Time to have an enquiry into the death of Speedway

[Speedtiger]

I went to Glasgow for the PO Final last year and from the moment you turn up at the stadium it feels like you're going to be watching a professionally run sport, it's the standard all other clubs should be aiming for... it's just a shame they can't make it pay!

 

i agree Glasgow have improved greatly and to there credit, very impressive BUT on there own admission they lost over £100k...no wonder they bailed out of CL this season. That sort of loss is unsustainable. 

[Terry]

2 hours ago, cityrebel said:

The London Lions in 1996 was a tenner to get in. Astonishing, considering most tracks were charging £6 at the time. Despite all of problems at the stadium, i only missed 2 meetings there that season. I must have been mad!

I remember being taken aback by the admission price too. Awful track, awful viewing.

I recently bought a London Lions highlights dvd to see if the racing was better than I remembered..It wasn't!

[Hawk127]

It may not completely stop the decline but if those in charge had the opportunity and the balls to hold their nerve, they would start addressing some issues including standardising the machines for league racing in this country. All rides have a choice as to where they ply their trade. In the U.K. we have nothing to gain by paying top dollar.  A number of options are available to have standard bikes and if you get away from the expensive machinery you then are not held to ransom by riders over money. Riders to be classified according to their average and then impose a fixed fee per point and start with bonus paid for team riding a partner home. Review the average every two months. Until you get a grip with the variable costs of rider pay rates  (fixed costs I would class as stadia, medical, insurance, track staff, referees  etc all of which are probably standard and non-negotiable’ ) they are on a hiding to nothing. Control this cost and it might allow the promoter to fund the promotional side and perhaps offer incentives to the paying customer. The club owners may be to blame for many of the failings but the riders are a huge expense and this will remain out of control as long as the riders go for more and more expensive equipment. If you cannot get around a track on a standard machine and use your track craft and skills to win races rather then being a throttle merchant, then perhaps they should look for another job.

[mikebv]

1 hour ago, Terry said:

I remember being taken aback by the admission price too. Awful track, awful viewing.

I recently bought a London Lions highlights dvd to see if the racing was better than I remembered..It wasn't!

Can't remember who, but it was one of those involved who said in the Speedway Star when the admission cost was mentioned that he thought it "cheap"...

The rationale used being that if you went to watch a "top show" in Londons entertainment sector you would would be paying many times that amount..

[Terry]

3 minutes ago, mikebv said:

Can't remember who, but it was one of those involved who said in the Speedway Star when the admission cost was mentioned that he thought it "cheap"...

The rationale used being that if you went to watch a "top show" in Londons entertainment sector you would would be paying many times that amount..

Other than Boyce flattening Gollob, I wouldn't associate London speedway with entertainment!

[Spl77]

21 hours ago, ray c said:

last night meeting from poland full of young people and families not a dogs chance that happening in this country .i am a die hard i find it so depressing 

Poland is certainly an interesting case. 

I like many have held Poland up to be as the holy grail in what league speedway can be. 

The interesting thing is having watched several Polish matches on TV the quality of the racing isn't as good as I thought it would be. 

So that begs the question why is it so successful? 

I personally think its because the people who run it have made the show slick and ensures that it is ran in a highly professional manor. 

There for they have a product that the general public and business alike want to be involved with. The crowds generate a superb atmosphere. The combination of the atmosphere and the slick presentation makes the product cool regardless of the quality of racing. 

I guess the UK was once in that sort of position having watched racing from the 70s and 80s on you tube it wasn't all passing and excitement far from it. 

However you had the crowds the banter between Fans and the atmosphere that generated. 

Unfortunately as the sport became more and more micky mouse the fans started to drift away which ment less and less atmosphere so the quality of the racing became the focus wrongly in my opinion. 

For me I walked away because of the constant rule changes the vaslty over use of the guest rule. The double up and down rule finally saw an end to my picking and choosing meetings. Now I go once a year to catch up with friends who like me used to go. 

As a guy in his early 40s with young kids I was and should be part of speedways future. However until they can run the sport as a professional product or run it purely as an amateur sport and charge fiver to get in away I shall stay, 

[HGould]

1 hour ago, Spl77 said:

Poland is certainly an interesting case. 

I like many have held Poland up to be as the holy grail in what league speedway can be. 

The interesting thing is having watched several Polish matches on TV the quality of the racing isn't as good as I thought it would be. 

So that begs the question why is it so successful? 

I personally think its because the people who run it have made the show slick and ensures that it is ran in a highly professional manor. 

There for they have a product that the general public and business alike want to be involved with. The crowds generate a superb atmosphere. The combination of the atmosphere and the slick presentation makes the product cool regardless of the quality of racing. 

I guess the UK was once in that sort of position having watched racing from the 70s and 80s on you tube it wasn't all passing and excitement far from it. 

However you had the crowds the banter between Fans and the atmosphere that generated. 

Unfortunately as the sport became more and more micky mouse the fans started to drift away which ment less and less atmosphere so the quality of the racing became the focus wrongly in my opinion. 

For me I walked away because of the constant rule changes the vaslty over use of the guest rule. The double up and down rule finally saw an end to my picking and choosing meetings. Now I go once a year to catch up with friends who like me used to go. 

As a guy in his early 40s with young kids I was and should be part of speedways future. However until they can run the sport as a professional product or run it purely as an amateur sport and charge fiver to get in away I shall stay, 

Never fails to amaze me how those who say they don't go to speedway anymore can make such sweeping and often inaccurate statements about its health. 

It's clearly got major problems but there are green shoots with young riders, GB set up, increased crowds and community initiatives at many clubs and a few promotions that actually have new ideas and some business acumen. 

No doubt I will be sent to the mad House but I'm more positive now than I was 3 and 5 years ago at Brummies and other clubs in CL and NDL

[mikebv]

3 hours ago, Spl77 said:

Poland is certainly an interesting case. 

I like many have held Poland up to be as the holy grail in what league speedway can be. 

The interesting thing is having watched several Polish matches on TV the quality of the racing isn't as good as I thought it would be. 

So that begs the question why is it so successful? 

I personally think its because the people who run it have made the show slick and ensures that it is ran in a highly professional manor. 

There for they have a product that the general public and business alike want to be involved with. The crowds generate a superb atmosphere. The combination of the atmosphere and the slick presentation makes the product cool regardless of the quality of racing. 

I guess the UK was once in that sort of position having watched racing from the 70s and 80s on you tube it wasn't all passing and excitement far from it. 

However you had the crowds the banter between Fans and the atmosphere that generated. 

Unfortunately as the sport became more and more micky mouse the fans started to drift away which ment less and less atmosphere so the quality of the racing became the focus wrongly in my opinion. 

For me I walked away because of the constant rule changes the vaslty over use of the guest rule. The double up and down rule finally saw an end to my picking and choosing meetings. Now I go once a year to catch up with friends who like me used to go. 

As a guy in his early 40s with young kids I was and should be part of speedways future. However until they can run the sport as a professional product or run it purely as an amateur sport and charge fiver to get in away I shall stay, 

You and many, many more sadly .

Truly amazing how so many, over so many years, have collectively managed to deliver what we have today.

With not one it appears seeing the terraces emptying around them or their costs of running rising at the same time..

Just when you needed more customers because you chose to increase your outgoings, you deliver something which alienates even some of your most loyal patrons...

And then continue to do it, year in, year out, even though the fans are telling you by their lack of visits that you are on the wrong path..

A Dragons Den business plan pitch it is definitely not...

[Spl77]

3 hours ago, HGould said:

Never fails to amaze me how those who say they don't go to speedway anymore can make such sweeping and often inaccurate statements about its health. 

It's clearly got major problems but there are green shoots with young riders, GB set up, increased crowds and community initiatives at many clubs and a few promotions that actually have new ideas and some business acumen. 

No doubt I will be sent to the mad House but I'm more positive now than I was 3 and 5 years ago at Brummies and other clubs in CL and NDL

I don't see how it's inaccurate? How many times do we read on here in the speedway star or elsewhere Promotion a b or c complaining about falling attendances rising costs and how they are running below their break-even figure and losing money hand over fist? 

Just because we don't go on a regular basis or at all doesn't mean we don't stay connected via the speedway press. 

No one can deny the empty terraces compared to 10, 20 or 30 years ago. 

Some promotions are trying and some are loosing huge sums trying. 

Untill there is a collective will to push forward nothing will change. 

[JamesHarris]

I've not gone all through this thread but one thing I was wondering today is what if most of the riders who race in the British Leagues have now found themselves decent paid jobs this year to make a living. Come 2021 (if we are back to normal then) Will the same riders think "you know what, I'm quite enjoying having a steady income and not have to worry about the expense of running 2 bikes". Will the occasional spin in a Amateur meeting at Scunny be enough to satisfy their desire to race? Of cause I am only talking about the bread and butter riders here and not the top international one's who have lucrative deals in Poland or Sweden. Will be interesting to see what happens. 

[Piotr Pyszny]

30 minutes ago, JamesHarris said:

I've not gone all through this thread but one thing I was wondering today is what if most of the riders who race in the British Leagues have now found themselves decent paid jobs this year to make a living. 

Given the revelations about the number of applicants for advertised job vacancies (15,000 for 10 the most extreme I've seen), how likely is that?

[Ben91]

7 hours ago, HGould said:

Never fails to amaze me how those who say they don't go to speedway anymore can make such sweeping and often inaccurate statements about its health. 

It's clearly got major problems but there are green shoots with young riders, GB set up, increased crowds and community initiatives at many clubs and a few promotions that actually have new ideas and some business acumen. 

No doubt I will be sent to the mad House but I'm more positive now than I was 3 and 5 years ago at Brummies and other clubs in CL and NDL

It isn’t a sweeping statement and it isn’t wide of the mark at all.

The sport is in decline everywhere, the trouble is some people believe the propaganda that is put out, they tend to be the ones who still attend religiously. Green shoots are easy to pull up. Look at the young riders with half a chance of progressing domestically who have retired in the last few years alone. That says more than the few who are considered prospects now and could as easily pack it in by this time next year as be riding at a high level in the future. 

[IainB]

10 hours ago, JamesHarris said:

I've not gone all through this thread but one thing I was wondering today is what if most of the riders who race in the British Leagues have now found themselves decent paid jobs this year to make a living. Come 2021 (if we are back to normal then) Will the same riders think "you know what, I'm quite enjoying having a steady income and not have to worry about the expense of running 2 bikes". Will the occasional spin in a Amateur meeting at Scunny be enough to satisfy their desire to race? Of cause I am only talking about the bread and butter riders here and not the top international one's who have lucrative deals in Poland or Sweden. Will be interesting to see what happens. 

I'm not sure these riders are securing highly paid jobs in the city, I think the chance of earning a few hundred quid to a grand a night compared to minimum wage driving a van is a pretty easy decision to make.

[Ringitsneck]

On 8/1/2020 at 7:50 AM, iainb said:

I'm not sure these riders are securing highly paid jobs in the city, I think the chance of earning a few hundred quid to a grand a night compared to minimum wage driving a van is a pretty easy decision to make.

You think ‘ bread and butter ‘ riders are picking up a grand a night ?
you must be looking at Glasgow’s wage bill.

[IainB]

1 minute ago, Ringitsneck said:

You think ‘ bread and butter ‘ riders are picking up a grand a night ?
you must be looking at Glasgow’s wage bill.

If you read what I wrote "the chance of earning a few hundred quid to a grand a night" 

[HackneyHawk]

On 7/30/2020 at 6:20 PM, mikebv said:

It's grammar not spelling.

The spelling was correct.

Starting this thread was worth it for this!! ha ha!! I stand corrected on my grammar not spelling!

[HackneyHawk]

Will go to Glasgow next year, was very impressed with the recent film.

An earlier post mentioned Poland doing so well despite the racing not being great and I suppose it must be presentation and advertising?

I took yet another newcomer along to Ipswich one year when they were in the top flight and I promised them that these were the best level riders.  The meeting parade was 14 scruffy riders mixed together wearing different racesuits/racejackets, appearing bored, being dragged around on a trailer hooked to the back of someone's car to the theme from Star Wars.  My friend laughed, I cringed and the racing was awful.

My friend said "in most of these races, why doesn't the red helmet help out the blue helmet otherwise it's not a team is it"? I said, there was something called team riding but you don't see it much anymore........

Speedway needs to look cared for. 'if you respect yourself, others will respect you'

I would gladly go along voluntarily to Kent for a bit of weeding/painting etc (anything for Leapin' Len)

[stevehone]

people that run the speedway should always be looking at other sports and see what it is that attracts supporters. why do bangers get 3 - 4000+ for a meeting and people walk away at the end having had a good night for example?  

the time now is right to have a complete rethink over how the sport in this country is run and presented, tried and tested is obviously not working but that's the fall-back every single season.

 

[Piotr Pyszny]

31 minutes ago, stevehone said:

people that run the speedway should always be looking at other sports and see what it is that attracts supporters. why do bangers get 3 - 4000+ for a meeting and people walk away at the end having had a good night for example?  

the time now is right to have a complete rethink over how the sport in this country is run and presented, tried and tested is obviously not working but that's the fall-back every single season.

 

I remember one of my brothers remarking: "The spectators at banger racing make those at speedway look well-to-do."

In my (admittedly fairly limited) experience of banger racing, the pauses between races are considerably longer than in speedway (something for which the latter is often marked down).

Edited August 3, 2020 by Piotr Pyszny

[steve roberts]

1 hour ago, Piotr Pyszny said:

I remember one of my brothers remarking: "The spectators at banger racing make those at speedway look well-to-do."

In my (admittedly fairly limited) experience of banger racing, the pauses between races are considerably longer than in speedway (something for which the latter is often marked down).

Went to one Banger meeting at Faringdon Raceway (?) many years ago and found it very uninspiring!