Reading blocked from Entering NDL

[RobMcCaffery]

An essential part of the return of speedway to Rye House in 2000 was the entry of the nomadic Rockets team to the CL the year before which proved clearly and emphatically that there was still a workable fanbase. Sadly Cradley weren't able to do the same.

There is a fine line between a genuine attempt to revive a track, as with Weymouth and Scunthorpe in open events in the 2000s and just putting a side out with an old name to make money or was just an enthusiast's dream.

 

 

Edited January 7, 2020 by RobMcCaffery

[False dawn]

53 minutes ago, RobMcCaffery said:

.......and just putting a side out with an old name to make money or was just an enthusiast's dream.

No offense meant but this has got me riled......

I cannot imagine anyone ever has or could ever make any worthwhile money from such a venture. 
So, in answer to your second point, what's wrong with putting out a team with "an old name" as an enthusiast's dream?
Besides, whatever happened to having teams competing in a development league to provide opportunities for new and upcoming riders that the public want to see and are willing to pay to do so?

[RobMcCaffery]

2 hours ago, False dawn said:

No offense meant but this has got me riled......

I cannot imagine anyone ever has or could ever make any worthwhile money from such a venture. 
So, in answer to your second point, what's wrong with putting out a team with "an old name" as an enthusiast's dream?
Besides, whatever happened to having teams competing in a development league to provide opportunities for new and upcoming riders that the public want to see and are willing to pay to do so?

I'm sorry you are upset but there was one case that I encountered that fully supports that comment. It was an attempt to cash in on what we were achieving with the Rye House nomadic revival. It did not last long, despite some fancy words. Sadly I cannot go further. Speedway has its dodgier moments ;-) The speedway scene in 1999 was rather different to now. We took no gate money from the meetings at Mildenhall. All we earned were club memberships, programme sales and sponsorship. I know that at one point I was informed we had raised enough of the latter to run the whole season with NO gate receipts. You could still make money out of speedway, one way or another twenty years ago. I said there was a fine line but not that either side of it was not legitimate. I should have said that one should be more carefully vetted.

At junior league level I have no problem with enthusiasts bringing back old names in those minor leagues where giving riders track time is the priority. I've already suggested, half in humour elsewhere that a Rayleigh v Romford match for the Essex Gold Cup, held by the Rockets since 1971 might be a useful fixture addition at a revived Rye House ;-)

I've also had direct experience of a genuine attempt to use another revived team name to put pressure on getting a track back in the form of Boston during their residency at King's Lynn. I worked for Stephen Lambert and Malcolm Vasey through 2000 as their announcer and know how hard they fought for a piece of land in Boston and how frustrated they were by the opposition from the local council.

 

So yes, I fully support and have worked to help teams reviving old names THAT WERE PART OF AN HONEST CAMPAIGN TO RE-OPEN THE RELEVANT TRACKS. Equally I would be delighted to help out junior league teams simply wishing to see their team race again in that enthusiast's dream. 

Back in about 2004 I was proud to announce at a meeting at Sittingbourne/Iwade that included teams from Weymouth and Scunthorpe. I believe this was the debut of both revivals. I was delighted to feel I'd played a small part in reviving both when they both later returned to racing. 

Where I do draw the line is where the whole thing is just a cynical attempt to pull the wool over the sport's and supporters' eyes. Believe me, it has happened , sometimes for one-offs or on a longer term basis and that I cannot accept.

I'm sure this Reading project to race at Swindon was genuine. This evening I found myself in Oxford and went to take a look at Cowley Stadium. It is heart-breaking to see a fine speedway venue reduced to karting sessions and if a project to put a nomadic Oxford team on track to force the hand at Cowley was formed I'd be delighted to help. 

Next season will be my 50th in the sport. I lost my track, Rayleigh at the end of my THIRD season, the day after my 16th birthday. Even though we lived on at Rye House it still hurts to have lost my first speedway home, my beloved Weir. Guess why I am so passionate about reviving lost tracks and teams....

I believe you are a Coventry supporter. If so I don't need to remind you of the pain of such a loss. 

There is a right way and a wrong way to go about it though. I can see why the BSPA are wary but feel they're being overcautious with the Racers. If it HAD gone ahead I'd probably have been a regular supporter since Swindon is my nearest track, assuming my recent health recovery might allow me to return to watching speedway live this year.

It all goes to prove that not everything's as clear-cut as those on the outside may believe. 

R.I.P Rayleigh Rockets Speedway (1948-73). 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2020 by RobMcCaffery

[RobMcCaffery]

Just as a P.S., to illustrate the sport's attitude sometimes. In 1999 the Rockets started the season at Eastbourne then moved full-time to Mildenhall. For the match with the Fen Tigers we had to use King's Lynn. One prominent speedway administrator told us "You'll be selling lucky heather and clothes pegs like the gypsies next". Classy.

 

[False dawn]

6 minutes ago, RobMcCaffery said:

I believe you are a Coventry supporter

I apologise for my earlier outburst.

We are clearly alike in the length and depth of our support. This would have been my 50th year at Brandon. And I saw the Bees being run in the NDL out of Leicester for allegedly questionable motives.
However, from your much wider and deeper experience of actually doing something about reviving teams, you speak with far greater authority than I. Can I believe that there are folks in our sport that do things for less than the most laudable reasons? Life teaches me the answer to that one.

So my comments were from the heart and arguably a bit naive. Would I change, even if I could?

[Islander15]

They’ve shut this idea down because the BSPA want to shut down the wholeness league! Their idea is clearly a 2 tier concept with a genuine training league like the MDL so why would they effectively let Reading step up from the MDL to the NL when they want to shut down the NL anyway?! The name thing is all a cover ploy to stop a new team entering a league that they don’t want to exist. 

[cityrebel]

I would have thought it was essential for the likes of Oxford to run a side in the NDL. It might help in their fight to save Cowley stadium.

[skydog]

10 hours ago, RobMcCaffery said:

An essential part of the return of speedway to Rye House in 2000 was the entry of the nomadic Rockets team to the CL the year before which proved clearly and emphatically that there was still a workable fanbase. Sadly Cradley weren't able to do the same.

There is a fine line between a genuine attempt to revive a track, as with Weymouth and Scunthorpe in open events in the 2000s and just putting a side out with an old name to make money or was just an enthusiast's dream.

 

 

Hi Rob, it's nice to hear a little reminder of how a nomadic team turned out to be such a success for Rye House, I'd actually forgotten that.

I would like to assure you that at Reading we are certainly not in this to make money, none of us have ever taken a penny, not in "wages", expenses or anything else. It's more a case of spending our own (we are not wealthy people), as an example last years pit board and website included 3 "sponsor's names" that were paid for by 2 of us out of our pockets. We take no gate receipts, and as you said, money comes in from sponsorship, fundraising and club members who donate a small amount each month.

Also we have a land and property professional who is a Speedway enthusiast and is every bit as keen as we are, constantly looking for what he considers to be suitable land (he is obviously far more knowledgeable than we are) and speaking to land owners and planning departments. We all know this has all been done by various people in various locations across the country with varying results but our attitude is that nobody else is gonna do this in Reading so we'll keep trying for the foreseeable.

I get what you mean when you say you can't be sure what peoples motives are or how serious they are, but I hope this reasures you that our intentions are honourable! I hope one day I can say our venture was as successful as yours...

 

[RobMcCaffery]

3 hours ago, skydog said:

Hi Rob, it's nice to hear a little reminder of how a nomadic team turned out to be such a success for Rye House, I'd actually forgotten that.

I would like to assure you that at Reading we are certainly not in this to make money, none of us have ever taken a penny, not in "wages", expenses or anything else. It's more a case of spending our own (we are not wealthy people), as an example last years pit board and website included 3 "sponsor's names" that were paid for by 2 of us out of our pockets. We take no gate receipts, and as you said, money comes in from sponsorship, fundraising and club members who donate a small amount each month.

Also we have a land and property professional who is a Speedway enthusiast and is every bit as keen as we are, constantly looking for what he considers to be suitable land (he is obviously far more knowledgeable than we are) and speaking to land owners and planning departments. We all know this has all been done by various people in various locations across the country with varying results but our attitude is that nobody else is gonna do this in Reading so we'll keep trying for the foreseeable.

I get what you mean when you say you can't be sure what peoples motives are or how serious they are, but I hope this reasures you that our intentions are honourable! I hope one day I can say our venture was as successful as yours...

 

Thanks for the reassurance. I hope you achieve your target. Don't be deterred by this set-back. The BSPA may be testing your commitment. Sometimes there are good reasons for otherwise annoying or baffling decisions, especially in speedway. It's interesting how few people remember our efforts of 1999. You do get the feeling it's been rather airbrushed out of speedway history. We put a few noses out of joint but we started another two decades of racing at Rye House. 

Edited January 8, 2020 by RobMcCaffery

[RobMcCaffery]

10 hours ago, False dawn said:

I apologise for my earlier outburst.

We are clearly alike in the length and depth of our support. This would have been my 50th year at Brandon. And I saw the Bees being run in the NDL out of Leicester for allegedly questionable motives.
However, from your much wider and deeper experience of actually doing something about reviving teams, you speak with far greater authority than I. Can I believe that there are folks in our sport that do things for less than the most laudable reasons? Life teaches me the answer to that one.

So my comments were from the heart and arguably a bit naive. Would I change, even if I could?

No problem, like you I'm just a supporter who loves the sport. Thankfully I got the chance to do more. I look forward to seeing Brandon restored to its proper purpose. My contribution to the sport is tiny compared to most but unlike most I'm prepared to talk about it openly here in the hope it may help people to understand what goes on, or like me learn from my experiences. Every closed track is the death of a friend. Yes, even Crayford......

 

[skydog]

2 hours ago, RobMcCaffery said:

 It's interesting how few people remember our efforts of 1999. You do get the feeling it's been rather airbrushed out of speedway history. We put a few noses out of joint but we started another two decades of racing at Rye House. 

Dont be offended by people forgetting it... I think it's purely been overshadowed by the success that Rye House enjoyed since then, which can only be a good thing... kind of!

[ruckerroo]

Happy Hunting skydog.

[Pinny]

Would be good to see Reading back . Whatever happened to Nick Dyer? Is he still involved in the sport or just completely vanished since Reading closed?

[False dawn]

5 minutes ago, Pinny said:

Would be good to see Reading back . Whatever happened to Nick Dyer? Is he still involved in the sport or just completely vanished since Reading closed?

I heard they'd signed Anders Michanek, Dag Lövaas and Bernie Leigh as their heat leaders before the BSPA refused them entry into the league. 

[arnieg]

He was at one of the 2018 SDL matches at Eastbourne and admitted it was his first speedway meeting since 2008. He goes to a lot of indy rock concerts these days.

[Pinny]

17 minutes ago, arnieg said:

He was at one of the 2018 SDL matches at Eastbourne and admitted it was his first speedway meeting since 2008. He goes to a lot of indy rock concerts these days.

So he is still about then?

Was a classic forum member back in the day, had many debates with him as a youngster but definitely a good guy. 

[Bagpuss]

Racer X?

[Pinny]

24 minutes ago, Bagpuss said:

Racer X?

Aye

[skydog]

48 minutes ago, Pinny said:

So he is still about then?

Was a classic forum member back in the day, had many debates with him as a youngster but definitely a good guy. 

Me too! I soon learned that if Nick said something it was almost certainly right, or at least based on fact!

[Richspeedway]

Good luck with finding a new home, be great to see Reading, Oxford and Swindon doing battle again