1950 Speedway National League

1950 Speedway National League

League	National League Division One
No. of competitors	9
Champions	Wembley Lions
National Trophy	Wimbledon Dons
London Cup	Wembley Lions
Highest average	Graham Warren
Division/s below	National League (Div 2) National League (Div 3)
← 1949 1951 →

The 1950 National League Division One was the 16th season of speedway in the United Kingdom and the fifth post-war season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain. ^[1]

Summary

Bristol Bulldogs joined the league. Wembley Lions won the National League for the fifth time. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

The Odsal Boomerangs became the Odsal Tudors during the season, the name change came at the end of July, possibly as a consequence of the events of 1 July. On 1 July 1950, 47-year-old Joe Abbott was killed instantly following a crash at Odsal Stadium in a league match against West Ham Hammers. After falling and hitting the safety fence he was hit by a rider behind. Jock Shead, a second rider was killed on the same night in a division 2 fixture. ^[5]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Wembley Lions	32	24	0	8	48
2	Belle Vue Aces	32	19	0	13	38
3	Wimbledon Dons	32	17	1	14	35
4	New Cross Rangers	32	16	1	15	33
5	West Ham Hammers	32	16	0	16	32
6	Bradford Tudors	32	16	0	16	32
7	Bristol Bulldogs	32	15	0	17	30
8	Birmingham Brummies	32	12	0	20	24
9	Harringay Racers	32	8	0	24	16

Top Ten Riders (League only)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Graham Warren		Birmingham	10.55
2	Norman Parker		Wimbledon	10.17
3	Tommy Price		Wembley	9.79
4	Jack Parker		Belle Vue	9.42
5	Vic Duggan		Harringay	9.30
6	Alec Statham		Wimbledon	9.21
7	Cyril Roger		New Cross	9.21
8	Louis Lawson		Belle Vue	9.19
9	Bert Roger		New Cross	9.04
10	Eric French		New Cross	8.81

National Trophy Stage Three

The 1950 National Trophy was the 13th edition of the Knockout Cup. The Trophy consisted of three stages; stage one was for the third division clubs, stage two was for the second division clubs and stage three was for the top tier clubs. The winner of stage one would qualify for stage two and the winner of stage two would qualify for the third and final stage. Wimbledon Dons won the third and final stage and were therefore declared the 1950 National Trophy champions. ^[6]

• For Stage One - see Stage One
• For Stage Two - see Stage Two

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
29/07	Belle Vue	80-28	New Cross
26/07	New Cross	48-60	Belle Vue
01/08	Halifax	50-58	Harringay
28/07	Harringay	68-39	Halifax

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
12/08	Belle Vue	55-52	Wimbledon
14/08	Wimbledon	67-41	Belle Vue
10/08	Wembley	53-51	Birmingham
05/08	Birmingham	79-29	Wembley
12/08	Bradford	80-28	Bristol
11/08	Bristol	66-42	Bradford
11/08	Harringay	62-46	West Ham
08/08	West Ham	62-46	Harringay
01/09 replay	Harringay	49-59	West Ham
29/08 replay	West Ham	59-49	Harringay

Semifinals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
12/09	West Ham	56-51	Bradford
09/09	Bradford	70-38	West Ham
28/08	Wimbledon	61-47	Birmingham
26/08	Birmingham	42-66	Wimbledon

Final

First leg

23 September 1950

Bradford Tudors Ron Clarke 16 Jack Biggs 14 Oliver Hart 10 Dick Seers 8 Ronnie Peace 6 Ernie Price 6 Norman Price 1	61 – 47	Wimbledon Dons Dennis Gray 9 Ronnie Moore 9 Cyril Brine 7 Mike Erskine 6 Ernie Roccio 6 Norman Parker4 Jim Gregory 4 Alec Statham 2
	[7]

Odsal Stadium

Second leg

25 September 1950

Wimbledon Dons Dennis Gray 15 Cyril Brine 13 Norman Parker 11 Reg Trott 9 Ernie Roccio 8 Alec Statham 7 Ronnie Moore 7 Mike Erskine 2	72 – 36	Bradford Tudors Ron Clarke 12 Jack Biggs 8 Dick Seers 4 Ernie Price 4 Norman Price 3 Ken Brown 3 Oliver Hart 2 Ron Peace 1
	[8]

Wimbledon Stadium

Wimbledon were National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 119–97, the trophy was presented by Vera Lynn. ^[7]

London Cup

First round

Team one	Score	Team two
New Cross	45–62, 33–74	Wimbledon
West Ham	66–42, 46–62	Walthamstow

Semi final round

Team one	Score	Team two
Wembley	58–50, 51–56	Harringay
Wimbledon	56–50, 54–54	West Ham

Final

First leg

7 September 1950

Wembley Tommy Price 13 Freddie Williams 12 George Wilks 8 Bob Oakley 7 Bill Gilbert 7 Eric Williams 6 Bruce Abernethy 2 Bill Kitchen 1	56–51	Wimbledon Ronnie Moore 13 Ernie Roccio 11 Norman Parker 9 Cyril Brine 6 Mike Erskine 5 Alec Statham 3 Dennis Gray 2 Jim Gregory 2

Wembley Stadium

Second leg

11 September 1950

Wimbledon Cyril Brine 13 Ernie Roccio 10 Norman Parker 10 Mike Erskine 9 Ronnie Moore 6 Dennis Gray 3 Reg Trott 3 Alec Statham 2	56–52	Wembley Bob Oakley 14 Tommy Price 10 Freddie Williams 9 Bruce Abernethy 7 Bill Gilbert 6 George Wilks 4 Bill Kitchen 2 Eric Williams 0
	[9]

Plough Lane

Wembley won on aggregate 108–107

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• Jack Parker 9.42
• Louis Lawson 9.19
• Dent Oliver 8.42
• Ron Johnston 8.00
• Charles Cullum 7.02
• Ken Sharples 6.58
• Henry Long 5.88
• George Smith 5.44
• Ron Mason 5.34
• Dennis Parker 4.90
• Gerry Hickson 1.33

Birmingham

• Graham Warren 10.55
• Geoff Bennett 8.19
• Arthur Payne 7.07
• Doug McLachlan 6.46
• Fred Perkins 4.73
• Jim Tolley 4.44
• Ron Mountford 3.92
• Dennis Hitchings 3.61
• Bob Wells 3.33
• Wilf Willstead 2.61

Bradford

• Jack Biggs 8.78
• Ron Clarke 8.35
• Eddie Rigg 7.89
• Joe Abbott 5.95
• Dick Seers 5.53
• Oliver Hart 7.54
• Ernie Price 5.66
• Norman Price 4.61
• Ron Peace 4.85
• Ken Brown 4.08
• Eric Smith 1.67

Bristol

• Billy Hole 7.15
• Fred Tuck 6.78
• Dick Bradley 6.36
• Jack Mountford 5.94
• Geoff Pymar 5.93
• Eric Salmon 5.73
• Roger Wise 5.51
• Johnny Hole 4.91
• Mike Beddoe 4.64
• Chris Boss 4.57
• Jack Summers 3.20

Harringay

• Vic Duggan 9.28
• Split Waterman 8.22
• Danny Dunton 7.71
• Jeff Lloyd 6.33
• Cliff Watson 6.08
• Joe Bowkis 5.43
• Geoff Pymar 5.25
• Lloyd Goffe 4.82
• Alf Viccary 4.00
• Nobby Stock 4.12
• Fred Pawson 3.78
• Jimmy Grant 3.40
• Arthur Bush 3.13
• Sid Clark 3.10

New Cross

• Cyril Roger 9.21
• Eric French 8.81
• Bert Roger 9.04
• Jeff Lloyd 7.17
• Bill Longley 7.00
• Frank Lawrence 5.88
• Ron Johnson 5.60
• Ray Moore 5.13
• Bob Baker 3.82
• Don Gray 3.40
• Ronnie Genz 0.80

Wembley

• Tommy Price 9.79
• Freddie Williams 8.75
• George Wilks 8.44
• Bill Kitchen 7.88
• Bob Oakley 7.37
• Bill Gilbert 7.33
• Eric Williams 7.22
• Bruce Abernethy 6.16
• Alf Bottoms 4.17
• Bob Wells 3.70
• Jimmy Gooch 3.11
• Den Cosby 2.67
• Jack Gates 1.45

West Ham

• Aub Lawson 8.79
• Wally Green 8.03
• Malcolm Craven 7.66
• Eric Chitty 7.52
• Reg Fearman 5.70
• Lloyd Goffe 5.53
• Howdy Byford 5.14
• Kid Curtis 5.00
• Frank Bettis 4.75
• Cliff Watson 3.43
• Trevor Davies 2.52

Wimbledon

• Norman Parker 10.17
• Alec Statham 9.21
• Cyril Brine 8.66
• Ronnie Moore 7.23
• Ernie Roccio 6.88
• Dennis Gray 5.98
• Mike Erskine 5.94
• Jim Gregory 4.89
• Dick Harris 4.30
• Reg Trott 4.16
• Bruce Semmens 3.08

See also

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

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
3. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN   0-904584-45-3.
4. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
5. "Twod Riders Killed" . Weekly Dispatch (London). 2 July 1950. Retrieved 12 August 2021– via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "1950 National Trophy". Speedway archive.
7. "1950 National Trophy". Speedway Archive. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
8. "Odsal beaten in speedway final" . Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 26 September 1950. Retrieved 26 November 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "Speedway Fans boo cup result" . South Western Star. 15 September 1950. Retrieved 24 September 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.