course dynamic so we have to keep changing with not only the "times" but also our fixtures. Interesting to read this thread about today's speedway... the truth we have all that is described above on the island, relatively cheap motorsport, heart of the action, interaction with fans, riders and promoters, a fun family atmosphere, plenty of kids entertainment, static bikes displays (not each week), and more.... but as HT said, it takes a lot of time and belief in what your product actually is to be able to stand in front of the crowd and preach about speedway and our show, but once your volunteers believe in it how we believe in it... then you have many, many people singing the same song.... and hopefully new fans, new base to start from. That is a short history of how we started with a business case of just 50 fans on the Island. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAST GATER Posted August 8, 2019 Report Share Posted August 8, 2019 I think in some respects the sport suffers because of modern lifestyle ,that is we want everything at our finger tips internet shopping being a good example of one of the reasons the highstreet retail is dying on it's feet. I watched s/way live for about 8yrs solid untill the end of the 70's sometimes 3/4 times a week, then marriage children etc came along.My wife will watch s/way but is not an avid fan by any means ,during this time away from the sport I started eventually watching the GP's once they started and have continued to do so ever since .I eventually started to go to Stoke( as the Port Gunners ceased in the mid 80's) on an infrequent basics until they dropped to the NL league . My point being am I typical of many modern s/way fans in that except for the British GP I watch literally no live speedway but watch via tv and the internet ,because unlike some I really enjoy the commentary and the presentation is improving all the time .When you watch a GP like the last one( the recent SON also) you also realise that the gulf between the British league and GP's is massive and growing all the time sadly . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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