Classic Speedway Memories- April Edition

[Beirao 203]

April's edition is now on line and features

Scottish Pirates -  the rather fanciful attempts to form a breakaway league in the early 50s

Cycle Speedway Graduates - the riders who started their careers on pedals

Exeter - My Favourite Away Track -  I loved my times at The County Ground

Big Birthdays -more cake and candles for landmark celebrations

Anyone Remember No 5 -  our monthly meander down Memory Lane

https://classicspeedwaymemories.webador.co.uk/

[Split 179]

On 4/16/2023 at 8:14 AM, Beirao said:

April's edition is now on line and features

Scottish Pirates -  the rather fanciful attempts to form a breakaway league in the early 50s

Cycle Speedway Graduates - the riders who started their careers on pedals

Exeter - My Favourite Away Track -  I loved my times at The County Ground

Big Birthdays -more cake and candles for landmark celebrations

Anyone Remember No 5 -  our monthly meander down Memory Lane

https://classicspeedwaymemories.webador.co.uk/

When I saw "Scottish Pirates" I thought it might be a reference to Ross Gilbertson who once appeared for Scotland. When I approached him as he was going into the pits at New Cross and asked him if he had Scottish ancestry, he simply replied "och aye." 

[chunky 6,115]

43 minutes ago, Split said:

When I saw "Scottish Pirates" I thought it might be a reference to Ross Gilbertson who once appeared for Scotland.

Not strictly true. He rode in three tests against England in 1964, and against the Soviet Union the following year.

 

[iris123 21,022]

On 4/16/2023 at 8:14 AM, Beirao said:

April's edition is now on line and features

Scottish Pirates -  the rather fanciful attempts to form a breakaway league in the early 50s

Cycle Speedway Graduates - the riders who started their careers on pedals

Exeter - My Favourite Away Track -  I loved my times at The County Ground

Big Birthdays -more cake and candles for landmark celebrations

Anyone Remember No 5 -  our monthly meander down Memory Lane

https://classicspeedwaymemories.webador.co.uk/

You have left out my cousin Martin Elliott who started out riding for South London and also captained Scotland cycle speedway team, and later went on to ride for Wimbledon Dons. Bit obscure, so i forgive you for that 

[Beirao 203]

17 hours ago, iris123 said:

You have left out my cousin Martin Elliott who started out riding for South London and also captained Scotland cycle speedway team, and later went on to ride for Wimbledon Dons. Bit obscure, so i forgive you for that 

Intrigued to hear about Martin. Did he ride for South London Rangers and if so when. 

[iris123 21,022]

1 hour ago, Beirao said:

Intrigued to hear about Martin. Did he ride for South London Rangers and if so when. 

Yes. Rode for South London Rangers. I know he rode for Scotland in 1991. He then rode for the Dons in their revival around 2005 ish

[Split 179]

On 4/17/2023 at 3:20 PM, chunky said:

Not strictly true. He rode in three tests against England in 1964, and against the Soviet Union the following year.

 

Scotland Vs. Soviet Union?

 

[chunky 6,115]

2 minutes ago, Split said:

Scotland Vs. Soviet Union?

 

Yep. It was 10th July at Meadowbank. The programme says Scotland vs "Russia", but it's listed on the international speedway website as "Soviet Union".

[arnieg 3,657]

51 minutes ago, chunky said:

Yep. It was 10th July at Meadowbank. The programme says Scotland vs "Russia", but it's listed on the international speedway website as "Soviet Union".

Given at least one of the team was not Russian (Latosinski) I would go with USSR/Soviet Union

[chunky 6,115]

47 minutes ago, arnieg said:

Given at least one of the team was not Russian (Latosinski) I would go with USSR/Soviet Union

I don't disagree at all, and honestly, progs never were the most accurate source of information! Of course, back then, western Europeans really didn't know the difference - particularly speedway fans - and the two terms were often interchangeable 

[steve roberts 9,246]

1 hour ago, arnieg said:

Given at least one of the team was not Russian (Latosinski) I would go with USSR/Soviet Union

From memory I seem to recall that the 1974 Test Series held in the UK some programmes labelled them as Russia whilst others the USSR/Soviet Union?

[chunky 6,115]

15 hours ago, steve roberts said:

From memory I seem to recall that the 1974 Test Series held in the UK some programmes labelled them as Russia whilst others the USSR/Soviet Union?

That wouldn't surprise me at all! Then there was the term "Soviet Russia"...

[BL65 658]

7 hours ago, chunky said:

That wouldn't surprise me at all! Then there was the term "Soviet Russia"...

In the beginning there was Russia, well at least from the 14^th century.  Russia gained an empire. Following the 1917 revolution there was Soviet Russia, from 1918 until 1922, otherwise called the Russian Soviet Republic.  In 1922 a group of national republics formed a federal union with its capital in Moscow.  The proper title of the federation was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which lasted until 1991.  Any ‘national’ speedway or other sporting team during this period should properly have been called U.S.S.R., not Russia or Soviet Russia, although Soviet Union was acceptable as an alternative.  By the time the Baltic States had been annexed in June 1940 the U.S.S.R. comprised Armenia, Azerbaijan, Byelorussia (also called White Russia and now Belorus), Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia (now Kyrgystan), Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia (now Moldova), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.  With the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 the constituent members became countries in their own right, including the Russian Federation, with its capital in Moscow.

My A-level geography teacher was a lucky (and foolish) man as he took photographs/slides of sites across the U.S.S.R. from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in the west to Vladivostok in the east without being caught.  He was able to show them in school lessons a lifetime ago.

[chunky 6,115]

17 hours ago, BL65 said:

In the beginning there was Russia, well at least from the 14^th century.  Russia gained an empire. Following the 1917 revolution there was Soviet Russia, from 1918 until 1922, otherwise called the Russian Soviet Republic.  In 1922 a group of national republics formed a federal union with its capital in Moscow.  The proper title of the federation was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which lasted until 1991.  Any ‘national’ speedway or other sporting team during this period should properly have been called U.S.S.R., not Russia or Soviet Russia, although Soviet Union was acceptable as an alternative.  By the time the Baltic States had been annexed in June 1940 the U.S.S.R. comprised Armenia, Azerbaijan, Byelorussia (also called White Russia and now Belorus), Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia (now Kyrgystan), Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia (now Moldova), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.  With the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 the constituent members became countries in their own right, including the Russian Federation, with its capital in Moscow.

My A-level geography teacher was a lucky (and foolish) man as he took photographs/slides of sites across the U.S.S.R. from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in the west to Vladivostok in the east without being caught.  He was able to show them in school lessons a lifetime ago.

Oh, I get it! As I said, uneducated westerners would often be unaware of the differences (and don't even get me started on the American confusion regarding the Netherlands and Denmark), and of course, even dear old Dave Lanning would refer to them as "Russkies".

Edited April 24, 2023 by chunky

[iris123 21,022]

35 minutes ago, chunky said:

Oh, I get it! As I said, uneducated westerners would often be unaware of the differences (and don't even get me started on the American confusion regarding the Netherlands and Denmark), and of course, even dear old Dave Planning would refer to them as "Russkies".

You certainly got me confused. the Netherlands and Denmark ? And Dave Planning ?