Doug Nicolson looks at some Norwegians who for one reason or another never stayed for much more than 12 months

Nils Paulsen

Glasgow were allowed to sign Norwegian Nils Paulsen to bring their team up to strength for the inaugural British League campaign. The 30 year old Norwegian had twice been runner up in the Norwegian Championships ( 1958 and 1964) and had had a brief spell with Leicester in 1956.
He didn't arrive in the UK in time for the first two BL meetings but there was concern when "Paulson" appeared to have finished last in a reserves race in a second half at Sheffield. To Glasgow fans relief it turned out to be local junior Bob Paulson.
Nils duly made his Tigers debut on the night Glasgow shocked the speedway world by murdering Coventry 56-22 with Nils scoring 4+2 from three completed rides, falling in heat eight. Understandably his scores in the early meetings were fairly low and he dropped to reserve at the end of April, scoring a two ride reserve maximum against Exeter. He missed three meetings being required to ride in World Championship meetings in Scandinavia. By the end of May he was sixth in the Tigers averages with a figure of more than 5.00.
Some better scores followed in early June but he broke his  toes on his right foot by trapping them under his footrest in the home defeat by Oxford and was carried off and taken to hospital. He never missed any meetings and rode with his broken toes strapped up in what looked like a brown carpet slipper pulled over his right boot. He had two race wins in his eight points in the meeting against Poole and this marked the start of a highly productive spell in which he averaged about 9 points a meeting and was arguably second in the Tigers team behind Charlie Monk.
He played his part in the narrow home win over Swindon in the KO Cup but fell in a second half race and sustained a broken collarbone. First estimates suggested that he could be out for at least six weeks. He improved on this possibly by coming back too soon for the KO Cup Semi-final against West Ham which the London side won 50-43.
He never quite got back into his scoring groove and a fall in the second half of the meeting at Hackney aggravated his shoulder injury and ended his season. Tigers lost their two remaining home meetings without him and fell further down the league table.
Nils didn't return for 1966 though he rode in the Nordic British meeting at Sheffield and subsequently had a brief spell with Exeter which ended with another injury.

Henry Harrfeldt

Ian Hoskins was keen to sign a foreign rider for the Monarchs in their first season in the newly formed British League in 1965 but in order to do so he had to release Willie Templeton to Glasgow. He hoped Henry would share the same Speedway pedigree as brother Sverre who rode in the 1963 World Final.
As it turned out Templeton had a career year at his new home, averaging over 7.00. However Harrfeldt junior gave a solid showing, riding in most of the Monarchs meetings and forming a stuffy third pairing for most of the year with Colin McKee. He scored 7+1 on his debut in the home loss to Long Eaton and 8 against Oxford at the end of the month, but it was July before he again reached this total, taking 8+1 at home to Exeter. His best score (6+4)  came late in the season against Belle Vue.
He had one meeting for Fife Lions in their brief open licence season but had a tough night, pulling out after scoring one from three rides.
 He was included in the Monarchs squad that toured Poland late in the 1965 season. Ray Wilson and Norman Storer of Long Eaton and Newport's Geoff Penniket and Jon Erskine were added to strengthen the Monarchs line up.
Sadly his 1966 season didn't last long when hesustained a badly broken leg in a serious crash in Monarchs opening BL meeting with Wolves. This required weeks in traction in hospital and doctors warned that another injury to the leg could result in him losing the limb. Unsurprisingly he decided to retire after this warning.

 

The Strange Departure of Jonny Faafeng.

Commuting Swedes were banned when the British League was formed in 1965 but this restriction was eased the following year. Glasgow were keen to sign Tommy Berquist after an impressive couple of rides in the second half of their opening meeting but SVEMO refused to let him come to Britain as he had missed the previous years Swedish Final. Undeterred they switched their attention to Bengt Brannefors who was at The White City for the rained off meeting against Cradley - the first of a few that year. However the Speedway Riders Association wouldn't agree to him riding, saying the quota of commuting Swedes had already been reached. After a couple of weeks of guest riders, Glasgow signed Norwegian Jonny Faafeng.
He was certainly raw talent  riding without a peak on his helmet and no goggles on a wet debut. He mainly filled the reserve berth that year but with Tigers running RR for the injured Bluey Scott, frequently got one of these rides. Monk  Wells and Mattingley were the others usually chosen and it's not clear why Faafeng was generally  preferred to Willie Templeton. Some improved scores in the latter weeks of the season, 11 at Wolverhampton and 10 at the Glasgow Open Championship while interspersed with lesser ones, gave the promise of better things for 1967.
He started the new season well with 10 against Coventry but his scoring was still inconsistent, not helped by a couple of heavy falls. He had to go to Sweden for his World Championship rounds. Gordon  McGregor, released by Long Eaton, had been signed as short-term cover for Faafeng, but the Norse was expected back for the home meeting against Sheffield .... but he never showed up!
Very little was written about this in either the Tigers programme or the Speedway Star. Faafeng didn’t return and was summarily sacked. The promotion stated that they never heard from him and showed little  concern for his welfare. Had he been in an accident or taken ill?  It is known that he needed Joe Hicks to give him a lift to Hull for his ferry to Sweden where he was to ride in a World Championship qualifier – which doesn’t sound like he was intending to come back
Some believe he was told not to come back BEFORE he left as Tigers felt he wasn’t making sufficient progress and wanted to replace him. The Speedway Star later revealed that an (unnamed) Tiger was looking for a transfer – and that Tigers would replace him with a Dane (Bogh or Wissing?) Did Tigers fail in their bid to sign their target in time for the Belle Vue

meeting and not want to admit they had sacked Faafeng without having a replacement. Or had the Tigers hoped that McGregor would stay with them, despite him being based near Oxford.
For whatever reason, he was gone and Tigers subsequently signed Swede Bo Josefsson.

Einar Egedius

Signed by Newport in 1969, the year some Swedes missed out on BL racing which saw Newport lose talismanic Torbjorn Harrysson. . He scored two points in his debut at Poole but sustained a broken foot in his first meeting at Somerton Park which ruled him out for a month. His subsequent scores were generally poor and he was unable to achieve a 3.00 average in the seven meetings he rode. 

...And one who  barely managed a meeting - Knut Syrist