Jump to content
British Speedway Forum

Is anyone losing interest


Recommended Posts

25 minutes ago, iainb said:

Also at the risk of repeating mys

Also at the risk of repeating myself from a couple of other threads... Leicester have done little to nothing to promote the fact that they are current league and cup winners, you really have to dig down on the website to find that out, there was not even a preview of the opening match in the defence of the cup for the home match... yet they'll put a press release out about being concerned about the lack of ticket sales.

Yes promotion can cost money but there's lots of things you can do that cost little to nothing and at Leicester this is just not being done. Many potential supporters are attracted by success but the fact we're reigning league and cup champs seems to be dirty words at Leicester. There's nothing around the stadium or in the presentation to signify that you're watching something special (even if you're not, new people aren't going to know this). There are adverts on some busses in the city, they've not had league and cup champs added to them

I think the thing is, speedway teams have this person who runs the show, who is called 'the promoter'. The title sounds like he is the man/woman who holds the purse strings, is cash rich, is an expert in marketing and media marketing and an expert organiser. The reality, is the promoter is a speedway enthusiast, probably has a business to run, so has limited time, makes no money from the sport, probably loses money, but hey, he/she is an enthusiast. Perhaps the name promoter should be scrapped. The name promoter is normally given to someone who is organising a one off event, such as a pop/rock concert, who would likely be cash rich, as he/she will be running a promotion company. Team manager is probably a more accurate title.   

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Ray Stadia said:

I think the thing is, speedway teams have this person who runs the show, who is called 'the promoter'. The title sounds like he is the man/woman who holds the purse strings, is cash rich, is an expert in marketing and media marketing and an expert organiser. The reality, is the promoter is a speedway enthusiast, probably has a business to run, so has limited time, makes no money from the sport, probably loses money, but hey, he/she is an enthusiast. Perhaps the name promoter should be scrapped. The name promoter is normally given to someone who is organising a one off event, such as a pop/rock concert, who would likely be cash rich, as he/she will be running a promotion company. Team manager is probably a more accurate title.   

British Speedway "Promoters" Limited... I agree, they are franchise holders, but really some promotion really does cost little to nothing and some clubs just aren't doing this, they're doing the "if you build it, they will come" style of "promotion".

It's not difficult and there are some easy wins to be had, if I can think of them as a humble fan then others should also be able to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, iainb said:

British Speedway "Promoters" Limited... I agree, they are franchise holders, but really some promotion really does cost little to nothing and some clubs just aren't doing this, they're doing the "if you build it, they will come" style of "promotion".

It's not difficult and there are some easy wins to be had, if I can think of them as a humble fan then others should also be able to.

Just read your previous comments Ian and didn't even realise Leicester had actually won anything the year before last..

Never mind a 'double'...

Although, to be honest, I couldn't name you who won the Premiership (was it even called that then?) either...

Probably Poole.....:D

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, iainb said:

Sadly, it was Swindon... where are they now?

I wasn't far off then...

Both decided not to bother riding in the Premiership this season...:D

Edited by mikebv
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

“And any 'promoter' who doesn't put some signposts up around the town or try to get the team into local newspapers/tv/radio should be shot!  The general quality of UK league speedway PR is horrible”

Dear Mr/ Mrs HackneyHawk,

it may educate you to know you need the relevant councils permission, a licence ( involving quite a high fee ) and the local highways authority ( again a fee involved ) to erect signs around any area.

In the specific case of Redcar ( so called because they are 500 metres inside the Redcar council boundary although they are in the town of Middlesbrough ) , when they asked to erect direction signs from the nearby dual carriageway they were told ‘ no chance ‘ as Middlesbrough council would not allow signs advertising a Redcar council facility.

Life is not straight forward so hold fire with the firing squad !
 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

 

“And any 'promoter' who doesn't put some signposts up around the town or try to get the team into local newspapers/tv/radio should be shot!  The general quality of UK league speedway PR is horrible”

Dear Mr/ Mrs HackneyHawk,

it may educate you to know you need the relevant councils permission, a licence ( involving quite a high fee ) and the local highways authority ( again a fee involved ) to erect signs around any area.

In the specific case of Redcar ( so called because they are 500 metres inside the Redcar council boundary although they are in the town of Middlesbrough ) , when they asked to erect direction signs from the nearby dual carriageway they were told ‘ no chance ‘ as Middlesbrough council would not allow signs advertising a Redcar council facility.

Life is not straight forward so hold fire with the firing squad !
 

Just reminded me of a road sign that was finally taken down in 2018, 22 yrs after the stadium was demolished. 

2021-07-07 (2).png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/5/2021 at 6:53 AM, steve roberts said:

Speedway's failings I blame almost entirely on bad management skills and indecisiveness down the years (constant unnecessary rule changes for example) when the promoters should have been pulling together rather than appearing at odds and now they appear to be paying the ultimate choice.

In a nutshell, absolutely correct IMHO.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/7/2021 at 12:28 AM, pvm said:

Just reminded me of a road sign that was finally taken down in 2018, 22 yrs after the stadium was demolished. 

2021-07-07 (2).png

Is that a sign to carry on to Newcastle? They don't miss a trick do they :rofl:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It seems as though the promoters are losing interest... This Saturday in the height of the great British summer there is no meeting on anywhere in the UK. As @Gambo has suggested elsewhere this was originally the date scheduled for the British SGP but this was cancelled on April the 16th yet not one promoter has decided to put a meeting on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, stevehone said:

Prague GP is on, maybe they didn't want to go against a GP with it being the first of the season

Possibly... but it's a sad state of affairs that there is no meeting on anywhere in the country on a Saturday night in the height of the summer without any leagues having any GP riders, no GP being staged in this country for 2 years and it being "televised" behind a pay wall... is that really how confident promoters are in their product?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, iainb said:

Possibly... but it's a sad state of affairs that there is no meeting on anywhere in the country on a Saturday night in the height of the summer without any leagues having any GP riders, no GP being staged in this country for 2 years and it being "televised" behind a pay wall... is that really how confident promoters are in their product?

Maybe our promoters are so desperate for a full quota of fans these days that they won't risk running against ANYTHING that might keep them away .... Fans are THAT FICKLE!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, iainb said:

It seems as though the promoters are losing interest... This Saturday in the height of the great British summer there is no meeting on anywhere in the UK. As @Gambo has suggested elsewhere this was originally the date scheduled for the British SGP but this was cancelled on April the 16th yet not one promoter has decided to put a meeting on.

I did read Stewart Dickson saying that Leicester had tried but that no one would go there on Saturday?

I'm having a day by the seaside on Sunday to see Eastbourne v Leicester (CL / NDL) Double Header. Nice touch that you can decide mid-match whether you watch just one or both. 

They should be cracking matches and the only real Speedway on the Cardiff GP weekend, other than Mildenhall v Kent NDL also Sunday

I guess that Eagles v Lions could have been Saturday night but that Leicester wanted to keep Saturday free as long as possible in case they got an opponent to come?

Hopefully Eastbourne and Mildenhall are rewarded by a lot of floating support.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, HGould said:

I did read Stewart Dickson saying that Leicester had tried but that no one would go there on Saturday?

I'm having a day by the seaside on Sunday to see Eastbourne v Leicester (CL / NDL) Double Header. Nice touch that you can decide mid-match whether you watch just one or both. 

They should be cracking matches and the only real Speedway on the Cardiff GP weekend, other than Mildenhall v Kent NDL also Sunday

I guess that Eagles v Lions could have been Saturday night but that Leicester wanted to keep Saturday free as long as possible in case they got an opponent to come?

Hopefully Eastbourne and Mildenhall are rewarded by a lot of floating support.

...those were the days! A morning's picnic up on Beachy Head and popping down to Arlington for an afternoon meeting followed by an evening walking the prom at Eastbourne!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, marko said:

Nothing new unfortunately, I can recall many seasons within the last decade where you get to the school holidays and Lakeside might have two home meetings during the time over the six weeks.

A possible "excuse" back in the day may have been the lack of availability of GP riders, that's no excuse now though

Edited by iainb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

‘ is anyone losing interest ‘ asks the title ?, well no as you ask. I find the ‘ sport ‘ fascinating now as individual promoters find their own interpretation of the rules ( are there any now ?). Having seen Poole’s and now Birmingham’s line ups for there next matches I am constantly entertained.  A facility granted for a rider who hasn’t ridden for you when that was against the rules but now isn’t ?. A guest for an ‘ injured ‘ rider ( injured in this country allegedly )who is now riding in his own country but not here ? I used to think I understood most of the rules but not any more.

I don’t think we can call speedway a sport for much longer as sports have rules, not guidelines to be used to increase an advantage for some but not all.

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Ringitsneck said:

‘ is anyone losing interest ‘ asks the title ?, well no as you ask. I find the ‘ sport ‘ fascinating now as individual promoters find their own interpretation of the rules ( are there any now ?). Having seen Poole’s and now Birmingham’s line ups for there next matches I am constantly entertained.  A facility granted for a rider who hasn’t ridden for you when that was against the rules but now isn’t ?. A guest for an ‘ injured ‘ rider ( injured in this country allegedly )who is now riding in his own country but not here ? I used to think I understood most of the rules but not any more.

I don’t think we can call speedway a sport for much longer as sports have rules, not guidelines to be used to increase an advantage for some but not all.

It will always be a 'sport', but one (in the UK), that can never hope to cut through to mainstream coverage given the nonsense that is allowed to carry on...

It seems that due to "covid" we have some strange rules interpretations...

What, I wonder, were the reasons for the many years of the same pre 2021...?:D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, mikebv said:

It will always be a 'sport', but one (in the UK), that can never hope to cut through to mainstream coverage given the nonsense that is allowed to carry on...

It seems that due to "covid" we have some strange rules interpretations...

What, I wonder, were the reasons for the many years of the same pre 2021...?:D

Brexit, thatcher, The summer of 76, the Danish invasion, the Swedish invasion, the Polish invasion, the Australian invasion, the Poll tax riots....

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Privacy Policy