RIP British Speedway

[Sings4Speedway]

3 hours ago, Daniel Smith said:

I do think they have a great market corner. Daytrippers & holiday makers don't have much to do on the island, speedway is a good distraction attraction. 

To get a good feel of how thing's work, we need to see another 1 or 2 club copy IOW's model over a season or 2. 

Somewhere like Berwick & Newcastle, financially struggling clubs would be an interesting ones. Absolute polar opposites to IOW. 

What works for IOW probably wouldn't work anywhere else. 

In fairness there is a wealth of things to do and attractions on the IOW condensed into a small area , yes limited evening entertainment but still plenty of exhausting family days out that would mean Speedway could easily be skipped if it wasn't so well marketed. 

The reason its working for IOW is that they know thier market, they know how their track produces the best racing and what entertainment level is best received.  Its not about copying them directly its about knowing and treating your market accodingly.

[Daniel Smith]

5 minutes ago, Sings4Speedway said:

In fairness there is a wealth of things to do and attractions on the IOW condensed into a small area , yes limited evening entertainment but still plenty of exhausting family days out that would mean Speedway could easily be skipped if it wasn't so well marketed. 

The reason its working for IOW is that they know thier market, they know how their track produces the best racing and what entertainment level is best received.  Its not about copying them directly its about knowing and treating your market accodingly.

100% agree. Just Speedway on the Isle is very expensive. To be a regular from England you need some serious money, the promotion should be interacting with it's punters.

100% the promoter's in the rest of the UK don't know their market. No advertising, promoting etc anywhere & then dish out the "use it or lose it" nonsense when nobody turns up. 

IOW do a great job, no doubt, but they do have a huge advantage over other tracks. 

[IainB]

5 hours ago, scotty2hotty said:

I work at a lot if these tracks doing the track shops, so I see a lot of people. This year i have seen many new fans, a lot with children and a lot of returning fans. One guy came into the shop at Leicester last week and said he hadn't been since Blackbird Road closed. He had watched it on TV and enjoyed it, but thought he would come and see it live again. He was almost in tears of delight at the spectacle he had witnessed and said nothing beats live speedway and he had caught the bug again and would be back next week.

What I'm saying, is that new people don't care about the politics of the sport or the rules, they just love the experience.

Do you get to see any of the Speedway?

[Sings4Speedway]

2 hours ago, Daniel Smith said:

100% agree. Just Speedway on the Isle is very expensive. To be a regular from England you need some serious money, the promotion should be interacting with it's punters.

100% the promoter's in the rest of the UK don't know their market. No advertising, promoting etc anywhere & then dish out the "use it or lose it" nonsense when nobody turns up. 

IOW do a great job, no doubt, but they do have a huge advantage over other tracks. 

I guess its just perspective.  It could be just as easily argued that IOW are at a disadvantage due to the additional travel costs (which are not excessive but add up). It probably shows what a good show they do put on and how value for money works given the numbers of mainland visitors they do attract most weeks as well as new and first time visitors they are able to attract. Don't forget that any that get the speedway bug on holiday are likely to return home and visit thier local tracks too.

[scotty2hotty]

47 minutes ago, iainb said:

Do you get to see any of the Speedway?

Rarely to be honest.

[IainB]

10 hours ago, scotty2hotty said:

What I'm saying, is that new people don't care about the politics of the sport or the rules, they just love the experience.

In the last 5 years the people at:

Somerset

Stoke

Lakeside

Rye House 

Workington (Champions)

Coventry 

Also probably had tears in their eyes

And maybe next year:

Birmingham

Eastbourne

Newcastle

Peterborough

Kings Lynn

Swindon (Champions)

Fans may have tears in their eyes

Edited August 21, 2021 by iainb

[chunky]

9 hours ago, scotty2hotty said:

What I'm saying, is that new people don't care about the politics of the sport or the rules, they just love the experience.

If only the mob on the BSF could remember that...

[IainB]

31 minutes ago, chunky said:

If only the mob on the BSF could remember that...

So, some guy walks into the track shop at Leicester with dust in his eyes and all is well with the sport in the UK?

Cluck Cluck (that's an ostrich burying it's head in the sand btw )

[scotty2hotty]

1 minute ago, iainb said:

So, some guy walks into the track shop at Leicester with dust in his eyes and all is well with the sport in the UK?

Cluck Cluck (that's an ostrich burying it's head in the sand btw )

Oh Iain, why do you have do be so rude?  I was merely stating that most people go to speedway for the spectacle and enjoyment of it.  However, there are some people who will only ever pick on the problems and not actually look at what is good in the sport. If it makes you all so unhappy and all you can find is fault, why do you go?

I never said the sport is perfect, it is going through tough times, but the basic product is still the same.  Maybe we could look at the good and build on that instead of continually finding fault and problems.

[IainB]

6 minutes ago, scotty2hotty said:

Oh Iain, why do you have do be so rude?  I was merely stating that most people go to speedway for the spectacle and enjoyment of it.  However, there are some people who will only ever pick on the problems and not actually look at what is good in the sport. If it makes you all so unhappy and all you can find is fault, why do you go?

I never said the sport is perfect, it is going through tough times, but the basic product is still the same.  Maybe we could look at the good and build on that instead of continually finding fault and problems.

I'm just having a bit of banter with my old mate @chunky as there's no GP on tonight we'll have to argue about this. 

Look at those tracks that have closed in the last 5 years! That's a lot of people not going to Speedway anymore. 

We as fans are completely powerless to do anything to improve the sport other than withholding our attendance to show our disapproval, as many have done over the years. Our sport is not going to somehow magic itself back into the big time, somebody, somewhere needs to do something... and quickly!

Edited August 21, 2021 by iainb

[scotty2hotty]

4 minutes ago, iainb said:

I'm just having a bit of banter with my old mate @chunky as there's no GP on tonight we'll have to argue about this. 

Look at those tracks that have closed in the last 5 years! That's a lot of people not going to Speedway anymore

Yes there have been too many tracks closed, far too many, but many are adopting other tracks.  Quite a few Coventry at Leicester every week and quite a few Lakeside at Ipswich, Peterborough etc. But I have actually felt this year, that there is a new buzz.  Crowds have been healthier at many tracks. Maybe coming out of lockdown has made people realise what they have and how much they missed it.   

Edited August 21, 2021 by scotty2hotty

[stevehone]

25 minutes ago, scotty2hotty said:

Yes there have been too many tracks closed, far too many, but many are adopting other tracks.  Quite a few Coventry at Leicester every week and quite a few Lakeside at Ipswich, Peterborough etc. But I have actually felt this year, that there is a new buzz.  Crowds have been healthier at many tracks. Maybe coming out of lockdown has made people realise what they have and how much they missed it.   

speedway is rarity for me now, but when i've been the old excitement is there, from the racing to seeing people i know, a couple more meetings this year for me and i'm looking forward to them.

if only more lapsed supporters gave it another go ... 

[chunky]

3 minutes ago, stevehone said:

if only more lapsed supporters gave it another go ... 

...but they'll give you a thousand "reasons" not to...

[chunky]

43 minutes ago, scotty2hotty said:

If it makes you all so unhappy and all you can find is fault, why do you go?

So it's not just me that feels that way?

[IainB]

25 minutes ago, chunky said:

So it's not just me that feels that way?

We go because we know that when it's good there is nothing to beat it, yet we have seen all the fluff around it deteriorate over the years, many opportunities to see improvement blown, tracks close down, attendances drop. If I didn't have 40 years under my belt I wouldn't give it the time of day if I was a noob.

I started to go to Leicester in 1977, closed in 83, then Coventry,  closed, and Long Eaton, closed, used to regularly goto to Cradley, closed, Oxford, closed, Bradford, closed, Milton Keynes, closed, Stoke,  closed, enjoyed my trips to Lakeside, closed, Swindon, closed, Reading, closed, Exeter, closed, Somerset, closed, Newport, closed.

I used to watch the world's top stars competing on well prepared tracks in front of large crowds. Now I watch riders riding for numerous clubs at the same time on poorly prepared tracks in front of a few hundred people... and that's when a match hasn't been cancelled because of a weather forecast. 

But occasionally, very rarely, I'll luck a good match or see a fantastic race like the one at Leicester, of all places, the other week and as stupid as it may seem I think to myself it's going to be like that again next week... and of course invariably it isn't. I'd say for me the overall package is 75% rubbish but it's that 25% that keeps me coming back, or the hope of the 25%.

What keeps you going?

Edited August 21, 2021 by iainb

[chunky]

6 minutes ago, iainb said:

We go because we know that when it's good there is nothing to beat it, yet we have seen all the fluff around it deteriorate over the years, many opportunities to see improvement blown, tracks close down, attendances drop. If I didn't have 40 years under my belt I wouldn't give it the time of day if I was a noob.

I started to go to Leicester in 1977, closed in 83, then Coventry,  closed, and Long Eaton, closed, used to regularly goto to Cradley, closed, Oxford, closed, Bradford, closed, Milton Keynes, closed, Stoke,  closed, enjoyed my trips to Lakeside, closed, Swindon, closed, Reading, closed, Exeter, closed, Somerset, closed.

I used to watch the world's top stars competing on well prepared tracks in front of large crowds 

But occasionally, very rarely, I'll luck a good match or see a fantastic race like the one at Leicester, of all places, the other week and as stupid as it may seem I think to myself it's going to be like that again next week... and of course invariably it isn't. I'd say for me the overall package is 75% rubbish but it's that 25% that keeps me coming back, or the hope of the 25%.

What keeps you going?

I don't... Then again, it's a little difficult when I live 4000 miles away.

However, if I could, I certainly would. When I was making regular trips back to the UK, I was taking in as much speedway as I could. Even though I haven't been in a few years (I haven't been back in a few years), I still follow the sport. I watch it live whenever I can, and I spend a lot of time watching stuff on YouTube.

Despite having a lengthy career in another sport, speedway always was - and still is - my favourite sport. While I was still in the UK, I would drive all over the country to take in meetings.

No, speedway is not what it was - nothing is - and particularly in the UK, we have ALWAYS had a tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot. Having said that, a lot of our major problems aren't actually speedway-related. Not owning our own stadia has obviously been an issue, and unfortunately, what was very much a city-centre sport (visible to everyone) has now been forced out into into the sticks. Plus (and we have discussed this on here before), speedway is no longer "cool".

I have always been a very tolerant person (idiots excepted), and can overlook the niggling things that apparently seem to drive fans away, like tac doubles, helmet colours, kevlars, gardening etc. I still view it as four blokes racing, and just because it isn't always fantastic (it never was ALWAYS fantastic, a fact borne out by watching YouTube vids), it is still worth it.

[IainB]

8 minutes ago, chunky said:

I don't... Then again, it's a little difficult when I live 4000 miles away.

However, if I could, I certainly would. When I was making regular trips back to the UK, I was taking in as much speedway as I could. Even though I haven't been in a few years (I haven't been back in a few years), I still follow the sport. I watch it live whenever I can, and I spend a lot of time watching stuff on YouTube.

Despite having a lengthy career in another sport, speedway always was - and still is - my favourite sport. While I was still in the UK, I would drive all over the country to take in meetings.

No, speedway is not what it was - nothing is - and particularly in the UK, we have ALWAYS had a tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot. Having said that, a lot of our major problems aren't actually speedway-related. Not owning our own stadia has obviously been an issue, and unfortunately, what was very much a city-centre sport (visible to everyone) has now been forced out into into the sticks. Plus (and we have discussed this on here before), speedway is no longer "cool".

I have always been a very tolerant person (idiots excepted), and can overlook the niggling things that apparently seem to drive fans away, like tac doubles, helmet colours, kevlars, gardening etc. I still view it as four blokes racing, and just because it isn't always fantastic (it never was ALWAYS fantastic, a fact borne out by watching YouTube vids), it is still worth it.

Perhaps less is more in your case. When was the last time you did a full season of attendance?

[chunky]

3 minutes ago, iainb said:

Perhaps less is more in your case.

You need to stop digging for excuses...

3 minutes ago, iainb said:

When was the last time you did a full season of attendance?

My last year in the UK - 1989. I emigrated to the Netherlands in early 1990, and was still a regular. I moved to the US in 1992. My first trip back (during the season) was in May 1994, and as I said, making two or three trips a year back after that, my dad and I still travelled around the country as much as we could.

[IainB]

1 minute ago, chunky said:

You need to stop digging for excuses...

My last year in the UK - 1989. I emigrated to the Netherlands in early 1990, and was still a regular. I moved to the US in 1992. My first trip back (during the season) was in May 1994, and as I said, making two or three trips a year back after that, my dad and I still travelled around the country as much as we could.

1991 your last season! That's 30 years ago! You're on the wrong forum my chunky friend. 

It's almost not worth engaging with you because you're so far out of touch with the reality of Speedway in the UK.

Speedway was great in 1991 but has taken a sharp decline in the UK, especially in the last 5 or 6 years. So much so that we were binned off by Sky Sports.

Come back and try doing a season, actually paying out your hard earned and then come back with an opinion. 

[chunky]

19 minutes ago, iainb said:

1991 your last season! That's 30 years ago! You're on the wrong forum my chunky friend. 

It's almost not worth engaging with you because you're so far out of touch with the reality of Speedway in the UK.

Speedway was great in 1991 but has taken a sharp decline in the UK, especially in the last 5 or 6 years. So much so that we were binned off by Sky Sports.

Come back and try doing a season, actually paying out your hard earned and then come back with an opinion. 

You really are a pr*ck then?

All the f*cking years - and money - I've put into speedway over the years - including the time since I've been gone - and you just think I'm a worthless piece of sh*t...