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How Many...


chunky

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...nations have been represented in British (league) racing over the years? I know we have had some newer ones represented in recent years, particularly with the breakup of some of the Eastern European nations (and both the old and the new count if riders actually represented that particular nation at that time). A straightforward name-change doesn't count as two (Rhodesia/Zimbabwe).

NO!!! MARK LORAM DOES NOT COUNT AS MALTESE! Neither does Graham Warren count... I am talking about bona fide nationalities...

Apologies if this has been covered before, but it's quite possible that we would have increased the number now.

Here is a start :

England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland.

France, Netherlands, Germany, West Germany.

Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada.

Argentina, Zimbabwe, South Africa.

Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland.

Over to you...

Steve

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In 1973 when Gerhard Uhlenbrock rode for Coventry he was also riding for West Germany.

Maybe  Dinse or someone  rode as East Germans?But Hehlert also turned out for West Germany so doubt he qualifies.

But really Chunky is making the mistake of thinking there were 3 German states,when in reality there was only 2. East Germany joined the Bundesrepublik or the 5 states became part of it.They didn’t form a new state

So you will only find two sets of German champions for instance,not 3.There isn’t a West Germany and then a Germany.West and East are colloquial terms.

 

Edited by iris123
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15 minutes ago, BL65 said:

Northern Ireland, Guernsey and Jersey, although the latter two are British Crown dependencies rather than 'nations'.

That's what I was looking for! I can't remember who was from where, but that's why I didn't mention the Channel Islands. Would that be Hughie Saunders and Marcus Bisson? I wasn't sure about Northern Ireland....

Have we had any Manx?

Steve

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35 minutes ago, chunky said:

That's what I was looking for! I can't remember who was from where, but that's why I didn't mention the Channel Islands. Would that be Hughie Saunders and Marcus Bisson? I wasn't sure about Northern Ireland....

Have we had any Manx?

Steve

Yes, Saunders from Guernsey and Bisson from Jersey.  John Fitzpatrick (Stoke, Southampton, West Ham, Rayleigh, Yarmouth, Ipswich, New Cross, Middlesbrough) was born in Guernsey, as was Stan Mauger (Coventry).  I believe that Andrew Tully (Edinburgh and Scunthorpe) was from the Isle of Man.  An added piece of trivia - Ivan Mauger's grandparents were from Guernsey.

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1 hour ago, norbold said:

Northern Ireland is not a "nation" it is an integral part of the United Kingdom.

So too is Scotland; does that not count? Or England, for that matter.

The sovereign state is "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", and comprises four examples of a "country within a country", of which Northern Ireland is one.

Steve

Edited by chunky
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1 hour ago, chunky said:

So too is Scotland; does that not count? Or England, for that matter.

The sovereign state is "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", and comprises four examples of a "country within a country", of which Northern Ireland is one.

Steve

Well now, look at this way...can England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland join the United Nations in their own right?

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The topic is How many Nations have been represented.And then when Jersey is given 'that's  what I was looking for ,is the answer.I'll be blowed :blink:

 

It'll probably take a while for this to get through,because apparently saying someone is posting bullrubbish is worth a ban,but it is ok to call me names!!!

Edited by iris123
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15 minutes ago, norbold said:

Well now, look at this way...can England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland join the United Nations in their own right?

Well now, did the UK lose to Croatia in the World Cup semis?

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28 minutes ago, norbold said:

Silly me. Of course FIFA takes world precedence over the United Nations.

Both legitimate international organisations...

Yeah, I know, both are suspect also!

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Perhaps we should start again with the question being along the lines of 'How many nations/countries/sovereign states/kingdoms/realms/territories/provinces/principalities/duchies have been represented in British (league) racing over the years?'  I am surprised there has been no reference to Rugby Union's Six Nations tournament, involving France, Italy, Ireland, UK1, UK2 and UK3, with the players born in the latter three 'areas' of England, Scotland and Wales having passports describing their nationality as British.  :)

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Picking out special cases mainly due to England and Scotland being in at the start of the sports having a traditional place within the sport.Can also look at Curling where Scotland and England do compete.

But in general internationally run sports don’t recognize them and only GB can compete.Even in speedway which we are talking about they don’t allow England ,Scotland ,Wales or Jersey to compete any more

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Still nobody has derived an answer to the question "How many. . . . . "
Seems the answer so far is 29, 32 or 35.
As regards the nations (or Crown Dependencies) of UK, unlike soccer and rugby associations which have their own Scottish, Welsh, Nthn Irish authorities, there's only one motorcycle/speedway authority for the UK, - the ACU is one entity for the whole of the UK.
So does that not make the answer 29 ?
The answer swings on 'Germay', 'West Germany', 'East Germany',  . . . and on  Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. 
Oh, . . .and on Croatia and Slovenia: if we never had a Yugoslav ride in UK, (think not,) then that's an easy 2.


www.speedwaychampions.com
www.speedway-sa.com 

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Mentioned before but West and East are colloquialisms didn’t really exist alongside a Germany. It was just Germany and the Communist German state,which later merged into Germany.Just 2 countries . And had there been an East German in British speedway, as both Uhlenbrock and Hehlert were no longer when they rode

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