Wimbledon Memories

[chunky]

Here is Les Wotton inside Lloyd Goffe.

Edited May 20, 2020 by chunky

[chunky]

3 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

To be honest I lost the plot...

Compared to others on here, you ain't lost nothing, Steve!

[chunky]

From 11th June 1948, here is a pic as described in the caption. Of course, the two London "Stars" both rode for the Dons. The Kangaroos won 49-35, and Norman Parker top-scored for London with 9+1.

Edited May 20, 2020 by chunky

[steve roberts]

18 minutes ago, chunky said:

Here is Les Wotton outside Lloyd Goffe.

 

I do like these photos of the past...great action studies of a bygone age!

[chunky]

48 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

I do like these photos of the past...great action studies of a bygone age!

There are plenty more where they came from! The great thing is that a lot of them aren't that well-known, so it's always nice to see pics for the first time. Unfortunately, the quality isn't always great (being taken from newspapers rather than glossy photos), but at least I have them.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, chunky said:

Here is Les Wotton outside Lloyd Goffe.

 

I query the caption! But as usual expect to be proved wrong. My opinion is this is from a 1946 home Wimbledon match. Based on what can be judged as the helmet colours the riders are home Don Lloyd Goffe outside visiting New Cross rider Les Wotton. Of interest, in 1947 Wotton did join Wimbledon in a triangular deal. This took Oliver Hart from Wimbledon to Bradford. Bill Longley from Bradford to New Cross, and Wotton from New Cross to Wimbledon. Great action photo!

[chunky]

24 minutes ago, gustix said:

I query the caption! But as usual expect to be proved wrong. My opinion is this is from a 1946 home Wimbledon match. Based on what can be judged as the helmet colours the riders are home Don Lloyd Goffe outside visiting New Cross rider Les Wotton. Of interest, in 1947 Wotton did join Wimbledon in a triangular deal. This took Oliver Hart from Wimbledon to Bradford. Bill Longley from Bradford to New Cross, and Wotton from New Cross to Wimbledon. Great action photo!

You are of course correct, and I have changed the caption. Thank you.

[chunky]

Here is the New Zealand team (including several Dons) that beat Belle Vue at Hyde Road on June 2nd, 1953 (Coronation Day). The Kiwis won 55-53 thanks to a last heat 4-2 from Geoff Mardon and Ron Johnston against Ken Sharples and Louis Lawson. Mardon (13), and Johnston (12+2) were top scorers for the winning team, while the Aces were led by Sharples (14) and Lawson (11).

Back row: Maury Dunn, Geoff Mardon (Wim), Ron Johnston, Barry Briggs (Wim).
Front row: Merv Neil, Trevor Redmond, Ronnie Moore (Wim), Peter Clark.

Edited May 20, 2020 by chunky

[chunky]

Final one of the night...  Basil Harris leading team-mate Cyril Brine, from 1946 (I believe).

Edited May 20, 2020 by chunky

[Split]

On ‎5‎/‎17‎/‎2020 at 6:28 PM, iris123 said:

But on this fan poll he just gets into the top 10. Duncan Edwards not in there. But on another top 10 he is number 1, which shows how they can vary

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sportbible.com/football/news-the-top-25-england-players-of-all-time-according-to-fans-20200328.amp.html

Often on the 'best-ever' lists featured on this forum we've seen riders of a bygone era overlooked. That seems to be the case with this list with players like  Raich Carter, Tommy Lawton and Cliff Bastin not included. And Beckham at number 4 with Greaves and Finney at 14 and 15 - the least said the better.

Edited May 18, 2020 by Split
Correction

[norbold]

And no mention of Vivian Woodward either, certainly one of the greatest players of all time.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Split said:

Often on the 'best-ever' lists featured on this forum we've seen riders of a bygone era overlooked. That seems to be the case with this list with players like  Raich Carter, Tommy Lawton and Cliff Bastin not included. And Beckham at number 4 with Greaves and Finney at 14 and 15 - the least said the better.

I am sure that I once read relative to 'thoughts of the past' that in most cases a memory span focuses back approximately 20 years. Hence when we recall great British riders of the past Tom Farndon, Eric Langton, Jack Parker and the like never get mentioned. Any rider prior to the 1990s is not considered.

Edited May 19, 2020 by Guest

[salty]

39 minutes ago, gustix said:

I am sure that I once read relative to 'thoughts of the past' that in most cases a memory span focuses back approximately 20 years. Hence when we recall great British riders of the past Tom Farndon, Eric Langton, Jack Parker and the like never get mentioned. Any rider prior to the 1990s is not considered.

Sorry, but that's rubbish. Obviously we are constrained by our living memory, but any list of great British riders would include the likes of Craven, Collins and Lee all who rode well before your 1990 cut off.

[norbold]

42 minutes ago, gustix said:

I am sure that I once read relative to 'thoughts of the past' that in most cases a memory span focuses back approximately 20 years. Hence when we recall great British riders of the past Tom Farndon, Eric Langton, Jack Parker and the like never get mentioned. Any rider prior to the 1990s is not considered.

I think that is patently untrue. I think it more likely that most people's memories and ideas on who are/were the greatest riders are more likely to be the riders we first saw. I know in my case, for example, the likes of Ove Fundin, Barry Briggs and Ronnie Moore are the yardstick by which other riders have to be considered.

[iris123]

9 hours ago, norbold said:

And no mention of Vivian Woodward either, certainly one of the greatest players of all time.

It is strange that players from the period when England were arguably the best team in the world never seem to get a mention. But that is what I was trying to show. 
It is also quite interesting to see how a worlds top 20 can change significantly according to which country does the poll, at least with football 

[Guest]

54 minutes ago, gustix said:

I am sure that I once read relative to 'thoughts of the past' that in most cases a memory span focuses back approximately 20 years. Hence when we recall great British riders of the past Tom Farndon, Eric Langton, Jack Parker and the like never get mentioned. Any rider prior to the 1990s is not considered.

 

12 minutes ago, salty said:

Sorry, but that's rubbish. Obviously we are constrained by our living memory, but any list of great British riders would include the likes of Craven, Collins and Lee all who rode well before your 1990 cut off.

 

10 minutes ago, norbold said:

I think that is patently untrue. I think it more likely that most people's memories and ideas on who are/were the greatest riders are more likely to be the riders we first saw. I know in my case, for example, the likes of Ove Fundin, Barry Briggs and Ronnie Moore are the yardstick by which other riders have to be considered.

The first riders I saw included Wally Lloyd, Ron Clarke, Ron Johnson, Phil Bishop, Ed Pye, Bob Wells.. 

Edited May 19, 2020 by Guest

[E I Addio]

9 minutes ago, norbold said:

I think that is patently untrue. I think it more likely that most people's memories and ideas on who are/were the greatest riders are more likely to be the riders we first saw. I know in my case, for example, the likes of Ove Fundin, Barry Briggs and Ronnie Moore are the yardstick by which other riders have to be considered.

I tend to agree with that. In my memory Barry Briggs is the greatest ever, but thinking back to an impressionable age I suppose his reputation went before him and he was probably a great rider in my imagination before I actually saw him ride, based on what I had read in Speedway Star. The reality is I probably only saw him race a handful of times, not enough to form an objective opinion, but I suppose  Briggo to  me represents that adolescent age when we have our hero’s and nobody else will ever come close to them. 

[steve roberts]

8 minutes ago, E I Addio said:

I tend to agree with that. In my memory Barry Briggs is the greatest ever, but thinking back to an impressionable age I suppose his reputation went before him and he was probably a great rider in my imagination before I actually saw him ride, based on what I had read in Speedway Star. The reality is I probably only saw him race a handful of times, not enough to form an objective opinion, but I suppose  Briggo to  me represents that adolescent age when we have our hero’s and nobody else will ever come close to them. 

I have  to admit before I used to attend speedway I remember watching on, I guess, "World of Sport" a televised meeting that featured Barry Briggs and being impressed with his full face helmet. Never saw many of those  then not even on the roads in the UK. The name Barry Briggs just trips off the tongue. However the two names that I found iconic were Roy Trigg and Eddie Reeves who always evoked memories of speedway before I became a regular as my brother would constantly refer to them...John Bishop was another bizarely!

Edited May 19, 2020 by steve roberts

[iris123]

For me it was the same, but different . Ronnie Moore and Tommy Jansson had a sort of aura about them. Both were sort of different to the others with a wonderful relaxed friendly character. With Ronnie you just felt as if you were standing before a real champ and obviously the crowds of people around him and Tommy gave you that feeling as well. And nobody would ever be so spectacular as Peter Collins

[norbold]

1 hour ago, E I Addio said:

I tend to agree with that. In my memory Barry Briggs is the greatest ever, but thinking back to an impressionable age I suppose his reputation went before him and he was probably a great rider in my imagination before I actually saw him ride, based on what I had read in Speedway Star. The reality is I probably only saw him race a handful of times, not enough to form an objective opinion, but I suppose  Briggo to  me represents that adolescent age when we have our hero’s and nobody else will ever come close to them. 

Yes, something similar for me too. I was interested in speedway some time before I actually went to see a match as two of my uncles had been going to speedway since before the War and often spoke about it. So that, growing up, I would hear stories about Bluey Wilkinson, Jack Parker, Vic Duggan, Jack Young and so on. I used to follow speedway results in the newspaper and watch it on the odd occasions it was on telly. My own heroes were Split Waterman, Aub Lawson and Brian Crutcher, so, again, even to this day they have held a special place in my memory of the "greats".

By a strange twist of fate, when I did go to see my first meeting, the very first heat brought together Split Waterman and Aub Lawson and I also bought a copy of Speedway World and the front page headline news story was about Brian Crutcher.

Also, at my very first meeting, Ove Fundin scored an immaculate 18 point maximum. It has been very hard in the 60 years since to shake me from the belief that Ove is the greatest rider of all time.