Crowd
Concerns
Posted 04/08/05
The Glasgow promotion have this week warned
in the Speedway Star that the alarm bells are ringing with regards
to the crowd levels attending Ashfield - or rather the lack of them.
They took the unusal step of announcing the crowd figure
for last week - a paltry 702, well below the break even point of 800.
Concerns are bound to be increased now that the football season in
Scotland has started especially with two Sunday matches involving
one or other of the old firm in the next four weeks.
There are debates on speedway forums up and down the country
with supporters unhappy about how their teams are doing and some have
stopped attending meetings as a result, Newport being one of the worst
hit. However, the danger in doing this is that you find yourself without
a club to support in a year or two and it would be good if some of
the 'stay away' supporters would give thought to this.
As fans we can do our part by trying to encourage friends
and colleagues to come along and see what its all about, but the promotion
- with a small p - of the club also has to be improved, especially
towards the younger age groups. There were attempts to bring in new
fans by issuing free tickets but sadly this was abused by some. In
Glasgow you are always up against the problem that if you are not
football, publicity is hard to get. I'm sure if anyone has any ideas
in how to tackle this, the promotion would be receptive to any suggestions.
.
