Halifax Dukes

Infobox Speedway team
clubname = Halifax Dukes


track = The Shay
Shaw Hill Halifax
country = England
founded = 1949
closed = 1985
manager =
captain =
league =
website = [http://www.halifaxdukes.co.uk/ Halifax Dukes Website]
colours = Red and Blue
tracksize = 400 yards
track record time=
track record date=
track record holder=
teamhonour = National Trophy (Div 2) Winner
British League Champions
KO Cup Winner
teamyear = 1950
1966
1966

The Halifax Dukes were a Speedway team which operated from 1949 until their closure in 1985 at The Shay Stadium in Halifax. The team were nicknamed the 'Dukes' after the local Duke Of Wellington's regiment stationed in the town, and even used their elephant symbol on the race jacket. [Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). "Homes of British Speedway". ISBN 0-7524-2210-3]

A team called Halifax Nomads operated racing a few fixtures in 1948 and speedway had been staged at Thrum Hall before WW2.

On 8 February, 1949 construction began on a new speedway track at The Shay. The team enjoyed good support during the opening season with a crowd of over 18,000 attending one meeting in September. However attendances soon dropped and at the end of the 1951 season the club closed. On 31 March 1952, Dukes promoter Bruce Booth announced the end of speedway 'while rates and taxation remains at the present levels'.

After a lengthy absence, the sport returned to The Shay in 1965 when Reg Fearman moved his Middlesbrough promotion. By the early 1970s, the Dukes were enjoying higher attendances than the Shaymen (Halifax Town). However, by the mid 1980s, Halifax Dukes and Halifax Town had financial disagreements and in 1986 The Dukes left The Shay and Halifax, moving to Bradford.

1965 Season - finished 5th (39pts) out of 18

The 1965 season saw a major transformation for the sport. Previously the old National and Provincial Leagues had run as separate organisations with the Provincial League initially being unrecognised by the sports controlling authorities, but the gradual decline in numbers of the "official" National League during the early Sixties led to a reconciliation between the two bodies and the merger of the two leagues leading to the establishment of a single British League for the 1965 Season.

At the same time Reg Fearman, one of the leading promoters in the Provincial League, took the opportunity of opening up a new track at the Shay Grounds Halifax and entered the new league. This was a big, fast track laid around the existing Halifax Town football pitch with high banking around all corners - just the recipe for high speeds and exciting racing and a considerable advantage for the home riders.

As a result of the merger of the two leagues prior to the start of the season, a control body had been set up to "equalise" the teams. This was needed because the remaining National League sides had team strengths way above those of the Provincial League sides and a certain redistribution of star riders from the stronger to the weaker sides was recognised by all as a necessity to ensure a competitive new league. As with all such exercises, the process was highly contentious as promoters tried to ensure the strongest possible line up and riders (naturally) had preferences about where they wanted to ride.

From a Halifax perspective, this looked like a poor result. Reg Fearman had decided to close his operation at Middlesbrough (performing as a mid-table side in the Provincial League) at the end of 1964, and as a result was able to bring some of those riders to the new Halifax side - these consisted of the up-and coming Dave Younghusband and Eric Boocock, and a steady middle order man in Clive Hitch. He'd also been able to persuade ex-England international Eric Boothroyd (now running a Grocer's business in Halifax) to come out of retirement and captain the new side. The rider control process had allocated the Dukes another ex-England international, Bryan Elliott from Coventry and the team was made up by a number of young, inexperienced Australians - Bert Kingston, Bob Jameson and later Dennis Gavros.

Most experienced observers predicted a year of struggle for the new team.

This feeling was initially confirmed when the team failed to make an impression in their first away matches at Belle Vue and Newport before opening their gates at the Shay to an enormous 5-figure crowd on the 17th April. The opposition were the Long Eaton Archers, a team destined to struggle all season long, but with the young Ray Wilson and Kid Bodie flying round the new circuit and the Dukes hampered by the absence of Bryan Elliott (injured the previous night at Newport) the “Archers” dampened the crowds celebrations by winning 41 – 36.

Success at the Shay was not long in coming however and the Dukes soon beat off the challenge of the Newport Wasps and Coventry Bees before recording a comfortable 43-34 win over local rivals the Sheffield Tigers. During this period Eric Boocock and Dave Younghusband were establishing themselves as forces to be reckoned with in the new league and Eric Boothroyd and Bryan Elliott (especially away matches) provided plenty of support. Clive Hitch was clearly struggling to come to terms with his new home circuit however and the young Aussies were inconsistent and still finding their feet. A month into the season and it seemed as though the team might hold their own at home, but would continue to struggle away from the Shay. To the encouragement of the promoter however, the good early crowd levels were holding up as the Halifax public took to their new team in a big way.

Excitement levels were maintained throughout May and early June as the team embarked on an incredible series of matches with last heat deciders at the Shay. During this period the team forced home 39-39 draws with Swindon Robins and Glasgow Tigers before taking a narrow one point win 39-38 against future champions the West Ham Hammers. This was immediately followed by yet another home draw against ex-National League legends the Wimbledon Dons. The home crowds were definitely getting their moneys worth, but vital league points were slipping away, and the team sank to the lower reaches of the league table.

In the middle of June, the promotion found a way of strengthening the side. Clive Hitch was still struggling to come to terms with the high banking of the Shay track, and was allowed to move on to Long Eaton and in came the much travelled Tommy Roper after spells with Sheffield and Long Eaton earlier in the season. This proved a master stroke as Roper immediately started hitting high scores and was soon an effective fourth heat leader. Boocock and Younghusband were now almost unbeatable round the Shay, and hitting high scores on the teams travels as well. With Dennis Gavros and Bert Kingston beginning to provide regular support from the lower end of the team the “Dukes” were becoming a team to be reckoned with.

Substantial home wins were now becoming the norm, culminating in a 62-16 thrashing of a sorry Cradley Heath Heathens side on the 10th July with Boocock, Younghusband, Roper and Elliott all gaining full or paid maximums. A first league away win 41-36 at Long Eaton provided revenge for the opening night defeat at the Shay, and initiated a run of 4 further away wins (at the Poole Pirates, Edinburgh Monarchs, Swindon Robins and Glasgow Tigers) out of the remaining 7 away matches. Combined with a solid set of home wins during the remainder of the season, the Dukes soared up the table to finally finish in 5th place. This could easily have been 3rd had the away match with Cradley Heath been ridden, but this fixture was left unfulfilled following two rain-offs.

All in all, the 1965 season could be considered a major success with crowd levels high all year. A weakish looking team at the start had gelled over the early part of the season, added some strength in Roper mid-way through the year and finished almost as strongly as the League Champions, West Ham. Boocock and Younghusband had justified the promotor’s faith by developing into established British League stars and Eric Boothroyd had taken on the mantle of captain with aplomb – both in encouraging the younger riders and in delivering match winning performances in support of the top two. Bryan Elliott had faded slightly after some promising early season performances, but still provided solid second string support throughout and Tommy Roper provided the catalyst for the late season recovery by delivering a fourth heat leader performance. Of the Aussies, Dennis Gavros had been the pick of the bunch and Bert Kingston had held a team spot all year – it was a season for consolidation with the promise of more to come in 1966.

1965 Averages (League and Cup matches) :

1966 Season - finished 1st (54pts) out of 19

The main question at the start of the new 1966 season was whether the team could live up to the expectations created by the strong finish at the end of the previous year?

It looked like the loss of Bryan Elliott who had emigrated to Australia during the winter would seriously weaken the team as the only addition was Greg Kentwell who was yet another in the supply of promising young Aussies that promoter Reg Fearman had tapped into, but he was an unknown quantity in British League terms.

Success therefore looked like depending on the heat leaders from the previous season maintaining their progress, and for last years Aussies (Kingston, Gavros and Jameson) building on their experience from 1965 and taking significant steps forward.

A series of good away performances at the start of the season showed some promise although there was still only patchy support to Boocock, Younghusband and Boothroyd from the rest of the team. Unfortunately, after a good 41-37 win over last years champions the West Ham Hammers in their first home league encounter, the team surprisingly lost 38-40 in their next match at the Shay to the Newcastle Diamonds. It was a controversial match full of incident - machine failures and falls costing the Dukes dear. The highlight of these early matches was the form shown by captain Eric Boothroyd, but by the end of May the team were languishing in the lower half of the table with the Coventry Bees showing the best early season form to lead the table by 4 points.

June however saw a change in fortune as the team racked up big home wins against Newport and Long Eaton as well as a first KO cup win 57-39 against the Glasgow Tigers. This was combined with good away wins at Long Eaton , Exeter and a magnificent 41-37 win at West Ham where Eric Boocock underlined his progress with an impeccable maximum 12 points. Although the contribution from the heat leaders was vital, it was the improved results from Tommy Roper and the Aussie brigade that was making the difference. Solid home scoring from Kingston, Gavros and Jameson was being complemented by more effective away form that was now showing in the team results. At the end of June, although Coventry were still 7 points clear, Halifax had shot up the table to joint second with Swindon, Belle Vue and Glasgow.

It began to look as though the bubble may have burst at the start of July when the Dukes lost heavily at both title rivals Coventry (25-52) and Swindon (29-49) in successive weeks - the ex-national sides heat leader strength proving too much even for the emerging Eric Boocock to master. Despite these reverses good home form kept the Dukes in contention, but July ended with further problems with both Eric Boothroyd and Eric Boocock on the injury list.

Despite the lack of the two Eric’s, sterling performances from Dave Younghusband and Tommy Roper plus significant contributions from guest riders Ron Mountford and Cyril Maidment brought two further away wins at Oxford and Hackney. This proved to be the start of an amazing run of wins for the team which, with a full team again, saw them unbeaten through to the end of September. At this stage the team were still 3 points behind Coventry at the top of the league, but the momentum was with the Dukes and not even the loss of Bert Kingston with a broken ankle in a cup victory over West Ham could dampen the enthusiasm around the team. Meanwhile, Coventry were struggling to maintain their progress following a dispute with their captain Jim Lightfoot which led to him missing a number of crucial matches. The only cloud on the horizon were a couple of official protests after the wins at West Ham (about the use of Bert Kingston at reserve) and Hackney (about the injury to Eric Boothroyd), but the authorities eventually found in favour of the Dukes so the points were secure.

October saw the realisation of the teams and supporters dreams, where home and away wins against the Belle Vue Aces saw Halifax snatch the league title away from Coventry literally at the death, and a massive 69-27 thumping of the Wimbledon Dons in the first leg of the KO cup final made the result of the away leg (a 44-52 defeat) academic as the team went on to scoop up both major competitions – just as West Ham had done the previous year. A marvellous achievement that earned the respect of even their most consistent critics. So 1966 had ended as a memorable year, culminating in a record run of 15 consecutive league victories with all the team improving their averages and contributing to the success. Eric Boocock established himself as the star rider and made the breakthrough as a regular in the Gt Britain team. Dave Younghusband was a consistent high score all year after some initial problems with new machinery, but it was Eric Boothroyd who came up with a true captains performance adding over a point on his previous years average. Of the rest, Tommy Roper again proved a remarkably effective “fourth heat leader” scoring particularly well during the second half of the year and Bert Kingston established himself as the best of the Aussie second strings although both Dennis Gavros and Bob Jameson had many memorable meetings. Greg Kentwell had only a limited number of opportunities in the team, but had confirmed the promise with which he’d arrived and spent much of the year loaned out to Long Eaton to gain more experience.

1966 Averages (League and Cup matches) :

External links

* [http://www.halifaxdukes.co.uk/ Halifax Dukes Website]

References