Birmingham Brummies 2022

[GiveusaB]

Great news.... Weds Sept 7th....Alan Grahame Memorial Meeting....

I look forward to paying my respect to a true legend of the sport.

Not just a great rider, but a great person too!

[SteveLyric2]

2 hours ago, GiveusaB said:

Great news.... Weds Sept 7th....Alan Grahame Memorial Meeting....

I look forward to paying my respect to a true legend of the sport.

Not just a great rider, but a great person too!

Who is guesting?

[Petecc]

24 minutes ago, Skidder1 said:

Who is guesting?

Everybody.  Its a select side v a select side of who is available. 

[GiveusaB]

59 minutes ago, Skidder1 said:

Who is guesting?

its a bham v Cradley encounter... a fitting tribute!

[Racin Jason 72]

3 hours ago, GiveusaB said:

its a bham v Cradley encounter... a fitting tribute!

That’s a great tribute to a brilliant servant to British speedway.  

[M.D]

5 hours ago, GiveusaB said:

its a bham v Cradley encounter... a fitting tribute!

That is a Wonderfull and fitting meeting for the man, I'm sure it will be a great turn out for the meeting.

Are the proceeds going to his family?

[Tosh1218]

What a rider he was for Hull Vikings at the end of his career and a great bloke

[uk_martin]

11 hours ago, GiveusaB said:

Great news.... Weds Sept 7th....Alan Grahame Memorial Meeting....

I'd like to think that the meeting will generate some funds that can go to the Grahame estate.  That said, with the crowds at the levels that they have been, you have to question if that's likely to happen. Is the Alan Grahame name being used just to boost crowd numbers just to cut losses, or is there a realistic chance of some money being raised that will go to the estate? I guess the answer to that depends on how attractive the teams put out on the night are, how people respond to the event and what the riders get paid for their attendance.

[GiveusaB]

In my eyes it's not about money....it's about honouring a legend!

 

[arnieg]

12 hours ago, uk_martin said:

I'd like to think that the meeting will generate some funds that can go to the Grahame estate.  That said, with the crowds at the levels that they have been, you have to question if that's likely to happen. Is the Alan Grahame name being used just to boost crowd numbers just to cut losses, or is there a realistic chance of some money being raised that will go to the estate? I guess the answer to that depends on how attractive the teams put out on the night are, how people respond to the event and what the riders get paid for their attendance.

Why should his estate benefit? I'll happily give money to a benefit for a permanently injured rider, or one who passed away while riding. But Grahame's passing was 20 years after being active in speedway and at an age when I assume* he had no dependents.

 

* If he had surviving children who were still minors that would change the situation entirely and I would be happy to see money raised go to them.

Edited August 4, 2022 by arnieg

[GiveusaB]

Why not donate any profits to a charity of Alan's family's choice ?

Hodgkins Lymphoma springs to mind....

[Gerbat1875]

Hopefully this will become an annual event, when Joe Thurley passed away a few years back now there was one meeting The Joe Thurley memorial, it was never run again despite the promotion at the time saying Joe's name would be honoured annually, we had the Alan Hunt memorial which opened the season when Brummies reopened in 2007, was it ever run again? I am not sure to be honest, other individuals have long since fallen off the Brummies fixture, the second city trophy is no longer run, despite its popularity in its hey day, I would rather Brummies fill free dates in the fixture list with meetings like this, not a stupid competitions like the jubilee league which was dreamed up by the BSPA, Brummies should bring back the individuals in my opinion 

Edited August 5, 2022 by Gerbat1875

[*JJ]

Trouble is, few fans like them.

[Deano]

8 hours ago, Gerbat1875 said:

Hopefully this will become an annual event, when Joe Thurley passed away a few years back now there was one meeting The Joe Thurley memorial, it was never run again despite the promotion at the time saying Joe's name would be honoured annually, we had the Alan Hunt memorial which opened the season when Brummies reopened in 2007, was it ever run again? I am not sure to be honest, other individuals have long since fallen off the Brummies fixture, the second city trophy is no longer run, despite its popularity in its hey day, I would rather Brummies fill free dates in the fixture list with meetings like this, not a stupid competitions like the jubilee league which was dreamed up by the BSPA, Brummies should bring back the individuals in my opinion 

Those were the days when you saw the leagues top riders once maybe twice a season in the league or cup. Then your individual brought them together under one meeting. Now we see them guesting for either the home team or the away team quite frequently so the experience gets diluted.

Edited August 5, 2022 by Deano

[Gerbat1875]

12 hours ago, Deano said:

Those were the days when you saw the leagues top riders once maybe twice a season in the league or cup. Then your individual brought them together under one meeting. Now we see them guesting for either the home team or the away team quite frequently so the experience gets diluted.

What happened to things like the test matches which were run as a test series in the 70s, you know like Great Britain v Czechoslovakia, Australasia etc, remember seeing a few of them in the 70s, did we not pick up Phil Herne from matches like that, there is lots of stuff that can be resurrected in my opinion, I know the world final qualifications were brilliant, I used to love the inter-continental final at White City, you had stuff like British qualifiers where you had to qualify for the final, now it's all invitational, which is wrong in my opinion, you will never get a shock world champion anymore like syzackiel in 1973, all because the grand prix is the selected few, throw in a couple of wildcards, but generally unless someone is retired or seriously injured its basically the same field year in year out, people get bored, speedway needs a massive shake up in this country, our BSPA is killing the sport in the UK, it needs to give the fans something to attach to, but unfortunately the rules don't allow it, get rid of the play-offs, why can a team finishing 6th out of 10 have a chance of being league champions, a team finishing 6th is a failure, its finished below half way, champions to me are being Number 1 in the league standings, its bizarre, imagine the out cry if Man C or Liverpool won the PL and then had a shed load of injuries and lost a play off final to West ham/wolves etc by a dodgy decision, it don't make sense. 

[uk_martin]

On 8/5/2022 at 2:14 PM, Gerbat1875 said:

The Joe Thurley memorial, it was never run again despite the promotion at the time saying Joe's name would be honoured annually

I heard the perspective of this from Joe Thurley's widdow. The name was abused as a cheap publicity stunt. The trophy was supposed to have been on display in a glass cabinet at the stadium, and as was said, there was supposed to be an annual event to compete for the trophy too...it never happened.

Hence my enquiry about whether the "Alan Grahame" event is anything else other than yet another name from Birmingham's relatable history being taken in vain.

[Sotonian]

23 hours ago, Gerbat1875 said:

What happened to things like the test matches which were run as a test series in the 70s, you know like Great Britain v Czechoslovakia, Australasia etc, remember seeing a few of them in the 70s, did we not pick up Phil Herne from matches like that, there is lots of stuff that can be resurrected in my opinion, I know the world final qualifications were brilliant, I used to love the inter-continental final at White City, you had stuff like British qualifiers where you had to qualify for the final, now it's all invitational, which is wrong in my opinion, you will never get a shock world champion anymore like syzackiel in 1973, all because the grand prix is the selected few, throw in a couple of wildcards, but generally unless someone is retired or seriously injured its basically the same field year in year out, people get bored, speedway needs a massive shake up in this country, our BSPA is killing the sport in the UK, it needs to give the fans something to attach to, but unfortunately the rules don't allow it, get rid of the play-offs, why can a team finishing 6th out of 10 have a chance of being league champions, a team finishing 6th is a failure, its finished below half way, champions to me are being Number 1 in the league standings, its bizarre, imagine the out cry if Man C or Liverpool won the PL and then had a shed load of injuries and lost a play off final to West ham/wolves etc by a dodgy decision, it don't make sense. 

Comparing speedway (or any other sport) to football makes little sense. Most other sports have play-offs.

[Gerbat1875]

25 minutes ago, Sotonian said:

Comparing speedway (or any other sport) to football makes little sense. Most other sports have play-offs.

I know they do, but in my opinion it's wrong, whether it be speedway, football, rugby or anything else, my point was say a team went unbeaten for all the league campaign suddenly had a major health, or injury crisis and had to race a meeting with only guest bookings who were put together last minute to satisfy a TV schedule, and this team lost, it's not right, I was not comparing it to football I was pointing out a scenario which would not be allowed to happen in any other sport other than speedway. Speedway rules are a joke in the UK and need to be re-written, only then can it move on for the better, the people running the BSPA now are only in it for themselves to make a pocket lining few quid from the TV companies 

 

[Gerbat1875]

1 hour ago, uk_martin said:

I heard the perspective of this from Joe Thurley's widdow. The name was abused as a cheap publicity stunt. The trophy was supposed to have been on display in a glass cabinet at the stadium, and as was said, there was supposed to be an annual event to compete for the trophy too...it never happened.

Hence my enquiry about whether the "Alan Grahame" event is anything else other than yet another name from Birmingham's relatable history being taken in vain.

I knew Alan most of my childhood and adult life from growing up in Kingstanding, and also when he had his own shop in Erdington. Alan would be appalled if his name was being used as a publicity stunt, he would want any moneys raised to go to a charity which suited a lot of good causes. Joe Thurley was a well respected man at Birmingham and without him in the 1970s there would be no Birmingham Speedway even today and he even was helping out at the reopening in 2007.Joe's name should be honoured at Birmingham but for some reason his name and memory are not even recognised in fact its been dumped in the bin(shame on Birmingham) it's a shame because no one is more befitting of a memorial at Birmingham than Joe.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Gerbat1875

[HGould]

42 minutes ago, Gerbat1875 said:

I knew Alan most of my childhood and adult life from growing up in Kingstanding, and also when he had his own shop in Erdington. Alan would be appalled if his name was being used as a publicity stunt, he would want any moneys raised to go to a charity which suited a lot of good causes. Joe Thurley was a well respected man at Birmingham and without him in the 1970s there would be no Birmingham Speedway even today and he even was helping out at the reopening in 2007.Joe's name should be honoured at Birmingham but for some reason his name and memory are not even recognised in fact its been dumped in the bin(shame on Birmingham) it's a shame because no one is more befitting of a memorial at Birmingham than Joe.

I agree. 

Alan battled non hodgkiss lymphoma I believe to be the precise condition from the mid 80s possibly earlier when at Cradley

I recall he suffered from fatigue and got an early diagnosis. 

Whilst obviously Brummies will need to cover all their costs for staging, hopefully any ner profit could go to charities of Diane and the families choosing.