1946 Speedway Northern League

1946 Speedway Northern League

League	Northern League
No. of competitors	6
Champions	Middlesbrough Bears
A.C.U Cup	Norwich Stars
Highest average	Jeff Lloyd
Division/s above	1946 Speedway National League
← 1939 1947 →

The 1946 Northern League was a season of speedway racing in the United Kingdom for Northern British teams in 1946. With a National League in place and no Southern counterpart, it was effectively a second tier. ^[1]

Four of the six entrants were previously members of National League Division Two before war broke out. Glasgow and Birmingham were new entrants. ^[2]

Middlesbrough Bears won their first trophy. ^[3] The Bears only lost four league fixtures and had three riders in the leading averages; Frank Hodgson, Fred Curtis and Will Plant all contributed significantly during the season. ^[4]

During a fixture on 7 October at Brough Park the Birmingham Brummies Canadian rider Charlie Appleby crashed. A rider had fallen in front and in an effort to avoid the fallen rider, Appleby swerved and hit the machine instead. He was thrown into the air and suffered a fractured skull. He was taken to Newcastle Infirmary but died during the early hours of 8 October. ^[5]

Northern League Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Middlesbrough Bears	20	12	4	4	28
2	Sheffield Tigers	20	11	1	8	23
3	Norwich Stars	20	10	1	9	21
4	Birmingham Brummies	20	9	1	10	19
5	Newcastle Brough	20	8	1	11	17
6	Glasgow Tigers	20	6	0	14	12

Fixtures & results

A fixtures

Home \ Away	BIR	GLA	MID	NEW	NOR	SHE
Birmingham		46–37	42–42	45–38	43–41	48–35
Glasgow	40–42		34–50	40–44	44–38	58–26
Middlesbrough	55–28	54–30		40–44	49–34	46–38
Newcastle	40–41	44–40	42–42		48–36	49–34
Norwich	58–26	41–43	50–32	51–33		42–40
Sheffield	39–44	45–39	43.5–39.5	50–34	45–39

Source: ^[6]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

B fixtures

Home \ Away	BIR	GLA	MID	NEW	NOR	SHE
Birmingham		39–45	33–51	44–39	28–55	46–38
Glasgow	58–26		37–47	52–32	40–44	37–47
Middlesbrough	65–18	52–30		57–26	42–42	52–32
Newcastle	52–31	46–38	33–49		51–33	41–43
Norwich	52–32	51–32	44–40	51–32		40–44
Sheffield	45–39	48–36	42–42	49–35	45–38

Source: ^[7]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

A.C.U. Cup (Div 2)

On account of the small number of teams in the league the ACU Cup was run in a league format. Norwich Stars came out on top on points difference.

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Norwich Stars	10	6	2	2	14
2	Middlesbrough Bears	10	7	0	3	14
3	Sheffield Tigers	10	6	0	4	12
4	Birmingham Brummies	10	4	1	5	9
5	Glasgow Tigers	10	3	0	7	6
6	Newcastle Brough	10	2	1	7	5

Home \ Away	BIR	GLA	MID	NEW	NOR	SHE
Birmingham		62–34	56–40	57–38	48–48	49–47
Glasgow	47–37		42–54	51–45	37–46	51–42
Middlesbrough	61–35	54–41		54–42	55–41	51–45
Newcastle	66–29	47–36	46–50		42–42	43–50
Norwich	51–45	64–32	55–28	48–46		51–45
Sheffield	58–38	55–41	51–45	57–39	52–43

Source: ^[8]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top five riders (league only)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Jeff Lloyd		Newcastle	10.38
2	Frank Hodgson		Middlesbrough	10.38
3	Bert Spencer		Norwich	10.15
4	Tommy Allott		Sheffield	10.00
5	Stan Williams		Sheffield	9.75

Riders & final averages

Birmingham

• Tiger Hart 9.42
• Doug Wells 9.04
• Stan Dell 8.73
• Roy Dook 8.00
• Laurie Packer 6.40
• Bob Lovell 5.46
• Percy Brine 4.19
• Ernie Appleby 3.67
• Cyril Page 3.29
• Charlie Appleby 3.12
• Jimmy Wright 2.93
• Dick Tolley 2.22

Glasgow

• Will Lowther 9.67
• Wal Morton 8.65
• Joe Crowther 7.90
• Gruff Garland 7.57
• Maurice Stobbart 6.30
• Eddie Lack 4.12
• Charlie Oates 4.00
• Bill Baird 3.57
• Wally Thomson 2.91
• Jack Tidbury 2.67
• Bert Shearer 0.89

Middlesbrough

• Frank Hodgson 10.38
• Kid Curtis 9.68
• Wilf Plant 9.45
• Tip Mills 7.27
• Geoff Godwin 6.95
• Jack Hodgson 6.51
• Ed Pye 6.45
• Jack Gordon 6.29
• Doug McLachlan 5.50
• Len Tupling 4.71
• Alex Peel 2.33

Newcastle

• Jeff Lloyd 10.38
• Norman Evans 8.90
• Charlie Spinks 7.77
• Doug McLachlan 6.86
• Syd Littlewood 6.79
• Alec Grant 4.51
• Leo Lungo 4.11
• Terry Tight 3.70
• Stan Pennell 2.00
• Harry Modral 1.33

Norwich

• Bert Spencer 10.15
• Wilf Jay 9.00
• Paddy Mills (Horace Burke) 8.20
• Ted Bravery 7.59
• Roy Duke 6.22
• Sid Hipperson 5.71
• Harwood Pike 4.52
• Len Read 4.00
• Don Houghton 3.94
• Paddy Hammond 1.60
• Bluey Thorpe 1.14
• Charlie Challis 1.00

Sheffield

• Tommy Allott 10.00
• Stan Williams 9.75
• Tommy Bateman 8.00
• Jack Bibby 6.56
• Dick Geary 5.64
• John Duncan White 4.84
• Stan Hodson 3.79
• Reg Lambourne 3.75
• Alf Elliott 3.49
• Bruce Semmens 3.27

See also

• List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
• Knockout Cup (speedway)

References

1. The Speedway Researcher Speedway Researcher. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
2. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
3. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN   0-904584-45-3.
4. "Northern League 1946" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
5. "Speedway crash" . Lincolnshire Echo. 8 October 1946. Retrieved 11 August 2021– via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "1946 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
7. "1946 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
8. "1946 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 9 June 2025.