With Peterborough and Wolverhampton staging emotional farewell meetings this month, Doug Nicolson looks at curtain calls at tracks in the past... and some whose closures weren't known at the time 

When known in advance,  preparations can be made for a suitable “farewell” meeting; others were half expected, while some came right out of the blue, the latter two generally happening in the winter.

 

The end for this monarchy

When Edinburgh was awarded the 1970 Commonwealth Games, the plan was to build a new athletics stadium on the Meadowbank site. For the Monarchs, it became a question of “when” they would be required to vacate their home and there were a few worrying winters when the following year was in doubt.  In fairness to the council, they maintained the ageing stadium for a few seasons longer than had initially been expected, but at the start of 1967 it was announced that it would be the last.

With Bert Harkins and Bill Landels already en route to Australia and Bernt Persson out with a shoulder injury, Ian Hoskins plumped for a Best Pairs for the track’s finale, with former Monarchs Wayne Briggs, Reg Luckhurst and Willie Templeton joining Ivan Mauger and Olle Nygren. The event was won by Oyvind Berg and Wayne Briggs, while the  Scottish Junior Championship, won by Brian Collins from Ken Omand. Harry Darling won the Veterans Race, the last heat run in this hallowed stadium.

Ian Hoskins wrote in the programme “It would be a tragedy if, after tonight, speedway, and everything it has come to mean in Edinburgh, should cease. The outlook is not bright, stadiums with the amenities to support British League racing are very hard to come by. I cannot envisage a future without the Monarchs and shall go on searching for alternative venues long after the last race has been run.” It was a fitting farewell with Hoskins mixing fun, nostalgia and sentiment in fairly equal quantities. Many in the large crowd were close to tears at the end.

After a winter of searching the Monarchs moved forty miles west to Coatbridge, an industrial town on the east outskirts of greater Glasgow. While it wasn’t the success that Old Meadowbank was, it seemed a fairly viable operation, although Persson was released in a cost cutting move at the start of the second year. The application in early 1970 for a Second Division licence at Newtongrange about ten miles south of Edinburgh upset Hoskins who stated “I still see Monarchs as a going concern next year. I still see a support large enough to pay our way, but not large enough to disregard any possible threat from Newtongrange.”  All of this proved to be quite irrelevant, when the bombshell news broke. A consortium headed by former Tigers promoter Trevor Redmond had bought the Coatbridge licence in order to reopen Wembley. The Monarchs were no more…. as were any objections to Newtongrange opening.

Wembley’s reopening gave the sport a boost nationally and I was at the Glasgow meeting there in mid September 1971 as their second season was drawing to a close. It seemed a vibrant operation and, with the crowd concentrated in sections of the ground, the atmosphere seemed good. There was no hint of problems to come. However the football authorities were unhappy with the pitch being lifted for the speedway track and, along with the other restrictions they imposed, it became apparent that it would no longer be possible to stage a full season there, limiting Wembley to World Championship events.

 

And for this dukedom too

Halifax was reformed in the mid sixties, with the basis of the Middlesbrough team being supplemented by young Australians. It proved a successful combination but the Dukes never fully solved the problem of replacing Eric Boocock, Dave Younghusband and Eric Boothroyd at the start of the 70s  and they had few successful seasons  throughout that decade. The advent of Kenny Carter brought some hope but behind the scenes there were fairly constant problems with their landlords. The 1985 World Final was staged at a revamped Odsal in nearby Bradford and rumours abounded that winter of a move to Odsal. Initially they were denied but they were confirmed in early 1986.

Odsal teams had had a chequered history. Initially they were known as the “Boomerangs”, quite appropriate as they always came back.  Having changed their name to “Tudors”, they raced until the mid fifties slump added them to its list. Undeterred they came back in the new Provincial League as the “Panthers” but had a traumatic time of it. After an unsuccessful year at Odsal they planned to move to move to Greenfield Stadium but construction delays meant they sat out that season. They did open in 1962…but they also closed that year too, ironically getting their best crowd of the season for their final meeting, a double header against Sheffield and Leicester.

1970 saw the start of another revival when Mike Parker moved his Nelson outfit there and adopting the rugby league team nickname “Northern”. Changes of promotion and team name followed in the ensuing five years and it was little surprise after racing a double header in early October 1975, it was announced that the “Barons” would not be running the following year.

With this kind of history, it was an act of some faith for the Halifax promotion to move their “Dukes” there and the early seasons produced little notable track success. Things picked up markedly in the 90s, culminating in the Dukes annexing the first EL title, but, and there was always a “but” for Bradford, there were redevelopment plans for Odsal. Unlike just about every other redevelopment, this didn’t involve housing but a revamp of the stadium to give a futuristic “Superdome”. It would mean no speedway for a couple of years while the work went ahead but it seemed a great idea. Sadly it never happened although recently there is  now some hope for a Dukes return.

 

Goodbye? they never even said “hello”

Wally Mawdsley and Pete Lansdale decided to move Weymouth en bloc to Rochester’s City Way dog track. Initially it was believed that, as speedway had been staged at the venue some years before, then no further planning consent was required. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be as simple as that and it was mid April before Rochester City Council duly gave approval albeit for only one season on a trial basis. No work building the track was started prior to the formal approval for fear of jumping the gun and prejudicing the outcome and just four days after council approval was given, the Bombers won 42-36 at Ipswich. Then the proverbial wheels came off. Kent County Council refused to support the City Council’s approval. This was highly unusual and an appeal was duly made, but they needed a new home for that year, and quickly!

They quickly did a deal with Romford FC to move into their Brooklands ground and more importantly gained the necessary approvals. Maurice Morley worked a miracle in laying a track in just nine days. He simply lifted the turf and tyre packed the ground before putting down the shale, forsaking the usual hardcore base layer. This seemed to work a treat although it doesn’t seem to have become a universally accepted method of track construction. Despite an active local residents’ protest group, the Bombers manged three seasons at Brooklands before their rearguard action was defeated when they were closed down after a High Court judgement upheld a local resident’s noise complaint. It was hoped that the West Ham’s closed Custom House stadium could provide temporary relief for the 1972 season, but that too fell apart when the demolition date was brought forward. Undaunted they headed off to Barrow where they enjoyed a couple of successful seasons, while fighting off the football club’s constant encroachment of the track. To be fair it was the football club’s stadium but in the end the track was square and quite unusable but ironically it was the football club’s failure to secure re-election to the fourth division that finally scuppered speedway there. Their application to join the Northern Premier League was accepted with the proviso that there was no speedway track encroaching onto the pitch.

 

We’re not really sure!

West Ham endured a traumatic time following the terrible Lokeren tragedy and really the club never recovered from it. As 1971 drew to a close, there were rumours about the stadium being sold off and promoter Gordon Parkins didn’t really inspire much hope when he wrote in the programme for the final meeting of the season, a London cup tie with Hackney, “If the rumours of the stadium being sold off for a housing development and the bulldozers moving in are not true, I can only say if the stadium is still here in 1972 then the Hammers will still be racing”.

The twice rerun Farewell Scratch Race final turned into an elimination event with Christer Lofquist being the only finisher.  Alan Sage, the only other starter in the twice rerun race, failed to finish and other two riders had been disqualified for causing stoppages. Not really the way you want to end an era….and as it turned out, it wasn’t!

While the first division licence had been sold to Ipswich, it seemed the stadium would still be available for the 1972 season, and homeless Romford planned to move in as a stopgap measure. However the demolition date was brought forward dramatically to late May and, while the greyhound people managed to present a “gala night”, the Bombers had to make do with a league meeting against Hull on May 23. Sadly they lost 37-41 with Kevin Holden winning the last ever race at Custom House.

 

Neither are we

It was common knowledge that Edinburgh’s Powderhall stadium had been sold, and, while no decision had been announced over its future use, the fans were convinced that houses would be built on the site. In his programme notes for the final meeting of 1995 Alan Bridgett wrote that the promotion “hope we meet somewhere else next Spring”. Zany columnist Geoff Chandler went on to list Ingliston, Musselburgh, Cowdenbeath and Linlithgow as possible sites for a new home. Cowdenbeath was never a possibility, with the track having been tarmac’d over many years. Linlithgow was just a small training track in a country field and had neither the access nor infrastructure for senior racing. Musselburgh may have been the race course or the nearby Wallyford dog track. Race courses all over the country have been considered as possibilities for a speedway venue but to date none have come to fruition. Wallyford was a small and rather run down dog track, although years later a super stadium was mooted in the area. Ingliston has been dangled tantalizingly in front of Monarchs fans since Old Meadowbank closed in 1967, but has never progressed beyond the pipedream stage. As for the meeting itself the Monarchs finished on a real high demolishing their nearest and dearest rivals Glasgow 62-34.

Monarchs are now at Armadale and are again suffering the same kind of limbo they experienced at Old Meadowbank, awaiting news of whether they can have another year.

 

Reading, Belle Vue and cup final replays

Reading’s Tilehurst stadium was being sold for redevelopment and the Racers went out on a high winning the BL in 1973, which they hoped would encourage the local council to help them in finding a new home. Their last two home fixtures were the first leg of the KO Cup final against Belle Vue and a challenge match against an Ole Olsen “United” team, the latter being the very last meeting at Tilehurst. The Racers beat the Dane’s select which included Reidar Eide, Dave Jessup and Nigel Boocock before a truly memorable firework display rounded off proceedings. Tilehurst was no longer available by the time the second leg of the cup final was run in Manchester. The tie finished level on aggregate and, unusually, had to be decided by a match race, giving us possibly the most celebrated match race of all time, the classic Peter Collins v Anders Michanek heat, still fondly remembered to this day.

Some fourteen years later it was Belle Vue’s turn to stage a finale, albeit it wasn’t confirmed as such at the time. Following the terrible fire at Bradford’s Valley Parade stadium, new safety standards were being revised for wooden grandstands, meaning that the writing was on the wall for Belle Vue’s storied stadium. As the season wound down, rumours were rife that the site was being sold. The Aces had had a number of rained off meetings and were so backed up that they scheduled two double headers on successive nights. Even then, it didn’t solve the problem. On the second night, the League Cup Final against Coventry resulted in a narrow 41-37 win which tied the scores on aggregate, and, unlike Reading some years before, the Bees wanted a proper replay. Incidentally when they raced the away leg at Brandon, it also counted as the outstanding BL fixture there! With rain falling, the second meeting, a BL fixture with Cradley was rained off – so two further meetings were required and they needed an extension to the season to run a double header, the League Cup final against Coventry, which they won 40-38 – but lost the cup on aggregate - and their last BL meeting against Cradley which they lost 37-41. Just days after this meeting the sale was confirmed and Hyde Road had staged its last race.

 

Paisley

1976 had been a struggle for Paisley, but a late flurry had taken them off the bottom of the table and, by winning their final home meeting, they ensured they had avoided the dreaded wooden spoon. While it was obvious that crowds needed to be better, there was a generally upbeat end to the season, and all the riders said they were looking forward to returning. To quote from Mandy Rice-Davies “well they would, wouldn’t they”

In early winter the promotion explained the full extent of their financial plight, revealing that a cash injection of over five thousand pounds was required to bring the Lions to the tapes for 1977. Despite some heroic fundraising, the supporters had to admit defeat and the Lions had closed for ever.

 

Coatbridge  - again!

Coatbridge fans were pretty optimistic at the start of the 1977 season, with Paisley’s closure being offset by the return of Edinburgh. On track the Tigers were doing quite well, and they had a classic KO Cup encounter with Halifax in May. However by then rumours were going around that all was not well in their relationship with their landlords, Albion Rovers. Sadly, this was true. There had been changes in the football club’s boardroom and the Tigers were now operating without a lease and on a week to week basis. Things came to a head when a lawyer’s letter informed them that they had to finish at Coatbridge. Fortunately this had been anticipated well in advance and plans were in place to move lock, stock and barrel to Blantyre.

The programme for the final meeting against high flying Eastbourne didn’t really reflect the aggravation that had gone on, contenting itself with saying rather wistfully “Tonight is rather sad, for it is the last time that we will be racing at Cliftonhill, and, while the stadium may have been short of amenities, it certainly had a track that lent itself to very exciting racing, and for that reason I am very sorry to leave” The evening was indeed sad as the visiting Eagles ran up a 46-32 victory on that historic night. It should be stated that Eastbourne would win the league by a mile and that they would give a few teams a real going over on their travels.

Albion Rovers introduced greyhound racing also immediately after the Tigers eviction, but it never really caught on and was short lived, leaving them to plumb various depths of futility in the lowest Scottish football league. No doubt they would later regret giving speedway the boot!

 

Blantyre

On leaving Coatbridge, the promotion promised that the new Blantyre track would “give good racing and once everything was in order would have better facilities than Coatbridge”. They were half right! The racing was first class. The facilities were always very basic, and any further improvement was soon ruled out when the stadium was the subject of a compulsory purchase order to allow an extension to the East Kilbride expressway. While this wasn’t going to happen right away, the earth mound in the lane along the back straight boundary was growing weekly, a very visual reminder that the stadium’s days were numbered.

A bit like the final season at Coatbridge, Tigers final year at the Blantyre Dog Track proved to be a real high. They led the league briefly during the summer, but ultimately had to settle for fifth place, their highest league position since the early 50s. However the final meeting was a decidedly low key affair, a five  aside match between the Tigers and Bobby Beaton’s Buccaneers, using an unusual formula over twelve heats. The Tigers were missing the holidaying Steve Lawson!  Miami or Blantyre, now there’s a choice you hope never have to make!

The Tigers moved just over the street to Craighead Park where they struggled to survive for five seasons and legend has it that there was a lunar eclipse over the first bend on what turned out to be their last meeting there in October 1986.

 

Leicester

This one was very much “out the blue”. While the Lions had generally been a lower half of the table club in the late 70s/ early 80s, there was an optimism as the 1983 season ended with plans already being laid for the new season with riders being lined up and season tickets sales advertised when it was suddenly announced that the holding company owning Blackbird Road had sold the stadium for redevelopment. This was a shock and a sad end for the Lions, made all the worse without having a farewell meeting.