Sparking an interest

[Ex RubyLight]

Yesterday was a day that could have sparked some interest in a rather negative way with 5 fatalities.
Today we are already counting one and the past few weeks have been terrible. How can someone fall in love with horse racing when being confronted with such brutal reality?

[admin]

My interest was initiated, I think although I may be rationalising inaccurately some forty years on, not by racing being geared towards my age group or easy to understand. It was the opposite in fact.

Here was a sport with multiple layers of complexity that I didn’t understand at all and that was targeted at adults. I think if it had been simplified (everything explained in ABC fashion) and marketed ‘at’ the young me I wouldn’t have delved into it in the way I did.

I ran a twitter poll which found that 86% of respondents had their interest in racing sparked by age 21. 45% by age TWELVE. I appreciate that followers of the TRF twitter feed are self-selected in terms of the poll but an interesting finding I think.

My thoughts – find ways to put the sport in front of that age demographic but don’t dumb the sport down or tart it up – sell it as it is for what it is.

[Gladiateur]

Interesting that many people were hooked as youngsters; I was eight when I got bitten by the racing bug, after being taken to the Derby on my dad’s work do.

As you say, dumbing down is not the way forward; the sport should be proud of its traditions and complexities.

[Author]

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