England 39 v 39 Sweden - Wembley 14/07/73

[WembleyLion]

50 years ago today saw the final of the Daily Mirror series which resulted in the much talked about and controversial run off between Peter Collins and Anders Michanek!

It was certainly a great occasion!

[False dawn]

Boy, you're really trying to make me feel old. 

I remember this meeting well. An exclusion was not the way we wanted to end. We dashed back home to Coventry and I seem to recall seeing the highlights on TV (VHS recording? Although it seems early for me to have a machine). It was Briggo commentating, if memory serves. It stuck with me what he said; after a collision of that sort, always look to see where the "survivor" goes after the point of contact. If he holds the line, he can argue the case. But if he ends up going wide, he's probably the guilty party. Mich went wide.

[arnieg]

I was just looking zt it this morning

 

[chunky]

51 minutes ago, False dawn said:

Boy, you're really trying to make me feel old. 

You ARE old! We are ALL old if we can remember this!

Just had a thought, though... Speedway was still something of a new sport on TV, and in fact, I really can't remember any speedway shown in anything more than a newsflash prior to 1972.

[steve roberts]

43 minutes ago, chunky said:

You ARE old! We are ALL old if we can remember this!

Just had a thought, though... Speedway was still something of a new sport on TV, and in fact, I really can't remember any speedway shown in anything more than a newsflash prior to 1972.

Not sure when the Wills Internationale was first televised? For some odd reason it was the one meeting that the BBC had the rights to.

Edited July 14, 2023 by steve roberts

[WembleyLion]

54 minutes ago, chunky said:

You ARE old! We are ALL old if we can remember this!

Just had a thought, though... Speedway was still something of a new sport on TV, and in fact, I really can't remember any speedway shown in anything more than a newsflash prior to 1972.

I can remember seeing England v New Zealand from Wimbledon in 1970 which was shown on a Saturday afternoon.

Edited July 14, 2023 by WembleyLion

[BL65]

40 minutes ago, chunky said:

I really can't remember any speedway shown in anything more than a newsflash prior to 1972.

23rd April 1951 part of Walthamstow v Coventry was broadcast live on BBC.  17th and 24th February 1962 the Grandstand Pairs were shown live from Cradley Heath, also on BBC.  I have a vague recollection that some highlights of Belle Vue v Sheffield from 3rd April 1965 were shown on Grandstand a week later.  The Internationale highlights were shown in the mid-1960s.  Speedway clips were also shown occasionally on the midweek programme 'Sportsview', which became 'Sportsnight' in 1968, with presenters including Peter Dimmock, David Coleman and Harry Carpenter.  Alan Weeks was the Internationale commentator.  He also used to commentate on ice skating, ice hockey and swimming.  He covered speedway World Finals for the BBC from the mid-1950s until the late-1960s.  Weeks was a big speedway fan.

[chunky]

7 minutes ago, WembleyLion said:

I can remember seeing England v New Zealand from Wimbledon in 1970 which was shown on a Saturday afternoon.

Very interesting! I have no recollection of that, and I wonder if that is still available, or anyone has a copy?

[chunky]

Just now, BL65 said:

23rd April 1951 part of Walthamstow v Coventry was broadcast live on BBC.  17th and 24th February 1962 the Grandstand Pairs were shown live from Cradley Heath, also on BBC.  I have a vague recollection that some highlights of Belle Vue v Sheffield from 3rd April 1965 were shown on Grandstand a week later.  The Internationale highlights were shown in the mid-1960s.  Speedway clips were also shown occasionally on the midweek programme 'Sportsview', which became 'Sportsnight' in 1968, with presenters including Peter Dimmock, David Coleman and Harry Carpenter.  Alan Weeks was the Internationale commentator.  He also used to commentate on ice skating, ice hockey and swimming.  He covered speedway World Finals for the BBC from the mid-1950s until the late-1960s.  Weeks was a big speedway fan.

I remember Alan doing all the BBC commentary, but unfortunately, his style never suited speedway. Sadly, I'm not old enough to remember most of the early stuff you mentioned!

[steve roberts]

2 hours ago, BL65 said:

23rd April 1951 part of Walthamstow v Coventry was broadcast live on BBC.  17th and 24th February 1962 the Grandstand Pairs were shown live from Cradley Heath, also on BBC.  I have a vague recollection that some highlights of Belle Vue v Sheffield from 3rd April 1965 were shown on Grandstand a week later.  The Internationale highlights were shown in the mid-1960s.  Speedway clips were also shown occasionally on the midweek programme 'Sportsview', which became 'Sportsnight' in 1968, with presenters including Peter Dimmock, David Coleman and Harry Carpenter.  Alan Weeks was the Internationale commentator.  He also used to commentate on ice skating, ice hockey and swimming.  He covered speedway World Finals for the BBC from the mid-1950s until the late-1960s.  Weeks was a big speedway fan.

I recall during one of his commentaries he still referred to Leicester as "Hunters". Would have been the Wills Internationale.

[norbold]

21 hours ago, BL65 said:

23rd April 1951 part of Walthamstow v Coventry was broadcast live on BBC.  17th and 24th February 1962 the Grandstand Pairs were shown live from Cradley Heath, also on BBC.  I have a vague recollection that some highlights of Belle Vue v Sheffield from 3rd April 1965 were shown on Grandstand a week later.  The Internationale highlights were shown in the mid-1960s.  Speedway clips were also shown occasionally on the midweek programme 'Sportsview', which became 'Sportsnight' in 1968, with presenters including Peter Dimmock, David Coleman and Harry Carpenter.  Alan Weeks was the Internationale commentator.  He also used to commentate on ice skating, ice hockey and swimming.  He covered speedway World Finals for the BBC from the mid-1950s until the late-1960s.  Weeks was a big speedway fan.

I seem to recall the BBC used to show the World Championship final live back in the early 50s. Only a vague memory as I was very young, but I do recall seeing it one year while I was at my grandparents' house as I can remember them laughing at the way the commentator pronounced Ronnie Moore's name  as Mooer 

[BL65]

1 hour ago, norbold said:

I seem to recall the BBC used to show the World Championship final live back in the early 50s. Only a vague memory as I was very young, but I do recall seeing it one year while I was at my grandparents' house as I can remember them laughing at the way the commentator pronounced Ronnie Moore's name  as Mooer 

Yes, your memory serves you well.  Although the finals were not shown live in full, there was coverage on BBC television on 22/09/49 from 21.30 until 22.10; on 21/09/50 from 21.30 until 22.00; then from 21.00 until 22.00 on 20/09/51, 18/09/52, 17/09/53, and 16/09/54; from 21.15 until 22.00 on 15/09/55; from 21.00 until 22.00 on 22/09/56 and  21/09/57.  There were reports in the Sport Special programme on 20/09/58 (22.15-22.45), 19/09/59 (22.50-23.20) and 17/09/60 (22.00-22.40).

[briggo]

On 7/14/2023 at 4:53 PM, chunky said:

I remember Alan doing all the BBC commentary, but unfortunately, his style never suited speedway. Sadly, I'm not old enough to remember most of the early stuff you mentioned!

I do remember Alan Weeks always pronounced Ivan Mauger as Ivan Maw-Gurr (with a hard G), always tickled me

[steve roberts]

1 hour ago, briggo said:

I do remember Alan Weeks always pronounced Ivan Mauger as Ivan Maw-Gurr (with a hard G), always tickled me

I recall Wally Loak referring to John Louis as "Lewis" on one of his commentaries.

[Bryce]

I was always amused by Wally referring to the person in last place as "pegged backattheback" with those last four words all tumbling at as one. 

[steve roberts]

1 hour ago, Bryce said:

I was always amused by Wally referring to the person in last place as "pegged backattheback" with those last four words all tumbling at as one. 

...another of his favourite sayings was "chasing, chasing, chasing."

[Grand Central]

On 7/14/2023 at 4:42 PM, WembleyLion said:

I can remember seeing England v New Zealand from Wimbledon in 1970 which was shown on a Saturday afternoon.

From TV Times for August 1, 1970

 

[steve roberts]

27 minutes ago, Grand Central said:

From TV Times for August 1, 1970

 

Brings back memories and when speedway was shown on mainstream TV albeit on an irregular basis.

[chunky]

4 hours ago, Bryce said:

I was always amused by Wally referring to the person in last place as "pegged backattheback" with those last four words all tumbling at as one. 

No different to Tony Millard's, "stealingamarch", or, "thebattleisjoined"!

[steve roberts]

1 hour ago, chunky said:

No different to Tony Millard's, "stealingamarch", or, "thebattleisjoined"!

...another pretty awful commentator. I used to like Chris French on "Screensport"...you could telll that he was a speedway fan who knew his stuff!