BOBBATH

Sorry to hear Tony passed away-another great trier.

Doncaster Stallions,Doncaster Dragons

Have been trying to recall capts of NL 1964-last year for that league also-only 7 teams. Not so sure about these but here goes. Belle Vue(Dick Fisher), Swindon(Mike Broadbank(s)), Coventry(Jim Lightfoot), West Ham(Bjorn Knuttson), Wimbledon(Leo McAuliffe??), Norwich(Fundin???),Oxford(Ron How???)

Norbold interesting list for PL 1962-re Leicester-will bet u a pint it was our old friend Vic White as capt.(although Norman Hunter was the star).Also Ian the more I think about it the more I am sure Len Silver got injured v.early in 64 and may even have been riding for Hackney but not 100% sure. I may have rose colored glasses on but I thought 64 was a great season(last of old PL)

Folks, folks -I did say PL 1964. Tsunami- Brian Craven rode for Diamonds in 63(captain) and was again in 65-but some of you will recall he took a year off in 64 after Peter's death. Also Len Silver was injured I think in early 64 and went on to become manager of Hackney. So Tsunami I stand by my memory for both Exeter and Newcastle.

One of the posts to the gay speedway riders topic(sorry I raised it) was how about a thread of great speedway captains. Well what about the late Alby Golden R.I.P for Newport Wasps when they started in 1964 and for a few years after. He helped make Newport a real success story in those early years-was he ever capt. of Southampton also?? Also Ivor Brown(CH) should be remembered in this connection -I think Jack Kitchen may have been capt. of Sheffield at that time. I think other 1964 PL capts. included Geoff Mudge of Poole, Colin Pratt (Hackney), Eric Boocock (Middsbro) Doug Templeton (Edin) Maury Mattingly(Glasgow), Ken Adams (LE), Ivan at Newcastle, perhaps Jim Squibb at Exeter and Tom Sweetman of Wolves. Wow I think I got 12/12-any other 1964 PL fans out there remember these and did I get 'em right??

Thanx Tom-I never ealised Bob was involved in the Ivor Hughes accident which I clearly recall-Ivor was from a little place called Berriew in mid-Wales

The main point of this thread may have been that if anyone does suffer from depression these days, get help,medication has greatly advanced and depression is often due to a chemical imbalance-lack of serotonin-which can be fixed.No need to suffer-after all if you had a pain in your knee you would get it fixed so same goes for a pain in the head. No shame to that .Who knows, if the same meds had been available twenty years ago Bob might still be with us today.

That's right Grachan it was Bob Paulson-also thanx for putting the Southampton v Norwich stuff on youtube-great to see Bannister Court again.By the way does anyone recall when Bob sadly died.

Jim was born in 1921 so he was 53 /54 at time he quit-I always recall him leading a riders protest for more money before start of 1963 PLRC.

Yes Iris123 it is the guy you got the autograph from all those years ago-the only time I ever had a chat with him was in 1967 in the Station Hotel pub-think I've got the name right-next to Long Eaton stadium. The meeting v. Sheffield was delayed due to a thunderstorm, started about 8:30.Our friend had been injured and was in there having a beer with some buddies,always struck me as a real gentleman who was a great team man and had a deserved illustrious career.RIP .

I still think that was the best ever formula -it was in the PL in 1964 and the BL started in 1965 and adopted it rather than the old NL 14 heat formula.

Bobbin' along, I agree and did not start this thread facetiously-I seriously wondered whether discussing it could have added some background to the sixties e.g. one person helping out another because of their shared experience, one rider mentoring another etc etc. I was thinking particularly of one older rider who helped develop a future World Finalist as a young person and that got me thinking. By the way most people have figured out the un named rider from Sheffield I suspect, he always looked glum in team photos -never smiled poor guy and I wondered if he had been picked on for his orientation

OK OK sorry I raised it(no pun intended)!!

Neither really simpson bandit-I'm neither gay nor homophobic-just thought posts to this forum were getting less and less and wondered where this would go if anywhere-perhaps not. Wonder if frigbo is thinking of the same person-a name usually associated with Sheffield in the 60's. Are we thinking of the same person frigbo?

This forum is getting pretty boring, so I thought I would start this topic. Discussion of people's sexuality is now much more open-in the 50's and 60's there were a number of riders who in retrospect were likely gay(not that there is anything wrong with that!!-for you Seinfeld fans). I know of at least one 1960's gay rider who committed suicide and I always wondered if being gay and the pressures that that caused had anything to do with it-it must have been tough for this lad who was a real gentleman and has been mentioned elsewhere on this forum in another context. Any thoughts on this matter from forumland.

What the hell is all this about??

Did Slant ever ride for Long Eaton-was his last season in 1964??

Not thinking of Ivor Hughes and Bob Hughes from the sixties are you?-I think later there was Geoff Hughes(for Long Eaton??)

John Bishop rode for Oxford at end of NL(1964) and then joined Newport in 1967 -is he still around-never a star always a trier-I think he had a pop group for a while.Is he still alive??-would probably be in his mid sixties

Thanx very much for the info # Name Removed #-Yes it would be great if you could keep us informed re Maury Mattingly-perhaps one of his hospital visitors could let him or Rosita know that he is still fondly remembered here in forumland-a great guy. Since someone mentioned another Maury-does anyone know what happened to Maury Mcdermott who I also recall.

Anyone know where Maurie is these days??-I remember him as the skipper of Glasgow Tigers in64-66.

Thanx marcusthepom-was interested in your post adding further insight into this unusual man(kenny Carter I mean)

Hi Ronbutler-takes a Canuck to get this right!!!!I know you said my prize was a ticket to the Blackpool ELIMINATIONS-but I think you must have meant(hopefully) the Blackpool ILLUMINATIONS-the Blackpool eliminations are something to do with going to the washroom(toilet). Either way see you at Oxford speedway someday mate!!!!!

You are right Marcusthepom- I finally got the book ,read it and agree it is great-at least my comments way back generated a lot of interest-anyway apologies to all-a great read.Well done tmc.