Andy Galvin

[HBKPCNBob 5]

Im pretty sure he must of retired by now as the only racing speedway wise that he has a chance of getting is CL and I havent seen his name in or linked with any teams so its unlikely.

 

He may do grasstrack or longtrack but I doubt your ever see his name in a line up in a speedway programme again.

[Bryn 413]

Too much of an ego-tripper for my liking I'm afraid.  I found his behaviour childish and his on-track tactics crude - he was the king of the knock off.

 

Regardless of how good or otherwise he may have been in the 80s, you cannot deny that his return to the PL a few years ago was a resolute failure.  He was unfit and was frequently left standing by riders half his age and with a fraction of his experience.  In all honesty I thought the guy was well and truly found out on his comeback, even allowing for the bad injuries he'd suffered in the early 90s.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Having known Andy, his late father Chris, his mum and the rest of the family since the days of him practising at Iwade, with respect Graham, I find your description of him as a ego tripper etc absolutely preposterous. NOTHING could be further from the truth believe me as someone who was closely associated with him throughout his riding career rather than someone who saw him on his visits to mainly Scottish tracks.

 

In my view he was one of the most naturally talented riders ever to grace the National League especially as part of Hackney's marvellous 1988 side.

 

You are right in saying his track comeback from injury was not successful. In fact there were two comebacks as such, the first being from the crash that totally shattered his hipjoint at Rye House.

He was JUST beginning to get things together as they say though, when he was involved in a horrific crash at Arena Essex that nigh on cost him his life, and that's without being over dramatic I can assure you.

 

The other comeback again ended in injury, an injury to his arm/wrist that last time I saw him was still giving him huge problems and that was gong to require further surgery in an effort to try and regain full use of that limb. Interesting to note that when he made that latest comeback, he had to not only try to regain some measure of form but also cope with the fact that speedway machines were now fitted with laydown engines rather than uprights that was the case before his enforced length lay off.

 

Andy is now happily married to Lisa and were blessed with their first child last year, him also being the father of two other children by a previous relationship. A great many speedway fans will remember with deep affection and admiration not only the silky skills he displayed as a rider but the courageous way he battled back after the sport he, and indeed ourselves, love so much - a sport that could have cost him his life but for the quick thinking and action taken by the medical staff on duty the night he crashed at Arena Essex during that match against King's Lynn.

 

As the guy on the centre green mike that night, the memories of that crash will stay forever in my memory along with those of other tragic events over the years.

 

Any Galvin a "showman" - Undoubtedly! Childish? Crude? Ego Tripper? NEVER!

Edited May 25, 2005 by Bryn

[shazzybird 10]

"We" at Canterbury affectionately knew him as a "flash git" and yep we told him to his face but that was Andy. Please or offend in the 80's he was a showman and dreaded his visits to Kingsmead as more often than not he would kick ass oh and never brought a round either

[Guest cheetahhawk]

Very well said Bryn. Andy will always be one of my favourite riders,indeed I still to this day have photos of him by the side of my computer and a framed photo of him of him in my bedroom .

Andy was rather special when we were all at Hackney and along with Barry Thomas must be two of the nicest riders around. Both Andy and Barry always made time for the supporters and when it was my twins 7th or was it 8th birthday Andy and Barry looked after them when they went on the after match parade with the Kestrels.

Nice to know that Andy is now happily married and has another little one(is it a little boy or little girl?).Is he still living in Whitstable?

[Robyn1972 0]

nice response there Bryn - well said.

 

As for the earlier comment about Andy being a dirty rider, again I can only say that in my opinion there is nothing further from the truth. graham are you sure you're not confusing Andy with someone else? I'm not being sarky there - I honestly do wonder as there was not anything dirty about Andy's riding, and to describe him as the "King of the Knock off" is misguided at best. There were a few riders around at that time who fit into my mind as being pretty dirty, (I'm not going to name names but I should imagine there are a good few who remember their NL speedway from the late 80's who would come up with the right names if I said Mildenhall & Rye House!!) but Andy would not be one of them.

 

I was sorry to hear about Andy's injuries - he was a fine rider at NL level and with the same kind of turnaround in fitness and determination as Dave Norris seems to have had over the past few years, could have cracked the top level. I do recall that he said around the time of his benefit meeting though that there was no question of him being able to get back on a bike again ever, as it would literally be putting his life on the line - now he's a family man I would think that would be a risk he would never be prepared to take. Best of luck to him, whatever.

[Graham 0]

to describe him as the "King of the Knock off" is misguided at best.

 

Hi there

 

The one that comes immediately to mind is the disgraceful incident at Long Eaton in 1988 where he brought down Mike Spink and Darrell Branford going into the third bend. A crude bit of riding? Undoubtedly.

 

I was also party to two other (unpublicised) incidents in which AG's behaviour was, how can I put it, "immature" to say the least. As I remember he had a column in one of the magazines at about the time and some of the guff that appeared in it was childish to put it mildly.

 

I realise I'm flying in the face of the pro-AG brigade here. I'm genuinely not trying to noise anyone up but I do hope you respect my opinion, even if you don't necessarily agree with it.

 

G.

[shazzybird 10]

We can't all like everyone but I do agree with what you are saying about Andy, he wasn't Mr Perfect then again apart from Mark Loram who is

[chopper 88]

Yes i remember the incident at long eaton, i Darrell Branford ended up going underneath the boards and ending up on the other side of the fence.To the amazement of everyone including myself i was excluded.Still he proved to be a good rider over a lot of years and probably had what i lacked, a win at all costs attitude.

Regards Darrell

[Cliv Clav 60]

Andy was a fantastic and very skillful rider who did a great job teaching the young Mark Loram and Chris Louis how to ride. I remember him shutting off so many times to allow his team mates to win races, a real team man and a selfless racer. Pity there aren't more like him these days.

 

I still remember that horrific crash at Arena in '93. To come back to racing after breaking his neck, back, pelvis and ribs was amazing.

Edited June 1, 2005 by Cliv Clav

[mbbunyan 0]

Who was the rider he rode into on the first bend that night at Arena and came off worse?

 

Some of the posts made him out to be an angel and the number of incidents I saw him involved in showed he was far from that.

[Vincent Vega 135]

Bunyan

 

Get yer facts right. Andy Galvin didnt ride into anyone that night. He passed Richard Knight on the outside on the home straight they locked handlebars and Andy smashed into the fence on the first bend. This was way before air fences were introduced in case you didnt know.

[Bryn 413]

Get yer facts right. Andy Galvin didnt ride into anyone that night.  He passed Richard Knight on the outside on the home straight they locked handlebars and Andy smashed into the fence on the first bend. This was way before air fences were introduced in case you didnt know.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Spot on VV with the greatest of respect Mick (Bunyan) that was indeed precisely how it happened. Apologies if I've posted something similar as to what follows on another thread in the past but as I've said in an earlier posting on this particular thread, I was on the centre green than night and was, therefore, closer to the incident than most. Now I've always made it a personal rule NEVER to make ANY comment on a crash when I have a microphone in my hand until I've seen any rider involved move a hand, arm, leg or whatever. Andy laid completely motionless but, thankfully, a paramedic nurse amongst the Arena medical team that night got to him very swiftly indeed and, immediately recognised that he could have sustained a serious neck injury and held his head rock solid steady until the others in the medical team had done what was necessary. But for that quick action it could well have finished up worse than it actually did which, of course, was bad enough and resulted in his carrer coming to an abrupt halt. Memories of that night (amongst other equally vivid memories involving other incidents) will remain with me forever including many in the King's Lynn AND Arena camps subsequently actively persuading Richard Knight to take his place in the re-run when he really didn't want to go out on a bike again. Let me stress at this point that NO blame could be attached to Richard - it was purely a racing incident. Andy was rushed straight to Basildon hospital and placed into intensive care. Before going on, on a lighter note, after the meeting I was by the speedway office when the track doctor on duty that night who just happens to still be my GP, arrived looking very shaken indeed and, on seeing me, pleaded with me to give him a cigarette! I still remind him of that on occasion!

 

Moving on, following phonecalls throughout Saturday revealing that Andy was still in the intensive care unit, on the Sunday I had to go to Rye House and arranged a lift home with Malcolm Simmons. He was keen to go to the hospital as was I on the way back to Kent. We arrived at the hospital and, with crowds around the one person manning the reception desk, we followed the signs to he intensive care unit. On arrival, there was a big notice on the wall saying, "Put a mask, gown and hat on BEFORE entering." On reflection that was probably a reminder to the medical staff (!) but that's just what Simmo & I did...we entered the room...six beds fully occupied with two or three nurses on duty but Andy wasn't in ANY of the beds.

 

Simmo turned white as a sheet, muttered some words that can't be repeated here but, somehow although I too feared the worst, for some reason I didn't panic. I persuaded Simmo to follow me back to reception where, much to our great relief I can tell you, we were informed that Andy had been taken out of intensive care earlier that day and transferred to a ward.

 

We made our way there and soon spotted Andy's ex-wife plus Arena co-promoter Ivan Henry at Andy's bedside and as soon as Simmo saw Andy he swore at him and said words to the effect that, "I thought you was dead you B****** Galvin!" Andy tried to laugh but......

 

Anyway Mick (Bunyan) I'm sure you could recount several stories about the pain, suffering and indeed hell riders go through when trying to recover from injury - it's the sort of thing that ordinary supporters never get to see or indeed hear about - but it's just one of the reasons why I have, and will always have huge respect for ANYBODY who becomes, or indeed tries to become a speedway rider.

 

I'm sorry if I've rattled on but IF it stops just ONE person on the terraces cheering when ANY rider falls, then at least it will have served some purpose.

Edited June 18, 2005 by Bryn

[tarabanko 5]

I'm sorry if I've rattled on but IF it stops just ONE person on the terraces cheering when ANY rider falls, then at least it will have served some purpose.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

Thanks for the words Bryn!

[Guest cheetahhawk]

Very well said Bryn. I went white just reading about you and Simmo going into the intensive care unit. (the thought of Simmo and Bryn in gowns and masks is enough to scare the pants off anyone ).

On a more serious note though it was on teletext that night that the meeting had been abandoned because Andy had been taken to hospital and I was was really panicking (sp?)until I found out the next day that he was going to be okay.( I had a huge phone bill that time ) I sent Andy a cheeky get well card and the very next time I saw him to speak to,a long while afterwards, he thanked me for the card and good wishes I had sent to him.

[Cliv Clav 60]

Bunyan

 

Get yer facts right. Andy Galvin didnt ride into anyone that night.  He passed Richard Knight on the outside on the home straight they locked handlebars and Andy smashed into the fence on the first bend. This was way before air fences were introduced in case you didnt know.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's right VV. Mbbunyan, buy yourself the Andy Galvin Story and you will see the crash and how Andy passed Knight on the outside entering the first turn. Knight lost slight control for a second, clipped Andy and sent them both into the safety fence. Similar to the Lanham/Berge crash in 2000, come to think of it.

 

Horrible night as we sat waiting to hear news on Andy's condition.

 

I'm sorry if I've rattled on but IF it stops just ONE person on the terraces cheering when ANY rider falls, then at least it will have served some purpose.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

On Saturday night, I stood next to an Eastbourne fan who laughed and cheered when Mark Loram and Paul Hurry both crashed. What a lovely human being he was(!).