Here Come The Swedes

In 1964 there were just a handful of Swedes riding in the National League. Norwich had a pair, Ove Fundin and Olle Nygren, and quite a pair too! Belle Vue retained Soren Sjosten and Wimbledon kept Gote Nordin while newly reopened West Ham signed Bjorn Knuttson from the closed Southampton. However it was quickly apparent that the Hammers were in need of strengthening and were subsequently allowed to add Bengt Jansson, although there were some rumblings about them having two foreigners – despite the fact that Norwich and Wimbledon also had a brace, the Dons also having Norwegian Sverre Harrfeldt.

 

Just a Few

The Shawcross Report, which was the blue print for the NL/PL amalgamation, specifically banned commuting foreigners for 1965, leaving only Arne Pander, Sverre Harrfeldt and Olle Nygren as survivors of this cull, although Scottish tracks were permitted to sign Norwegians Henry Harrfeldt and Nils Paulsen. In late season injury hit Edinburgh were allowed to sign Swedish teenager Bernie Persson. This was a case of good news/bad news. The good that they had signed a sensational talent, was quickly offset by the bad news that he would be required to do eighteen months military service and wouldn’t be available again until the start of the 1967 season.

 

Now a Few More!

The BSPA was keen to accept Kings Lynn’s application for league membership in 1966 but there was the problem of finding riders of a suitable standard for the new side. This was exacerbated by a number of heatleaders who had announced their retirements during the close season, notably Jack Kitchen, Dick Bradley, Ron How and Brian Craven. The BSPA proposed to reintroduce non-resident Swedes to alleviate this shortage. However the SRA refused to issue work permits for them, believing that the costs of flying them backwards and forwards between the UK and Sweden would be ruinous for the tracks concerned, and would lead to some tracks closing. The BSPA reluctantly accepted this and initially turned down Kings Lynn’s application.

At a BSPA meeting to finalise the reallocation of riders for 1966, it was forcibly pointed out to the SRA that, if three commuting Swedes were allowed, then Kings Lynn’s application would be approved, creating four “vacancies” for their members.  The SRA agreed but was concerned about these Swedes taking points off their members. Incredibly the BSPA offered to pay an extra £1 per start to all riders in a heat with these Swedes. It is not known whether these allowances were ever paid! Work permits were issued for Ove Fundin who would ride for Long Eaton, Gote Nordin at Newport and Bengt Jansson of Edinburgh, while Glasgow believed they would have the choice of either Bengt Brannefors or Runo Wedin to replace retired Norwegian Nils Paulsen, a claim subsequently refuted by the SRA.

Glasgow had programmed a couple of demonstration races in their first meeting and had hoped to see Hasse Holmquist, Lars Jansson, Nils Ringstrom as well as Tommy Berquist and Alan Dalhov. In the event only the latter two actually rode and Berquist made quite an impression finishing second in the trophy final. However SVEMO, upset that he hadn’t turned up for the previous years’ Swedish national final, were not prepared to issue him a permit. Trevor Redmond then turned his attentions back to Bengt Brannefors, only to find that the SRA hadn’t given approval and, after a protracted dispute, eventually signed Norwegian, and hence a non commuter, Jonny Faafeng.

Nordin was a huge success at Newport, winning the Internationale at Wimbledon and finishing in the top five of the BL averages. Bengt Jansson’s season was marred by injury with a broken ankle while riding in a local derby at the White City being followed by a car crash in Scotch mist, meaning that Edinburgh fans never really saw the best of him. If Monarchs fans were disappointed, it was nothing to what Long Eaton fans suffered, as Fundin’s time at Station Road ended prematurely after a handful of meetings after he was suspended after missing a BL engagement. He was subsequently replaced by Lief Enecrona, who, on getting injured after eight meetings, in turn was replaced by young Swede Nils Ringstrom.  The latter averaged just over four in eight meetings, hardly heat leader scoring.

Berquist would eventually get a late season place at Cradley following Ivor Hughes tragic death in a track crash in August.

 

Now you See Them

The initial allocations for 1967 showed “a young Swedish rider” being included in the line-ups for Exeter, Glasgow and Sheffield, with the other Swedish postings being a bit more precise. Soren Sjosten returned for Belle Vue; Cradley retained Tommy Berquist; Edinburgh had Bernt Persson back following his national service, releasing Bengt Jansson who returned to London but this time to Hackney. Perhaps controversially Gote Nordin moved from Newport to Poole, but with the Wasps picking up Torbjorn Harrysson little more was said. Long Eaton had decided not to retain Nils Ringstrom, opting instead for the highly rated Karl-Erik Andersson. Wolves settled on Sven “Hasse” Holmquist. Nils Ringstrom had been practising at Kings Lynn and seemed to be available for the Stars but they didn’t follow things up when they heard he would need six trips back to Sweden throughout the season. Ultimately he ended up at Glasgow. Exeter picked up Gunnar Malmquist and Sheffield took Bengt Larsson. On the eve of the season, Wimbledon enlisted Lief Soderberg, on skipper Olle Nygren’s recommendation after Geoff Penniket was moved to Kings Lynn.

Everything was looking settled when SVEMO put a spoke in the wheel, by demanding their riders were provided with board and lodgings. They pointed out that these riders were expected to average about five points a meeting and with two meetings a week were unlikely to be able to live on this. Presumably this was settled but the costs for these riders were continuing to rise. More ripples when Long Eaton found out that Andersson wouldn’t be available for their first four fixtures and promptly ditched him in favour of Anders Michanek, not a bad move at all as it turned out! Malmquist had impressed Exeter in the opening fixtures before dropping a bombshell, telling the Falcons that he had business commitments that would preclude him riding until June. Per-Ake Gerhardsson was brought in as an interim replacement.

However, the rest of the Swedes were taking the league by storm and were the talking point of the early weeks. I had speedway penpals in Exeter and Cradley and I received glowing reports of the exploits of Holmquist and Malmquist, the former racking un an incredible early run of high scores, being almost untouchable around Monmore Green. Sadly I couldn’t reply in a similar vein. Ringstrom started slowly, failing to score at Hackney, managing just three at Kings Lynn, where he had spent many hours practising, and two in his home debut. However he would redeem himself a couple of weeks later by edging out Bernt Persson to secure a Glasgow win at Edinburgh, another slow starter. Sadly that would prove to be his high water mark, while Persson shook off his national service lay off to qualify for the World Final. Elswehere Toby Harrysson and Anders Michanek were wowing fans at their new home, while Bengt Larsson scored a 15 point maximum for Sheffield at Kings Lynn – at least he put his practice there to good use! Lief Soderberg didn’t hit such heights but was proving a reasonable second string for Wimbledon.

By the end of April, Jansson, Nygren, Holmquist, Harrysson and Nordin all featured in  the top ten averages chart.

 

Now You Don’t

Exeter fans had barely finished off their Easter eggs, when there came a bombshell. Malmquist had business commitments which meant he would be unavailable until the middle of June. The Falcons duly replaced him with Per Ake Gerhardsson, who proved a solid, if unspectacular signing. The World Championship rounds brought some upsets, on and off the track, as the Swedes returned home for their qualifiers and also some domestic league meetings. Some British tracks managed to minimise the disruption. Glasgow signed the unattached Gordon McGregor on a short term contract to cover for Ringstrom’s absence. Poole and Newport had home and away league meetings, where Nordin and Harrysson’s absence cancelled out each other. More controversially Holmquist missed a derby meeting at Cradley, while Berquist rode in it. Both were scheduled in the same qualifying meeting in Sweden the next day! Wolves’ promoter Bill Bridgett was emphatic in supporting Holmquist’s absence, saying it  was the right thing to do, and pointing out that had he failed to make it to Sweden in time, he would have been banned from Britain for the rest of the season. That was a chance he wasn’t prepared to take. Sadly Holmquist broke a collar bone in the qualifier and lost his World Championship hopes. Most of the Swedes absences went largely uncommented on and things returned to normal. To be fair, it wasn’t just the Swedes that had travel problems. In circumstances that were never fully explained Glasgow’s Norwegian Jonny Faafeng failed to make it back to Scotland for a league meeting and was promptly sacked, being replaced by Swede Bo Josefsson.

 

 Test Match Strife

With nearly all the top line Swedes now riding regularly in Britain, it was an opportune, and indeed economic, time to stage a test series against them. The Swedes were without injury victims Soren Sjosten and Hasse Holmquist , while Barry Briggs missed the first two tests at Wimbledon and Coventry following  injuries sustained while grass tracking in Germany – and how he was missed! The Swedes, who had brought Ove Fundin over, ran out convincing winners with 62-46 wins in both meetings. However Britain, with Briggs back, won the third test at Newport, also by a 62-46 scoreline. It should be pointed out that neither Nordin nor Nygren were available that night, with both being required to ride for their clubs in BL meetings. Presumably this wasn’t SVEMO’s idea! Ironically Nygren was riding for Wimbledon at Sheffield who staged their only Wenesday night meeting of the season! Worse was to follow at Glasgow where Harrysson and Jansson missed the meeting in order to be at Hackney for the league meeting with Newport. It was rained off! Bizarrely Fundin too was absent, apparently have car racing commitments elsewhere. Unsurprisingly, Britain ran out almost unopposed winners although Ron Mountford did his best to even things up, by unaccountably knocking his partner Charlie Monk off when set for a safe 5-1. He rammed Monk midships and skittled him towards the fence. Monk was badly shaken and his bike more so, putting him out for the night. Mountford , who was roundly booed for the rest of meeting, was later to have claimed that his foot slipped off his footrest. Despite all this Britain finished 66-41 victors on a night when Josefsson, Ringstrom, Malmquist and Larsson looked well out of their depth. The decider at Belle Vue the following night but, although it was restaged two nights later, the Swedes were still without Fundin. However the otherwise full strength Swedes were untroubled, clinching the series with a 63-44 win, with BL newcomers Michanek, Harrysson and Malmquist prominent scorers.

 

More Trips Back to Sweden

The last weeks in August and September were peak times in the Swedish league schedule and saw just about every Swede missing BL fixtures, Olle Nygren being an exception in not missing a single BL fixture all season. Some certainly missed more than others. May be it was just the way the fixtures panned out but Bengt Larsson and Gunnar Malmquist seemed to miss more than others. Over the course of the season Larsson missed fourteen BL meetings for Sheffield. And there were some that didn’t come back. Lief Soderberg hadn’t been impressive for Wimbledon and it was no real surprise that he was released as soon as it was known that Bob Dugard was prepared to make a comeback. Similarly Nils Ringstrom had endured a pretty drastic downward spiral in both form and confidence and drifted out of contention for a team place at Glasgow, although, with his father terminally ill in Sweden, it is understandable that his racing was low on his list of priorities at the time.

 

World Final at Wembley

The Wembley World Final was a real triumph for the Swedes, with Ove Fundin winning the title after a run off with Bengt Jansson, and debutants Anders Michanek and Bernt Persson also showing well with scores of nine and six respectively. The latter had a controversial exclusion for unseating Ivan Mauger in their final ride and his refusal to leave the track for close to fifteen minutes probably unsettled the kiwi who lost out to Fundin in the rerun. The night certainly confirmed that the Swedes, aided by a season’s racing in the UK were very much an nation in the ascendancy.

 

How Good Were The Swedes?

Looking back on that glorious summer, we remember the Swedes as all conquering super stars and indeed some were, but there were other foreigners who may be didn’t get the acclaim they deserved, and they didn’t nick off home every month! Guys like Norwegian Reidar Eide whose first complete season at Edinburgh saw him achieve an average of over nine, a figure only bettered by Holmquist of the Swedish “newbies”. Or there was Ole Olsen whose first year at Newcastle saw him put in a performance better than the likes of Berquist at Cradley, Josefsson of Glasgow and Larsson, sometimes of Sheffield. While Oyvind Berg was far more valuable to Edinburgh than Ringstrom, Soderberg, Gerhardsson or Henriksson were for their BL teams – and at a fraction of the cost!

 

 

The Aftermath

As the season closed, there was a growing realisation that the Swedes had been good box office but that it had come at a cost. They had all had to return to Swede for various fixtures in their homeland, sometimes at little or no notice. As well as the cost – one promoter reckoned on spending over £1800 on flying his Swede backwards and forwards – their absence also decimated attendances and fixtures. Ronnie Greene postponed The Laurels from its traditional favoured spot just after the World final to late October after the Swedes were summoned home for a hastily arranged test series and rearranged league meetings. Frank Varey, already fuming at Larsson’s protracted absences, reported that, when Edinburgh came to Owlerton minus their top two foreign riders, it attracted the lowest crowd in eight years. The Speedway Star rather optimistically reported that the winter would see the promoters solve the problems by tightening up the rules for foreign riders. Sadly while some minor improvements were made the problems would continue and ultimately things would come to a head with the Swedes being banned. However it was a case of “can’t live with them, can’t live without them” as the ban was lifted but the problems remained.