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Killing the sport


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7 minutes ago, Fina said:

The other thing I don't remember in relation to crowds is venomous comments in foul language directed at riders, which completely ruined my last visit to Redcar.  The group I stand with keep the comments to the riders performance on the night and the language reasonable, but there was a bigger crowd at the Poole match and I noticed the difference. One in particular was vicious about a couple of the Redcar lads.

Sadly, that is the way of the world these days. Everyone is "entitled" to say whatever they want, to whoever they want, and anybody who complains about their language is a snowflake...

Edited by chunky
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12 minutes ago, Fina said:

The other thing I don't remember in relation to crowds is venomous comments in foul language directed at riders, which completely ruined my last visit to Redcar.  The group I stand with keep the comments to the riders performance on the night and the language reasonable, but there was a bigger crowd at the Poole match and I noticed the difference. One in particular was vicious about a couple of the Redcar lads.

Think you are looking back with rose tinted glasses

Ove Fundin for one told me he was often abused and had things thrown at him when he rode at Wimbledon. Even back in the 1930s riders were physically attacked. One notorious track was Harringay

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Just now, iris123 said:

Think you are looking back with rose tinted glasses

Ove Fundin for one told me he was often abused and had things thrown at him when he rode at Wimbledon. Even back in the 1930s riders were physically attacked. One notorious track was Harringay

Quite possible or it could be that I didn't go enough to notice that side of speedway. I was based on Isle of Man so only got to watch when I was back in England for holidays or visiting family.

The teams and league structure does set speedway apart from other motorsports I have been much more involved with so I guess that makes for a noticeable difference is the attitude of some fans.

Learning a lot about the sport this season now I have got a lot more involved.

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If you lose your home team, the team you feel most passionate about, of course your love for the sport wanes, only to be expected.

Grading, I've always thought of this as making the track fair (not at Eastbourne and maybe Ipswich lol) and safe for the riders who I want to be able to give 100% every race, it's NEVER bothered me and it gives us time to talk about the race coming up, the race just gone, speedway in general or perhaps just life.

Sorry if you've lost your passion for the sport, so glad I haven't :)

Edited by Trees
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6 hours ago, Trees said:

If you lose your home team, the team you feel most passionate about, of course your love for the sport wanes, only to be expected.

Grading, I've always thought of this as making the track fair (not at Eastbourne and maybe Ipswich lol) and safe for the riders who I want to be able to give 100% every race, it's NEVER bothered me and it gives us time to talk about the race coming up, the race just gone, speedway in general or perhaps just life.

Sorry if you've lost your passion for the sport, so glad I haven't :)

Nice quote trees, i understand where you are coming from,my version. Eat at a local restaurant tonight. Get the cream sauce.Have a cold pint at 4 o'clock in a mostly  empty bar. Go somewhere  you've  never been. Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you. Order the Steak rare. Eat a Oyster. Have a Negroni. Have two. Be open to the world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you, but have a drink with them anyways. Eat slowly. Tip your server.Check in on your friends. check in on yourself. Enjoy the ride.

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2 hours ago, sommelier said:

Nice quote trees, i understand where you are coming from,my version. Eat at a local restaurant tonight. Get the cream sauce.Have a cold pint at 4 o'clock in a mostly  empty bar. Go somewhere  you've  never been. Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you. Order the Steak rare. Eat a Oyster. Have a Negroni. Have two. Be open to the world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you, but have a drink with them anyways. Eat slowly. Tip your server.Check in on your friends. check in on yourself. Enjoy the ride.

Choose life... 

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Through the eyes of A 11yr old. A couple of weeks ago for the first time in a long time I went to Sheffield to watch them v Wolverhampton and with me came my 11 yr old grandson for his first meeting. He loved the racing, the speed and the smell and loved being able to look into the pits to see the bikes being worked on between races. At the end of the meeting the crowd started leaving and he looked at me and said "is that it" ? and apart from a rider doing a few practice laps it was, but he left happy after watching the riders loading up there bikes and getting a closer look at them and we went home happy with his programme and speedway star. Last week I said to him "want to go to speedway on Thursday" ? And he asked who were they riding against, when I said Wolverhampton again he replied "but we saw them last time". Maybe he will be more willing when they ride against Ipswich for the next home meeting. On a side note he understands a rider riding in both league's but he thinks it silly that rider can ride for different teams in the same league. As I said at the beginning speedway through the eyes of a 11yr old. (the future fan base)

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On 6/15/2022 at 10:35 AM, Lefty said:

Are you 'TTT' in disguise?

I would suggest MOST' clubs are NOT doing good business!

Looking at crowds around a few tracks I would think some are doing ok...

However, the bar isn't set very high is it?

The Aces seem to be doing "alright" at 1400/1500 I would think (to my untrained eye), however, context that with 2.7 million within 45 mins drive and it doesnt seem so good for a niche, unique business that has a monopoly in the local area..

And you only have to lose a couple of clubs at Div 2 level, through having uncompetitive teams, and 1300/1400 regulars get lost to the sport.. 

Still...

Those in the hunt for winning titles will get another circa 53 (or maybe 54?) a week to compensate for having rivals with no chances of success.. :rolleyes:

 

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1 hour ago, GWC said:

5 man teams and one league to get us out of this mess!

The main reason we have a shortage of U.K. riders is because none are coming from the Grasstracks.

Grasstrack is now less than 10% of what it was 20+ years ago when most of the top riders were tempted to have a go @ Speedway!

P.S. The old style second half with junior races allowed "wan-a-be-stars" to show their talents.

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49 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

The main reason we have a shortage of U.K. riders is because none are coming from the Grasstracks.

Grasstrack is now less than 10% of what it was 20+ years ago when most of the top riders were tempted to have a go @ Speedway!

P.S. The old style second half with junior races allowed "wan-a-be-stars" to show their talents.

Couldn't agree more...we were spoit at Cowley during the seventies with the quality of the second halves and riders competing both establish speedway and occasional grasstrack rider (Julian Wigg, Ken Matthews, Chris Drewitt etc)

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1 hour ago, Ghosty said:

The main reason we have a shortage of U.K. riders is because none are coming from the Grasstracks.

Grasstrack is now less than 10% of what it was 20+ years ago when most of the top riders were tempted to have a go @ Speedway!

P.S. The old style second half with junior races allowed "wan-a-be-stars" to show their talents.

Having the 2nd Division too strong also stifles growth...

At least 3 of the septets per team should be NDL HL level, with one, at most, Div 1 HL level...

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BUT there are just not enough riders and of quality to sustain this current malaise. Neither are there enough young riders coming through to sustain the injury attritions.

Also I still can’t understand how or why the bspl can allow our 3 best riders we have probably produced in the past 20 years to ply their trade elsewhere.

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1 hour ago, GWC said:

BUT there are just not enough riders and of quality to sustain this current malaise. Neither are there enough young riders coming through to sustain the injury attritions.

Also I still can’t understand how or why the bspl can allow our 3 best riders we have probably produced in the past 20 years to ply their trade elsewhere.

Nothing the BSPL can do about it, it’s the riders choice.

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2 hours ago, GWC said:

BUT there are just not enough riders and of quality to sustain this current malaise. Neither are there enough young riders coming through to sustain the injury attritions.

Also I still can’t understand how or why the bspl can allow our 3 best riders we have probably produced in the past 20 years to ply their trade elsewhere.

Poland's rules and wanting to not drop a level over here. ..

Riding in Sweden (no idea how they afford it given the teams appear stromger than Poland), ensures Lambert and Bewley have to be "on it" every night, whereas over here they wouldn't get challenged the same...

These lads need to continually benchmark themselves against the very best to keep on that upward trajectory....

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The basic problem with the sport is riders riding all over the place. It robs youngsters of a spot all over. It is not only the UK that are having problems, but it was noticed and has been going on for a decade or more. I pointed out the dramatic drop in riders in Denmark. Just as i seem to recall Anders Michanek in Backtrack noted the drop in number from his time in Sweden. Poland, although maybe the only country trying to do something, are also seeing this happen now

I remember back nearly two decades ago now and here in Germany we had qualifying rounds for the German championship and also i seem to remember the U21 championship, divded into North and South. Now it seems they are lucky to get a full field without using a foreigner or two on german licences...

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4 hours ago, mikebv said:

Having the 2nd Division too strong also stifles growth...

At least 3 of the septets per team should be NDL HL level, with one, at most, Div 1 HL level...

You could be right but the old National league years ago had riders who could of been full time BL performers for a prolonged period..( ie) Perks, Sansom,Sampson, Jackson, Owen x2 ) Hunter,Sheilds,  as examples .For me now the leagues are reasonably close the Prem for me is a poor product something needs to change.

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1 hour ago, mikebv said:

 

These lads need to continually benchmark themselves against the very best to keep on that upward trajectory....

I watched Woffinden riding in Denmark the other night and his only challenger was Rasmus Jensen. Walk in the park otherwise.

Bewley and Lambert seem to be doing likewise in Sweden a few times.

If it’s ok for Doyle then our guys should be making the effort to bring their own league up a standard. 

When the money runs out over there (not Poland) I guess they’ll be back.

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1 hour ago, iris123 said:

The basic problem with the sport is riders riding all over the place. It robs youngsters of a spot all over. It is not only the UK that are having problems, but it was noticed and has been going on for a decade or more. I pointed out the dramatic drop in riders in Denmark. Just as i seem to recall Anders Michanek in Backtrack noted the drop in number from his time in Sweden. Poland, although maybe the only country trying to do something, are also seeing this happen now

I remember back nearly two decades ago now and here in Germany we had qualifying rounds for the German championship and also i seem to remember the U21 championship, divded into North and South. Now it seems they are lucky to get a full field without using a foreigner or two on german licences...

Yes I think Golf is now the ‘in’ sport in Denmark they have some very good young players too. Much safer and less stress for the parents!

Sweden apart from Lindgren don’t seem to have anyone of note sadly.

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