Canadian,african,austrian Riders In British League

[Puma23 27]

I corrected them

[cyclone 943]

Another South African who does not appear on the list was James Hayhow, a somewhat pedestrian second halfer at Powderhall, who rode for the Edinburgh team in the 90's when they were struggling to raise a team.

 

I'm also 90% certain that Dave Collins who rode for Sunderland Saints in 1964, was also a South African - perhaps someone else can confirm or refute my presumption ?

[speedyguy 20]

Dave Collins is English. He was born in London. He went to South Africa but always inisted on keeping his British identity and as a result rode for England teams when they went for test matches in South Africa.

[speediebee 0]

I corrected them

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Puma,

There was also an Austrian called Fritz Dirtl who rode in the the UK when the old World Championship Qualifiers were staged here in the late 1940s and early 1950s. I do not think he was ever attached to a club, he just rode in World Championship events, I seem to remember seeing him at Leicester early 1950s.

Regards.

[star ghost 7]

Fritz Dirtl from Austria was due to ride for Norwich at one time but when his Continental bookins became known he would not have been available very often so the idea was dropped. Did Robert Funk ever come to U K to ride?

The Killmeyer brothers, Karl & Leopold, both rode at Norwich I recall.

 

South Africans - Alan Chambers who was an Englishman, naturalised, I think.

Tom & Dick Sayer, twins, who were riding at Norwich for a while.

Dennis Newton, another of the naturalised riders from the past.

 

Naturalised riders will always be a problem as to where they fit in. Bert Spencer and Tiger Hart are called Aussies but were born in England as was Ron Johnson up in Scotland. Nowadays Andy Smith and Rune Holta just chose to use another nationalities licence and this is not the same thing.

[Bavarian 767]

star ghost, can You be a bit more specific about Tom and Dick Sayer ? When did these twins ride for Norwich? Are You sure they are South African - I don't think I have ever heard of them before !

[Bavarian 767]

One more name - Wally Hill - a South African (born in England?) who rode in the National League in 1984 or 85?

 

And does anyone remember the South African second halfer who had that unfortunate racing accident with the poor Paul Muchene? I think it was Nick Floyd and I believe he rode for Arena Juniors that year.

 

By the way, Muchene, who was killled in that race, was himself half African - he had a Kenyan father (or mother?). The other half of his parents was English.

[chunky 6,108]

star ghost, can You be a bit more specific about Tom and Dick Sayer ? When did these twins ride for Norwich? Are You sure they are South African - I don't think I have ever heard of them before !

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'm not sure that they ever rode FOR Norwich, simply AT Norwich. I don't know anything about Tom, but Dick was only a junior, definitely South African, and was killed in a mining accident at Chislet Colliery in Kent, on February 6, 1959.

 

I think you're right about Nick Floyd being the South African at Arena.

 

Steve

Edited April 25, 2006 by chunky

[star ghost 7]

The info on Dick's death is correct.

Dick and Tom were second-halfers at the Firs and Dick rode in some of the Junior matches that Norwich ran against Southern Area League teams in those days. I have mentioned these two riders as they were South Africans in British Speedway.

They were also twins, something of which I can only recall one other pair, the Cox's at Kings Lynn

[Guest]

The Austrian rider I most remember was Otto Holoubek. In the 1950s he joined Ipswich with a big continental reputation but failed to justify his signing and was dropped after a handful of matches. Click the Link for some 'Otto Holoubek Memories'!

 

Otto Holoubek

Edited January 7, 2017 by Guest

[Bavarian 767]

Don't know how Otto Holoubek ever he got such a good reputation in the UK. What were supposed to be his credentials? Did he ever win anything? He wasn' one of the leading riders on the continent, maybe one of the better ones in Austria, but not the best.

 

The one Austrian rider who was really good was Fritz Dirtl, who sadly lost his life in a speedway accident in a 1956 world individual qualifying round at Oberhausen in Germany. Dirtl's accident was even more tragic because it was a collision with his compatriot, the only other Austrian star rider of the 50s, Josef Kamper.

 

Before them, Leopold Killmeyer, and Martin Schneeweis, were the greatest of Austrian riders.

 

 

Edit: I found a Deutsche Wochenschau of June 15 that shows some motion pictures of that 1956 World Championship Continental qualifying round at Oberhausen. The brief one minute speedway report starts at 0:10.22

 

https://www.filmothek.bundesarchiv.de/video/586229?q=Speedway+Oberhausen

Edited January 7, 2017 by Bavarian

[Guest]

The Austrian rider I most remember was Otto Holoubek. In the 1950s he joined Ipswich with a big continental reputation but failed to justify his signing and was dropped after a handful of matches. Click the Link for some 'Otto Holoubek Memories'!

 

Otto Holoubek

 

 

Don't know how Otto Holoubek ever he got such a good reputation in the UK. What were supposed to be his credentials? Did he ever win anything? He wasn' one of the leading riders on the continent, maybe one of the better ones in Austria, but not the best.

 

 

 

As I recall Otto Holoubek's speedway credentials were based on reports for 1954, 1955 and early 1956 in meetings where he featured prominently - racing many in the old Yugoslavia, Hungary and a few from Austria. These reports were carried on the foreign news pages of the 'Speedway Star'.

[iris123 20,997]

The Austrian rider I most remember was Otto Holoubek. In the 1950s he joined Ipswich with a big continental reputation but failed to justify his signing and was dropped after a handful of matches.

 

 

Don't know how Otto Holoubek ever he got such a good reputation in the UK. What were supposed to be his credentials? Did he ever win anything? He wasn' one of the leading riders on the continent, maybe one of the better ones in Austria, but not the best.

 

 

 

 

 

As I recall Otto Holoubek's speedway credentials were based on reports for 1954, 1955 and early 1956 in meetings where he featured prominently - racing many in the old Yugoslavia, Hungary and a few from Austria. These reports were carried on the foreign news pages of the 'Speedway Star'.

All seems clear now Bavarian Wonder who the foreign reporter for the Speedway Star was,though?????

[andout 661]

Might be wrong but I think Canadian Rob Fisher had a very short career in the UK with Coventry.

[Guest]

The Austrian rider I most remember was Otto Holoubek. In the 1950s he joined Ipswich with a big continental reputation but failed to justify his signing and was dropped after a handful of matches. Click the Link for some 'Otto Holoubek Memories'!

 

Otto Holoubek

 

 

Don't know how Otto Holoubek ever he got such a good reputation in the UK. What were supposed to be his credentials? Did he ever win anything? He wasn' one of the leading riders on the continent, maybe one of the better ones in Austria, but not the best.

 

 

 

 

 

As I recall Otto Holoubek's speedway credentials were based on reports for 1954, 1955 and early 1956 in meetings where he featured prominently - racing many in the old Yugoslavia, Hungary and a few from Austria. These reports were carried on the foreign news pages of the 'Speedway Star'.

 

 

All seems clear now Bavarian Wonder who the foreign reporter for the Speedway Star was,though?????

In the mid-1950s reports of speedway in Austria were sent to 'Speedway Star & News' by a lady - whose name escapes me at the moment, but she was secretary to Professor Franz Renisch of the Austrian governing organisation.

At that time, a leading Austrian rider was Josef Kamper who lost his life in a road accident, as I recall in the early 1980s.

Edited January 8, 2017 by Guest