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And no mention of Vivian Woodward either, certainly one of the greatest players of all time.

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10 hours ago, Split said:

Often on the 'best-ever' lists featured on this forum we've seen riders of a bygone era overlooked. That seems to be the case with this list with players like  Raich Carter, Tommy Lawton and Cliff Bastin not included. And Beckham at number 4 with Greaves and Finney at 14 and 15 - the least said the better.

I am sure that I once read relative to 'thoughts of the past' that in most cases a memory span focuses back approximately 20 years. Hence when we recall great British riders of the past Tom Farndon, Eric Langton, Jack Parker and the like never get mentioned. Any rider prior to the 1990s is not considered.

Edited by Guest

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39 minutes ago, gustix said:

I am sure that I once read relative to 'thoughts of the past' that in most cases a memory span focuses back approximately 20 years. Hence when we recall great British riders of the past Tom Farndon, Eric Langton, Jack Parker and the like never get mentioned. Any rider prior to the 1990s is not considered.

Sorry, but that's rubbish. Obviously we are constrained by our living memory, but any list of great British riders would include the likes of Craven, Collins and Lee all who rode well before your 1990 cut off.

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42 minutes ago, gustix said:

I am sure that I once read relative to 'thoughts of the past' that in most cases a memory span focuses back approximately 20 years. Hence when we recall great British riders of the past Tom Farndon, Eric Langton, Jack Parker and the like never get mentioned. Any rider prior to the 1990s is not considered.

I think that is patently untrue. I think it more likely that most people's memories and ideas on who are/were the greatest riders are more likely to be the riders we first saw. I know in my case, for example, the likes of Ove Fundin, Barry Briggs and Ronnie Moore are the yardstick by which other riders have to be considered.

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9 hours ago, norbold said:

And no mention of Vivian Woodward either, certainly one of the greatest players of all time.

It is strange that players from the period when England were arguably the best team in the world never seem to get a mention. But that is what I was trying to show. 
It is also quite interesting to see how a worlds top 20 can change significantly according to which country does the poll, at least with football 

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54 minutes ago, gustix said:

I am sure that I once read relative to 'thoughts of the past' that in most cases a memory span focuses back approximately 20 years. Hence when we recall great British riders of the past Tom Farndon, Eric Langton, Jack Parker and the like never get mentioned. Any rider prior to the 1990s is not considered.

 

12 minutes ago, salty said:

Sorry, but that's rubbish. Obviously we are constrained by our living memory, but any list of great British riders would include the likes of Craven, Collins and Lee all who rode well before your 1990 cut off.

 

10 minutes ago, norbold said:

I think that is patently untrue. I think it more likely that most people's memories and ideas on who are/were the greatest riders are more likely to be the riders we first saw. I know in my case, for example, the likes of Ove Fundin, Barry Briggs and Ronnie Moore are the yardstick by which other riders have to be considered.

The first riders I saw included Wally Lloyd, Ron Clarke, Ron Johnson, Phil Bishop, Ed Pye, Bob Wells.. 

Edited by Guest

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9 minutes ago, norbold said:

I think that is patently untrue. I think it more likely that most people's memories and ideas on who are/were the greatest riders are more likely to be the riders we first saw. I know in my case, for example, the likes of Ove Fundin, Barry Briggs and Ronnie Moore are the yardstick by which other riders have to be considered.

I tend to agree with that. In my memory Barry Briggs is the greatest ever, but thinking back to an impressionable age I suppose his reputation went before him and he was probably a great rider in my imagination before I actually saw him ride, based on what I had read in Speedway Star. The reality is I probably only saw him race a handful of times, not enough to form an objective opinion, but I suppose  Briggo to  me represents that adolescent age when we have our hero’s and nobody else will ever come close to them. 

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8 minutes ago, E I Addio said:

I tend to agree with that. In my memory Barry Briggs is the greatest ever, but thinking back to an impressionable age I suppose his reputation went before him and he was probably a great rider in my imagination before I actually saw him ride, based on what I had read in Speedway Star. The reality is I probably only saw him race a handful of times, not enough to form an objective opinion, but I suppose  Briggo to  me represents that adolescent age when we have our hero’s and nobody else will ever come close to them. 

I have  to admit before I used to attend speedway I remember watching on, I guess, "World of Sport" a televised meeting that featured Barry Briggs and being impressed with his full face helmet. Never saw many of those  then not even on the roads in the UK. The name Barry Briggs just trips off the tongue. However the two names that I found iconic were Roy Trigg and Eddie Reeves who always evoked memories of speedway before I became a regular as my brother would constantly refer to them...John Bishop was another bizarely!

Edited by steve roberts
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For me it was the same, but different . Ronnie Moore and Tommy Jansson had a sort of aura about them. Both were sort of different to the others with a wonderful relaxed friendly character. With Ronnie you just felt as if you were standing before a real champ and obviously the crowds of people around him and Tommy gave you that feeling as well. And nobody would ever be so spectacular as Peter Collins

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1 hour ago, E I Addio said:

I tend to agree with that. In my memory Barry Briggs is the greatest ever, but thinking back to an impressionable age I suppose his reputation went before him and he was probably a great rider in my imagination before I actually saw him ride, based on what I had read in Speedway Star. The reality is I probably only saw him race a handful of times, not enough to form an objective opinion, but I suppose  Briggo to  me represents that adolescent age when we have our hero’s and nobody else will ever come close to them. 

Yes, something similar for me too. I was interested in speedway some time before I actually went to see a match as two of my uncles had been going to speedway since before the War and often spoke about it. So that, growing up, I would hear stories about Bluey Wilkinson, Jack Parker, Vic Duggan, Jack Young and so on. I used to follow speedway results in the newspaper and watch it on the odd occasions it was on telly. My own heroes were Split Waterman, Aub Lawson and Brian Crutcher, so, again, even to this day they have held a special place in my memory of the "greats".

By a strange twist of fate, when I did go to see my first meeting, the very first heat brought together Split Waterman and Aub Lawson and I also bought a copy of Speedway World and the front page headline news story was about Brian Crutcher.

Also, at my very first meeting, Ove Fundin scored an immaculate 18 point maximum. It has been very hard in the 60 years since to shake me from the belief that Ove is the greatest rider of all time.

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13 minutes ago, norbold said:

 

Also, at my very first meeting, Ove Fundin scored an immaculate 18 point maximum. It has been very hard in the 60 years since to shake me from the belief that Ove is the greatest rider of all time.

Possibly because it is true.

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2 hours ago, E I Addio said:

Possibly because it is true.

I wouldn't disagree......

 

....unless I am trying to sell a book about Tom Farndon. :D

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14 hours ago, norbold said:

And no mention of Vivian Woodward either, certainly one of the greatest players of all time.

You're only mentioning him because you were there when he captained Great Britain to a gold medal at the1908 olympics in London :rolleyes:

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4 hours ago, gustix said:

 

 

The first riders I saw included Wally Lloyd, Ron Clarke, Ron Johnson, Phil Bishop, Ed Pye, Bob Wells.. 

Seems like they were some of the LAST riders you actually "saw" too... :rofl:

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25 minutes ago, chunky said:

Seems like they were some of the LAST riders you actually "saw" too... :rofl:

I did attend a World Final at Wembley in the early 1980s. If I recall correctly it was won by an American?

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