iris123

Millwall players training outside the ground, with the Greyhound Tote up above them. Looks like you could have a free view into the speedway stadium , as well as the Den

Just came across a post about Wentworth speedway in Australia. Talking about the history of the track and hosting cars and bikes. Mention of Bluey Wilkinson and Lionel van Praag racing there. Some scoundrel has only posted in the comments, 'Bikes first started at Maitland ' !!!

Was there a plaque commemorating the first ever speedway meeting ?

Think it needs to be cleared up, whether his surname is Fynn or Finn Australia and norbold seem to go for Finn https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/99746298 https://www.easyliveauction.com/catalogue/lot/98e8ed6e5b70e0fcb76476796df8a881/0af8d24542e81eb9357e7ef448a6646f/speedway-and-grass-track-motorcycles-engines-spares-lot-435/

One of my school mates ended up captaining Chelsea. He lived on the estate growing up. I always liked it actually. It was sort of like the country farms where they never threw anything away. The front gardens of the houses around the estate were full of old car part etc We also had more than our fair share of gypsies at school. And I remember one boys first day he had to be given a bath before he could join the class !!! You wouldn't get that in most areas I guess

And I went to Western rd school in Mitcham near Phipps Bridge and had a lot of school mates who lived there. So was often there and had no trouble at all. Also the other week when back visiting my parents ended up getting off the tram there and walking via Abbey Mills back home. It was dead, apart from talking to a poor young guy who had lost a leg and was in one of those little vehicles for disabled people. I just asked him if he needed help navigating the barriers. He was ok,but we had a little talk on the way to the road. Nothing threatening at all, and never have I experienced anything from the 70s til now

I wonder how much of this is more perception than fact based ? I certainly remember being chased by skinheads. I remember my mates being chased by skinheads. But i also remember my west indian mates chasing indian people. I remember the riots in London. I guess as you get older though you feel more vulnerable. I used to walk back from Brixton after the pubs closed with no problems. Just the other week i was talking to my niece who lives with my sister in Lambeth Walk and all she mentioned was being careful walking with your mobile phone in the hand because it might get snatched by people on scooters or e-rollers.

How safe was Victorian London? The short answer would seem to be, not at all Leaving aside drunkenness, theft was rampant. While children might pickpocket and steal from barrows on the streets, women might engage in shoplifting, and, as for London's sly con men, cheats, "magsmen" or "sharpers," they were notorious. So were the housebreakers working in teams, and slipping into homes and shops and warehouses. Mugging, with its associated violence, was rife. A hanky dipped in chloroform might be used to subdue someone before robbing him, or a man's hat might be tipped over his face to facilitate the crime (this was called "bonneting"). Another ruse was to lure men down to the riverside by using prostitutes as decoys. The dupes would then be beaten up and robbed out of sight of passers-by. Violence could, of course, easily extend to murder. Prostitutes themselves ran huge risks. No one knows how many of them were strangled or stabbed or butchered (Jack the Ripper was far from the only villain, and Dickens's Nancy must be mourned for many a pitiful "lost woman"). No respectable woman would have ventured forth after dark at all, if she had any choice in the matter. Even if a policeman appeared on the crime scene, he might be driven off by having nitric acid thrown in his face. The helpless were at special risk. Well-turned-out children might be waylaid, dragged down an alley, and stripped of their finery, or pet dogs kidnapped for ransom or simply filched for their skins. Around mid-century, and again in 1862, "garrotting" or half-strangling unwary pedestrians from behind while accomplices stripped them of their valuables, caused great waves of panic (White 337). There were big-time criminals as well as gangs of street hooligans. In a new version of highway robbery, for instance, bankers' consignments might be snatched in transit. There was also a surge in gun crime in the 1880s, and hardened burglars "increasingly went armed" (White 343).

Same here. Although i do remember seeing the remnants of terracing that was curved, so must have been one of the bends. Something that always fascinated me, finding remnants of old stadia etc from the time i saw a report on finding the old terracing from an early Woolwich Arsenal stadium in someones back garden

Great photo showing the entrance and speedway track. With the Den in the background

Yes. From memory the Australian paper was also dexcribing it as something like the US slide ? So presumably an imported style

This is not supposed to be a trick question. Just out of interest Using the criteria that makes you think the 7 April 1928 meeting was the first in the UK. Would you say there is a meeting before or after 1923 that fits the same criteria ?

Mine was travelling up to Aberdeen from London to see Celtic play I did actually travel to another country for a speedway rain off. Travelled up from Hamburg to, yes, Vojens for a saturday afternoon Division 1 meeting. Lovely weather the whole way uo. And i was riding a fairly small scooter, so it took me over 3 hours to get there. And as is typical about 5 or so miles away from the trak the first puddles started to appear, and gradually it all got worse the closer to Vojens i got. As i rode though the track gates, a German guy i knew came out of the cafe on top of the banking and told me it was off. Which i had in that instance guessed for myself anyway. So i just turned round and headed for home again........

Obviously a lack of quality in depth without the Russians. Zorn and Simon are past their best, plus Zorn was still suffering the after effects of Covid, so he said. Plus Weber also suffering. Still, 11,000 over the weekend is a healthy crowd, who probably don't really care much

Think you are right in that it was a missed opportunity for QPR, but was it possibly the wrong time ? White City was flattened in 1985, so i guess it was being talked about and planned beforehand. The Bradford fire was the same year. And that really from memory was the catalyst for football clubs to even think of renovating orbuilding new stadia. At the time most were in a terrible condition. White City, Wembley and Harringay as well. Couple of years later there was even talk of them merging with Fulham, such was the situation. Pure speculation that i wouldn't agree with in that a move to Harringay would have been better. There was also talk of selling the stadium long before White City came back. A precarious situation, that eventually ended in 1985 as well, when it was sold to a supermarket, and closed two years later. It could possibly have been used as a multi purpose sports site, as there was also a famous ice rink/ice hockey team there as well at one time. But in that period sporting facilities weren't maintained or seen as a good investment I think if you look at most of the clubs around. Fulham, Chelsea etc they all show a fairly big slump around the start of the 80s anyway, and there wasn't much forward thinking at all. Just a sense of everything continuing as it is.....treading water 1975/78 - 23,8301976/77 - 21,0851977/78 - 19,9001978/79 - 16, 287 (Relegation under Burtensahw1979/80 - 14,0871980/81 - 10, 938 (Docherty/Venables)1981/82 12,576 (Venables)1982/83 - 12,8061983/84 15,560 (First season back up)1984/85 14,1481985/86 15,2411986/87 13,9871987/88 13,1351988/89 12,2861989/90 13,226

Who cares what cars do. But there are examples of bikes racing each other https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/electric-motorcycles-to-race-against-gas-powered-bikes

Fair enough. And always good to get more opinions. But riders such as Robert Lambert and Martin Smolinski have ridden/ raced on electric speedway bikes before. And I thought they had positive opinions

Agree with the first part. He probably was also a great promoter back in the early days. By the time i got to visit one f his tracks, i guess his peak period was in the past. So hard to really tell how great he was

Same as HenryW, i am interested in your opinion. Sadly i only caught the last 6 or so heats from a whopping 64 !! But going by the commentator, it seemed the 2 females i think on the e bikes were unbeaten until the final. Where they finished behind the fuel bikes Did i misunderstand ? Quite amazing that some fans had the stamina to stand out in the cold watching 64 heats of racing. And the track looked in good shape

The little i saw, it was fairly poor quality racing. Surprised on the firday that Loheider finished so high up the field, because he was poodling round the bends really. But of course was gifted 3 pts in one heat when he was the only finisher

Inn Isar showing Berlin live on FB

Has he got a new 5 year plan ?

At least speedway in Austria is just about keeping its head above water

He is right though. You are the one who posts rubbish like Russia aren’t going to invade Ukraine. Or Trump really won the election We can see who is the idiot, drunk or sober