Poole Pirates 2021

[Catalan]

11 hours ago, lisa-colette said:

Yep, as soon as I read they were involved in the talks I thought they hit a dead end with GI.

Mmm I heard a different version.

[LisaColette]

4 hours ago, sugarray said:

Mmm I heard a different version.

That's fine! My thinking very rarely seems to be correct lol

[Steve Shovlar]

Had a good long chat with a person of note last night. He explained in detail the reasoning of why tickets need to be sold in batches of 6. And it was really out of his hands. 

As you can all guess, the landlord did not want the stadium re-opened. They only have 2 staff and making a mint out of the car park. 500 cars at £7 a day. 

Matt Ford now HAS TO employ 21 covid security staff, all qualified in covid security, and costing Poole Speedway £2100 a meeting. He can’t use the regular stewards if they have not attended the relevant covid security courses. So £100 a pop and there has to be 21.

The club have not been allowed any access into the stadium since the first lockdown. They can now finally get in and start to tidy up, get the place marked out, and get the riders without track time the opportunity to get some desperately needed practice. Hopefully today a behind closed doors session.

Now to the ticketing. The council said 900 fans could attend. Matt said that would mean a loss. So it’s been upped to 1200, with just 400 allowed in the glass grandstand, 500 in the main and the rest on the bends. If Matt sold a single ticket, that would rule out 5 fans, as the 1 fan would sit in an area for 6 and no others would be allowed to sit there. It would reduce attendance to about 500 and a big financial loss.

The meeting will be streamed live. Unsure what the fee will be to watch, probably the same as Glasgow. The club are definitely looking into streaming meetings live. It will come down to cost. I think I heard the overall cost of £2000 for this meeting to be streamed. Think the price would be considerably less per meeting for the club going forward. 

The reason the Berwick meeting is not being delayed until after 21st June is two fold. The fans want to see racing, and secondly, as a team, to ride several away meetings with no home meetings could mean the team start with several defeats which doesn’t give the riders confidence. Wins breed confidence.

There was plenty more which is currently best left alone at the moment, but the main thing is Poole Speedway will be up and running on 9th June and we can thank Matt Ford for some seriously determined words and for the council to finally get off their arse and back him.

Now after thinking about the 6 ticket situation, I would say this as my thoughts. Call/Facebook/Twitter/email/message/Instagram/Telegram/WhatsApp your friends who you meet at the stadium, and get one to buy 6 tickets. The have the others PayPal or transfer their ticket money to you. Or meet the at the stadium car park and pay you for the ticket. It’s the only way to guarantee access to the meeting. Is this breaking the rules? I guess so. But most of us have had our second jab, we are outside, and we are wearing masks. The security are not going to ask if we are two families or one. If they do, you are all brothers or sisters. If you are unhappy about this paragraph, that’s fine and understandable. You can pay and watch the meeting on a live stream. But I just don’t see any other way of gaining access to the stadium other than what I have just written.
 

[SteveLyric2]

23 hours ago, Steve Shovlar said:

Had a good long chat with a person of note last night. He explained in detail the reasoning of why tickets need to be sold in batches of 6. And it was really out of his hands. 

As you can all guess, the landlord did not want the stadium re-opened. They only have 2 staff and making a mint out of the car park. 500 cars at £7 a day. 

Matt Ford now HAS TO employ 21 covid security staff, all qualified in covid security, and costing Poole Speedway £2100 a meeting. He can’t use the regular stewards if they have not attended the relevant covid security courses. So £100 a pop and there has to be 21.

The club have not been allowed any access into the stadium since the first lockdown. They can now finally get in and start to tidy up, get the place marked out, and get the riders without track time the opportunity to get some desperately needed practice. Hopefully today a behind closed doors session.

Now to the ticketing. The council said 900 fans could attend. Matt said that would mean a loss. So it’s been upped to 1200, with just 400 allowed in the glass grandstand, 500 in the main and the rest on the bends. If Matt sold a single ticket, that would rule out 5 fans, as the 1 fan would sit in an area for 6 and no others would be allowed to sit there. It would reduce attendance to about 500 and a big financial loss.

The meeting will be streamed live. Unsure what the fee will be to watch, probably the same as Glasgow. The club are definitely looking into streaming meetings live. It will come down to cost. I think I heard the overall cost of £2000 for this meeting to be streamed. Think the price would be considerably less per meeting for the club going forward. 

The reason the Berwick meeting is not being delayed until after 21st June is two fold. The fans want to see racing, and secondly, as a team, to ride several away meetings with no home meetings could mean the team start with several defeats which doesn’t give the riders confidence. Wins breed confidence.

There was plenty more which is currently best left alone at the moment, but the main thing is Poole Speedway will be up and running on 9th June and we can thank Matt Ford for some seriously determined words and for the council to finally get off their arse and back him.

Now after thinking about the 6 ticket situation, I would say this as my thoughts. Call/Facebook/Twitter/email/message/Instagram/Telegram/WhatsApp your friends who you meet at the stadium, and get one to buy 6 tickets. The have the others PayPal or transfer their ticket money to you. Or meet the at the stadium car park and pay you for the ticket. It’s the only way to guarantee access to the meeting. Is this breaking the rules? I guess so. But most of us have had our second jab, we are outside, and we are wearing masks. The security are not going to ask if we are two families or one. If they do, you are all brothers or sisters. If you are unhappy about this paragraph, that’s fine and understandable. You can pay and watch the meeting on a live stream. But I just don’t see any other way of gaining access to the stadium other than what I have just written.
 

I don't disagree with any of that except the 4th para. Danny and volunteer workforce were working at the track a couple of weekends ago, so a start has been made albeit a small one.

How about starting a 'crowd funding' to help with the cost of the extra marshalls? Or maybe the supporters club (R.E.F.) might like to donate as they have continued to take member subscriptions right through lockdown?

Edited May 22, 2021 by Skidder1

[LisaColette]

1 hour ago, Steve Shovlar said:

Had a good long chat with a person of note last night. He explained in detail the reasoning of why tickets need to be sold in batches of 6. And it was really out of his hands. 

As you can all guess, the landlord did not want the stadium re-opened. They only have 2 staff and making a mint out of the car park. 500 cars at £7 a day. 

Matt Ford now HAS TO employ 21 covid security staff, all qualified in covid security, and costing Poole Speedway £2100 a meeting. He can’t use the regular stewards if they have not attended the relevant covid security courses. So £100 a pop and there has to be 21.

The club have not been allowed any access into the stadium since the first lockdown. They can now finally get in and start to tidy up, get the place marked out, and get the riders without track time the opportunity to get some desperately needed practice. Hopefully today a behind closed doors session.

Now to the ticketing. The council said 900 fans could attend. Matt said that would mean a loss. So it’s been upped to 1200, with just 400 allowed in the glass grandstand, 500 in the main and the rest on the bends. If Matt sold a single ticket, that would rule out 5 fans, as the 1 fan would sit in an area for 6 and no others would be allowed to sit there. It would reduce attendance to about 500 and a big financial loss.

The meeting will be streamed live. Unsure what the fee will be to watch, probably the same as Glasgow. The club are definitely looking into streaming meetings live. It will come down to cost. I think I heard the overall cost of £2000 for this meeting to be streamed. Think the price would be considerably less per meeting for the club going forward. 

The reason the Berwick meeting is not being delayed until after 21st June is two fold. The fans want to see racing, and secondly, as a team, to ride several away meetings with no home meetings could mean the team start with several defeats which doesn’t give the riders confidence. Wins breed confidence.

There was plenty more which is currently best left alone at the moment, but the main thing is Poole Speedway will be up and running on 9th June and we can thank Matt Ford for some seriously determined words and for the council to finally get off their arse and back him.

Now after thinking about the 6 ticket situation, I would say this as my thoughts. Call/Facebook/Twitter/email/message/Instagram/Telegram/WhatsApp your friends who you meet at the stadium, and get one to buy 6 tickets. The have the others PayPal or transfer their ticket money to you. Or meet the at the stadium car park and pay you for the ticket. It’s the only way to guarantee access to the meeting. Is this breaking the rules? I guess so. But most of us have had our second jab, we are outside, and we are wearing masks. The security are not going to ask if we are two families or one. If they do, you are all brothers or sisters. If you are unhappy about this paragraph, that’s fine and understandable. You can pay and watch the meeting on a live stream. But I just don’t see any other way of gaining access to the stadium other than what I have just written.
 

I am not sure about that. Just cos you've had the vaccine doesn't mean you can't pass it on to someone else. They are still not sure how transmissable it is. Sometimes Steve, you can't do whatever you want and you just have to suck it up for a month or so.

Edit  - Or you ask around and see if there is a family of 5 (from one household) you can go with!

Edited May 21, 2021 by lisa-colette

[TotallyHonestJohn]

Jesus strong feeling of déjà vu here...

[Catalan]

What is the point of all the moaning?

Embrace what we have to work with.

The only other option was to shut for this year and probably for good.

[Steve Shovlar]

On another point, the promotion is considering if the fans would prefer a Friday or Saturday race night now that the dogs have gone. 
 

We have been a Wednesday night club for a long time before shifting to Thursdays, which brought about a 20% drop in season tickets. Would fans prefer to come along with their kids on a weekend with no school the next day? I believe there are going to be a couple of weekend meetings in the pipeline this season.

[flagrag]

22 minutes ago, Steve Shovlar said:

On another point, the promotion is considering if the fans would prefer a Friday or Saturday race night now that the dogs have gone. 
 

We have been a Wednesday night club for a long time before shifting to Thursdays, which brought about a 20% drop in season tickets. Would fans prefer to come along with their kids on a weekend with no school the next day? I believe there are going to be a couple of weekend meetings in the pipeline this season.

If the Leicester meeting could be moved to a Saturday or Sunday that would make good sense as I am confident a number of fans would travel along with possibly a coach like they did to Eastbourne and Berwick  in 2019 

[Steve Shovlar]

Saturday night at Wimborne Road would be great. Certainly attract away fans and neutrals.

[cityrebel]

26 minutes ago, Steve Shovlar said:

Saturday night at Wimborne Road would be great. Certainly attract away fans and neutrals.

If they're allowed in!

[mikebv]

6 hours ago, Steve Shovlar said:

Saturday night at Wimborne Road would be great. Certainly attract away fans and neutrals.

Certainly seems to have worked for Leicester if the attendances quoted on their thread are accurate.. 

ie drop down, stop paying out for GP riders and stop having to ride mid week to accommodate them.

Net result? Larger crowds at weekends watching (due to the amount of DU's), a great many of exactly the same riders they would have seen riding anyway if they had stayed at the 'top level'.. 

 

[SteveLyric2]

Wednesdays have traditionally been Poole's home night.  Fridays or Saturdays would see speedway competing with a host of other attractions at a time when people traditionally go out and spend their money on other things - and there are plenty of other options locally despite what some may think.!

The occasional weekend meeting may work if announced and well planned in advance so as not to clash with any other attractions. As things begin to recover from lockdown and other sports/activities/entetainment return to normal, many take place  at weekends and will risk splitting your audience.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Skidder1

[LisaColette]

4 minutes ago, Skidder1 said:

Wednesdays have traditionally been Poole's home night.  Fridays or Saturdays would see speedway competing with a host of other attractions at a time when people traditionally go out and spend their money on other things.!

The occasional weekend meeting may work if announced and well planned in advance so as not to clash with any other attractions. As things begin to recover from lockdown and other sports/activities/entetainment return to normal, many take place  at weekends and will risk splitting your audience.

You would get more families attending if it was at the weekend. What sort of attractions are you talking about? Plus you would get the tourists that are down for the weekend. I think it would work.

[Steve Shovlar]

Disagree Skidder. Families will bring their kids along and away fans will travel down, possibly making a weekend of it.  Saturdays are much more accessible in the scheme of things. All other attractions are also open every day. 

Go to speedway on a Saturday then pop down the quay afterwards for a lemonade or two.

[SteveLyric2]

17 minutes ago, Steve Shovlar said:

Disagree Skidder. Families will bring their kids along and away fans will travel down, possibly making a weekend of it.  Saturdays are much more accessible in the scheme of things. All other attractions are also open every day. 

Go to speedway on a Saturday then pop down the quay afterwards for a lemonade or two.

Well its only my opinion having spent much of my working life in local events, hospitality and leisure industries. Even now retired, regular Friday/Saturday meetings would rule me out due to other obligations.

To get families to bring their kids along to anything on a regular basis in this day and age would be remarkable for any popular event/activity let alone speedway.

For holidaymakers it is well known that Fri/Sat is 'changeover day' for hotels/guest houses, campsites etc.  A midweek fixture is  traditionally much easier for holiday makers to plan into their week's stay!

Edited May 22, 2021 by Skidder1

[Arthur54]

I think Saturday night would be a brilliant idea, use to enjoy Saturday night speedway at places like Swindon, Coventry and Cradley 

[ray c]

With quite a few teams already race on a  saturday there could be quite few blanks in the home fixture list .plus the fact two posters have said stadia uk dont want us there anyway I'm sure stadia uk got idea's of there own especially at weekends .

[lewy]

On 4/14/2021 at 7:37 PM, scottyfan said:

With the “South African” variant coming back into play and undoubtedly the “Brazilian “ variant will rear its ugly head again too, I still can’t see there being any league speedway in the UK this season 

You got that one wrong Mr Brightside 

[Steve Shovlar]

2 hours ago, ray c said:

With quite a few teams already race on a  saturday there could be quite few blanks in the home fixture list .plus the fact two posters have said stadia uk dont want us there anyway I'm sure stadia uk got idea's of there own especially at weekends .

Stadia U.K. don’t want the stadium open full stop. It was only the intervention of the council and legal threats which forced their hand. The argument was, the stadium has been left to the people of Poole as a Sporting venue. So why are the company running the stadium only running it as a car park business with no intention whatsoever of re-opening the stadium to sports?

They have no interest in using the stadium. 500 car park spaces at £7 a time 5 days a week with extra at the weekend is good enough for them with just two staff. They don’t want to employ anyone. Don’t want to open the bar, the food outlets, so the last thing they want is to hold events. It would mean spending money and employing staff that they have sacked.

Saturdays are going begging and if we clash with a Saturday club, Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons are free.

Those days would certainly attract bigger crowds than mid week.