Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2009 20:01:13 GMT
Panthers, Witches, Eagles . . . too much in common
And so….the final curtain….
The revelation by current Peterborough owner, Rick Frost, that the club lost money during the 2009 season, does not come as any surprise to me. Losses, helped by shrinking attendances and spiralling costs, year on year, had brought me personally to the crossroads where I felt that I no longer wished to bang my head against this particular brick wall and led me contemplating a fresh challenge or simply just walking away from a sport that I have always had a great deal of passion for. It was not a decision I took lightly, but in truth, was a decision I was contemplating from June of this year onwards.
In a slightly perverse way, I have felt a degree of responsibility watching successive owners “burn” their money and sometimes, well mostly actually, when I looked at the attendances for the majority of our home meetings, it was a source of personal embarrassment and you begin to ask the question, do the Peterborough public want this anymore? I certainly hope for the owner’s sake, that the people of Peterborough do, and that they show much better support for him and the club in 2010 and beyond.
During my time at Peterborough, I have done everything humanly possible to attract newcomers to our sport and all I might add on little or no budget. I have presented to over 2500 kids in various schools road show initiatives, I have invited and hosted whole organisations along for free and whole streets along for free. I have put up banners and posters, I have given away 1000’s of (sponsored) car stickers and more kids goodie bags than you can shake a stick at. I have offered free admission to members of the thriving local Polish club (one person came – once), 2 for 1 offers, Kids for a quid and Kids for free. We have on occasions been overrun by hundreds of Scout groups and I have undertaken umpteen radio interviews and quite a few local TV vox pops. I have put leaflets in newspapers, I have put leaflets through letterboxes, I have handed leaflets out in shopping malls and I have put 1000’s of leaflets on cars (with apologies to the owner of the Blue Vauxhall Astra in the Peterborough Railway Station Car Park in September 2007, honestly, it really did come off in my hand, so it must have already been broken). You name it and I’ve pretty much done it and all the time, our attendances have remained constant. Constantly poor. A successful team will bring you big crowds, but this is only a short term fix and as all Speedway aficionados’ know, and only to well, success in Speedway will never happen, year on year, it can’t, for the sport would simply die.
People 'in the know' within the entertainment industry suggest that all Speedway clubs will lose 8% of their core support every year, through a variety of differing reasons. That in itself is quite alarming. And, I do believe this stacks up, in so much as, whilst I may have contributed to overall increasing our attendance by 5% or more each year, I was actually seeing shrinkage of 3%. Two things however, will always stick in my mind about whether Peterborough as a city will support Speedway in the 21st Century. 1) It has always concerned me that an inordinately high percentage of season ticket holders never had a Peterborough post code, this frankly, is shocking. 2) I will never forget that the 2006 Grand Final, arguably the greatest modern day meeting ever, watched live by over 6000 people and by thousands more at home, was followed by a Craven Shield fixture attended by less than 700 people. If that Grand Final won’t pull people in, then what will?!?!
In all fairness, it has been a pretty turbulent time at Alwalton since the departure of the Lynch, Jarvis and Wing promotion in 2002. There have been many, far too many, dark days and I think those guys made their wisest ever decision to quit, after a phenomenally successful period and at a point in time where costs spiralled in the sport, whilst income remained pretty constant. It also comes as no surprise to me that the clubs who continue to bemoan their particular struggle in the EL along with Peterborough, are Eastbourne and Ipswich. These three clubs geographically are similarly insular. By that, I mean they are pretty much on their own, not massively populated and with no connecting cities or populous to attract, close by. Coventry, for example, can call on a much wider populous to support them, with not only the large Coventry population, but also nearby Rugby, Nuneaton and Leicester. Wolverhampton, Poole and to a lesser extent, Lakeside find themselves in a similar position. Swindon, however, do buck this trend, but the reasons I feel they do is down to some pretty aggressive and successful marketing and additionally they have been able to tap in to the misfortunes of their close rivals Reading and Oxford, who are of course, sadly, no longer with us.
I think EL Speedway can these days only survive in geographical areas where large conurbations can be easily and readily tapped into. Obviously Birmingham, my new club, meet this criteria and I certainly hope that the BSPA can see sense at their forthcoming AGM and realise the potential that Birmingham has to offer the EL rather than what the EL has to offer Birmingham, which is, to be honest, a subject for debate.
It has been good fun writing this blog for my old mate, Mike (Chris P) Bacon. I hope you have enjoyed reading this and my other inane ramblings and I give thanks to those of you who took the time to write to me about them. Actually, none of you did that, but it kind of sounds impressive.
Whatever team you support, I wish you well for 2010, but more than that I wish for Speedway to survive and thrive through the next decade, so that the next generations can witness what a great sport and product this is; that we all have been so fortunate to have found.
taken from Lovespeedway.com
And so….the final curtain….
The revelation by current Peterborough owner, Rick Frost, that the club lost money during the 2009 season, does not come as any surprise to me. Losses, helped by shrinking attendances and spiralling costs, year on year, had brought me personally to the crossroads where I felt that I no longer wished to bang my head against this particular brick wall and led me contemplating a fresh challenge or simply just walking away from a sport that I have always had a great deal of passion for. It was not a decision I took lightly, but in truth, was a decision I was contemplating from June of this year onwards.
In a slightly perverse way, I have felt a degree of responsibility watching successive owners “burn” their money and sometimes, well mostly actually, when I looked at the attendances for the majority of our home meetings, it was a source of personal embarrassment and you begin to ask the question, do the Peterborough public want this anymore? I certainly hope for the owner’s sake, that the people of Peterborough do, and that they show much better support for him and the club in 2010 and beyond.
During my time at Peterborough, I have done everything humanly possible to attract newcomers to our sport and all I might add on little or no budget. I have presented to over 2500 kids in various schools road show initiatives, I have invited and hosted whole organisations along for free and whole streets along for free. I have put up banners and posters, I have given away 1000’s of (sponsored) car stickers and more kids goodie bags than you can shake a stick at. I have offered free admission to members of the thriving local Polish club (one person came – once), 2 for 1 offers, Kids for a quid and Kids for free. We have on occasions been overrun by hundreds of Scout groups and I have undertaken umpteen radio interviews and quite a few local TV vox pops. I have put leaflets in newspapers, I have put leaflets through letterboxes, I have handed leaflets out in shopping malls and I have put 1000’s of leaflets on cars (with apologies to the owner of the Blue Vauxhall Astra in the Peterborough Railway Station Car Park in September 2007, honestly, it really did come off in my hand, so it must have already been broken). You name it and I’ve pretty much done it and all the time, our attendances have remained constant. Constantly poor. A successful team will bring you big crowds, but this is only a short term fix and as all Speedway aficionados’ know, and only to well, success in Speedway will never happen, year on year, it can’t, for the sport would simply die.
People 'in the know' within the entertainment industry suggest that all Speedway clubs will lose 8% of their core support every year, through a variety of differing reasons. That in itself is quite alarming. And, I do believe this stacks up, in so much as, whilst I may have contributed to overall increasing our attendance by 5% or more each year, I was actually seeing shrinkage of 3%. Two things however, will always stick in my mind about whether Peterborough as a city will support Speedway in the 21st Century. 1) It has always concerned me that an inordinately high percentage of season ticket holders never had a Peterborough post code, this frankly, is shocking. 2) I will never forget that the 2006 Grand Final, arguably the greatest modern day meeting ever, watched live by over 6000 people and by thousands more at home, was followed by a Craven Shield fixture attended by less than 700 people. If that Grand Final won’t pull people in, then what will?!?!
In all fairness, it has been a pretty turbulent time at Alwalton since the departure of the Lynch, Jarvis and Wing promotion in 2002. There have been many, far too many, dark days and I think those guys made their wisest ever decision to quit, after a phenomenally successful period and at a point in time where costs spiralled in the sport, whilst income remained pretty constant. It also comes as no surprise to me that the clubs who continue to bemoan their particular struggle in the EL along with Peterborough, are Eastbourne and Ipswich. These three clubs geographically are similarly insular. By that, I mean they are pretty much on their own, not massively populated and with no connecting cities or populous to attract, close by. Coventry, for example, can call on a much wider populous to support them, with not only the large Coventry population, but also nearby Rugby, Nuneaton and Leicester. Wolverhampton, Poole and to a lesser extent, Lakeside find themselves in a similar position. Swindon, however, do buck this trend, but the reasons I feel they do is down to some pretty aggressive and successful marketing and additionally they have been able to tap in to the misfortunes of their close rivals Reading and Oxford, who are of course, sadly, no longer with us.
I think EL Speedway can these days only survive in geographical areas where large conurbations can be easily and readily tapped into. Obviously Birmingham, my new club, meet this criteria and I certainly hope that the BSPA can see sense at their forthcoming AGM and realise the potential that Birmingham has to offer the EL rather than what the EL has to offer Birmingham, which is, to be honest, a subject for debate.
It has been good fun writing this blog for my old mate, Mike (Chris P) Bacon. I hope you have enjoyed reading this and my other inane ramblings and I give thanks to those of you who took the time to write to me about them. Actually, none of you did that, but it kind of sounds impressive.
Whatever team you support, I wish you well for 2010, but more than that I wish for Speedway to survive and thrive through the next decade, so that the next generations can witness what a great sport and product this is; that we all have been so fortunate to have found.
taken from Lovespeedway.com