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Is anyone losing interest


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If I'm honest, I'm not really enjoying this season. Multiple call offs, due to the weather, Covid and football has made it impossible to build up any momentum. Add to this, the need to buy tickets for every meeting has put me off attending some matches. Hopefully things will return to normal in July, although I'm not holding my breath.

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No, absolutely not! I've been to Leicester, Belle Vue, Scunny, Peterborough & Kent so far this year and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. It's been great looking at some of the young British talent that we've heard so much about over the last couple of years. All of the stuff the OP has mentioned have always been issues with Speedway the only new inconvenience are the Covid restrictions and that's all they are really, an inconvenience

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20 minutes ago, ray c said:

got to wear a mask all the time at poole  so not for us at the moment. lucky the meetings are being streamed 

The moment we are no longer required to wear a mask (although no doubt some will continue to do so) I will place mine on the drive and put a match to it!

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On 6/24/2021 at 1:07 PM, cityrebel said:

If I'm honest, I'm not really enjoying this season. Multiple call offs, due to the weather, Covid and football has made it impossible to build up any momentum. Add to this, the need to buy tickets for every meeting has put me off attending some matches. Hopefully things will return to normal in July, although I'm not holding my breath.

From your posts on here, you clearly have been a passionate fan in the past.  Its sad to see that you are losing interest.

I have made no secret of my admiration for the Isle of Wight promotion and the way they have been treated has left me disillusioned and angry. There are other reasons, but that is a major one why my enthusiasm has waned and I haven't been this year at all. 

I can only trust that when I do attend the old buzz comes back.  

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On 6/24/2021 at 1:07 PM, cityrebel said:

If I'm honest, I'm not really enjoying this season. Multiple call offs, due to the weather, Covid and football has made it impossible to build up any momentum. Add to this, the need to buy tickets for every meeting has put me off attending some matches. Hopefully things will return to normal in July, although I'm not holding my breath.

I'm much the same, if it wasn't for the fact I already had a season ticket which rolled over from last year I doubt I'd have bothered attending any meetings 

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I've not been this year because Lynn is £20 which is extortionate and there is a requirement to wear a mask at all times which I'm not prepared to do outside. I expect I will go and have a look at Lynn, P'boro or Belle Vue at some point this season but I don't really miss it any more which is sad as I used to be a fanatic.

The watershed moment for me was probably Holder/Batchelor-gate in 2017 at Lynn, I've not been regularly since then.  

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28 minutes ago, Bagpuss said:

I've not been this year because Lynn is £20 which is extortionate and there is a requirement to wear a mask at all times which I'm not prepared to do outside. I expect I will go and have a look at Lynn, P'boro or Belle Vue at some point this season but I don't really miss it any more which is sad as I used to be a fanatic.

The watershed moment for me was probably Holder/Batchelor-gate in 2017 at Lynn, I've not been regularly since then.  

I certainly wouldn't be enticed back to speedway if £20 is the going rate...and add petrol on top of that?

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3 hours ago, Halifaxtiger said:

From your posts on here, you clearly have been a passionate fan in the past.  Its sad to see that you are losing interest.

I have made no secret of my admiration for the Isle of Wight promotion and the way they have been treated has left me disillusioned and angry. There are other reasons, but that is a major one why my enthusiasm has waned and I haven't been this year at all. 

I can only trust that when I do attend the old buzz comes back.  

 

21 minutes ago, Bagpuss said:

I've not been this year because Lynn is £20 which is extortionate and there is a requirement to wear a mask at all times which I'm not prepared to do outside. I expect I will go and have a look at Lynn, P'boro or Belle Vue at some point this season but I don't really miss it any more which is sad as I used to be a fanatic.

The watershed moment for me was probably Holder/Batchelor-gate in 2017 at Lynn, I've not been regularly since then.  

For Speedway to be potentially losing fans like you two guys should be telling Speedway its in crisis, if it doesnt then the those at the top table need to take off there rose tinted spectacles and quickly get into the real world before its to late thats if already isnt, we need every Track/Promoter/Rider/Fan and right now the BSPL/SCB leadership are not encouraging anyone Promoters/Riders/Fans alike to stay/come into the Sport, except for the favoured few. If it carries on in the way that it is then i dread to think what the Sport in the UK will look like in a few years time. We need to rebuild from the bottom up, not from the Top down because very soon there wont be a Top in the UK, actually there is no longer a top in the UK its second rate, can it survive when it becomes third rate led by Scunthorpe ?, never mind there will always be Amateur meetings we can go to :mad:.

  Its such a pity that some current Promoters with leadership skills are to busy trying to keep there Teams afloat to be able to give more time to helping the Sport move forwards, because with the present crowd in charge Speedway is almost at the point of no return.

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Haven't a fair few tracks had decent crowds this year?

Certainly comparable to pre Covid days...?

Reading the various threads' comments around crowd size, and watching the UK racing on Eurosport, I would say most tracks are doing 'OK'....

They never got close to capacity anyway so even a 25% max capacity for many would be around a 'usual' crowd..

Wolves, Birmingham and Newcastle seem to be the ones taking a hit it seems, but most appear to be moving along..

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58 minutes ago, mikebv said:

Haven't a fair few tracks had decent crowds this year?

Certainly comparable to pre Covid days...?

Reading the various threads' comments around crowd size, and watching the UK racing on Eurosport, I would say most tracks are doing 'OK'....

They never got close to capacity anyway so even a 25% max capacity for many would be around a 'usual' crowd..

Wolves, Birmingham and Newcastle seem to be the ones taking a hit it seems, but most appear to be moving along..

and poole struggling lost money on our only meeting this season so far 

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1 hour ago, mikebv said:

Haven't a fair few tracks had decent crowds this year?

Certainly comparable to pre Covid days...?

Reading the various threads' comments around crowd size, and watching the UK racing on Eurosport, I would say most tracks are doing 'OK'....

They never got close to capacity anyway so even a 25% max capacity for many would be around a 'usual' crowd..

Wolves, Birmingham and Newcastle seem to be the ones taking a hit it seems, but most appear to be moving along..

Maybe the decent crowds have more to do with the lack of alternatives. Covid regs mean many other events have been cancelled and/or attendances capped.

 If promoters actually got their act together and put on added value for money (, I.e. children’s entertainers/singers/ands are crying out for work) so it might be mutually beneficial. Perhaps just perhaps a few people might continue to go to speedway once other stuff opens up. Most businesses have had to adapt, speedway as usual has just stood still.

I have just seen three pigs fly past the window :P

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Anecdotal evidence would suggest Ipswich, Peterborough,Kings Lynn; Scunthorpe; Leicester; Eastbourne ; Plymouth have been least affected in terms of crowd sizes and restrictions.

Similar that Glasgow ; Newcastle; Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Poole have been most affected by restrictions.

Kent and Edinburgh seem to be mixed messages. Glasgow it seems able to continue via excellent Streaming as you'd assume would be Belle Vue.

As for people "losing interest" if the only reason is masks or not being able to move around the stadium I think that both hopefully that will improve after 19th July but also a bit of a reality check as it only mirrors the reality of the past 15 months.

I'm sure some of the more professional and forward thinking Promoters (and there are a few) are just waiting for 19th July to put in place some of the ideas to attract children and new families using some of the suggestions made.

The one thing that has more amplified the rotten core of the inner sanctum though is the decision of Ben Duffill to walk away from the Sport. He's one of a few of the new / newer Promotions who have been a breath of fresh air to the Sport relatively speaking and he will be a big loss.

Promotions like Glasgow (OK they have the clout), Berwick, Edinburgh, Newcastle; Redcar, Brummies; Plymouth; Eastbourne;  in the CL do seem to be trying hard but the old dinosaurs at the top table seem hell bent on fiddling averages, stopping progress, buying substandard tyres and non existent bikes, screwing up the Rising Star scheme and in alienating a guy like Ben Duffill, you wonder how many of those more positive thinking Promoters will jump ship or just give up as well?

It's not so much as walking away as being driven away by the politbureau who don't seem to care a jot

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2 hours ago, heathen52 said:

 

For Speedway to be potentially losing fans like you two guys should be telling Speedway its in crisis, if it doesnt then the those at the top table need to take off there rose tinted spectacles and quickly get into the real world before its to late thats if already isnt, we need every Track/Promoter/Rider/Fan and right now the BSPL/SCB leadership are not encouraging anyone Promoters/Riders/Fans alike to stay/come into the Sport, except for the favoured few. If it carries on in the way that it is then i dread to think what the Sport in the UK will look like in a few years time. We need to rebuild from the bottom up, not from the Top down because very soon there wont be a Top in the UK, actually there is no longer a top in the UK its second rate, can it survive when it becomes third rate led by Scunthorpe ?, never mind there will always be Amateur meetings we can go to :mad:.

  Its such a pity that some current Promoters with leadership skills are to busy trying to keep there Teams afloat to be able to give more time to helping the Sport move forwards, because with the present crowd in charge Speedway is almost at the point of no return.

It's not Rose Tinted spectacles, they can see like everyone else,  they just don't have a chuffing clue what to do either strategically or imminently!

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4 hours ago, Bagpuss said:

I've not been this year because Lynn is £20 which is extortionate and there is a requirement to wear a mask at all times which I'm not prepared to do outside. I expect I will go and have a look at Lynn, P'boro or Belle Vue at some point this season but I don't really miss it any more which is sad as I used to be a fanatic.

The watershed moment for me was probably Holder/Batchelor-gate in 2017 at Lynn, I've not been regularly since then.  

Pretty much the same for me I am sad ( in some ways ) to say. Is there a central place I can locate what streams are available, as I am eager to see and pay reasonably for matches? I have always believed that streaming may be a sport saver for speedway, but other than one try at Berwick I have not seen any. I must add I am not very technical or computer savvy ( much as in the same way I can drive a car! ).

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The fact i attend bath, lingfield, brighton, kempton and salisbury races without the need for a mask is good enough reason to swerve speedway til these ridiculous restrictions are binned. If things arent back to normality by july 19 esp after upwards of 140, 000 are piled into the gp at silverstone there will be stadia shutting at an alarming rate

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