Spl77 Posted September 29, 2019 Report Share Posted September 29, 2019 11 hours ago, Trees said: Judging by the big crowd at Ipswich last night, British speedway needs to reclaim Saturday nights, the GP organisers can have Mondays lol Let's be honest this time of year once Poland has finished no reason why the play offs can't be run on a Saturday. Ipswich always get good gates on a Saturday and tend to run the big end of season fixtures on a Saturday if they qualify. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveLyric2 Posted September 29, 2019 Report Share Posted September 29, 2019 (edited) 21 minutes ago, Spl77 said: Let's be honest this time of year once Poland has finished no reason why the play offs can't be run on a Saturday. Ipswich always get good gates on a Saturday and tend to run the big end of season fixtures on a Saturday if they qualify. Unless of course the respective stadia are used for something else on Saturdays?! (and Sundays for that matter.) Edited September 29, 2019 by Skidder1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyderd Posted September 30, 2019 Report Share Posted September 30, 2019 On 9/5/2019 at 10:09 AM, Lefty said: I would like:- 1) a home meeting every week. 2) away team to visit once only per season. 3) no double-up riders. 4) less gardening at the gate! 5) a heat structure that ensures heat leaders achieve a higher average. 6) riders to adapt machinery to weather conditions AND RIDE. 7) in the event of r/r a #8 to be named and given at least one ride. 8) yellow/black helmet colour to return. 9) first race to start prompt at advertised start time. 10) a points system that allows a League Table to be understood. decent ideas apart from No6, riders safety must always come first, plus who wants to watch 3 riders unable to race purely because they can't see clearly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShalePace Posted September 30, 2019 Report Share Posted September 30, 2019 On 9/5/2019 at 10:09 AM, Lefty said: I would like:- 1) a home meeting every week. 2) away team to visit once only per season. 3) no double-up riders. 4) less gardening at the gate! 5) a heat structure that ensures heat leaders achieve a higher average. 6) riders to adapt machinery to weather conditions AND RIDE. 7) in the event of r/r a #8 to be named and given at least one ride. 8) yellow/black helmet colour to return. 9) first race to start prompt at advertised start time. 10) a points system that allows a League Table to be understood. 11.) The smell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveLyric2 Posted September 30, 2019 Report Share Posted September 30, 2019 I think another key issue for the AGM is Fixture Planning - in light of 2020 being the Olympics and Euro footie tournaments (and there are bound to be others too.) With attendances apparently precarious everywhere (?) Promoters will think twice before going up against any major TV Sport - assuming they realise of course?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robins les Posted September 30, 2019 Report Share Posted September 30, 2019 9 minutes ago, Skidder1 said: I think another key issue for the AGM is Fixture Planning - in light of 2020 being the Olympics and Euro footie tournaments (and there are bound to be others too.) With attendances apparently precarious everywhere (?) Promoters will think twice before going up against any major TV Sport - assuming they realise of course?! Whilst I agree with you, those tournaments are held in what are the traditionally drier months. ( Wishful thinking perhaps.) Also, many have complained that interest wains at many clubs when there are big gaps in fixtures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.V 72 Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 On 9/28/2019 at 5:21 PM, mikebv said: Just read this and checked the timeline when it appeared.. It said 22 hours ago.. It really could have said 22 years ago and many would stil have nodded in agreement.... How about starting with whoever becomes Champions gets their average used as the limit next year? An aspirational level to be attained by the rest.. And meaning the Champs don't have to release riders if they don't want to... And hopefully meaning their crowds, who have built an association with the riders who have brought success, can keep that so important emotional attachment that team followers desperately need..? So if Ipswich win this year every team bar P/borough have to aspire to drop there team limit to 41.43 for next season ?. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 1 hour ago, B.V 72 said: So if Ipswich win this year every team bar P/borough have to aspire to drop there team limit to 41.43 for next season ?. No, if that happens you could still decide it's 42.5 for the League so Ippo could decide to keep their seven or use the extra points available... If though another team over 42.5 wins the league they should be allowed to keep their seven too if they so wish, and that figure becomes the maximum figure.. It's ridiculous that fans become attached to riders who win leagues (especially younger fans who you want to engage more than ever) only for them to be often left out the year after... That simply doesn't equate to a sensible business model... You also have the nonsense of TV mentioning that a meeting involves "last year's Champions" when maybe only four of them are actually in attendance... British Speedway desperately needs some aspirational attainments, and dumbing down the leagues means no team has to aspire to "beat the best" because "the best" invariably gets diluted... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray c Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 On 9/30/2019 at 12:57 PM, robins les said: Whilst I agree with you, those tournaments are held in what are the traditionally drier months. ( Wishful thinking perhaps.) Also, many have complained that interest wains at many clubs when there are big gaps in fixtures. both major tournaments last for a number of weeks through out the summer so really no chance of working around them I don't think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobMcCaffery Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 On 9/30/2019 at 12:45 PM, Skidder1 said: I think another key issue for the AGM is Fixture Planning - in light of 2020 being the Olympics and Euro footie tournaments (and there are bound to be others too.) With attendances apparently precarious everywhere (?) Promoters will think twice before going up against any major TV Sport - assuming they realise of course?! What other sports or events are staged at Polish tracks? A couple seem to have football pitches while Wroclaw has an American Football pitch. I think most are single-purpose speedway stadia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveLyric2 Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 36 minutes ago, RobMcCaffery said: What other sports or events are staged at Polish tracks? A couple seem to have football pitches while Wroclaw has an American Football pitch. I think most are single-purpose speedway stadia. Really not sure what this has to do with the topic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racers and royals Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 On 9/5/2019 at 10:09 AM, Lefty said: I would like:- 1) a home meeting every week. 2) away team to visit once only per season. 3) no double-up riders. 4) less gardening at the gate! 5) a heat structure that ensures heat leaders achieve a higher average. 6) riders to adapt machinery to weather conditions AND RIDE. 7) in the event of r/r a #8 to be named and given at least one ride. 8) yellow/black helmet colour to return. 9) first race to start prompt at advertised start time. 10) a points system that allows a League Table to be understood. If points 1 and 2 are to be met- how many teams in the league 25 !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lefty Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 (edited) 5 minutes ago, racers and royals said: If points 1 and 2 are to be met- how many teams in the league 25 !!! Why not. Not far off British League in the sixties! Variety is the spice of life Edited October 2, 2019 by Lefty Spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dontforgetthefueltapsbruv Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 4 hours ago, mikebv said: No, if that happens you could still decide it's 42.5 for the League so Ippo could decide to keep their seven or use the extra points available... If though another team over 42.5 wins the league they should be allowed to keep their seven too if they so wish, and that figure becomes the maximum figure.. It's ridiculous that fans become attached to riders who win leagues (especially younger fans who you want to engage more than ever) only for them to be often left out the year after... That simply doesn't equate to a sensible business model... You also have the nonsense of TV mentioning that a meeting involves "last year's Champions" when maybe only four of them are actually in attendance... British Speedway desperately needs some aspirational attainments, and dumbing down the leagues means no team has to aspire to "beat the best" because "the best" invariably gets diluted... I seem to remember this was actually voted in during the 97 agm but immediately scrapped when the all conquering Witches swept the board in 98 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobMcCaffery Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 2 hours ago, Lefty said: Why not. Not far off British League in the sixties! Variety is the spice of life The National League in the 80s reached 21 teams at one point. Goodness knows how we coped! (Well, we enjoyed every minute.....20 league matches plus KO Cup ties, 4TT qualifiers and a load of support meetings now cynically dismissed as 'meaningless') We were far too busy enjoying what we had. Tracks like Hackney used to stage over 30 meetings a season. Goodness knows how today's "Less is more" snowflakes would cope ;-) 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSC67 Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 15 minutes ago, RobMcCaffery said: The National League in the 80s reached 21 teams at one point. Goodness knows how we coped! (Well, we enjoyed every minute.....20 league matches plus KO Cup ties, 4TT qualifiers and a load of support meetings now cynically dismissed as 'meaningless') We were far too busy enjoying what we had. Tracks like Hackney used to stage over 30 meetings a season. Goodness knows how today's "Less is more" snowflakes would cope ;-) And no guests and only a few overseas riders , I loved the old National League 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 1 hour ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said: I seem to remember this was actually voted in during the 97 agm but immediately scrapped when the all conquering Witches swept the board in 98 Was it? If so, no surprises there then.. I also seem to remember the Aces having two absolute cracking meetings against Messrs Rickardsson, Gollob, Nicholls et al that season.. Played out in front of comfortably the two biggest crowds of the season.. Sometimes having 'the team to beat' arriving at your venue can be truly money in the bank... As a Man United fan who regularly used to go watching them all over, we used to sing to the home fans "you've only come to see United". A reference to the fact that when we played them a sudden 10000 or so above the average crowd level would turn up, (for one week only it seemed).. Speedway needs a level of aspiration be it beating the best to be the best, or moving up the leagues through organic growth based on performance, rather than having "what league do you want to be in this year?" as the measure.. The same for riders too... Too good for the NL? Then you move up to the Championship. Get too good for that and you then move up to the Premiership.. Become one of your countries best riders in the Premiership then you get picked to ride for your country in Test Matches.. Perform well in those and you then get nominated for GP qualification and SEC rounds at individual level and SON/SWC at team level... The bar getting raised through constantly improving, not standing still, or even worse, constant regression.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trees Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 4 hours ago, racers and royals said: If points 1 and 2 are to be met- how many teams in the league 25 !!! Depends when the season starts and finishes, I personally wish it started first week of March and ended last week of October but those days are far behind. Fixture planning is important but even the best intentions may not work out. King's Lynn had lots of home fixtures during the summer hols this year which backfired on us earlier in the year when we had loads of away fixtures in succession which didn't help their form I think personally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobMcCaffery Posted October 3, 2019 Report Share Posted October 3, 2019 4 hours ago, DSC67 said: And no guests and only a few overseas riders , I loved the old National League I worked damn hard for it, having played a leading role in getting it televised from 1984. Having effectively two BSPAs at the time helped the situation. The British League couldn't accept an offer from Screen Sport to cover their league matches because they felt it would conflict with their deal for ITV's coverage of international events,. I lobbied hard for us to go for the NL instead and it paid off. Luckily our boss was Chris Fear, formerly with Westward TV, the ITV station for the south west who used to televise the odd event from Exeter. He knew that NL racing was just as watchable as the BL and as for lack of names our audience probably didn't know any names anyway. We went to the NL management committee and understandably they leapt at the chance. There was one technicality. The deal with ITV specified they were broadcast rights. We argued that at that dawn of cable and satellite (five years before the Sky multichannel service launched) we were not broadcasting but 'narrowcasting'. That won the day and we commenced weekly recorded match coverage plus open events recorded during the year to fill the close season until the ice racing coverage started in February. 52 weeks a year speedway was the result. I know strange things can happen in speedway. First you have to try. Within a year BL tracks were queueing up to join the NL, tempted by lower costs, a still high quality of racing and regular TV coverage. It grieves me to see today's speedway with pathetically short seasons for many. Back then if a track closed in September you knew they were in serious trouble and were likely to be goners. It was fun. It isn't now. How do we get back to enjoying ourselves? That 21 team NL meant that apart from the KO Cup and 4TT there were 20 losers. Now winning is all and anything that doesn't contribute to a possible league title is written off as meaningless. The fun's gone. Winning is far too important and if you try to make a meeting fun you'll probably get hit with a hefty misconduct fine from the BSPA/SCB for improper comment that would write off an entire season's fees or worse if you were doing it for free. At times it's hard not to despair. How DID we let that all go? Speedway - a great idea ruined. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ch958 Posted October 3, 2019 Report Share Posted October 3, 2019 great, great post RMC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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