Riding In Europe In The Old Days

[Grand Central]

Growing up watching the King's Lynn Stars on a Saturday night at Saddlebow Road, there were riders who never seemed to turn up. Maybe my memory was playing tricks, but there were 2 who never seemed to come, namely Barry Briggs & Ivan Mauger, yet they always seemed to make an appearance in Germany on the Sunday afternoon. There were also a significant number who did not take part in the second half on the flimsiest of excuses.

 

I think your memory may be playing the odd trick... or at least being very selective.

 

Ivan Mauger actually had a very good attendance at Kings Lynn for most of his career.

 

From 1966 to 1979 he missed just ONE single British League match for his club of the time - 13 out of 14 he WAS there.

His missing match was in 1973 when he was on a 'strike' against starting procedures.

In the same period of time he appeared in all of his clubs KO Cup fixtures at Kings Lynn and numerous Pride of the East, Supporters Trophy and Littlechild Trophy.

 

It was only in 1980 and 1981 that he missed the two Hull BL fixtures at Kings Lynn; even then he did show up for the 1980 KO fixture.

 

Kings Lynn fans cannot really say they were ever 'deprived' of seeing Ivan Mauger at his best because of any 'Saturdaynightitis' ... that pretty much for sure.

[Mr Snackette]

yes i remember in the 70s the riders resisted Sunday speedway in GB (at least in Div 1) because this was the day they rode abroad

I dont think it was a case that riders “resisted” racing on a Sunday, it was almost impossible to do so. Remember the Sunday Observance Act was still in force, which prohibited the use of any building or room for public entertainment or debate on a Sunday. As a result of this law, sports bodies were prevented them from charging admission if they were to hold an event on the Sabbath.

 

From what I recall, this changed as a result of the the Yom Kippur War in 1973, which led to the Arab members of OPEC suspending deliveries of oil to the UK. This caused an energy crisis in late 1973 which was made worse in Britain by the miners coming out on strike in February 1974. A state of emergency was declared in Britain which was followed by a three day working week to save electricity.

 

The state of emergency meant that the use of floodlights was banned, even extending to power generated by private generators. This didnt really effect speedway as it was off season, but football was. All matches had to be played in daylight so kick-off times were brought forward on Saturdays and during the week matches were played in the afternoon. Clubs wanted to postpone matches to the end of the season but the Football League refused as bad weather might cause fixture chaos in the last months of the season. Proposals to suspend the League and to extend it to June were also rejected.

 

In December 1973 the Football Association asked the Home Office for permission to play matches on Sundays. Even though floodlights would not be used electricity was needed for the general running of the ground and it was considered that Sundays might allow a more guaranteed supply.

 

It was Sunday January 6th 1974 which saw four FA Cup Third Round ties played. Clubs got around the Sunday Observance Act, which prevented an admission charge being taken, by announcing that admission was free. However you needed to buy a programme to get in. Programmes cost differing amounts depending on what part of the ground you wanted to enter. That was enough to get round the law!

 

From that moment on sport on Sunday was born.

 

[waiheke1]

 

I think your memory may be playing the odd trick... or at least being very selective.

 

Ivan Mauger actually had a very good attendance at Kings Lynn for most of his career.

 

From 1966 to 1979 he missed just ONE single British League match for his club of the time - 13 out of 14 he WAS there.

His missing match was in 1973 when he was on a 'strike' against starting procedures.

In the same period of time he appeared in all of his clubs KO Cup fixtures at Kings Lynn and numerous Pride of the East, Supporters Trophy and Littlechild Trophy.

 

It was only in 1980 and 1981 that he missed the two Hull BL fixtures at Kings Lynn; even then he did show up for the 1980 KO fixture.

 

Kings Lynn fans cannot really say they were ever 'deprived' of seeing Ivan Mauger at his best because of any 'Saturdaynightitis' ... that pretty much for sure.

and of course in 84 mauger rode home matches only for exeter, with dispensation to use a guest for away matches. This of course wasn't depriving kl fans of seeing mauger in his prime.

[spinkox]

Werent there plenty of 2nd division speedway matches on Sundays after the late 60s??

[mikebv]

Longtrack racing on the Sundays was a big earner back in the day...

 

All the top speedway riders went over to Germany in the main usually a couple of times a month at least..

 

When PC got his ban in, I think 78, for being late back for the season start due to a cancelled flight from America it was said to cost him well over 20k in earnings (that was just a one month ban)! Such was the state of the lucrative LT circuit...

 

As can be seen nowadays the riders are mainly Poland bound every Sunday, hence since this country took over the speedway world, Longtrack in

particular has suffered as the big names no longer need to do it to supplement their income...

Edited February 23, 2015 by mikebv

[ch958]

Werent there plenty of 2nd division speedway matches on Sundays after the late 60s??

 

yes there were he's talking rubbish as per

 

I can recall interviews in the Star but forget which riders saying they didn't want league matches on a sunday. Very little to do with Opec.and the Yom Kippur war and more to do with continental grass track, etc

 

the response i was looking for was given by arnieg - before 1987 Swedish league matches were raced by Swedes alone it seems. Thats why i never heard of riders jetting off every 5 minutes

[lucifer sam]

 

Wondering if it was the continental bookings that made Ivan decide to leave Belle Vue?

 

Big hoo-hah over Rider Control.

 

Belle Vue were reluctant to let any riders go, especially as the majority of them were home grown. But at the same time, the 1972 Aces were one of the strongest-ever teams and someone had to go. In the end, it was Ivan. The row was still going on as the 1973 season started, and Ivan went as far as to threaten to retire if he was left without a British team. I think Mauger's debut for Exeter was on Easter Monday, which fell in the latter half of April that year.

 

There was a similar spate a few years later with the home grown Ipswich Witches, at which point the rider control system fell apart and was replaced with a weird two-tier points limit for 1977 (Reading fell victim to it and arguably it cost them the league title). It was then replaced by a flat 50-point-limit in 1979 - although an oddity was that, at this point, it wasn't possible to replace a rider with a lower-averaged rider, if you were still above the limit. Cradley found this out after sacking Steve Bastable and not being able to bring in Ila Teromaa.

 

The points limit was reduced to 48 in 1984 and 45 in 1986.

 

All the best

Rob

Edited February 23, 2015 by lucifer sam

[oldace]

 

Big hoo-hah over Rider Control.

 

Belle Vue were reluctant to let any riders go, especially as the majority of them were home grown. But at the same time, the 1972 Aces were one of the strongest-ever teams and someone had to go. In the end, it was Ivan. The row was still going on as the 1973 season started, and Ivan went as far as to threaten to retire if he was left without a British team. I think Mauger's debut for Exeter was on Easter Monday, which fell in the latter half of April that year.

 

There was a similar spate a few years later with the home grown Ipswich Witches, at which point the rider control system fell apart and was replaced with a weird two-tier points limit for 1977 (Reading fell victim to it and arguably it cost them the league title). It was then replaced by a flat 50-point-limit in 1979 - although an oddity was that, at this point, it wasn't possible to replace a rider with a lower-averaged rider, if you were still above the limit. Cradley found this out after sacking Steve Bastable and not being able to bring in Ila Teromaa.

 

The points limit was reduced to 48 in 1984 and 45 in 1986.

 

All the best

Rob

 

 

The final nail in the coffin of rider control was Ole Olsen's refusal to go to Hull in 1976. Rider control allocated him there so he was effectively Hulls rider but he would not ride for them so Hull ended up selling him on to Coventry. Hull got quite a few quid for a rider who had never ridden for them and used that money to lure Barry Briggs out of (a couple of months) retirement.

[lucifer sam]

 

The final nail in the coffin of rider control was Ole Olsen's refusal to go to Hull in 1976. Rider control allocated him there so he was effectively Hulls rider but he would not ride for them so Hull ended up selling him on to Coventry. Hull got quite a few quid for a rider who had never ridden for them and used that money to lure Barry Briggs out of (a couple of months) retirement.

 

Yes, the Olsen debacle certainly went a long to hasten the end of rider control as well.

 

Ole Olsen was actually originally allocated to the 1975 Oxford Rebels, but the Rebels realised they couldn't afford to agree to his terms and asked to be allocated another rider. Then the Rider Control Committee decided to allocate Dag Lovaas to Oxford and Ole Olsen to Hull.

 

I think Ian Thomas managed to get £12,000 or something like that for the sale of Olsen from Hull to Coventry; he tells the tale in his autobiography.

 

Rider control lasted the one more season, with John Berry voicing his displeasure at having to offload a home grown talent, Mick Hines, who was allocated from Ipswich to Wimbledon in 1976.

 

And then there was a weird prototype points-limit in 1977, which allowed Ipswich to keep the same team under a 52-point limit, but forced Reading to release Boleslaw Proch, because as a team making a change, the Racers were subject to a 48-point-limit.

 

All the best

Rob

[arnieg]

There was a similar spate a few years later with the home grown Ipswich Witches, at which point the rider control system fell apart and was replaced with a weird two-tier points limit for 1977 (Reading fell victim to it and arguably it cost them the league title). It was then replaced by a flat 50-point-limit in 1979 - although an oddity was that, at this point, it wasn't possible to replace a rider with a lower-averaged rider, if you were still above the limit.

Rob

Don't get me started!

 

BTW Mr Snackette's contribution was relevant and informative - I don't understand the abuse directed at him.

 

I remember not paying admission on my first visit to Mildenhall in the late seventies - I think I had to join a club which then entitled me to admission!

[oldace]

Werent there plenty of 2nd division speedway matches on Sundays after the late 60s??

 

 

 

yes there were he's talking rubbish as per

 

I can recall interviews in the Star but forget which riders saying they didn't want league matches on a sunday. Very little to do with Opec.and the Yom Kippur war and more to do with continental grass track, etc

 

the response i was looking for was given by arnieg - before 1987 Swedish league matches were raced by Swedes alone it seems. Thats why i never heard of riders jetting off every 5 minutes

 

A little research can often save making a right t!t of yourself you know.

 

By the 1970s there were plenty of sports events taking place on Sundays. Those who attended will remember they were all "entry by programme". This was not the matchday magazine as we know it but a liitle flyer flyer type thing that cost whatever the admission would be. This then got you "free admission"

 

As Mr Snackette says this was entirely to do with the lords day observance society regs

[SCB]

BTW Mr Snackette's contribution was relevant and informative - I don't understand the abuse directed at him.

People constantly seem to take exception to him, then get arsey with him when he points out eh was correct. They then deem this to be him being the bad party for having the audacity to be right or for correcting them - the BSF is full of these type of people. They seem to think they can state what they like and it cannot be discussed or argued - odd concept on a forum!

[iris123]

Ivan didn't decide to leave Belle Vue , in facy he was prepared to give Britain a miss rather than be forced to go to Exeter where rider control allocated him. Of course when John Richards tripled his salary and still gave him the opportunity to race the lucrative Sunday scene on the continent he changed his mind but he had sat out the first few weeks of 1973 before it all got resolved

Fair enough.Although I had been to speedway before,1973 was the first season I really got into the sport,so all the happenings over the winter and even the start f that season went over my head.Think there was something in the programme about Mauger maybe joining the Dons,but at the time it meant nothing to me.In fact I think Jim Tebby being dropped into the second halves and then joining another team(Newport?) after a couple of weeks seems to have stuck more than Ivans to do with Rider Control

[Tsunami]

People constantly seem to take exception to him, then get arsey with him when he points out eh was correct. They then deem this to be him being the bad party for having the audacity to be right or for correcting them - the BSF is full of these type of people. They seem to think they can state what they like and it cannot be discussed or argued - odd concept on a forum!

Except of course if you put your own view, right or wrong, you get megalomaniac replies about your alleged inferior intelligence. Hardly a basis to debate anything, whether it be factual or dependant on opinion. Nothing to do with him being correct.

[Mr Snackette]

yes there were he's talking rubbish as per

 

I can recall interviews in the Star but forget which riders saying they didn't want league matches on a sunday. Very little to do with Opec.and the Yom Kippur war and more to do with continental grass track, etc

 

the response i was looking for was given by arnieg - before 1987 Swedish league matches were raced by Swedes alone it seems. Thats why i never heard of riders jetting off every 5 minutes

Thank you for your kind words.

 

I always enjoy reading your thoughtful, well researched and elegantly written contributions!!!!!!

 

 

 

Except of course if you put your own view, right or wrong, you get megalomaniac replies about your alleged inferior intelligence. Hardly a basis to debate anything, whether it be factual or dependant on opinion. Nothing to do with him being correct.

Oh dear, how sad.

 

Even though what I said was correct, apparently I shouldn't have posted it.....ah well it takes all sorts!!!

[ch958]

If you or any of your slavish followers are puzzled about your unpopularity there it is right there

Arrogance and hubris

[Mr Snackette]

If you or any of your slavish followers are puzzled about your unpopularity there it is right there

Arrogance and hubris

Another sparkling contribution....as always insightful and lucid.

 

Sadly you did unfortunately (and probably unintentionally) make yourself look a little silly earlier.

 

There will be those on here who pointed out the serious flaw in your original argument, who would regard your comments describing them as having no original thoughts or ideas, as a rather arrogant comment in itself.

 

Food for thought perhaps????!!!!!

[The White Knight]

Another sparkling contribution....as always insightful and lucid.

 

Sadly you did unfortunately (and probably unintentionally) make yourself look a little silly earlier.

 

There will be those on here who pointed out the serious flaw in your original argument, who would regard your comments describing them as having no original thoughts or ideas, as a rather arrogant comment in itself.

 

Food for thought perhaps????!!!!!

I should probably stay out of this. :rolleyes:

[oldace]

To answer the original question the reason that riders were exclusively riding in Britain was simple.

 

Firstly pre 1989 and the fall of communism Poland, and the rest of Eastern Europe, wasn't readily accessible like today and they certainly weren't awash with money at that time. The odd touring party used to go either way (the Poles often with security to make sure they went home) but that was it. The fall of the Berlin wall opened up Poland to the west and, if I recall, it was Hans Nielsen who first took the opportunity by signing for Motor Lublin?

 

Swedish speedway from the mid sixties was in pretty poor shape and was played out to only a handful of spectators, little money for the home based Swedes let alone flying them in from the rest of Europe. The early 90s saw something of a resurgence and, like Poland, the Eurpean based riders happily jumped on the bandwagon.

 

These things happened at the same time British Speedway was falling from the publics favour and very very quickly Britain went from number one priority league to number 3.

[arnieg]

To answer the original question the reason that riders were exclusively riding in Britain was simple.

 

Firstly pre 1989 and the fall of communism Poland, and the rest of Eastern Europe, wasn't readily accessible like today and they certainly weren't awash with money at that time. The odd touring party used to go either way (the Poles often with security to make sure they went home) but that was it. The fall of the Berlin wall opened up Poland to the west and, if I recall, it was Hans Nielsen who first took the opportunity by signing for Motor Lublin?

 

Swedish speedway from the mid sixties was in pretty poor shape and was played out to only a handful of spectators, little money for the home based Swedes let alone flying them in from the rest of Europe. The early 90s saw something of a resurgence and, like Poland, the Eurpean based riders happily jumped on the bandwagon.

 

These things happened at the same time British Speedway was falling from the publics favour and very very quickly Britain went from number one priority league to number 3.

The other significant factor was the liberalization of the European airline market with Easyjet and Ryanair coming onto the scene in 1995.