Inter-Division Tournament 1956

[Vicar]

Hello,

 

I'm looking for details of Inter-Division tournament 1956. I know there were three groups with very weird system of each team riding two meetings. Does anyone know final table? What was after that? 3TT final?

 

Thanks in advance

[Sotonian]

I'd like to know too.

Div2 Southampton won all 4 of their matches, the last of which, v Brum (48-47) on Sept 18th, was scheduled to be their last home meeting of the season. It was billed in the previous week's programme as the 'final divisional decider' but curiously little was made of it in the actual programme! 

Edited November 20, 2023 by Sotonian

[chunky]

Here are the results I've been able to find.

Southampton 51 - 45 Belle Vue
Leicester 45 - 51 Birmingham
Swindon 51 - 45 Poole
Coventry 50 - 46 Wimbledon
Ipswich 60 - 36 Norwich
Rayleigh 46 - 50 Poole
Coventry 59 - 37 Birmingham
Ipswich 57 -39 Bradford
Oxford 37 - 59 Belle Vue
Leicester 49 - 47 Bradford
Oxford 60 - 36 Bradford
Leicester 55 - 41 Norwich
Rayleigh P - P Wimbledon
Southampton 55 - 42 Norwich
Ipswich 54 - 42 Belle Vue
Swindon 33 - 63 Wimbledon
Oxford P - P Birmingham
Coventry 55 - 41 Poole
Southampton 64 - 32 Wimbledon
Southampton 48 - 47 Birmingham
 

[BL65]

This competition was in the form of a league, with all matches raced on second division tracks.  All second division teams raced in three basic matches within the league, with additional matches against other teams if desired. The teams did not race an equal number of matches.  Table positions were not decided on match points but on the percentage of match points obtained out of the total possible. Match points were 2 for a home win, 1 for a home draw, 3 for an away win, 2 for an away draw.

The basic groups were:
Coventry, Birmingham, Poole, Wimbledon
Ipswich, Belle Vue, Bradford, Norwich
Leicester, Birmingham, Bradford, Norwich
Oxford, Belle Vue, Birmingham, Bradford
Rayleigh, Norwich, Poole, Wimbledon
Southampton, Belle Vue, Birmingham, Norwich
Swindon, Poole, Wembley, Wimbledon

In addition to the results listed by Chunky, Rayleigh lost 41-43 to Norwich and Swindon beat Wembley 49-47.  This was the only match in the tournament which the Wembley team was scheduled to compete in.  The Southampton match against Norwich was an 'additional fixture'.  Three teams had a one hundred percent record, Ipswich had the best race points difference (+54), then Southampton (+42) and Coventry (+40).

	Matches	Won	Points	%
Ipswich	3	3	6	100
Southampton	4	4	8	100
Coventry	3	3	6	100
Leicester	3	2	4	67
Swindon	3	2	4	67
Oxford	2	1	2	50
Wimbledon	3	1	3	33
Poole	3	1	3	33
Birmingham	3	1	3	33
Belle Vue	3	1	3	33
Norwich	4	1	3	25
Bradford	3	0	0	0
Wembley	1	0	0	0
Rayleigh	2	0	0	0

[Vicar]

So Ipswich won? In the History of Swindon Robins book they wrote there were 3 groups in general. 

[BL65]

18 minutes ago, Vicar said:

So Ipswich won? In the History of Swindon Robins book they wrote there were 3 groups in general. 

The programmes from each of the second division tracks explained the format of the competition and specified which first division teams were in their own group.  

[Vicar]

Thank you for all the information

[Vicar]

On 11/21/2023 at 1:12 PM, BL65 said:

This competition was in the form of a league, with all matches raced on second division tracks.  All second division teams raced in three basic matches within the league, with additional matches against other teams if desired. The teams did not race an equal number of matches.  Table positions were not decided on match points but on the percentage of match points obtained out of the total possible. Match points were 2 for a home win, 1 for a home draw, 3 for an away win, 2 for an away draw.

The basic groups were:
Coventry, Birmingham, Poole, Wimbledon
Ipswich, Belle Vue, Bradford, Norwich
Leicester, Birmingham, Bradford, Norwich
Oxford, Belle Vue, Birmingham, Bradford
Rayleigh, Norwich, Poole, Wimbledon
Southampton, Belle Vue, Birmingham, Norwich
Swindon, Poole, Wembley, Wimbledon

In addition to the results listed by Chunky, Rayleigh lost 41-43 to Norwich and Swindon beat Wembley 49-47.  This was the only match in the tournament which the Wembley team was scheduled to compete in.  The Southampton match against Norwich was an 'additional fixture'.  Three teams had a one hundred percent record, Ipswich had the best race points difference (+54), then Southampton (+42) and Coventry (+40).

	Matches	Won	Points	%
Ipswich	3	3	6	100
Southampton	4	4	8	100
Coventry	3	3	6	100
Leicester	3	2	4	67
Swindon	3	2	4	67
Oxford	2	1	2	50
Wimbledon	3	1	3	33
Poole	3	1	3	33
Birmingham	3	1	3	33
Belle Vue	3	1	3	33
Norwich	4	1	3	25
Bradford	3	0	0	0
Wembley	1	0	0	0
Rayleigh	2	0	0	0

This is how it is written of The Definitive History of the Robins

[BL65]

1 hour ago, Vicar said:

This is how it is written of The Definitive History of the Robins

The information contained in the book is incorrect.  My information is from the details provided by all of the tracks at the time regarding the format of the league, the composition  of the groups and the fixtures. The first Swindon match in this league was against Poole on 28th April 1956. I have the programme for the match and it states the details on page 4.  These details include:

"Mid-week First Division tracks will race against Saturday Second Division tracks and Saturday First Division tracks will race against mid-week Second Division tracks. The Robins' matches will be against Poole, Wimbledon and Wembley."

The groups determined which First Division teams raced against each Second Division team. The final league table was for the matches from all of the groups, based on a percentage out of the possible points gained - two points for a home win and three away.  The book referred to does not include all of the groups, neither does it include all of the results for the teams shown.  For example, it does not include Swindon 49 Wembley 47 on 1st September 1956.  This is incorrectly shown on the Speedway Researcher website as a challenge match, but the fixture list in the Swindon programmes had the correct information.

[Sotonian]

On 11/21/2023 at 12:12 PM, BL65 said:

In addition to the results listed by Chunky, Rayleigh lost 41-43 to Norwich and Swindon beat Wembley 49-47.  This was the only match in the tournament which the Wembley team was scheduled to compete in.  The Southampton match against Norwich was an 'additional fixture'.  Three teams had a one hundred percent record, Ipswich had the best race points difference (+54), then Southampton (+42) and Coventry (+40).

 

My maths have Southampton at +52. 

Also, as winning 4/4 is statistically harder than 3/3 they were the moral victors!

[Vicar]

10 hours ago, BL65 said:

The information contained in the book is incorrect.  My information is from the details provided by all of the tracks at the time regarding the format of the league, the composition  of the groups and the fixtures. The first Swindon match in this league was against Poole on 28th April 1956. I have the programme for the match and it states the details on page 4.  These details include:

"Mid-week First Division tracks will race against Saturday Second Division tracks and Saturday First Division tracks will race against mid-week Second Division tracks. The Robins' matches will be against Poole, Wimbledon and Wembley."

The groups determined which First Division teams raced against each Second Division team. The final league table was for the matches from all of the groups, based on a percentage out of the possible points gained - two points for a home win and three away.  The book referred to does not include all of the groups, neither does it include all of the results for the teams shown.  For example, it does not include Swindon 49 Wembley 47 on 1st September 1956.  This is incorrectly shown on the Speedway Researcher website as a challenge match, but the fixture list in the Swindon programmes had the correct information.

Thanks again