steve roberts Posted February 4, 2023 Report Share Posted February 4, 2023 2 minutes ago, steve roberts said: The more I think of it it was Canrebury who were the visitors. Can you check your programme fixture list if it's not too much trouble? How I regret selling all my programmes now! ...I've just checked Speedway Researcher and Canterbury were early season visitors on the 12th April winning 34-43. That's looking familiar especially when I looked down the team sheets! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Stadia Posted February 4, 2023 Report Share Posted February 4, 2023 1 hour ago, steve roberts said: The more I think of it it was Canrebury who were the visitors. Can you check your programme fixture list if it's not too much trouble? How I regret selling all my programmes now! Yes, just looked Steve, 12th April, 1984 (Thursday), KenEx Cup, 34-43. Arena won the Canterbury leg, 35-43. So, Canterbury must have won by 1 point overall? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted February 14, 2023 Report Share Posted February 14, 2023 More good news for locals, due to their inefficient local government...... The remaining 38 councils have yet to set out their plans. Three councils - Croydon, Thurrock and Slough - have special permission to increase tax above 5%, after effectively declaring bankruptcy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted April 20, 2023 Report Share Posted April 20, 2023 Doesn't sound good for the football club. All those against the plan.... https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-65252924 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byker Biker Posted April 21, 2023 Report Share Posted April 21, 2023 18 hours ago, iris123 said: Doesn't sound good for the football club. All those against the plan.... https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-65252924 The current situation is even worse at that site, it is a haven for anti social behaviour strewn with empty gas canisters and other abhorrent paraphernalia of the night. The hotel is tired beyond belief and the football ground soon to be derelict yet it's far enough away from the Nimbys to disregard these elements. The site is perfect for redevelopment and is only the width of the M25 away from retail, industrial and major storage facilities so in terms of air pollution this sites contribution will be a pimple on the ar$e of the problem particularly as the Dartford Crossing is less than a mile away. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greeno1861 Posted May 16, 2023 Report Share Posted May 16, 2023 On 2/3/2023 at 9:26 PM, E I Addio said: Choosing race nights was done on a first come first served basis at the time so clubs that had chosen their race night before others had first choice, but if nobody objected other clubs could race on the same night. I can’t remember what night Lakeside raced under Ronnie Russell who was losing money anyway. When Cook and Douglas took over the allocated race night was Wednesday and it quickly became clear that for various reasons including commuting from Kent on a week night mid week crowds were too small to sustain the sport ,whereas 8pm Friday brought substantially bigger crowds so for years in the old Elite League the Lakeside fixture list was submitted for Friday night racing and nobody objected because they all knew it was Friday nights or no Lakeside at all. Then for what turned out to be the final season they dropped down to the old Premier League, submitted their fixture list for the season, had it approved by the BSPA pre - season and booked the track for Friday meetings. Racing continued in line with the approved fixture list until about August when Scunthorpe had an injury to , I think from memory Steve Worrall but not entirely sure , but Godfrey then started moaning because he couldn’t get suitable guests because other clubs were racing the same night as Scunthorpe. Then he pulled out this rule and said Lakeside couldn’t race on the same night as Scunthorpe so he could get a wider choice of guests, even though he as BSPA member had approved the fixture list pre- season and the track had been booked. By that stage Rye House had closed or lost their licence so Lakeside tried to finish the season by racing at Lakeside when they could get Fridays and the other weeks they were going to race at Rye House on Saturdays. Then Godfrey in his BSPA position said they could not do that and had to race at one or the other, which basically meant Rye House and which in turn had a catastrophic effect on the fixture list. I think with League and cup matches I think we finished up racing Peterborough three weeks out of four or something like that to complete the by then congested fixture list which of course was disastrous for attendances seeing the same team every week. We were later told by John Cook at a fans forum that Stuart lost £24,000 on that episode with no help or assistance from Godfrey and the BSPA management committee. I might have missed a detail or two but that was basically it. The Lakeside owners sold the track at the end of the season and for some reason I can’t now recall Rye House never had its licence reinstated. So two more tracks went out of business in that season and another nail was sunk into the sports coffin and the BSPA continued to fiddle while Rome burned. To rub salt in the wound the SS carried an interview with Godfrey who was bleating about “ rules are rules,” but the principle of the “best interests of speedway “ didn’t seem to apply then . In fact if I remember correctly that was the season Peterborough almost went out of business as well.It’s the old, old story again, self interest first, self interest second, and if there’s anything left over, self interest again as far as the BSPA are concerned. No surprise the sport is in a mess. Blimey, that's interesting. I was a regular at Lakeside from 2001 until the team closed, and didn't realise how badly the club were treated. Talking to the owner of AF Stocktaking, who sponsored Arena-Essex around 2001-5, the impression I got was it was entirely the council who forced them out, rather than BSPA having a huge part to play. Bastards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E I Addio Posted May 17, 2023 Report Share Posted May 17, 2023 9 hours ago, Greeno1861 said: Blimey, that's interesting. I was a regular at Lakeside from 2001 until the team closed, and didn't realise how badly the club were treated. Talking to the owner of AF Stocktaking, who sponsored Arena-Essex around 2001-5, the impression I got was it was entirely the council who forced them out, rather than BSPA having a huge part to play. Bastards. To be fair , I think the g council were at best luke warm towards the sport but the local MP , Jackie Doyle- Price was very supportive and even attended a couple of meetings but there was little she could do on her own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marko Posted May 17, 2023 Report Share Posted May 17, 2023 The race night issue certainly did not help, the club lost a huge amount of money at the end of 2018, had they been able to complete their fixtures at home they might have been in a better position to maybe work with Rye House the following season in order to carry on in the short term. Fact is, it seems there was no reason to stop the racing at Arena after 2018 as the site has remained untouched since, it would have been better to have the site used than sitting there doing nothing. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted May 17, 2023 Report Share Posted May 17, 2023 Buster Chapman and Rob Godfrey, the pair of clowns in charge of the sport at the time, certainly played a significant part in the closures of both Rye and Arena. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralMelchett Posted May 17, 2023 Report Share Posted May 17, 2023 (edited) On 2/4/2023 at 8:34 AM, Humphrey Appleby said: I seemed to remember Saturday was the race night back in the NL days. Thursdays originally then Sat in the good old days! Saturdays were only possible as Canterbury closed down at the end of 87 The BSPA also stiched up the former promoters in another way I was told! BSPA - Bloody Stupid Pratts Assoc Edited May 18, 2023 by GeneralMelchett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralMelchett Posted May 17, 2023 Report Share Posted May 17, 2023 12 hours ago, marko said: The race night issue certainly did not help, the club lost a huge amount of money at the end of 2018, had they been able to complete their fixtures at home they might have been in a better position to maybe work with Rye House the following season in order to carry on in the short term. Fact is, it seems there was no reason to stop the racing at Arena after 2018 as the site has remained untouched since, it would have been better to have the site used than sitting there doing nothing. There is a video on You Tube of a couple of guys reviewing the Arena site in the summer of either 21 or 22 - amazing the leccy was still working in one of the buildings! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralMelchett Posted May 17, 2023 Report Share Posted May 17, 2023 On 5/16/2023 at 11:32 PM, Greeno1861 said: Blimey, that's interesting. I was a regular at Lakeside from 2001 until the team closed, and didn't realise how badly the club were treated. Talking to the owner of AF Stocktaking, who sponsored Arena-Essex around 2001-5, the impression I got was it was entirely the council who forced them out, rather than BSPA having a huge part to play. Bastards. Ultimately the site was sold as 'unviable' for racing / motorsport by the daughter? of the ex promoter Chick Woodroffe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old bob at herne bay Posted May 20, 2023 Report Share Posted May 20, 2023 There is no doubt in my mind that both Arena Essex and Rye House were ruined by forcing them to race on non profitable race nights. Conveniently forgotten that 2 clubs were shafted by the “ fixed race nights” deal that has worked so well preventing riders leaving Uk speedway and missing the Uk meetings ??? This is why Poole changed to the CL - so they could retain Wednesday night racing which works for Poole. If I could criticise Douglas and Cook , it was their insistence on racing in the PL ( or whatever it was called then) that drove them down the dead end of racing on a Friday with a GP sooperstar in their side - who was never able to race every Friday. I remember having to miss many meetings that season as I could not make Wednesday meetings. The beginning of the end for me as a Lakeside supporter. The later spat with Godfrey and the minnows from scum*horpe - well they should have told Godfrey to get a team of 7 and not rely on gusts. Still that was a long time ago….. my interest is now confined to reading the SS and chuckling at the same old same old tripe being rolled out by the Godfrey , Chapman and now Morris brigade and the slow decay of Uk league speedway. Staggering, but not entirely surprised that Lakeside “Stadium” is still there , but it was never the most palatial of stadia, aside from the first bend building, funded if I remember by supporter subscription ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted May 21, 2023 Report Share Posted May 21, 2023 11 hours ago, old bob at herne bay said: There is no doubt in my mind that both Arena Essex and Rye House were ruined by forcing them to race on non profitable race nights. Conveniently forgotten that 2 clubs were shafted by the “ fixed race nights” deal that has worked so well preventing riders leaving Uk speedway and missing the Uk meetings ?? I've said it before... and I'll say it again, fixed race nights were not brought in to prevent riders from leaving the UK but to allow doubling up absences, which it has done. That's not to say it's not effected some clubs crowds by forcing anybody that wants to run in the top league to potentially run on "off-nights" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triple.H. Posted May 21, 2023 Report Share Posted May 21, 2023 1 hour ago, iainb said: I've said it before... and I'll say it again, fixed race nights were not brought in to prevent riders from leaving the UK but to allow doubling up absences, which it has done. That's not to say it's not effected some clubs crowds by forcing anybody that wants to run in the top league to potentially run on "off-nights" Sorry can you say that again 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old bob at herne bay Posted May 26, 2023 Report Share Posted May 26, 2023 Mmm IainB you might say it again and again, but the fixed race night deal in the PL was done with a view on the top riders being able to compete in Sweden ( Tuesday ) and Poland (Sunday) and Denmark(Wednesday and of course avoiding Gp practice and the GP ( Friday and Saturday) so pl was given Monday and Thursday - and the CL got the rest - with I agreed double uppers and double downers able to ride in both leagues. Rye went bust having to give up Saturday. Poole ran a mile to the cl to keep Wednesdays and Lakeside disappeared trying to run in the top league with mixed Weds and Fridays to keep Gp sooper star in their side. it failed because Poland limited the number of leagues riders were allowed to compete in ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted October 30, 2023 Report Share Posted October 30, 2023 Some much needed positive news coming out over the weekend Still a hell of a long way to go though, but it's a start 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammer1969 Posted October 30, 2023 Report Share Posted October 30, 2023 2 minutes ago, iainb said: Some much needed positive news coming out over the weekend Still a hell of a long way to go though, but it's a start https://www.thurrockhammers.com/2023-news/arena-essex-site-sold/ Hope the above link works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noaksey Posted October 30, 2023 Report Share Posted October 30, 2023 They've paid £40m for the site? They must have some serious plans for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammer1969 Posted October 30, 2023 Report Share Posted October 30, 2023 15 minutes ago, noaksey said: They've paid £40m for the site? They must have some serious plans for it Maybe the best new speedway track in the UK with a roof (ha ha) but you never know ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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