Peterborough v Kings Lynn 5th August

[IainB]

Let's have a look at the 2 Peterborough cancellations in more detail, 2 matches they have made zero effort in trying to put on.

To restage the Sheffield match they need to arrange it around Kent, Leicester, Scunthorpe, Edinburgh, Poole, Glasgow, Plymouth, Birmingham & Poland

To restage the Kings Lynn Match they need to arrange it around Eastbourne, Newcastle, Birmingham, Glasgow, Kent, Plymouth & Birmingham... although the KL team changes on a match by match basis.

And it's got to be on a Monday or Thursday!

Peterborough will surely have qualified for the Play-Offs so as in all likelihood KL aren't going to qualify for the Play-Offs I can see this meeting being kicked out to the end of October, probably after the qualification date and maybe even after the finals have been completed. So it's the fans that get mugged off again and it'll probably be raced in front of a dismal crowd.

Edited August 5, 2021 by iainb

[LisaColette]

5 hours ago, NeilWatson said:

If the rain doesn't come that's unfortunate and will give you the opportunity to explain how poor the decion was - but it's not your (significant) money on the line.

Didn't tracks used to have to be actually waterlogged before you can call it off like in the 90s or whatever. I mean some days down here the forecast has been for thundery showers during an afternoon, and guess what? Nothing! Forecasts seem to be a bit risky in this country. I hope for the fans sake it was the correct decision as if Peterborough don't get many dates, it would a shame to miss one.

[NeilWatson]

Just now, lisa-colette said:

Didn't tracks used to have to be actually waterlogged before you can call it off like in the 90s or whatever. I mean some days down here the forecast has been for thundery showers during an afternoon, and guess what? Nothing! Forecasts seem to be a bit risky in this country. I hope for the fans sake it was the correct decision as if Peterborough don't get many dates, it would a shame to miss one.

It always used to be the Promoter’s decision until the referee arrived. In blatant cases future postponements were forbidden without an SCB official’s confirmation. That may well have changed of course 

[IainB]

2 minutes ago, lisa-colette said:

Didn't tracks used to have to be actually waterlogged before you can call it off like in the 90s or whatever. I mean some days down here the forecast has been for thundery showers during an afternoon, and guess what? Nothing! Forecasts seem to be a bit risky in this country. I hope for the fans sake it was the correct decision as if Peterborough don't get many dates, it would a shame to miss one.

And with global warming/climate change this is going to occur more and more... It's just a matter of which dies first Speedway or Planet Earth/ The human race

[LisaColette]

4 hours ago, NeilWatson said:

I think this sums the situation up very well:

https://www.eastbourne-speedway.com/eagles-v-brummies-postponed/

Eastbourne HG Aerospace Eagles Speedway have taken an early decision to cancel the planned fixture against The Birmingham Brummies on Saturday 7th August.

With the sport generally encountering a very difficult time following the almost complete loss of the 2020 season and a truncated start to the 2021 season, which has been exacerbated by an unusually high number of rained off Meetings already, Club Director Ian Jordan explained the logic and reasoning behind a decision, that he accepts won’t be universally popular.

Jordan said

This is an incredibly tough call to make but as always, I think it’s most important to be transparent and to try to explain the decisions we make. Some will agree, some will understand, some won’t agree, but at least by outlining the facts, everyone can make their own mind up.

The weather forecast for the end of the week and the weekend is particularly poor. We do have our own weather expert and she has been incredibly accurate. Only last Saturday, she was confident it would not rain at Arlington and save for a few spots it didn’t. 

Everyone who lives locally will know that there was torrential rain and flash downpours almost everywhere within a few miles of the track and many who did come, commented on that fact.

The latest forecast for this Saturday is that a stronger belt of rain will develop early on Saturday morning through the night into Saturday with a 70-80% probability. This will continue through the day easing only by Saturday evening to around 50%. There is a likelihood of the showers being more thundery and heavy in nature with a risk of lightning from around 11am to 5pm.

Given the accuracy of past forecasts we simply cannot ignore that prediction.

Our crowd last Saturday was the lowest we have had since the current Promotion took over in 2019. The underlying explanations are not hard to find, the weather in the vicinity, the fact that we clashed with a 2 day Speedway GP Round and the ongoing issue of a significant number of people still isolating due to being pinged by the Dido Harding Covid App.

We sustained a significant loss on the meeting and with all of the mitigating factors again in play this coming weekend, it simply comes down to a choice between what the heart says and what the head says.

With regards to the Speedway GP series, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, as entertaining and exciting as it is, I believe for weekend tracks like ours; who lose 100-200 people every time we go up against it, it poses the greatest existential threat to British Speedway in general and to Eastbourne Speedway specifically. 

Whilst our floating supporter base chooses to sit in front of the TV and watch it, the viability and probability of being able to watch raw, exciting LIVE Speedway in the flesh recedes and diminishes and it really does become a choice between pressing the record button or hearing the Arlington turnstiles continue to click.

We can try to avoid it, but it has the power to move fixtures at will and random, a luxury we don’t have.

The heart will always want to get a Speedway meeting on if at all possible; and hates letting down our loyal hardcore of supporters.

The head says, that if in any other form of Business, you were opening knowing you were going to suffer a significant loss of income, you would be barmy to do so. 

It is a well-known and generational trait in Speedway Promoters and Directors that in 99% of circumstances the heart rules the head, we get pilloried for a lot that goes wrong and some things that don’t go wrong, but right now every team is battling for survival and for once the head has to rule the heart.

Why can't people just record the GP? Then you get to see more speedway. Could it be the admission prices, what are they like compared to other tracks? 

[IainB]

2 minutes ago, lisa-colette said:

Why can't people just record the GP? Then you get to see more speedway. Could it be the admission prices, what are they like compared to other tracks? 

Some people on the Birmingham thread are suggesting this has more to do with Birmingham's future than Eastbourne's, as in they don't want to stage a meeting that may well be expunged from the records. As for recording the GP, that is what I shall be doing and going along to Leicester as it hasn't been called of as yet.

[LisaColette]

4 hours ago, iainb said:

I was looking at my weather app yesterday telling me there wasn't a cloud in the sky and wouldn't be for the next hour... looked out of the window to see grey cloud in all directions to the horizon

Yeah, forecasts in the UK aren't the best. Bournemouth tourism have been known to complain about them in the past when they forecast rain and it doesn't materalise as costs them money. They do more harm than good! One of my mum's friends never looks at a weather forecast, just looks out the window! lol

[NeilWatson]

[LisaColette]

10 minutes ago, iainb said:

And with global warming/climate change this is going to occur more and more... It's just a matter of which dies first Speedway or Planet Earth/ The human race

Bit depressing, Poole will be the first to go with the rising tides! Closely followed by Eastbourne!

[Trees]

1 hour ago, iainb said:

If you're going to talk about me, at least have the decency to @ me so I can know

When you see Speedway like that there's not a lot wrong with the sport is there? It's a good job the forecast was a good one on the Thursday 

If you could guarantee a race like that once a meeting instead of once a season, I suggest there would be far more people on the terraces.

To be honest, although I don't like it, I'm not so concerned about the Peterborough postponement... The Eastbourne one does worry me though, just because mystic meg has seen some cows sitting down in a field and the "promoter" has leafed through the radio times they've postponed the match. This sets a dangerous precedent in my opinion. Matches never used to be called off based on forecasts, now they are with more regularity, and now 2 and half days ahead of start time. The BSPL should not allow clubs to call meetings off until the day of staging without penalty, probably a match forfeit. It causes fixture congestion not just for the home side but the away side also and with riders doubling up and stadium availability there are limited opportunities to restage matches on regular race nights... even with a 6 team league in Peterborough's case.

How early is too early to call a match off based on a weather forecast? At the moment it's 2 and a half days... next a week?

Some clubs don't seem to want to go to any effort to get matches on these days, gone are the days of packing the track down to take the rain, working it after rain has passed and spreading sawdust to soak up the moisture if it was particularly wet.

The promoters need every single fan they can get coming through the turnstiles so an early all off when the weather forecast is rubbish (which will 100% put fans off attending) is 100% the right call!!  All our clubs could be in a Newcastle/Brum position .....

[IainB]

11 minutes ago, Trees said:

The promoters need every single fan they can get coming through the turnstiles so an early all off when the weather forecast is rubbish (which will 100% put fans off attending) is 100% the right call!!  All our clubs could be in a Newcastle/Brum position .....

And the Eastbourne one?

[marko]

33 minutes ago, NeilWatson said:

It always used to be the Promoter’s decision until the referee arrived. In blatant cases future postponements were forbidden without an SCB official’s confirmation. That may well have changed of course 

Correct me if I am wrong, but a long time ago (late 80s/early 90s) I have something in my memory about meetings could not be called off until a ref arrived and validated it, and that there were occasions where a local ref (not always the one booked) would be called in well ahead of time in order to make that decision earlier than waiting for the booked ref to turn up, an hour or two before start time?

[NeilWatson]

Just now, marko said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but a long time ago (late 80s/early 90s) I have something in my memory about meetings could not be called off until a ref arrived and validated it, and that there were occasions where a local ref (not always the one booked) would be called in well ahead of time in order to make that decision earlier than waiting for the booked ref to turn up, an hour or two before start time?

Not in normal circumstances, but possibly if there'd been a contentious postponement before.

[JIROUT]

45 minutes ago, iainb said:

Let's have a look at the 2 Peterborough cancellations in more detail, 2 matches they have made zero effort in trying to put on.

To restage the Sheffield match they need to arrange it around Kent, Leicester, Scunthorpe, Edinburgh, Poole, Glasgow, Plymouth, Birmingham & Poland

To restage the Kings Lynn Match they need to arrange it around Eastbourne, Newcastle, Birmingham, Glasgow, Kent, Plymouth & Birmingham... although the KL team changes on a match by match basis.

And it's got to be on a Monday or Thursday!

Peterborough will surely have qualified for the Play-Offs so as in all likelihood KL aren't going to qualify for the Play-Offs I can see this meeting being kicked out to the end of October, probably after the qualification date and maybe even after the finals have been completed. So it's the fans that get mugged off again and it'll probably be raced in front of a dismal crowd.

Why do they have to rearrange meetings around those clubs...when none ride on a Monday or Thursday ????

[IainB]

6 minutes ago, JIROUT said:

Why do they have to rearrange meetings around those clubs...when none ride on a Monday or Thursday ????

They could be riding away, they could be riding in a rearranged fixture due to one of their own postponements or they could be riding away due to another clubs cancellations. 

This is not just a Peterborough problem, anytime any match is postponed it has knock on ramifications. 

Edited August 5, 2021 by iainb

[Mick Bratley]

I think this was a good call. I’m 400 metres from the track and we’ve had two lengthy periods of heavy rain between 4:30 and 6:30, and it has also been constant drizzle since 7:45.

[JIROUT]

59 minutes ago, iainb said:

They could be riding away, they could be riding in a rearranged fixture due to one of their own postponements or they could be riding away due to another clubs cancellations. 

This is not just a Peterborough problem, anytime any match is postponed it has knock on ramifications. 

Looking out of the window it has been a magnificent decision by Peterboro and Ipswich....Saved lots of peoples time and money....

[chrismorton]

Weird because I'm at Stanground and there hasn't been a drop of rain since I been home at 6..oh well il have to travel to the fruit n veg picking capital of the world next week now to see the mighty Panthers turn them over there instead.

[LagutaRacingFan]

Just arrived at the Showground.

Not much happening.

[tellboy]

9 minutes ago, KeirStarmerFan said:

Just arrived at the Showground.

Not much happening.

And that's just in your head.