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CHEETAHS LOOKING TO 2009 |
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With the chance of any speedway taking place at Oxford this year rapidly diminishing, attentions have switched to making sure the sport returns to Sandy Lane as soon as possible – hopefully in 2009.
And those who have led the fight to save the Cheetahs have taken time to thank the people who have contributed towards the cause.
SOS spokesman Chris Brown said: “Although it seems certain that the fight has been lost for this year, we have been very fortunate that a number of people have thrown their weight and support behind the efforts of the SOS and Supporters’ Club groups.
“We cannot thank enough the efforts of the local politicians to try and help us retain our great club.
“The supporters groups would like to place on record our thanks to local Oxford city councillors Bob Timbs and Rae Humberstone, as well as Oxfordshire county councillor Val Smith.
“Their attendance at our fans meeting was a real boost at a time when our campaign really needed it.
“They all made a number of commitments on the night and we are delighted that they did deliver on all the actions that were committed to on the night.
“In addition thanks also go out to Andrew Smith MP, who has also been on hand to offer support to the club when required.
“While 2008 looks hopeless, the council is still working hard to ensure that Oxford Stadium remains a facility where speedway could potentially be enjoyed in future years.”
One alternative would to be to look for a different site, but gaining planning permission in Oxfordshire is notoriously difficult.
Brown added: “There is little doubt that the only hope of speedway in Oxford in the near future lies within Oxford Stadium.
“A purpose built new venue would be a nice dream, but it took Oxford United 25 years to secure a new home in the city and we have to be realistic about how difficult this would be.”
A major difficulty over the winter has been trying to engage in meaningful dialogue with stadium owners, the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA). One of those giving regular calls to the GRA has been BSPA Chairman Peter Toogood.
Brown said: “Peter had the unenviable task of having to step in to try to save Oxford twice in one year, and his dialogue with the fans groups and his support are very much appreciated. We thank him for his efforts.
“And while there appears to be little sign of it happening, it was a great suggestion by Lakeside promoter Jon Cook that Oxford should be given some major meetings this season to preserve speedway at the venue. We thank him for his selfless suggestion.”
It’s now over a month since Cook, a former second half rider at Cowley, made his proposal, but only Poole boss Matt Ford has come forward to publicly state his support.
Brown concluded: “While all the efforts have seemingly been unable to save the club for this season, they have put the protection of Oxford Stadium as a sporting venue very much on the local planning agenda and this has to be a good thing.
“The club may be in hibernation for a year, but fund raising will continue and all efforts will be made to plan a return in 2009.
“Oxford Speedway has a long history – and we are not far short of the 60th birthday of the Cheetahs. The club is not ready to be consigned to the scrapheap just yet.”
* Please note that there will be no meeting at the Town Hall, as there is no fresh news at the moment.
We will keep you updated of any news as we receive it, and also keep you up-to-date of any SOS and Supporters' Club activity.
OXFORD CHEETAHS UPDATE |
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TOWN HALL MEETING LIKELY IN MID-FEBRUARY |
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Although nothing official has yet been agreed, it's likely that there will be a meeting for Oxford Cheetahs fans at Oxford Town Hall sometime during the middle of February.
This will give local councillors an opportunity to feed back any progress they have made.
Should this meeting take place, an invitation will also be extended to stadium landlords, the GRA.
OXFORD CHEETAHS UPDATE |
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NO LEAGUE SPEEDWAY IN 2008 |
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Oxford Speedway has today received the news it was dreading as notification came from the Greyhound Racing Association that league speedway will not take place at the Cowley Stadium in 2008.
Confirmation was received in a telephone call made by GRA Managing Director Clive Feltham, who called Councillor Bob Timbs to inform him of his decision. He said that the GRA had made their decision and the decision was not reversible. Clearly this has come as a massive blow to the campaign to maintain speedway in Oxford in 2008. Feltham declined the opportunity to talk to supporters groups to further explain his decision.
In outlining his reasons for the decision, Feltham outlined a number of factors which led to the decision. Firstly not enough people were coming into the stadium to make it worthwhile for the GRA to open up the stadium and the lack of revenue was leading the GRA to lose money of speedway. He felt Oxford needed to run in a higher level of speedway to ensure that the required people entered the stadium. He also claimed that the GRA had been let down by recent promoters at Oxford with bills being left unpaid. While declaring that the stadium would not be made available for league racing in 2008 he did not discount the running of major meetings in the stadium, saying that he was willing to talk about any proposals regarding this.
Oxford Speedway had been given a deadline of Thursday 24th January, the date of the Conference League Promoters meeting to have an agreement in place with the GRA. With this deadline now here an extension to this deadline has been requested from Peter Toogood, the Chairman of the British Speedway Promoters Association who will seek this extension on behalf of the club tomorrow. It is however felt that even if an extension is granted this is unlikely to lead to Oxford being able to enter a league in 2008.
On hearing the news, Andrew Smith MP has written to the GRA requesting an urgent meeting to discuss what options there are which would maintain the sport and Councillor David Rundle, the portfolio holder for leisure on Oxford City Council has also expressed his support.
Commenting in the news SOS spokesman Chris Brown said “Clearly this is devastating news and puts us in a position where is looks almost certain that Oxford will not race in 2008. We have not given up the fight though and while it looks an impossible position, the fight will go on. We will work to ensure that should Oxford not take to the track in 2008 then we can secure a long term future for the club. Whether this be at the Stadium or at another venue remains to be seen but the GRA while being clear there will be no speedway in 2008 appear to have not ruled out speedway taking place in future years.”
In closing the door to league speedway in 2008, Feltham did dismiss the idea that speedway would be replaced by stock cars, commenting that Oxford Stadium had no plans to introduce stock cars at Oxford.
Brown also added “it is important that we continue the fight to see the club continue. SOS will continue its fundraising throughout 2008 to ensure we are creating a fund to allow the sport to continue in the future. We cannot let our Diamond anniversary to pass without celebration and we will work to ensure we celebrate this important anniversary”
OXFORD CHEETAHS UPDATE
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LATEST UPDATE ON THE FIGHT TO SAVE OXFORD SPEEDWAY |
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Earlier today (Monday), the latest move in the fight to keep the sport of speedway in Oxford saw Chris Brown of the "Save Our Speedway" Organisation address a full council meeting.
"It seemed to go well," said Brown, "and I also had the opportunity of having a one to one brief chat with the Lord Mayor to explain the position.
Brown's address (termed petition) to the Council, the text of which is below, will now be placed in the hands of the Council's Chief Executive who will respond on their behalf in due course.
This is what Brown said to the council:
"Good afternoon ladies and gentleman and thankyou for the opportunity to address you this afternoon. Firstly can I introduce myself as Chris Brown, a member of the Save Oxford Speedway group, founded in 2000.
Oxford Speedway is due to celebrate its Diamond anniversary in 2008, entering its 60th consecutive year of speedway in the city. This should be a season of great celebration with such a magnificent milestone being reached but sadly the sport is in very grave danger of closure over the next 7 days.
We have successfully cohabited at the Oxford Stadium with other sports for many of these years and would like to think that this can continue to be the case. The club was due to race in this years Premier League, the 2nd tier of speedway in the UK but sadly the previous club owner has been unable to come to an agreement with the stadium owners, the Greyhound Racing Association about a rental deal. Oxford had to declare their intention in early December to run in this league and were unable to do so despite being given an extension in time by the authorities due to having no rental agreement. Faced with this the previous club owner declared his decision in December to not move forward with promoting speedway in Oxford. This has left the club without an owner and in grave danger of closure. It is our understanding that the rental required by the GRA was double that agreed for racing in 2007. At the end of the day the GRA are a commercial operation and entitled to run their business as they see fit and our concern at this stage is not the amount of rent they proposed to charge to run speedway. The previous owner as part of his negotiations was made aware of the GRA’s intention to seek permission to run stock cars at the Stadium.
From this point the fight has been to find a new owner, this can only be done provided a deal could still be reached with the stadium owners. The head of the sport in the UK, Peter Toogood, the Chairman of the British Speedway Promoters Association has since early December been attempting to contact the head of the GRA to discuss the future of speedway in the city. To date the GRA have been unwilling to speak to anyone regarding the current situation. Many people have attempted to make contact with the GRA including myself, local Press and Media, Andrew Smith MP, Councillor Timbs and despite continual attempts, no responses have been forthcoming to requests for a telephone conversation or meeting. This situation means that the sport has no way of moving forward. The current situation leads us to believe that the GRA have no desire to see speedway continue in Oxford. If this were to be the case we are concerned about their future intentions for the stadium use. We are continuing to make daily calls to contact the Managing Director of the GRA and will continue to do so
In order to be granted entry to the Conference League, the last remaining option for the club we are told by the sports governing body that we need to have made an agreement by 24th January, the day the league’s heads meet for their annual meeting
The silence from the owners is leaving us in an impossible position where we feel the need to understand what the possible alternative options the stadium owners have for the stadium should they not want speedway.
We see two possible options, one would be to replace speedway with stock cars. There is little doubt that this will mean that we have seen the last of speedway in Oxford, as in a small stadium such as Oxford, it would not be possible for the two sports to run side by side. Speedway generates noise for the residents but over many years we have ensured that noise is contained within agreed levels and we ensure meetings are completed within the agreed completion time. Stock cars has previously run in Oxford in the 1970’s but we believe that the noise nuisance from running stock cars in Oxford would be far in excess of what is acceptable to local residents. In addition to this the logistics of moving large vehicles in the area will be extremely disruptive for the local residents.
Another potential option may be to redevelop the site for another use. It is my understanding that a covenant exists from the mid 1970’s, placed by the City Council protecting the site from development into anything other than a Leisure facility. We would be keen to see this covenant remain in force and leave the GRA in a position where they have limited options to otherwise use the speedway circuit.
So what are we asking the City Council to do? We would wish the council officers to support the campaign to protect speedway in Oxford. This can be done by having a clear policy that ensures that Oxford Stadium cannot be redeveloped for alternative use and to oppose any plan to see stock cars replace speedway at Oxford Stadium from a planning perspective.
Oxford Speedway enjoys substantial support from all ages, it is a unique sport where all fans, young or old irrespective of which team they follow can stand together in a safe, friendly environment. Our research tells us that 60% of the fans who attend the sport live within 5 miles of the stadium and therefore support from city residents is very strong.
We would ask for your support in protecting 59 years of history, a history which shows Oxford as one of the most successful clubs in the history of the sport. Oxford Speedway is a vital part of Oxford’s sporting history and must not be allowed to die."
OFFICIAL UPDATE |
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BROWN TO ADDRESS COUNCIL MEETING |
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SOS representive Chris Brown has been given the opportunity to address a full meeting of Oxford City Council this coming Monday. This has been granted as an emergency measure and he will have five minutes to inform the full council of our plight and tell them what we are looking to them for in terms of assistance to achieve the aim of maintaining the sport at Cowley.
Proof indeed that the councillors at the public meeting in Kidlington on Tuesday of this week are fulfilling the commitments they made to those present.
OFFICIAL UPDATE |
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