JOCK STROP - Cycle Speedway's Most Talked About Webpage

Top columnist Steve (Jock) Harvie brings you his own brand of politically correct cycle speedway!

STROP THREE - posted 14 October 2008

Doom and Gloom – Part One

They say “That a week is a long time in politics”. Certainly in the six weeks of a poor summer weatherwise that have passed since my last Strop it seems conversely that a lifetime has gone by in a whirr. After the nation’s problems with fuel and power prices had stabilised and we were all still basking in the unexpected gold medal successes of the Beijing Olympics for the UK especially the cycling ones, the country was plunged into the worst financial crisis for 80 years and our sport decided to self destruct in sympathy judging from the endless claims and counter claims of contributors to the Viewpoint section of spokesman-online.

Throughout this time I have tried to sit on my hands and keep my lips sealed (typing this article with my nose!) as the flack flew between the warring parties deciding to postpone the third part of the “S” word triology into why our sport was not as it used to be to a later date and try and pour some cold water of calm onto the present scenario or conversely douse petrol onto the funeral pyre of Cycle Speedway as it seems to be rapidly heading towards.

It has been said that you should not mix sport with religion which I whole heartedly agree with having experienced the continuing vile tribalism of certain followers of football in Scotland and Northern Ireland (neutral as usual I am a Motherwell fan!) with no doubt similar situations in the religious hotspots of this globe be it the turbulent Middle East, further into Asia and other areas where the safety net of socialism and before that European colonialism has been replaced by stone age extreme forms of religion which permeate constantly now that the internet has “re-educated” the easily led. Surely religion has had its day and should quietly retreat into the realms of history if we are to have any lasting peace and prosperity from now on. In Edinburgh in the 60’s you could not have a match until after noon on a Sunday to appease the strict Protestant Sabbath and it is still a similar situation for most sports in Ulster now, although you can shop at Tesco’s and watch Uncle Rupert’s TV versions all day instead!

However politics is a different matter with our own sport’s situation within British Cycling being comparable to that of the UK’s role in the European Union. I am one of these people who did not think it was a wise move to join either in the first place but now that we are members, it would be suicidal to pull out of both and return to a situation that could never be as it was with the economical and social lifestyle changes that have occurred here since 1979.

The trouble is Britain still thinks it has a “God given” power to carry on as a separate identity continuing to insist on its own outdated currency, units of measurements, obscenely long hours of work, still living in the post war aura of the saviour of the free world, preferring to align its support to George W’s “War for Oil”, (sorry, war against terrorism!) rather than full EU integration. Because of this we are the embarrassment of Europe with our binge drink, obese eating, lager lout image terrorising tourist areas whilst the more affluent buy up vast areas of real estate to create non-integrated Brit Ghettos to the annoyance of the local populace.

Similarly Cycle Speedway “demands” to be treated on an equal with the other forms of mainstream cycle sport despite the fact that we have only 800 participants and are almost at the bottom of cycle sport’s food chain. This lack of numbers is the real reason there are problems dividing our sport of which along with related subjects I will touch on later. The trouble is that if Britain (Cycle Speedway) continues to whinge, complain and ‘cry wolf’ regarding the unfair situation it conceives that it is in, the European Union (British Cycling) is well within its remit in “kicking us out” if all their other members have quite rightly become tired of our constant irritation and I very much doubt we will return to any position of respect!

How Others Perceive Us!

Like everyone else I have difficulty in explaining Cycle Speedway to people who have never heard of it. If I go down the cycling path they all think it is the track event on the banked circuit with fixed wheels and shaven legs or is it the muddy one where you can carry and run with your bike? Likewise taking the speedway angle saying it is similar to the motorised version they reply with “It must be very tiring pedalling four quarter mile laps in deep shale and not very exciting!”

So when confronted with an interested party I describe all Cycle Sport as a comparison with the world of Dance as I had to sitting next to a young lady on the plane on the way to the Australia Tour in 1997. The pinnacle of “Dance” has to be Covent Garden Ballet which is very expensive, takes a long time to watch or take part in, is usually entirely conducted in French, Italian, Spanish or German, has massive off stage egotistical problems with its major participants, captures hours of TV coverage and nobody seems really to know what it is all about. This equates to Tour de France type road racing.

Following this there are strictly adhered to versions on a 200 metre indoor track – “Ballroom Dancing!” which also transmits well to TV. Then there are painstakingly accurate disciplined formation folk versions both ‘hands free’ Irish and traditional Scottish – “Time Trials”. Switching disciplines to Mountain Biking and BMX, these being more youth oriented, compare to Disco / Clubbing versions of what I am not too sure of but the names freestyle, garage, drum and base, house and hip hop spring to mind, mostly shallow, visual ever changing fads seldom requiring the dedicated organisation and training of proper cycling (dance).

Following on from that I allocate all the other categories of dance (Jive, Line, Tea?) to types of bike racing boring the poor female until she demands to know the Cycle Speedway comparison. Obvious I reply, Morris Dancing, a bunch of blokes, predominately mature, going nowhere, round in circles on a village green or pub car park taking their activity very (over!) seriously, being treated with a certain amount of distain by the Dance (Cycling) Authorities and viewed by the general public with mild humour and curiosity whenever they happen to come across it. And that sums us up perfectly.

With only the likes of Cycle Football and Cycle Polo below us in participation  (apologies to the Unicycle Basketball Federation if they no doubt do exist) we have a major task in front of us if we attempt to take our sport forward and away from the cancerous condition it seems to be in at present.

The trouble with Cycle Speedway it is an almost totally inverted sport which seems to go out of its way to stay firmly in the past, until fairly recently male dominated, preferring its womenfolk to carry out subservient roles making the tea and burgers or the younger ones ‘cheering on their lads’ from the trackside rather than actually competing. All the other main cycling disciplines have had female racers in massive numbers for decades. Also like an equally retarded Masonic organisation it does very little to try and initiate new input from other cyclists and the general public and has not made much progress in integrating ethnic participants while implementing ridiculous discriminating restrictions on UK resident foreign riders and when racing is staged away from these shores insists it should only conform to the British version.

Every major meeting here is nearly always only watched by like participants and auxiliary personnel connected to the sport with minimal evidence of new virgin spectators with those that do turn up usually being ignored by the regulars. It almost totally lost contact with the motorised version and their riders have nearly all come through from “Schoolboy Scrambling” anyway rather than Cycle Speedway as was the norm in the 60’s.

The Annual General Meeting – R.I.P. !

Since 1988 until a couple of years ago I religiously attended the AGM as either representative of East London CSC or a mere interested spectator. Initially with two full sessions as chairman each, Bill Gill and Harry Glover, strong leaders of differing styles, oversaw well attended meetings fully recorded by General Secretary Rod Witham and his HQ staff, despite the sport contracting in clubs and participants. However I felt unease regarding the ‘democratic’ element as the voting procedure was totally controlled by the clubs with absent ones giving their voting cards to neighbouring ones to vote on their behalf. This was flawed meaning certain mainstream clubs had multiple votes on all proposals oblivious to what the members of other clubs wished giving some very dubious outcomes. This was later changed to one club one vote but as many, mostly smaller clubs, failed to attend and the quorum of members was only just reached the major established clubs could and usually did get the results they always wanted thus basically controlling the sport amongst themselves.

Leading up to and since the integration with British Cycling, the make up of the Council (later to be called Commission) varied greatly year by year, with several different people at the tiller but for various reasons the meetings rather than promoting the sport further became fractious, turning into a yearly soap opera pitting the “blunt Northerners” (Coronation Street) predominantly wishing it would return to the days of the Nacsa / English and Manchester versions, against “wide boy Southerners” (East Enders) wanting to “Bling Up” the sport but offering no real alternatives, “tractor driving” East Anglians (Emerdale) arguing their corner like the “cider drinkers” of the South West (Archers), whilst nearly always little was changed and the status quo usually remained courtesy of the Crossroads (now no longer) contingent from the Midlands and the “Howards Way” (also defunct) established South Coast clubs. Sadly there was no input from the soap followers of the young – Hollyoaks and Neighbours and the new foreign input of talented riders was not even considered for involvement.

Privilege to Attend British Cycling Awards Night

It is a difficult job to commit oneself to positions of authority either by being elected, volunteered or appointed and does not deserve the criticism plied upon some of them by today’s “Separationalists”. I had the privilege of attending a British Cycling Awards Night in 2006 accepting an award for being a “Cycle Speedway Volunteer” although I am still not sure who had proposed me or for what, as I certainly think there are far more worthy examples in Cycle Speedway than myself but enjoyed the experience where our sport was justifiably represented and feel the recent personnel attacks on members of the Commission insulting.

In later years with all the discussion to do with finance, insurance, health and safety legislation, child protection, integration with British Cycling and projects like Project 2000 and Go Ride Clubs despite no doubt excellent presentation and research by their instigators seemed alien to my thinking and I began to feel these meetings were beginning to no longer be about the core element of our sport – the actual racing and meaningful competitions.

The outcomes of two important votes since 1999 cemented the disillusionment that I have with the sport and the wrongs that democracy can inadvertently bring about. True democracy can only work properly if voting is made compulsory for all and not as it is at present in the UK where we see examples such as in Scotland last year where they now have a Scottish Nationalist Government as a protest reaction to Thatcher and Blair, despite only just over 50% of the country actually turning out to vote.

Likewise “Brain Dead Britain” had more people voting for a moronic TV reality show consisting of an untalented Irish Boy Band, gross warbling Scots female singer and the usual bunch of vacant blonde bimbette mimers than had exercised their franchise in the European Elections that week. The TV version later emerged to have been fixed and the Great British Public demanded to get their phone money back! Maybe Cycle Speedway would be better run by Ant and Dec or Davina McColl after all!  

Poles Totally Dominate International Racing

Firstly the one bright light in our sport in the last 15 years has been the emergence of Cycle Speedway in Poland and the amazing progress their riders have made to totally dominate international racing, yet the proposal by a Midland club to deny any of these riders and any other foreigners residing in the UK then and in the future entry to any British events despite paying a British Cycling licence fee which was passed by typical Daily Mail distrust of all things foreign by delegates in 2000 I believe, despite the same club ironically some years later to go on and sign four top Polish riders to compete in the Premier League. I still think this is an unlawful ruling and the sooner it is repealed the better. The “resident” element is the important issue here, so I am wholeheartedly against the “Sleazy Jetting in” of riders for selected matches from abroad which is obviously now happening in the Premier League.

Secondly the decision of the Premier League clubs to put self before the welfare of the sport three years ago regarding the secondary licensing fiasco in favour of them, seriously weakening the regional and local league structure, disappointed not only me but some members of the “top table” and is responsible for the almost total year by year downturn in regional racing.

However the Commission has been quite rightly criticised by the membership in a number of areas. The present unrest has come about mainly from the fall out of the Bury v Coventry match fixing scenario last season. In retrospect it did seem to be a very harsh decision to immediately expel the two clubs for such a crime which was followed a few weeks later by Astley & Tydsley resigning from the league for other reasons, thus reducing its participants by one third in what is meant to be the sport’s shop window competition. Maybe a harsh financial penalty or deduction of league points would have been more pertinent especially from the evidence of the many more serious infringements that are occurring in the Premier League this season and it would instantly have put an end to all this continuing controversy.

Patronising Attitude of Commission

My one personnel grievance has been the patronising attitude the Commission has taken over suggestions voiced over the test match series involving Poland last season where they insisted it be an England team involved despite receiving funding from BC rather than a GB team as suggested by the other Home Nations team managers. However the Polish riders embarrassing pull out of the last test 48 hours beforehand and the fall out from that has been well documented but I was still shocked when East London were offered the first test this season, England v Poland again!

Apparently if the Scottish, Irish and Welsh wanted to race the Poles they should organise it themselves seemed to be the Commissions view! Apathy then returned to the sport as the Poles declined the proposed English series much to the relief of their Premier club paymasters no doubt. The chance was lost of staging a GB v Poland test at Newport Sports Village on the afternoon of the Cardiff Speedway GP, which with the correct publicity would have ensured a spectator crowd in the thousands! Likewise the opportunity to promote our sport alongside other cycling activities in the Tour de France at Hyde Park failed to materialise, another missed chance (of many) of advancing our sport.

STROP TWO

SUNDAY SHOPPING HAS KILLED CYCLE SPEEDWAY - posted 15 August 2008

Back in September 1977, I decided to come to live and work in London to see if it really was paved with gold. I was no stranger to “The Smoke” as I had been down countless times during the previous decade for football matches and World Speedway Finals at Wembley and had been to Brands Hatch many times. A promise of a flat share in Forest Gate and a job as an HGV driver or motorcycle courier awaited, with a girl friend in Edinburgh keen to join me.

I arrived on my Norton Commando on a blisteringly hot Saturday afternoon to find my Welsh teacher friend had gone off on a cricket “Jolly Up” as his Cockney neighbour described it and I could not get into the flat, so I decided after an early evening pint at the Fleece pub on Wanstead Flats and a trip into Ilford for chips, to camp in a secluded area of the common, not needing to erect the tent as it was still stifling.

I awoke the following morning to similar weather conditions and still no sign of my mate. No mobile phones then and, more alarming, no cash machines either as I was running short of money not allowing for “London Prices”.  So with little petrol left I spent the whole day in the Wanstead Common area soaking up the anticipated life ahead of me.

Pitta and Nan Bread for Breakfast

Breakfast was a problem as the only shops open were Asian corner stores and the country at the time was experiencing a national bread strike so pitta and nan banana sandwiches was the choice washed down with Tizer. I decided to explore the area by foot and was impressed with the amount of organised and impromptu sport that was taking place involving these Londoners including all ethnic groups, mostly separately, but in a friendly atmosphere. Early season football matches intermingled with hockey and rugby in the morning whilst the local “Wheelers” cycling club whooshed past although not many runners or joggers were evident. Model boat and plane enthusiasts commandeered one of the many ponds on the common leaving the others to anglers and even brave swimmers. Kites flew above the only danger being the dreaded Frisbys.

A lunchtime pint consumed in the then two hours permitted licensing time at a pub backing on to a busy tennis and bowls club was followed by a walk past an equally full golf course on to the start of Epping Forest with many families out strolling, some on horses, amongst the grazing cattle and groups of hotcars and motorcyclists gathering at busy lay–by cafes. Returning to my bike, cricket had taken over as the main activity with four matches going on involving English, Asian and Black exponents, family rounders games, casual volleyball and a strange “British Bulldog” type game involving “gorgeous Asian babes” later to be promoted on Channel 4 called Kabhatti filled in the remaining spaces of the common. Even nearing 6pm a young lad on a cycle speedway bike sped past, obviously returning from nearby Little Ilford Park no doubt racing for Newham Rebels who were later to capture my attention.

The first 24 hours in the Empire’s capital city had so impressed me with its sporting possibilities involving its many varied inhabitants. My Welsh mate had still not returned to the flat so another al fresco night was spent on the common only to be interrupted from 6am Monday by an incessant procession of bowler hatted, pinstriped gents and equally severe females striding towards their commuter trains giving me a killing look as to them my ‘campsite’ was an eyesore on their green English landscape. Welcome to proper London Steve! By 4pm I had a driving job at Fords in Dagenham, money from the bank, full tank of petrol, digs sorted and the rest is history. The “Jockney” had arrived!

Enter Sunday Shopping

Fast forward 30 years to that day. A similar hot Sunday saw me return to that scene as our home match that afternoon against an East Anglian club had been cancelled due to lack of riders – theirs or ours it does not matter! The two mile car drive from Canning Town took 45 minutes due to the fact that Britain had been totally overtaken by the ultimate sport, the first of my five “S” words – Sunday Shopping.

The roads were grid locked as the authorities had been slow to implement proper parking regulations since this “lifestyle” change which had grown from an illegal trickle to a illegitimate deluge, followed by normalisation in the mid Nineties despite opposition from religious bodies, the Trade Unions and the “Keep Sunday Special” movement. We were assured by “Our Lady’s” disciples that nobody would be forced to work on a Sunday, volunteers, new part time temporary workers and guaranteed overtime for normal employees would all that would be needed to cover any additional trade that would probably not materialise anyway. Initially the major respected retail giants such as Marks & Spencers, Sainsburys, John Lewis/Waitrose and the Co-Op, stated they would not open on a Sunday but the other money driven (grabbing) main supermarket chains and the DIY sector (along with Garden Centres had been operating on Sundays for a decade, paying ‘token’ fines to local authorities!) grabbed the gullible general public like a lion snaring a wilderbeast in the jungle, devouring its prey immediately. Within a few weeks all the aforementioned retailers had to join in, as did the High Street names fearing they would be left behind for dead in this life changing retail revolution.

Paying the Price for Being a Cycle Speedway Rider

It was only a matter of time before the employee safeguards were ripped up as Sunday soon became the most popular day for shopping. I myself at that time was working indirectly for Asda Walmart and despite a three year legal struggle via the unions with works committee involvement, eventually failed in a fight against their new “Working Time Initiative!” which would have made me work Sundays as a normal day, giving me only one free Sunday per month and one normal weekend off every two months, no use to me as a cycle speedway rider. I had to transfer to another job and a drop in wages because I was one of these workers who were “not adjusting to the challenges of a new exiting market led employment opportunity”!

Back on Wanstead Flats, which still seemed an idyllic oasis in an urban landscape, I was soon dismayed by the lack of sport now being undertaken. Only one organised ‘soccer’ match was taking place, a mixed sex match, whilst an impromptu kick about took place nearby amongst youths with predominately East European and Mediteranian accents, likewise only one Cricket match mainly involving Asian players. There seemed to be less actual pitches than before with a large deserted area turned into a ‘natural habitat’ whilst a ‘jogging’ trail ran round the boundaries. This was quite busy with runners although mostly in the over 40’s age group. The leisure ponds had shrunk in size dramatically with no swimmers or fish visible whilst the model car, boat and plane enthusiasts were now pensioner ‘geeks’ trying to impress their bored grandkids likewise the few kites flying were now the size of zeppelins interfering with ‘rich blokes’ microlites. The “Wheelers” wheezed past, the same ones probably but my cycle speedway bike on the car rack would have been the only one to have graced the common in 25 years!

The park bordering ‘all day open pubs’ were busy with car parks full of SUVs, colour supplement couples with their designer dressed kids, Ninetendos in hands and ears, with only a similar tethered ‘must have’ dog for entertainment. Accompanying bouncy castles gave the toddlers their only means of exercise for those who did not have trampolines at home. Mix that with E number food additives, no wonder we are producing disorientated teenagers later with many due to the obesity problem eventually turning into their own personal bouncy castles. The tennis club and golf course appeared busy but on examination the missing generation of “Club 18/30” was absent. Only a few walkers were exploring the forest whilst thankfully the frisby seemed to have died out altogether. Mountain bikers were plentiful, each outdoing the other with the latest high profile machines and apparel but actual riding seemed to be limited to white South African and other colonial accents prevailing in their numbers now allowed to cycle on the previously forbidden terrain free from the now non existent jobsworth park keeper chasing them.

The Decline in Sporting Participation

Meanwhile the normal London inhabitants were fully involved in the myriad of shopping malls, outlet centres and retail outlets bordering this once cherished green space either being forced to work or even worse forced to shop in these new “Concentration Camps” of retail materialism like Lakeside and Bluewater. No doubt the above scenario can be repeated in all parts of the UK illustrating the decline in sporting participation of our British public.  Given the choice of doing sport or working at B&Q or Asda  today’s youth prefer the latter using their earnings to purchase the latest imported goods be it clothing or new technology or the more damaging substances associated with “clubbing” or cheap holidays abroad which damage our Euro standing.

What has all this to do with cycle speedway I hear the reader saying! In the late Seventies and early Eighties, despite lack of motorways and only one Dartford Tunnel it only took 30 minutes to drive from my home in Kent to East London’s track or one and a half to two hours for a Suffolk or Norfolk fixture. These days it takes anything up to double these times to do similar journeys as the Sunday Shopping experience now starts at 7am with “Car Boot Fairs” in many venues en route while at 10am it seems that the “sheep” population of Essex all decide to go shopping at Bluewater in Kent for a change and likewise the Kentish ‘lemmings’ opt for Lakeside in Thurrock causing gridlock around the Dartford Crossing. This scene is further duplicated at the main road junctions at Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich and Thetford so travelling to cycle speedway is a stressful experience for me on my own/  God knows how a driver with a car full of kids copes. We must ask ourselves if Sunday afternoons are the best time to conduct our favourite sport after all.

Napoleon famously described Britain as a “Nation of Shopkeepers”. The grocer’s daughter from Grantham turned that into a country of shoppers! As Sunday shopping is unfortunately here to stay it might be wise to abandon the token gestures to religion and make it like any other day and dilute the congestion which that brings about introducing normal parking and licensing hours. However there are still four other “S” words left do discuss why our sport is suffering. Can you guess what they are yet! To be unfolded in the next part.

Thought   England won the World Cup famously in 1966 and nothing since. Germany has now won it two times and the Euro version twice as well. There the shops still close from 1pm on Saturdays and all day Sundays. Likewise in most of the principal nations in the EU. Their populations have two choices how to utilise that time – play sport or visit the inlaws – enough said!     

To be continued shortly!     

STROP ONE

SETTING THE SCENE

Welcome to the “Jock Strop”, a light hearted but serious look at the state of cycle speedway racing in the present day with a view to improving our sport through a variety of well thought out ideas and suggestions with more than a passing look at previous attempts from our colourful history which given the chance of articulate discussion from you, the people involved in the day to day running of the sport, could make a significant difference in the future.

It is through the excellent evolution of “spokesman-online” that we now have an outlet that we can sensibly and immediately air our views, fears and proposals denied for so long, primarily by not having such a vehicle to do so through and despite a yearly AGM our ruling body’s hands were tied in the ‘democratic!’ processes which that involved and many issues now of paramount importance were glanced over.

There have been many excellent ideas and suggestions in the Viewpoint section that it would take up all my spare time to digest and reply to. Several have been well thought out and expressed eloquently whilst others are predictably “Daily Mail / Daily Express” reader reactions post-coded from Tunbridge Wells no doubt! It is too easy to become bogged down with certain subjects, racing incidents and reprisals for example, which can go on for ever as I experienced myself whilst on the South-East Committee several years ago trying to mediate in a local East Anglian dispute which lasted for months with no suitable outcome. These are best dealt with by the organisers and not left to smoulder in the national media eye causing further future problems.

Loyal to East London

Having been involved with cycle speedway since the mid Sixties, save seven years from 1969 to 1977 when first illness, then the normal progression to motorcycles / cars / work etc. combined with the once great Edinburgh cycle speedway scene dying off due to the demise of the motorcycle version at Meadowbank, only returning when Powderhall started up in 1977. Marriage and re-allocation to London enabled me to take up the sport there once again and since 1979 have remained loyal to East London CSC (before 1983 Newham Rebels) and have continued an interest in Edinburgh, when I am back in Scotland throughout that period utilising “secondary licensing” as it should be used.

However many things to do with cycle speedway cause me great concern as many other people must feel similar thoughts on how our sport is best run for all involved. I aim to air a few personal views and ideas over the coming months concerning various aspects and subjects that in my opinion need to be questioned and attended to, in order to prevent our sport from reduced participation and to encourage growth and expansion in the future.

In my travels around the UK attending cycle speedway matches either as a rider, official or spectator, I keep my eyes and ears open regarding the state of our sport.  Although the opinions of many people vary, I am dismayed to overhear long established cycle speedway personnel blame the sport’s current troubles on typical knee jerk reactions -  “British Cycling – should never have joined up with them in the first place!”, “These bloody Polish riders coming over here and denying our (bored and obese) youngsters team places!”, “Terrible refereeing” (coming from senior riders who to my knowledge have never held a whistle in their mouths in all the years they have been competing!), “Greed of the major clubs pinching our riders” (grain of truth there!) and numerous similar claims causing more harm than good.

Maggie to Blame

People who know my diverse political views are accustomed to me blaming all that has gone wrong in my life be it marriage, career and downturn in my chosen sport on one Margaret Thatcher and her “Revolution” started in 1979 but the parallels in her policies of privatisation, downsizing, outsourcing, culturally cheapening life has resulted in a country that now has less free time to enjoy any minority sport or pastime, fewer accessible facilities and can only carry out their chosen hobby once they have overcome a mountain of legal, financial, health and safety legislation which has almost crippled  most organisations to the point that few people are prepared to offer their services to help in fear of imported ”American” litigation are there for all to see. To be fair the policies of the “Hampstead Lefties” did not help with their reluctance to promote competitive sport in schools, preferring kids to take part in meaningless “Bean Bag Throwing!” activities where everyone is a winner!

Subsequent Governments have done little to reverse this trend with the major sports now getting all the cream off of the table via the aforementioned lady’s Antipodean “Sugar Daddy” which leaves the rest to fight over the few remaining scraps left hoping the Olympics in 2012 will cure everything for us.

Boom Time for Cycle Speedway

By 1979 cycle speedway, which had blossomed as most sports had in the after war years with countless teams, leagues and haphazard management well documented in the 50 Year Anniversary Book, had evolved into a well organised sport on a more manageable club, national and regional basis, boasting a prestigious British Team Championship and high profile August Bank Holiday Individual Final(s) containing the best riders and teams who had progressed through various season long qualifiers to get there. These, along with the first Australian Lions Tour in 1981 and newly introduced Home Nations Team Series attracted ‘blue chip’ sponsorship (Daily Mirror, Norwich Union, Fosters Lager, British Airways to name a few) saw the pinnacle of the sport before the decline started, accelerating throughout the 80’s into an almost unstoppable slump in the early 90s with a drastic reduction in riding numbers and club participation only to be halted by the enthusiastic emergence of cycle speedway in Poland and stability with organisational involvement by British Cycling which has come at a price financially.

Many plausible reasons for this slump have been given from skateboards, BMX bikes and Mountain Bikes which were new, more fashionable options to distancing our sport from the motorised version which was going through a similar decline (Where are these “Short Track Cycling Clubs” now?) but most were oblivious to the main one, curtsey of the “Great Blue Rinse”. The main reason for this turmoil is not as stated previously above but the catastrophic effect the “Sunday Shopping” changes brought about in the last two decades and cycle speedway’s inability to counteract the problems this has entailed.

Exploring the Five Ss

In the next “Strop” I will attempt to explain the affects of this problem on cycle speedway along with other related reasons why we are still struggling. In the 70s if we were looking for fun we were encouraged to go after the five “S” words – Sun, Sand, Sea, Sangria and Sex. Nowadays there are still five “S” words to follow unfortunately no good for our sport. To be revealed! 

Jock