What matches had the biggest attendance in Speedway history?

[Kempol]

Do you have such statics? I mean both championships and league matches, from around the world, especially outside Poland (I'm Polish, but interest in Speedway is nowhere as big as here, and I want stats from other countries too) 
 

[iris123]

Possibly Wembley were the best supported team anywhere in the world ever?

Pre-war they were getting over 2,000,000 fans in one season

After the war in 1946 they opened with a crowd of 80,000 v Belle Vue,had a 72,000 crowd against Birmingham and an 85,000 v Wimbledon.Through the season the average attendance was 60,000+ .By the early 1950s though ,the crowds were falling...

[Grachan]

Probably one of the World Finals in Katowice.

[norbold]

There were 93,000 at the 1938 Wembley World Final.

[Sidney the robin]

2 hours ago, Grachan said:

Probably one of the World Finals in Katowice.

The Katowice  1976 PC winning year was a huge crowd and also was the Penhall 1981 year crowd figure accurate or were the figures rigged.??

[lucifer sam]

10 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

The Katowice  1976 PC winning year was a huge crowd and also was the Penhall 1981 year crowd figure accurate or were the figures rigged.??

I think the official crowd for 1981 was 71,000.

I'm sure I read that the only capacity crowds at Wembley for World Finals were in 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1952.

A couple of pre-war World Finals had very large crowds, but I think Wembley's capacity was 100,000 at that point.

Edited March 5, 2019 by lucifer sam

[lucifer sam]

20 hours ago, iris123 said:

Possibly Wembley were the best supported team anywhere in the world ever?

Pre-war they were getting over 2,000,000 fans in one season

After the war in 1946 they opened with a crowd of 80,000 v Belle Vue,had a 72,000 crowd against Birmingham and an 85,000 v Wimbledon.Through the season the average attendance was 60,000+ .By the early 1950s though ,the crowds were falling...

Also had to lock out the fans at least once during 1946.

They had tannoy announcements of the results in the car park.

Edited March 5, 2019 by lucifer sam

[Ovalman]

On 3/4/2019 at 6:51 PM, iris123 said:

Possibly Wembley were the best supported team anywhere in the world ever?

Pre-war they were getting over 2,000,000 fans in one season

After the war in 1946 they opened with a crowd of 80,000 v Belle Vue,had a 72,000 crowd against Birmingham and an 85,000 v Wimbledon.Through the season the average attendance was 60,000+ .By the early 1950s though ,the crowds were falling...

My dad followed them then from Camberwell South London. He should have supported New Cross or Wimbledon. He said there was 80000 against New Cross.

[cityrebel]

From a personal point of view. The biggest crowd I've ever seen for a league match, was the estimated 25,000 that turned up for Wembley's reopener against Hackney in 1970.

[steve roberts]

Cowley was packed to the rafters during the !973 Australia vs. Poland Daily Mirror Tourmament. It was estimated at 10,000 but I had my doubts but it was by far the biggest crowd that I had witnessed in my thirty plus years attending Oxford.

[Grachan]

The biggest crowd I ever saw at Swindon was a double header in 1974 against Hackney and Belle Vue - with Bob Kilby guesting for the opposition in both matches.

I didn't even get in the stadium until about heat 4 of the first match because of the queues, and you literally could barely move in the stadium. It was rammed solid all the way round. That was my first season watching speedway, and I've never seen a crowd like that since at a domestic meeting.

[steve roberts]

1 minute ago, Grachan said:

The biggest crowd I ever saw at Swindon was a double header in 1974 against Hackney and Belle Vue - with Bob Kilby guesting for the opposition in both matches.

I didn't even get in the stadium until about heat 4 of the first match because of the queues, and you literally could barely move in the stadium. It was rammed solid all the way round. That was my first season watching speedway, and I've never seen a crowd like that since at a domestic meeting.

I was there watching Bob who, of course, was a 'Rebel' that year!

[Grachan]

5 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

I was there watching Bob who, of course, was a 'Rebel' that year! 

I remember being in the "posh" end, just before the first bend and spent the whole evening moving my head about trying to see the racing with so many people standing in front. I was only 13.

Bob was brilliant in both matches, and it was such a big deal when he returned to Swindon the following year.

[steve roberts]

5 minutes ago, Grachan said:

I remember being in the "posh" end, just before the first bend and spent the whole evening moving my head about trying to see the racing with so many people standing in front. I was only 13.

Bob was brilliant in both matches, and it was such a big deal when he returned to Swindon the following year.

I remember that there was some contention attached to Bob's returning to Swindon. Although he was originally allocated to Exeter thru' the old 'Rider Control' measues he joined Oxford in a three way swap involving Garry Middleton (who Oxford paid a fee for) and Tony Lomas who came to Oxford as Garry's replacement but went to Exeter in exchange for Bob. Personally I felt that Oxford justifiably requested a fee but ended up with little in the way of compensation. Such was the politics in speedway with Rider Control and it's ambiguities and/or irregularities.

[Grachan]

1 minute ago, steve roberts said:

I remember that there was some contention attached to Bob's returning to Swindon. Although he was originally allocated to Exeter thru' the old 'Rider Control' measues he joined Oxford in a three way swap involving Garry Middleton (who Oxford paid a fee for) and Tony Lomas who came to Oxford as Garry's replacement but went to Exeter in exchange for Bob. Personally I felt that Oxford justifiably requested a fee but ended up with little in the way of compensation. Such was the politics in speedway with Rider Control and it's ambiguities and/or irregularities.

It was before my time, but I have always assumed Bob was taken away from Swindon and given to Exeter by Rider Control in order to allow Martin Ashby to return from the Falcons.

So, Bob coming back to Swindon seems fair as he was originally taken away. What seems unfair is Oxford losing Middleton, if they had paid a fee for him.

Rider Control was a strange beast, which would never be allowed to work today. There were a lot of strange events at Oxford, in particular, with that system.

[bruno]

Anyone know the figure for the first Golden Hammer

[Ovalman]

Late 70s at The Abbey estimated 17000..the gates were locked hundreds outside..Golden Helmet showdown.

In 1968 GB v Sweden also at Swindon..officially 12000 there but hundreds climbed in

[iris123]

I do remember some meetings at Plough Lane in the early 70s where you had difficulty finding a way through the crowd.The gangways were pretty well blocked.But they were mostly individual(Internationale,2nd Division Riders or even the early Spring Classics or test match meetings.I seem to recall one of the England v USA tests in the early 80s being packed where I was.But maybe by that stage some of the stadium was closed off

[cityrebel]

22 hours ago, iris123 said:

I do remember some meetings at Plough Lane in the early 70s where you had difficulty finding a way through the crowd.The gangways were pretty well blocked.But they were mostly individual(Internationale,2nd Division Riders or even the early Spring Classics or test match meetings.I seem to recall one of the England v USA tests in the early 80s being packed where I was.But maybe by that stage some of the stadium was closed off

In the early 70's the internationale used to pull in 20,000. The test match you refer to was the 1980 series. The stadium was partly closed to speedway in the NL era.

[steve roberts]

I went to the championship decider at Brandon between Coventy and Hull (Leicester followed on if I recall) in 1979 and the attendance at that meeting was pretty enormous I remember.