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I have listed the England/GB team managers I am aware of for the official internationals staged at top division level (or including riders from the top division where staged on lower league tracks) in the UK from 1947 to 1969. Can anyone help by filling in some of the blanks (or advise of any errors/amendments required) please? In the late 1940s one programme referred to the team being selected jointly by Alec Jackson of Wembley and Fred Mockford of New Cross. Jackson was named in the programme as manager for the 1952 test at Belle Vue, but a subsequent team photograph included Mockford as manager. It is likely that the team managers for 1959 (Swindon) and 1961 (Belle Vue and Southampton) would have been from the staging tracks, in keeping with the other internationals between 1959 and 1961. 05/07/47 England Australia Bradford Not stated in programme 29/07/47 England Australia West Ham Fred Mockford 14/08/47 England Australia Wembley Alec Jackson 24/05/48 England Australia Wimbledon Fred Mockford 19/06/48 England Australia Belle Vue 30/06/48 England Australia New Cross 18/08/48 Scotland England Glasgow White City 19/08/48 England Australia Harringay Fred Mockford 07/09/48 England Australia West Ham Fred Mockford 26/05/49 England Australia Wembley Alec Jackson (or Fred Mockford) 18/06/49 England Australia Birmingham Alec Jackson 13/07/49 England Australia New Cross Not stated - probably Fred Mockford 05/08/49 England Australia Harringay Fred Mockford 24/08/49 Scotland England Glasgow White City 03/09/49 England Australia Bradford 06/06/50 England Australia West Ham Fred Mockford 24/06/50 England Australia Belle Vue 12/07/50 England Australia New Cross Fred Mockford 31/07/50 England Australia Wimbledon Fred Mockford 31/08/50 England Australia Wembley Fred Mockford 11/09/50 Scotland England Glasgow White City 01/06/51 England Australia Harringay Not stated in programme 13/06/51 Scotland England Glasgow White City 30/06/51 England Australia Bradford 03/07/51 Scotland England Ashfield 19/07/51 England Australia Wembley Ronnie Greene 04/08/51 England Australia Birmingham Les Marshall 10/08/51 England Scotland Cradley Heath Not stated in programme 27/08/51 England Scotland Halifax 28/08/51 England Australia West Ham 15/09/51 Scotland England Edinburgh Don Cuppleditch 22/09/51 England Overseas Belle Vue 28/05/52 Scotland England Glasgow White City 09/06/52 England Australia Wimbledon Fred Mockford 16/06/52 England Scotland Coventry Charles Ochiltree 26/06/52 England Australia Wembley Alec Jackson 19/07/52 England Australia Belle Vue A Jackson (programme), F Mockford (photo) 02/08/52 Scotland England Ashfield 11/08/52 England Scotland Liverpool Gordon Parkins 20/08/52 England Australia New Cross Fred Mockford 05/09/52 Scotland England Motherwell 12/09/52 England Australia Harringay 27/05/53 Scotland England Glasgow White City Les Gregory 20/06/53 England Australia Norwich Fred Evans 03/07/53 England Scotland Leicester Charles Ochiltree 14/07/53 England Scotland Wolverhampton Len Matchan 13/08/53 England Australia Wembley Charles Ochiltree 14/08/53 Scotland England Motherwell 29/08/53 England Australia Birmingham Fred Evans 14/09/53 England New Zealand Wimbledon Fred Evans 22/09/53 Scotland England Edinburgh Eddie Lack 25/09/53 England New Zealand Bristol Len Matcham 29/09/53 England New Zealand West Ham Charles Ochiltree 10/08/54 England Australasia West Ham Ronnie Greene 04/09/54 England Australasia Belle Vue Alec Jackson 25/09/54 England Australasia Bradford 13/06/55 England Australasia Wimbledon Ronnie Greene 23/06/55 England Australasia Wembley Not stated in programme 05/07/55 England Australasia West Ham Charles Ochiltree 20/07/55 England Australasia Bradford Bruce Booth 27/07/55 England Australasia Birmingham Les Marshall 05/08/55 England Australasia Norwich Gordon Parkins 28/06/56 England Sweden Wembley Possibly Ronnie Greene 02/07/56 England Sweden Wimbledon Ronnie Greene 04/07/56 England Sweden Norwich Ronnie Greene 11/07/56 England Australasia Bradford 10/08/56 England Australasia Birmingham Alec Jackson 28/08/56 England Australasia Poole 03/06/58 England Poland Southampton 05/06/58 England Poland Ipswich Ronnie Greene 06/06/58 England Poland Leicester Ronnie Greene 11/06/58 England Australasia Swindon 18/06/58 England Australasia Oxford Gordon Parkins 23/07/58 England Australasia Coventry 20/08/58 England Australasia Belle Vue 09/09/58 England Australasia Southampton Gordon Parkins 08/09/59 England Australasia Southampton Bert Cr--oucher 12/09/59 England Australasia Norwich Gordon Parkins 26/09/59 England Australasia Swindon 01/06/60 England Australasia Coventry Charles Ochiltree 15/06/60 England Australasia Norwich Gordon Parkins 30/06/60 England Australasia Ipswich Vic Gooden 19/08/60 England Australasia Leicester Squib Burton 07/09/60 England Australasia New Cross Johnnie Hoskins 26/09/60 England Australasia Southampton Bert Cr--oucher 12/07/61 Great Britain Sweden Norwich Gordon Parkins 13/07/61 Great Britain Sweden Oxford Ted Flanaghan 14/07/61 Great Britain Sweden Belle Vue 17/07/61 Great Britain Sweden Wimbledon Cyril Brine 18/07/61 Great Britain Sweden Southampton 04/07/64 Great Britain USSR Wembley Tommy Price 08/07/64 Great Britain USSR Coventry Tommy Price 11/07/64 Great Britain USSR Belle Vue Tommy Price 15/05/65 Scotland England Edinburgh Mike Parker 31/05/65 England Scotland Newcastle Tom Graham 02/06/65 Scotland England Glasgow White City Tom Graham 05/07/65 Great Britain USSR Wimbledon Trevor Redmond 07/07/65 Great Britain USSR Coventry Charles Foot 08/07/65 Great Britain USSR Sheffield Charles Ochiltree 14/07/65 Great Britain USSR Belle Vue Mike Parker 16/07/65 Great Britain USSR Newport Ronnie Greene 07/05/66 Scotland England Edinburgh Eddie Glennon 17/06/66 Scotland England Glasgow White City Tom Graham 22/06/66 England Scotland Halifax Frank Varey 23/06/66 England Scotland Middlesbrough Eric Boothroyd 04/07/66 England USSR Newcastle Bill Bridgett 06/07/66 England USSR Halifax Frank Varey 08/07/66 England USSR Wolverhampton Mike Parker 11/07/66 England USSR Exeter Charles Foot 12/07/66 England USSR West Ham Charles Ochiltree 29/07/66 Great Britain Poland Hackney Vic Gooden 01/08/66 Great Britain Poland Coventry Vic Gooden 04/08/66 Great Britain Poland Sheffield Vic Gooden 10/10/66 England Scotland Newcastle 06/05/67 Scotland England Edinburgh Tom Graham 15/06/67 Great Britain Sweden Wimbledon Charles Ochiltree 17/06/67 Great Britain Sweden Coventry Ronnie Greene 19/06/67 England Sweden Exeter Charles Foot 21/06/67 Great Britain Sweden Newport Wally Mawdsley 23/06/67 Great Britain Sweden Glasgow White City Ian Hoskins 26/06/67 Great Britain Sweden Belle Vue Mike Parker 18/07/66 Great Britain Poland West Ham Wally Mawdsley 19/07/67 Great Britain Poland Poole Ronnie Greene 21/07/67 Great Britain Poland Wolverhampton Charles Ochiltree 22/07/67 Great Britain Poland Halifax Ron Wilson 24/07/67 Great Britain Poland Newcastle Ian Hoskins 13/06/68 Great Britain Sweden Wimbledon Wally Mawdsley 15/06/68 Great Britain Sweden Halifax Frank Varey 21/06/68 Great Britain Sweden Wolverhampton Charles Ochiltree 22/06/68 Great Britain Sweden Coatbridge Ian Hoskins 29/06/68 Great Britain USSR West Ham Ronnie Greene 01/07/68 Great Britain USSR Exeter Charles Foot 03/07/68 England USSR Coventry Wally Mawdsley 05/07/68 England USSR Newport Wally Mawdsley 06/07/68 England USSR Belle Vue Ronnie Greene 12/07/68 Great Britain Poland Hackney Wally Mawdsley 13/07/68 Great Britain Poland Coventry Wally Mawdsley 15/07/68 England Poland Newcastle Mike Parker 17/07/68 England Poland Poole Ronnie Greene 18/07/68 England Poland Sheffield Charles Ochiltree 20/07/68 Great Britain Sweden Swindon Charles Foot 31/08/68 Scotland England Coatbridge Tom Graham 28/05/69 England Australia Poole Charles Foot 05/06/69 England Australia Sheffield Mike Parker 12/06/69 Great Britain Sweden Wimbledon Reg Fearman 13/06/69 Great Britain Sweden Newport Reg Fearman 17/06/69 Great Britain Sweden Leicester Ronnie Greene 21/06/69 Great Britain Sweden Halifax Frank Varey 23/06/69 Great Britain Sweden Cradley Heath Charles Ochiltree 04/07/69 England Australia Wolverhampton Charles Ochiltree 06/08/69 England New Zealand Swindon Reg Fearman 15/08/69 Scotland England Glasgow Hampden Park Tom Graham 18/08/69 England New Zealand Newcastle Mike Parker 29/08/69 England New Zealand Hackney Ronnie Greene

Stock Cars have a loophole though as it is a sport where competitors pay to participate. Classed as an amateur Sport and may get permission based on the update by Oliver Dowden last week of participation sports with small crowds. Local Councils will approve on that basis but Government has yet to confirm what % or number Crowd can be. It's possible crowd may only be friends and families of drivers. It seems that Dog Tracks are guarding "betting levy turnover" and understandably as that's majority of any income. If a speedway event with a few hundred people delivers a positive test the Stadium is automatically closed for 7-14 days and some Dog Tracks have 4-5 meetings a week. That would be very negative for Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Kent; Sheffield, Newcastle (as we have seen); Swindon chances. The Dogs have not restarted at Poole as the Stadium staff are all on furlough still. The best hope currently seems to be the Stock Car venues although Speedway is classed in a different category to Stocks as payment is made it's considered "professional" but may be good news for King Lynn, Ipswich ; Scunthorpe, Mildenhall and Eastbourne who stage Stock Car Meetings. The "standalone" Speedway Tracks like Berwick, Edinburgh, Redcar, Leicester, Belle Vue, Somerset; Plymouth, Peterborough , IOW will have to decide whether it's viable to open for speedway alone or with other stadium uses to cover their costs.

Whoooo comets top the forum league again, thanks to the Brummie fan stopping us going off the page

More excellent research, thanks BL65 for taking the trouble to compose this detailed list. Greatly appreciated.

Yes, but it isn't the risk to the riders that is the problem, otherwise Poland Extraliga wouldn't have started up. The problem is the supporters. Until the government agrees to some form of mass gathering being allowed then speedway in GB will continue to be on hold. The 'powers that be' can prepare as much as they like for a restart but until the government allow spectator crowds, of whatever size, then the BSPA are stuck. One of british speedway's problems is the age of it's fanbase which is far closer to the age of those deemed to be at serious risk of covid 19. As HGould said there is no guarantee that the stockcar meetings will go ahead with a crowd in attendance, despite the fact they appear to selling tickets for what could yet be a 'non event'.

That’s why they should forget this year.Most of them will lose less money than in previous seasons.

It would be easy for tracks to do track and trace if everyone had to prepay; their details would be on file for each meeting.

With or without the end?

The Chinese will come to understand, in the fullness of time, just how much resentment there is developing in the world, towards them regarding this business. The Chinese Government seem to believe that they are infallible in all they do. They seem to want the world to think that their all powerful authoritarian totalitarian ways control everything that happens in China. It seems that the general world opinion is that eventually they will become the most powerful economy in the world. It seems that when they are the most powerful economy in the world then their all powerful authoritarian totalitarian ways will control everything that happens in the world. This is were the seams split when the question is asked: ' why is this all powerful authoritarian totalitarian government that controls everything that happens in China, incapable of running an hygienic meat stall. Someone ought to point out to them that if these so called aphrodisiacs worked, we'd all be taking them.

Maybe the BSPA should have brought it and turned it into there hq. Could have held Marketing Events and lived demos of the sport to potential investors as well as using it as a national coaching centre. If only that collective bunch of fools had some vision!

Just won the PL title, and opened the doors for about 10 riders from Worky, starting the careers of both Craig and John along with Willie Lawson Jamie Robertson, Ritchie Hall, Carl Shield, Kris Irving and many more. What did you ever do that was anywhere near important.

It's funny but when I read this, I read it as a tongue in cheek type of comment, like in our opinion the riders biggest risk is riding the bikes rather than getting covid But that's just my interpretation.

My view is that if Speedway should start at all this year it will be with smaller than usual crowds, which are already poor. On the other hand if there is no Speedway I can envisage a number of clubs who will not re open the following season.

Can’t believe that statement,says it all about how the sport is being run by people who haven’t a clue.Its like they have just discovered the bikes have no brakes

You do have to ask who's advising them on their communications. Surely the main point is also the risk of spectators spreading it around?

Ah right. Apologies. I just clicked on the link and saw "Cancelled" without checking properly. Dur...

This from the British Speedway website dated July 10 .... (with my bold and underline) "Members of the British Speedway Promoters Ltd have, in the last two weeks, been working on how our sport can work safely for competitors, officials and spectators alike. We believe the biggest risk to riders is the natural danger element of racing motorbikes with no brakes." I am sorry, but with that type of attitiude , I really do not see speedway starting this year. What are they saying ... speedway is a dangerous sport anyway so we don't need to do anything ????

Except there was no mention of a certain team who gave them their start in team speedway. Yes, Newcastle Gems and myself.

To be honest, i think league racing this year is out of the question. If some tracks have the confidence to run a few open meetings, let them. I fear that the majority wont.

Thank you for posting this we were about to drop onto page 2 !!

Whilst I agree the problem in Poland and with all the money they have has shown just how plans can go wrong very quickly. The British league if there is to be one will have problems from the off under pressure starting so late, then add the normal weather problems and all of a sudden your whole team has to isolate because someone in the pits had Covid.......not my money being gambled, but if it was I think I would wait till next year Not only that just imagine (not that I am that bothered) if a similar thing happens at the GPs if they get started......all those flights and hotels booked and you find the whole thing is off.

I think Ove and Hans would of won more titles in a GP format Norbold, for me those two named were better riders than Ricko.Sometimes we all forget just how good Jack Parker was and Stenners who named him as no 1 was really recognised and respected.

That is exactly what Spedeworth are doing at Ipswich and Aldershot for their first two meetings.

I looked up Stenner's rankings and found these riders who didn't win the world title in the year they were ranked first: 1949: Jack Parker, 1950 Graham Warren, 1953 Jack Young. Of course there was no World Championship in 1946, 47 and 48 but Vic Duggan was ranked first in all three years. And then the Speedway Star Rankings. Similarly, no. 1s who were not World Champion in their no.1 year: 1957 Ove Fundin, 1959 Ove Fundin, 1962 Ove Fundin. Certainly looks as though Ove might have benefited from a Grand Prix style World Championship! Only Barry Briggs in 1958 interrupted his run of no. 1 rankings from 1956-1963

Just get a dirty great bell like me!!

Not with eating anything produced out of a Wok that's for sure.... however I also have a Wok but I tend to use it to iron my shirts... Regards THJ

Virtual Skid 6 Premieres @ 7pm on Thursday July 16th 2020 on the Speedway Portal YouTube Channel in association with John Carpenter Speedway Spares. Cradley 'Heathens' vs Coventry 'Bee's' Former Cradley rider Garry Stead takes charge of the Heathens, with former Coventry rider Adam Roynon leading the Bees. The meeting is in aid of the Speedway Riders Benevolent Fund with all proceeds going to the charity. A text line has been setup to take £5 donations to the BEN FUND during the Premiere and beyond. Fans joining Barry Bishop in the Premiere chat room on YouTube will have a chance to win the 4 x meeting DVD's used in the meeting, along with 2 x tickets to the 2021 BEN Fund meeting. There is also a silent auction running until tapes up on heat 10 to join Garry Stead, Adam Roynon, Barry Bishop & Andy Hague in a private zoom chat room directly after the Premiere concludes. To enter please email your bids to virtualskid@yahoo.com

Last visited the BSF about an hour ago. I have absolutely no idea why he disappears like this, and then pops up to post something totally off the wall...

I wouldn't worry too much; Doug has been called a lot worse!

I was wholly unaware of this fact when posting. I have edited my original post and apologise to iris123 for my honest mistake.

As Rick Frost said "those in charge of Speedway could not even run a Burger Van successfully"

Perhaps that will be a good thing and they’ll just race alongside their proper jobs as a hobby in future, as should have been the case for a long time now.

Part and parcel of being self employed I am afraid. Id suggest right now that minor sports like speedway are at the bottom of the ladder... more important businesses than speedway teams will be going broke and putting lots of people out of work.

To be fair to any rider.. If anyone had two job opportunities at the same time, you will usually go where you will get paid the most.. Even more so I would think if you had only a restricted time in which to earn as much as you can..

Lockdown is going quicker for me by reading these fascinating Articles on the Dirt Extra column on the Club Website.

Who would actually employ the guy anyway and I can see a lot of teams giving it a wide berth.

A wonder if no news is good news?

Ah good to see .... Pratt an ex rider has been around the sport for a good few years ...... I bet he is one step ahead of the rest of the other promoters .. and has suggested to the landlords of the showground that he will be getting brakes fitted to all the Peterborough riders bikes to minimise risks

Like most things you have to have a plan and to plan you need vision. Brandon should be the jewell in the speedway crown and maybe a plan to make it the British speedway hq should have been put in place years before the demise in 2017