Campbell Looks Forward to 2024 Season

NEWS Wednesday 20th December 2023, 3:00pm

by PR Team

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The unveiling of the fixture list for a new season always brings much excitement as supporters fill up their diaries and sketch out their plans for away day fun. Find out more as Stellar Monarchs Co-Promoter John Campbell looks forward to the year ahead.

With the 2024 Cab Direct Championship fixtures now released, Stellar Monarchs Co-Promoter John Campbell offered some insight into the list, "It is fantastic to have the fixture list available for supporters to start making their plans for 2024. We are excited to be able to look forward to welcoming everyone to Armadale Stadium.

"It is a feature of modern speedway, both here and internationally, that the sport is moving towards a model where you can roughly expect to race once per week either at home or away.

"This has increasingly been the case for a number of seasons now and is something often seen in other sports such as football and rugby, where these fixtures can take place on any day at any time rather than only Saturday at 3pm as was traditional."

There have been ideas put forward that additional fixtures may be desirable which Campbell explored further, "In our Supporters Survey there were some suggestions that further fixtures should be looked at, perhaps additional league fixtures. We take all feedback from our supporters seriously and always aim to make improvements where possible.

"Fixtures are discussed in depth across the league at British Speedway Promoters meetings and we aim to do what's best for our supporters every time. With nine teams in the league we need to work towards a solution that suits everyone as much as possible. This really determines the number of possible matches and we work hard to keep these interesting for supporters.

"The only time in recent history where the league moved to each team racing each other twice at home and twice away was 2017. In this season our attendances were around 20% lower for a team's second visit on every occasion, sometimes substantially lower again for any of the potentially less attractive fixtures.

"The sport has learnt from this and we aim to produce an attractive fixture list where our supporters can engage with the team's fixtures both home and away throughout the season."

Looking further at the season ahead, Campbell continued, "It is a modern world and we move with it. The days of weekly home league fixtures are behind us for now and we embrace the current position. Our duty and focus is to make our current fixture list as attractive as possible to supporters.

"With the 2024 fixture list we hope that Monarchs fans will be able to attend all of the team's home fixtures whereas in the past they may have had to miss some due to other commitments.

"For those that wish for a more regular fix of racing we will continue in the National Development League with the Stellar Monarchs Academy offering five further fixtures at Armadale Stadium. The racing at this level can be great and it is exciting to watch young riders develop."

Summarising his view on the fixture list, Campbell concluded, "I must say we are excited by the fixture list that we do have and don't dwell on what we do not have. I believe we have an attractive season ahead of us.

"Some have suggested there is a concern that speedway needs to be a habit every week to get people out of the house but I don't believe this to be the case. I can't think of any other sport where this happens with a home match on the same night every single week of the season.

"We don't wish for people to attend Armadale Stadium simply because it is a habit. We want to give people an occasion to look forward to, we want people to be excited to attend every time the Monarchs are in action. This is our aim and this is our challenge.

"We look forward to bringing our supporters along on the Monarchs journey in 2024 as we all explore how the season unfolds chapter by chapter.

"I wish everyone a fantastic time over the festive period and look forward to seeing you all next season."

The 2024 Stellar Monarchs fixture list can be viewed here:

See fixtures

The National Development League fixture list is set to be confirmed in the new year with details on Gold Membership, including renewal information for current members, to follow thereafter. Further 2024 team news is expected in the near future.