RIP British Speedway

[IainB]

2 minutes ago, chunky said:

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...

Oh stop it, you're making me laugh. 

I really can't take you seriously anymore. 

How is it there, back in 1991? Say hello to Bill Clinton for me 

[chunky]

1 hour ago, iainb said:

Oh stop it, you're making me laugh. 

I really can't take you seriously anymore. 

How is it there, back in 1991? Say hello to Bill Clinton for me 

Wow... You really think you are something special, and think that your opinion is remotely important - including your view of me and my life. That is not on - seriously.  You reckon I'm not worth talking to? Look in the mirror...

I am not the tw*t that you clearly think I am. My wife is seriously ill (I've almost lost her a couple of times), and hasn't worked in over two years. She has NO income. I work two jobs, and both have been greatly impacted by covid. The one good thing is that I have been able to spend more time with my wife. And you reckon I should put in a year back in Britain?

I come on to the BSF for fun, not to deal with ignorant trolls like you. I'm done...

Edited August 21, 2021 by chunky

[IainB]

8 hours ago, chunky said:

Wow... You really think you are something special, and think that your opinion is remotely important - including your view of me and my life. That is not on - seriously.  You reckon I'm not worth talking to? Look in the mirror...

I am not the tw*t that you clearly think I am. My wife is seriously ill (I've almost lost her a couple of times), and hasn't worked in over two years. She has NO income. I work two jobs, and both have been greatly impacted by covid. The one good thing is that I have been able to spend more time with my wife. And you reckon I should put in a year back in Britain?

I come on to the BSF for fun, not to deal with ignorant trolls like you. I'm done...

Wow Indeed... so you've stooped down to emotional blackmail now!

For some reason you seem to have taken against me after you sided with everyone's favourite Bwitcher when he made, at best disrespectful and at worst despicable, comments about the death of my Father, when I had the misfortune to stray onto the Covid thread, before it became the home of the nutjob that it is today. Now you can't separate what I say from who you think I am... So if we're going down the emotional blackmail route...

I don't know you, I have no opinion of you, a lot of what you say I agree with, some I don't, but I've never called you a tw*t, I've never called you a worthless piece of sh*t... but you have called me small minded and you have also called me a pr*ck.

You know we all have our problems... I'm not going to go into mine on here, just to say that covid has also taken it's toll in my life circumstances. I also come on here for a bit of fun and for the most part I have it. I've tried to make our spats a bit of fun but you seem to have had a bit of a sense of humour failure.

As for putting a season in, it's clearly not possible at the moment, but you did wonder why people still go to Speedway while they criticise it on here, I engaged with you, gave you a full and lengthy account of what Speedway has been like in this country over the last 30 years since you last regularly attended... and then the toys come out of the pram.

I am most certainly not an ignorant troll. I am passionate about my Speedway and will stand up for my opinion on it even when the insults and name calling comes my way. My opinion counts just as much as yours... for nothing. 

All the best to you and to Mrs Chunky, I hope she recovers well soon.

Edited August 22, 2021 by iainb

[Moranboys]

1 hour ago, iainb said:

Wow Indeed... so you've stooped down to emotional blackmail now!

For some reason you seem to have taken against me after you sided with everyone's favourite Bwitcher when he made, at best disrespectful and at worst despicable, comments about the death of my Father, when I had the misfortune to stray onto the Covid thread, before it became the home of the nutjob that it is today. Now you can't separate what I say from who you think I am... So if we're going down the emotional blackmail route...

I don't know you, I have no opinion of you, a lot of what you say I agree with, some I don't, but I've never called you a tw*t, I've never called you a worthless piece of sh*t... but you have called me small minded and you have also called me a pr*ck.

You know we all have our problems... I'm not going to go into mine on here, just to say that covid has also taken it's toll in my life circumstances. I also come on here for a bit of fun and for the most part I have it. I've tried to make our spats a bit of fun but you seem to have had a bit of a sense of humour failure.

As for putting a season in, it's clearly not possible at the moment, but you did wonder why people still go to Speedway while they criticise it on here, I engaged with you, gave you a full and lengthy account of what Speedway has been like in this country over the last 30 years since you last regularly attended... and then the toys come out of the pram.

I am most certainly not an ignorant troll. I am passionate about my Speedway and will stand up for my opinion on it even when the insults and name calling comes my way. My opinion counts just as much as yours... for nothing. 

All the best to you and to Mrs Chunky, I hope she recovers well soon.

Jesus Christ....blah,blah,blah,give the bloke a break....sad...!!!

[ch958]

weapons down boys. 

[IainB]

51 minutes ago, ch958 said:

weapons down boys. 

My weapon was never up fnarr fnarr 

[ch958]

1 hour ago, iainb said:

My weapon was never up fnarr fnarr 

its just people react on here they never would face to face, I've done it myself. Viagra works a treat btw

[mikebv]

On 8/21/2021 at 12:17 PM, ouch said:

The problem is these new fans become regulars who read the programme, the Star and forums such as this. They learn about the constant rule breaking or reinterpretation of the rules. They visit a track, wait in the rain for an hour and then get told it’s off, etc, etc, etc. 

UK speedway hasn’t just lost fans, it’s actively driven them away. 

Incredible to even think that isn't it?

But it's 100% true..

When "ignore everything around it and just watch the racing" is a key part of your "marketing", then you may have a fair few fundamental problems to overcome, I would think. ..

 

 

[cowboy cookie returns?]

7 minutes ago, mikebv said:

Incredible to even think that isn't it?

But it's 100% true..

When "ignore everything around it and just watch the racing" is a key part of your "marketing", then you may have a fair few fundamental problems to overcome, I would think. ..

 

 

It's truly amazing & unbelievable however at the same time 100% correct. 

Ignore everything around it and just watch the racing is what I do now. Although this approach has ment at best I attended once a season. The problem is without the rivalry between the competitors, clubs & supporters it becomes 4 blokes on bikes. Which sadly for me Makes it extremely boring!!

If you're running a team sport, those in your team cannot ride for every other club at some point during the season. You can't make any type or rivalry and form any form of attachment to 'your team' if those in you team might be riding for the opposition tomorrow or some one from the opposition is in 'your team' next week.

Speedway as a proper team sport or as an individual event can still be on its day the best sporting event going & highly marketable.

However the UK version at present is a very poor version of what it could be, because you really do have to 'just watch the racing' which sadly makes it very dull & boring!

 

 

[mikebv]

6 minutes ago, cowboy cookie returns? said:

It's truly amazing & unbelievable however at the same time 100% correct. 

Ignore everything around it and just watch the racing is what I do now. Although this approach has ment at best I attended once a season. The problem is without the rivalry between the competitors, clubs & supporters it becomes 4 blokes on bikes. Which sadly for me Makes it extremely boring!!

If you're running a team sport, those in your team cannot ride for every other club at some point during the season. You can't make any type or rivalry and form any form of attachment to 'your team' if those in you team might be riding for the opposition tomorrow or some one from the opposition is in 'your team' next week.

Speedway as a proper team sport or as an individual event can still be on its day the best sporting event going & highly marketable.

However the UK version at present is a very poor version of what it could be, because you really do have to 'just watch the racing' which sadly makes it very dull & boring!

 

 

Crystal clear isn't it?

But not to everyone who runs the sport it would seem...

A truly Great sport...

Just so poorly delivered and mismanaged...

[Jonny the spud]

I dip in on this forum from time to time… there are some interesting and knowledgeable people on here, but they’re in the minority. 
 

It’s easy to see why most riders avoid this place like the plague and why despite two decades of TV coverage the sport still can’t find a league sponsor. 
 

 

[Sidney the robin]

15 hours 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.

Great post Chunky we have not always agreed on stuff but this post is spot on.

[Moranboys]

5 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

Great post Chunky we have not always agreed on stuff but this post is spot on.

Got to agree....spot on.

[Sidney the robin]

5 minutes ago, Moranboys said:

Got to agree....spot on.

Being a Saddo Moranboys been watching alot of Kelly/Shawn recently on my old DVDs and you tube.Great stuff both legends and there relationship as brothers was terrific like having a best mate.Just watched a Swindon v Sheffield encounter 1983 ( Shawn fell in one race can’t remember him falling much? great riders both of em.

[mikebv]

6 minutes ago, Jonny the spud said:

I dip in on this forum from time to time… there are some interesting and knowledgeable people on here, but they’re in the minority. 
 

It’s easy to see why most riders avoid this place like the plague and why despite two decades of TV coverage the sport still can’t find a league sponsor. 
 

 

Must be so frustrating for the riders to have what they do so well, so undermined by the infrastructure that exists...

Unless of course they are happy to ride as much as possible for all and sundry and earn the money it brings?

As for sponsorship?

When I stated watching football my local team was owned by a scrap metal merchant and a car salesman..

The team I follow, (even then regarded as the biggest in the world) was owned by a butcher who had several shops in the Manchester area..

Advertising hoardings around the pitches were of local businesses with a few national ones thrown in..

Then clubs started to bring in CEO's, and Marketing people, and the top league broke away with its own CEO who wasn't affiliated to any team, but whose sole role was to bring revenue into the game by negotiating TV contracts and to bring in huge blue chip companies as sponsors...

In short, Football brought in independent "white collar" experts in sports administration and marketing, who got paid by the success they brought in, which was measured in £'s...

With many other sports doing exactly the same and moving forward hugely as a result...

Speedway still uses well meaning "blue collar" owners to try and attract and negotiate with potential sponsors...

However, to be fair, selling the sport with its current operating model, and ageing demographic of what is a very small fanbase, would be a huge challenge for even the best of marketeers..

I think there is a clear reason why Poland would never dream of running the sport like their UK counterparts do and that is simply if they did, the TV coverage would diminish, the major company sponsors would disappear and the fans, brought up on following a "proper team sport" and the tribalism that comes with it, would disappear too...

A shame that what can be a tremendously entertaining spectacle is allowed to be undermined by its very own operating model....

 

[Moranboys]

9 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

Being a Saddo Moranboys been watching alot of Kelly/Shawn recently on my old DVDs and you tube.Great stuff both legends and there relationship as brothers was terrific like having a best mate.Just watched a Swindon v Sheffield encounter 1983 ( Shawn fell in one race can’t remember him falling much? great riders both of em.

Thanks,yes,in their prime they were excellent to watch,I followed Shawn pretty much all over the place,he was amazing to watch over here,stick him on any track first time and he pretty much did the buisiness

[Moranboys]

13 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

Being a Saddo Moranboys been watching alot of Kelly/Shawn recently on my old DVDs and you tube.Great stuff both legends and there relationship as brothers was terrific like having a best mate.Just watched a Swindon v Sheffield encounter 1983 ( Shawn fell in one race can’t remember him falling much? great riders both of em.

Also Swindon have had some cracking riders over the years,hope that you are back next season.

[Sidney the robin]

3 minutes ago, Moranboys said:

Also Swindon have had some cracking riders over the years,hope that you are back next season.

I hope so to , cannot see it to be honest fingers crossed though.

[Moranboys]

2 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

I hope so to , cannot see it to be honest fingers crossed though.

I really hope so,don't want to lose yet another track.its been such a difficult year for all the promotions,Somerset being a prime example,loved my visits there,had some memorable stayovers and the grand Prix weekend was legendary,sadly no more,and now with other tracks under threat,there's not a lot of optimism.it will be a travesty if we lose any more venues.

[ch958]

but there is a way forward even if teams include so called lesser riders. Looking at the scores in the first season of the BL for every Boocock and Briggs there were loads of second strings and reserves who never climbed any further and they weren't slung out of the team at the drop of a hat. 

http://edinburghspeedway.blogspot.com/2014/03/british-league-averages-1965.html

look towards the bottom of the list, loads of riders below 3.00 riding quite a few fixtures for their teams.

Also see how many teams used only 1 guest all season.

Guess the pointless 'bust a gut' to win everything wasn't there

Edited August 22, 2021 by ch958