To whom it may concern.
DO NOT allow politics to kill the Coventry Bees speedway team.
Sporting teams – however big or small – close every week. That may be through financial pressures, a lack of players, or otherwise.
But don’t let politics and off-track issues kill one of country’s most successful sporting teams.
Sport is something everyone can enjoy.
It’s something which brings communities together. It’s something everyone has the opportunity to make friends within. It’s something which creates jobs, memories, and a respite from everything that could be wrong in the world right now.
Thousands of friendships have blossomed at the venue. Now married couples have met at Coventry Stadium. Countless shale splattered pints have been consumed. Even the friendly ice cream man would turn up on a freezing cold night in October to keep bends two and three refreshed, no matter how cold.
But now there’s a genuine possibility that could soon all be over. However no matter how small that possibility is allowed the shrivel, there will always be fans willing to go great lengths to see their club return to racing.
Speedway is a unique sport. Rarely will you leave a stadium after the home team has lost and hear the words ‘that was a great event’.
But for Coventry fans, losing was a rare occurrence.
Collectively, the club has won British Speedway’s Elite League on three occasions. Before that, it won the British League five times, the Knockout Cup three times, the league’s Pairs Championship three times – I could go on.
My Friday nights as a teenager weren’t spent causing mischief. They weren’t spent sat at home on playstation. They were spent at Coventry Stadium with my dad watching the Bees.
And I hope one day I’ll be able to do the same with my kids, whenever they may be born.
Don’t let Bees’ history be lost to our great city.
Yours sincerely.
Shaun Reynolds. Sports Editor, Coventry Observer.
