Pride Month

[Haywood]

3 hours ago, HackneyHawk said:

No to Speedway celebrating Pride. Not because Pride isn't worth celebrating (it really is) but if Speedway did it, it would be an embarrassing, clumsy load of old crap along the lines of much of the way British speedway is run/presented generally 

I can understand where you are coming from.

Other sports like Cycling and Ice Hockey are having challenging constructive debates about diversity and inclusion. Maybe Speedway (or at least this forum anyway) is not ready for that debate. But what does that say about Speedway's future?

I do find it puzzling that fans of a minority support show so little empathy to minority groups.

Edited June 3, 2021 by Haywood
Correct typo

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

1 hour ago, Haywood said:

I do find it puzzling that fans of a minority support show so little empathy to minority groups.

Perhaps then we should be having a national speedway week or month.......

It would obviously need to have at least a 5 minute slot in every msm news bulletin and anyone not attending a Speedway meeting in that time would be labelled as a narrow minded bigot

[Deano]

13 minutes ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

Perhaps then we should be having a national speedway week or month.......

It would obviously need to have at least a 5 minute slot in every msm news bulletin and anyone not attending a Speedway meeting in that time would be labelled as a narrow minded bigot

A “Speedway Matters” movement perhaps? We could take down or demand to be taken down any statues related to football history.

[bluebee]

1 hour ago, Haywood said:

do find it puzzling that fans of a minority support show so little empathy to minority groups.

That is quite an assumption. This forum has many different voices and just because there does not seem to be wholesale support for your  chosen minority does not mean that there is no empathy for at least some of the  LBGTQI+ cause.  As a successful  promotional initiative in basketball  I have looked at your link and it is a rather subjective report.  It doesn't really prove  that it was a success beyond the fact that some who took part enjoyed it.  There can also be a negative reaction to what may be seen as jumping on a social bandwagon - look at the kneeling at football matches, it has become increasingly controversial and divisive I think. I think speedway needs to focus on its  real problem which is promtion of the sport not social issues.

[Haywood]

13 minutes ago, bluebee said:

That is quite an assumption. This forum has many different voices and just because there does not seem to be wholesale support for your  chosen minority does not mean that there is no empathy for at least some of the  LBGTQI+ cause.  As a successful  promotional initiative in basketball  I have looked at your link and it is a rather subjective report.  It doesn't really prove  that it was a success beyond the fact that some who took part enjoyed it.  There can also be a negative reaction to what may be seen as jumping on a social bandwagon - look at the kneeling at football matches, it has become increasingly controversial and divisive I think. I think speedway needs to focus on its  real problem which is promtion of the sport not social issues.

Thanks for your response.  And thanks for taking the time and trouble to read the link. Maybe it is an assumption but the way some posts were framed gives me the impression there was something disliked about 'minorities' in general. Maybe I am misinterpreting them?

I wouldn't say it is my 'chosen minority' - I have had no involvement whatsoever with Pride events or movements other than attending a single Ice Hockey match.

 

[Ray Stadia]

1 hour ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

Perhaps then we should be having a national speedway week or month.......

It would obviously need to have at least a 5 minute slot in every msm news bulletin and anyone not attending a Speedway meeting in that time would be labelled as a narrow minded bigot

We could have a minutes silence at the beginning of each speedway meeting, to respect all the defunct tracks. Also, maybe a remembrance day, for all the defunct tracks and wear some kind of badge or flower. Perhaps a badge resembling a can of Castrol R?  

[bluebee]

40 minutes ago, Haywood said:

wouldn't say it is my 'chosen minority' - I have had no involvement whatsoever with Pride events or movements other than attending a single Ice Hockey match. 

I hope that did not sound in any way sarcastic, it certainly wasn't meant that way. 

I really think that this area of spot highlighting issues is becoming a problem. A good example is football and the knee. There was general acceptance of the Kick It out campaign but the knee has a connection with a political movement that has had well documented Marxist leaders. As for LGBTQI+  causes that has problems as well for many people and they are not all  conservatives or reactionaries. Trans rights promoters such as Stonewall  have drawn the ire  of many including feminists who seek to safeguard women's rights. I think speedway has enough issues at the moment. Although the Speedway Matters posters may sound risible there is an important truth in it for all on the forum. The focus must be on promoting the sport in the most effective way.

[BigRackBandit]

19 hours ago, Daniel Smith said:

Why is being gay worth celebrating?? 

We're all the same, we should treat all as the same. 

It would also be classed as Homophobic if there was such a thing as 'straight pride'.

Perhaps its a celebration of that legally being the case in this country and to pressure other countries into the same thing?

[Haywood]

1 hour ago, bluebee said:

I hope that did not sound in any way sarcastic, it certainly wasn't meant that way. 

I really think that this area of spot highlighting issues is becoming a problem. A good example is football and the knee. There was general acceptance of the Kick It out campaign but the knee has a connection with a political movement that has had well documented Marxist leaders. As for LGBTQI+  causes that has problems as well for many people and they are not all  conservatives or reactionaries. Trans rights promoters such as Stonewall  have drawn the ire  of many including feminists who seek to safeguard women's rights. I think speedway has enough issues at the moment. Although the Speedway Matters posters may sound risible there is an important truth in it for all on the forum. The focus must be on promoting the sport in the most effective way.

That's OK. You are making quite serious points.

So how does Speedway promote itself? To me part of sports is engaging in the local community and that is part of promoting. It is difficult to know where to draw the line. Should they not get involved in local charities in case they are deemed to be controversial? It is a genuine question.

[Ray Stadia]

3 minutes ago, Haywood said:

That's OK. You are making quite serious points.

So how does Speedway promote itself? To me part of sports is engaging in the local community and that is part of promoting. It is difficult to know where to draw the line. Should they not get involved in local charities in case they are deemed to be controversial? It is a genuine question.

Speedway, in my opinion, has never been good at marketing itself. There have been some promoters who have had a go, but marketing requires money and time. Most speedway promoters have businesses to run and can't afford the time. As for the money for marketing purposes, speedway promoters don't have the spare cash. Even if they did have the cash and the time, would it put more 'bums on seats'?  I think speedway needs to concentrate on cutting its costs, it needs to be more of an amateur sport than a professional sport, to allow promoters to at least break even. 

[bluebee]

2 hours ago, Haywood said:

So how does Speedway promote itself? To me part of sports is engaging in the local community and that is part of promoting. It is difficult to know where to draw the line. Should they not get involved in local charities in case they are deemed to be controversial? It is a genuine question. 

Definitely a genuine and pertinent question. I think Ray Stadia's response is a very accurate summary of the situation. There are limited funds for promotion and it's up to the promoters to use them wisely. Local and social media are obviously important and they can engage with the current  fans. They are not all old despite current views on that subject - my 25 year old daughter enjoys going to speedway and her older sister would attend if she was in the country! As for local charities  certainly care needs to be taken in that direction.  The first question must be : would the time be well spent for speedway to get involved? Organized charity is not always considered as such a virtuous  institution. Look at the National Trust. In fact the whole charity sector is increasingly seen as bloated and self-serving with many of the directors paid extravagant sums. I could imagine the response of older supporters who see the endless emotive adverts on daytime TV saying 'Not again!' when faced with a charity fund raiser at a speedway meeting. The Ben Fund is, of course, an honourable exception as it directly relates to speedway.

 

I personally think there needs to be a significant shift in thinking at the BSPA. It is a promoter's forum and considers the sport with these people in mind. It would do speedway some good to have some independent supervisory body which takes into consideration the fan's  experience. Unfortunately this idea was shot down some time ago. And I won't venture into that controversy.

Anyway, good night! I'm still looking forward to my first meeting this season after a Leicester rain off after traveling for over an hour to the stadium.

[Haywood]

7 hours ago, bluebee said:

Anyway, good night! I'm still looking forward to my first meeting this season after a Leicester rain off after traveling for over an hour to the stadium.

Thanks for your responses. Very considered and thoughtful and highlighting some of the nuances.

Hopefully with this improved weather you'll have better luck next time.

[IainB]

I wouldn't worry about it too much as there are no gays in Speedway... much like Football.  I don't think there are any gays at all in motorsport is there? There's only 1 in Rugby.

Edited June 4, 2021 by iainb

[Ray Stadia]

1 hour ago, Haywood said:

Thanks for your responses. Very considered and thoughtful and highlighting some of the nuances.

Hopefully with this improved weather you'll have better luck next time.

So, from your comment above, are we to assume you are on this forum as an interloper and have no interest in speedway? 

[marko]

Would Pride bring new fans in? Would it alienate most of the current age range which lets face it is quite old with maybe old fashioned views? 
 

Two things to unpack there, speedway isn’t trendy enough but you can’t just go changing everything and risk losing the few fans you have left with no certainly you will get the numbers in to replace them yet along build on.

Most clubs seem to be reporting good crowd numbers early on, classic novelty factor, but many will not come back once they are reminded of some of the reasons why they stopped going in the first place, we all know those.

[Haywood]

1 minute ago, Ray Stadia said:

So, from your comment above, are we to assume you are on this forum as an interloper and have no interest in speedway? 

I do have an interest in Speedway and I apologise if this was not clear.

The last meeting I went to was Kent in June 2019.  Unfortunately, living in Guildford there are no tracks nearby.  But I have previously held season tickets at both Reading and Wimbledon (obviously quite some years ago in both cases).  I do watch all the TV meetings but don't have Eurosport so will have to make do with highlights on Quest for the league meetings.  I have subscribed to Speedway Star since 1995.

Hopefully I can make a meeting later in the year but I don't know right now.

I know I don't have many posts on here but I do regular come on here and sometimes just browse, catch up on the gossip etc.  I am quite a shy person so don't always 'take the plunge' and post stuff.

[E I Addio]

21 hours ago, HackneyHawk said:

See this is the average intellect of the Speedway fan and I have to say organisers/promoters too.  Speedway is dying out and a large part of the reason is that many people involved in the sport are as thick as sh*t

By that befuddled logic football must be successful because many people involved with it are highly intelligent.  

[Wasp]

On 6/3/2021 at 6:25 AM, Lefty said:

I used to like Mothers Pride but prefer Warburtons now. 

Like it

[AFCB Wildcat]

On 6/3/2021 at 10:29 AM, Grachan said:

1 - So that's descrimination then.

2 - Where does it say that there's not allowed to be a straight pride?

While there's nothing to say it's not allowed, it would be seen as a homophobic slur against gay pride and anyone involved would vilified as haters. 

[Ray Stadia]

23 minutes ago, AFCB Wildcat said:

While there's nothing to say it's not allowed, it would be seen as a homophobic slur against gay pride and anyone involved would vilified as haters. 

I suppose there could be a 'proud to be human' event. However, am I proud to be human? No I'm not!