Oxford 1964

[BL65 656]

On 7/15/2021 at 2:30 AM, BOBBATH said:

Say there had been no injuries to anybody in 1965- How, Mauger (I guess they wouldn't have got Brett in that case) Sharples etc etc -who do you think would have ended up Champs-still WH or maybe someone else- Halifax would be pretty good as I recall-they lost Brien Elliott. What about Wolves??

Ok BOBBATH,  I have reviewed the league meetings from 1965 and if there had been no injuries to the first choice line-ups then in my view a fair number of matches would have had different outcomes and the final league table would have contained one major surprise.  Revised outcomes due to injury absence only are taken into account.  I saw all of these teams and almost all of the riders during the season.  I have taken into account the form of the missing riders and assessed the impact they may have had at the tracks where the meetings were staged.

The teams are listed in the order they finished in the table, with revised match points and the league position that would have resulted shown in brackets.

1^st West Ham, 47 points (43, 1^st)
No match points were lost due to West Ham injury absences.  Points would have been dropped against Oxford, Wolverhampton, Sheffield and Long Eaton.  (Harrfeldt missed 1 match)

2^nd Wimbledon, 46 points (40, 2^nd)           
No match points were lost due to Wimbledon injury absences. Points would have been dropped against Coventry, Oxford, Newcastle and Long Eaton.  (Hedge missed 3 matches)

3^rd Coventry, 40 points (39, 4^th)                 
With Lightfoot riding at Wimbledon it is likely the match would have been drawn. Points would have been dropped against Long Eaton.  (Mountford and Lightfoot both missed 2 matches)

4^th Oxford, 40 points (40, 3^rd)                      
With How in the team it is possible that Oxford could have won at home to Wimbledon and away to Poole.  An extra point at Newcastle, where the match was drawn, was also a possibility.  Additionally, Oxford might have drawn at West Ham.  How's extra points would have been cancelled out by Jarman's at Wolverhampton.  Points would have been dropped against Sheffield, Cradley Heath and Long Eaton.  (How missed 16 matches, Bishop 7, Reeves 1)

5^th Halifax, 39 points (36, 7^th)      
No match points were lost due to Halifax injury absences. Points would have been dropped to Swindon and Long Eaton.  (Younghusband missed 1 match, Elliott 2)

6^th Newport, 38 points (33, 13^th)
No match points were lost due to Newport injury absences. Points would have been dropped to Swindon, Cradley Heath and Long Eaton. (Biggs missed 1 match, Bradley 14, Erskine 3 and Hughes 2)

7^th Wolverhampton, 37 points (34, 10^th)                   
With Jarman present the home match with West Ham would have been won rather than drawn. Ron How’s presence at Wolverhampton might have been enough to win the match for Oxford, but if Jarman had also been riding  the match would still have gone to the home team. Points would have been dropped to Newcastle and Long Eaton. (Jarman missed 7 matches, Sweetman 3)

8^th Hackney, 37 points (37, 5^th)                  
If Pratt had ridden at Edinburgh a 2 point defeat would have been turned into a victory. Points would have been dropped to Long Eaton.  (Davies missed 2 matches, Pratt and Byford 1)

9^th Exeter, 36 points (35, 9^th)       
No match points were lost due to Exeter injury absences. A point would have been dropped to Long Eaton. (Cowland missed 1 match and Blewett 3)

10^th Poole , 35 points (35, 8^th)                  
If Mudge had ridden at Edinburgh a one point defeat would have turned into a victory. Points would have been dropped to Oxford. (Gilbertson missed 3 matches, Mudge 6, Smith 2)

11^th Sheffield, 34 points (34, 11^th)             
If Kitchen had ridden at Oxford a 5 point defeat would probably have become an away win.  The inclusion of Crane would almost certainly have enabled Sheffield to take a point off West Ham in a home meeting. Points would have been dropped to Cradley Heath and Long Eaton. (Kitchen missed 1 match, Crane 8)

12^th Newcastle, 33 points (32, 14^th)          
With a fit Mauger instead of Brett, Newcastle would have probably gained a point by drawing at Cradley Heath and would also probably have drawn at home to Wimbledon, gaining another point.  A one point defeat at home to Wolverhampton would instead have been another victory. Points would have been dropped to Oxford, Edinburgh and Long Eaton. (Mauger missed 15 matches, Craven 1, Dent 4, Sharples 10)

13^th Glasgow, 33 points (33, 12^th)                              
No match points were lost due to Glasgow injury absences.  (Templeton missed 5 matches, Paulsen 13, Mattingley 6 and Ovenden 5)

14^th Belle Vue, 30 points (30, 16^th)
No match points were lost due to Belle Vue injury absences.  (Fisher missed 4 matches, Levai 6)

15^th Swindon, 28 points (30, 15^th)             
The inclusion of Kilby might have turned defeat into a draw at home to Cradley Heath, as would the presence of Keen at home to Halifax.  With Ashby in the team Swindon would have won at Newport. Points would have been dropped to Long Eaton.  (Briggs and Ashby missed 1 match, Kilby, Keen and Sampson 4 each)

16^th Cradley Heath, 23 points (24, 17^th)  
The draw at home to Sheffield would have been turned into a win with Hockaday in the team. With Brown present, the home meetings with Oxford and Newport would probably have been won. Points would have been dropped to Newcastle, Swindon and Long Eaton. (Brown missed 14 matches, Major 11, Hockaday 3)

17^th Edinburgh, 22 points (20, 18^th)          
The inclusion of Templeton would have turned defeat at home to Newcastle into a victory. Points would have been dropped to Hackney and Poole.  (Templeton missed 6 matches, McKee 3, Harrfeldt 1, with the other 3 team places mainly covered by 5 regular riders)

18^th Long Eaton, 14 points (37, 6^th)           
The home meeting with West Ham would probably have been drawn with Sharp in the team.  With Moore in the team the home match with Halifax would probably have been won. The inclusion of Moore and Sharp would have seen the team win at home to Sheffield, away at Cradley Heath and draw at home to Exeter.  The inclusion of Wilson, Moore and Sharp would have resulted in a home win over Hackney.  The presence of Cresp and Moore should have resulted in home wins over Newcastle, Wolverhampton, Wimbledon and Oxford, a draw with Newport and wins at Swindon and Coventry. (Cresp missed 14 matches, Cole/Bodie 4, Wilson 8, Sharp 23, Moore 32)

The title would still have gone to West Ham.  The biggest upward movement would have been Long Eaton, from 18^th to 6^th.  Long Eaton had won their first two away meetings of the season, at Edinburgh and Halifax, before being decimated by injuries.  

[norbold 7,101]

Great work BL. The best news is that West Ham would have won anyway. Hooray!

Edited July 19, 2021 by norbold

[BOBBATH 466]

BL65 you have excelled yourself!!! thanx for all the work you have put in. Not surprised that Long Eaton would have climbed up the table-as you say they had won some away fixtures but were sadly decimated by injuries. Sad to see Newport drop from 6th to 13th-should have kept my big trap shut!!. Seriously thank you for all the effort this must have taken-it is always a pleasure to read your posts- if I ever get back to the UK will buy you and compost a beer(Plus for you Norbold  an orange juice-since you have foresworn the evil grape). Cheers to all..

[BL65 656]

8 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

BL65 you have excelled yourself!!! thanx for all the work you have put in. Not surprised that Long Eaton would have climbed up the table-as you say they had won some away fixtures but were sadly decimated by injuries. Sad to see Newport drop from 6th to 13th-should have kept my big trap shut!!. Seriously thank you for all the effort this must have taken-it is always a pleasure to read your posts- if I ever get back to the UK will buy you and compost a beer(Plus for you Norbold  an orange juice-since you have foresworn the evil grape). Cheers to all..

Thank you.  Four of the ex-Nationals were in a group at the top of the table either way.  Two teams were in the bottom three whether injury-hit or injury-free.  The rest of the league would have been fairly even in the revised table, with only 7 match points between 5th and 16th.  Two extra wins could have seen Wasps at 5th instead of 13th.  The rider allocations at the beginning of the season were reasonably successful, but inevitably injuries played a big part in the fortunes of some teams.

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

On 7/20/2021 at 10:01 AM, BL65 said:

Thank you.  Four of the ex-Nationals were in a group at the top of the table either way.  Two teams were in the bottom three whether injury-hit or injury-free.  The rest of the league would have been fairly even in the revised table, with only 7 match points between 5th and 16th.  Two extra wins could have seen Wasps at 5th instead of 13th.  The rider allocations at the beginning of the season were reasonably successful, but inevitably injuries played a big part in the fortunes of some teams.

Great posts BL great stuff enjoy all of your yesteryear stuff very much keep them coming.

Edited July 22, 2021 by Sidney the robin

[BL65 656]

3 hours ago, Sidney the robin said:

Great posts BL great stuff enjoy all of your yesteryear stuff very much keep,them coming.

Thank you Sidney.

[BOBBATH 466]

BL65, agree with Sidney- I learn so much from your posts ,many thanks and keep 'em coming!!

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

15 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

BL65, agree with Sidney- I learn so much from your posts ,many thanks and keep 'em coming!!

Learned alot from you BOBBATH , BL , Steve, Norbold ( ect) yesteryear is a passion of mine.My memorabilia collecting scrapbooks pictures autographs keep me occupied and it is very enjoyable.The last few months i have bought alot of DVDS from the Jan Staechmann collection terrific value great to look back at the old footage.

Edited July 23, 2021 by Sidney the robin

[BOBBATH 466]

Yup, this a great forum-particularly glad for stuff on sixties (my era)- I still have the programmes of every meeting I ever attended.!! I must be what you Brits used to call an "anorak"!!!!

[norbold 7,101]

3 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

I still have the programmes of every meeting I ever attended.!! I must be what you Brits used to call an "anorak"!!!!

So do I, BOBBATH, and I used to attend a lot of meetings actually wearing an anorak back in the day!

[BOBBATH 466]

Good on you Norbold-what is the oldest programme (your first meeting) and what season do you have the most programmes from? Nothing the matter with anoraks either.

[steve roberts 9,242]

1 hour ago, BOBBATH said:

Good on you Norbold-what is the oldest programme (your first meeting) and what season do you have the most programmes from? Nothing the matter with anoraks either.

....and I sold off all my programmes!

[norbold 7,101]

4 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

Good on you Norbold-what is the oldest programme (your first meeting) and what season do you have the most programmes from? Nothing the matter with anoraks either.

11 May 1960. New Cross v. Norwich. Britannia Shield.

I'm not sure which season I have the most programmes from without checking, but I would guess probably 1964 as I went to West Ham and Hackney every week plus Wimbledon quite frequently as well as Rye House. But it could be any other season in the 60s or early 70s!

You've given me a job to do now to find out!

[Split 177]

On ‎7‎/‎23‎/‎2021 at 2:48 PM, BOBBATH said:

Yup, this a great forum-particularly glad for stuff on sixties (my era)- I still have the programmes of every meeting I ever attended.!! I must be what you Brits used to call an "anorak"!!!!

When I left England back in 1972, I gave all my programmes and Speedway Stars going back about 10 years to a chap named Derek Neave. Derek was well known around the London tracks selling programmes for charity.

[norbold 7,101]

1 hour ago, Split said:

When I left England back in 1972, I gave all my programmes and Speedway Stars going back about 10 years to a chap named Derek Neave. Derek was well known around the London tracks selling programmes for charity.

I bought quite a few from him.