Sidcup show how it's done
By John Dickinson on 15th Mar 07
Once again the Sidcup club does a great job on the motocross front - how do they do it?
THE 2007 British Motocross Championship kicked-offlast weekend and I can't say how pleased I am that there was a crackingcrowd of around 10,000 to witness the show. There's no doubt thatbig-time MX in Britain has had some major kicks in the teeth in recenttimes (OK, many of them self-inflicted) but Sunday's figures are afantastic testament to the enthusiasm of Britain's MX fans.
Now, the Sidcup club is one that we at T+MX holdin the highest regard. It somehow manages to operate on a higher planeto most clubs in the country. To the outsider (me) Sidcup, almostalone, appear to operate as a genuine collective club, not as separateindividuals.
Come on, how many clubs do you know that are runby two or three hard-line individuals? They do incredible work, flogthemselves until all hours but don't appear to get the support theyneed. Just think where the club could go if only there were more peopleinvolved! Often though there is a flip-side to this coin. If anyonedoes volunteer to help they just get told what to do, they are notallowed a say, just told to dig here, bang posts in there or paintsomewhere else. Sooner or later - usually sooner - these volunteers seethe lie of the land and simply drift away. I can name you a dozen suchclubs off the top of my head and in total must surely run intohundreds.
But somehow the Sidcup guys and girls appear tohave avoided this ultimately self-defeating trap. They have always beenforward thinking, a point epitomised by their purchase of the famousCanada Heights track thus allowing the club to be master of its owndestiny.
I genuinely do not know how they differ from othersimilar clubs in their internal workings although I wish I did. Jobsappear to be delegated and most importantly the individuals must trustone another. The secretary does his/ her job and trusts the clerk ofthe course to do his who in turn trusts the chief marshal to do his andso on right down the line to whoever is manning the gate and parkingthe cars. The result is a club that continually sets standards forothers to wonder at.
This is not the first time that we have paidhomage to the Sidcup club nor I would guess will it be the last.Perhaps it is actually all done by smoke and mirrors although Ipersonally very much doubt it!
In theory, all clubs should operate like this butas we all know, all individuals have their quirks and failings. We haveall attended club meetings and witnessed, or to be strictly accuratebeen part of, a room full of motorcycle enthusiasts, with the good ofthe sport at heart, disintegrate into silly warring childish factionswithin 10 minutes of being called to order. Twas always so I'm afraid...
JUST out of interest, did you all watch The Great Global WarmingSwindle on Channel 4 last Thursday? It made for most interestin'viewing for anyone with even a passing interest in the subject.
Firstly, the programme admitted that globalwarming is certainly taking place. But the scientists (that'sscientists NOT politicians) on the programme claim that global warmingis NOT caused by man releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, itis a result of solar activity. The same solar activity that has beenresponsible for the ever-changing climate of the earth over millions ofyears. This appeared to be backed-up by lots of impressive scientificevidence. Like humans are only accountable for around half of onepercent of all carbon dioxide in the atmosphere anyway.
Now I - just like everyone else on this planet -am in no position to say what the hell is going on with the climate,other than to say I would tend to believe a bunch of politicallyneutral scientists with a powerful, sensible argument, rather than abunch of scientists who have been set up by the establishment toprovide ‘proof' that carbon dioxide is to blame for everything. - andthe way to cure that, as any government can tell you is to TAX, tax andtax everyone until they bleed. Tax you to drive your car, tax you tocatch a plane...how long before they latch on to motor sports. My moneysays they will let motor sports continue - but of course we'll have topay a tax!
Yes, it's The Geat Global Warming Swindle...