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Coatbridge Monarchs

Edinburgh Monarchs
Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway 2015.png
Club information
Track address Armadale Stadium
Bathgate Road
Armadale
West Lothian
Country Scotland Scotland
Founded 1928; 89 years ago (1928)
Team manager Alan Bridgett
League SGB Championship
Website www.edinburghmonarchs.co.uk
Club facts
Colours Blue and Gold
Track size 260 metres (280 yd)
Track record time 54.8 seconds
Track record date 30 May 2014
Track record holder Craig Cook
Current team
Rider CMA
Australia Sam Masters 8.97
United States Ricky Wells 7.92
Germany Erik Riss 6.85
Australia Josh Pickering 5.00
England Max Clegg 4.34
Germany Mark Riss 4.00
Australia Mitchell Davey 2.00
Total 39.08
Major team honours
Premier League 2003, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015
Premier League KO Cup 1997,1999, 2014
Premier League Cup 2014, 2015
Premier Trophy 2008
National League/BL Div 2 Fours Championship 1981, 1993
National League KO Cup 1981
Premier League Fours Championship 2013, 2015
Queens Cup 1953

The Edinburgh Monarchs are a Scottish Speedway team, currently based in Armadale. They compete in the SGB Championship, racing on Friday nights during the Speedway season. The club is run by a Board of Directors, chaired by Alex Harkess.

The club was founded in 1928 and operated at Marine Gardens, Portobello in 1929, 1930, 1931, 1938 and 1939. A few team matches were staged in 1929 and an Edinburgh team competed in the Northern League in 1930. The Edinburgh team of 1938 and 1939 was known as The Thistles and they staged a number of challenge matches.

After the war, Marine Gardens was not available and the potential of Old Meadowbank, then the home of Leith Athletic F.C., was said to have been spotted by Ian Hoskins. The Monarchs (Meadowbank Monarchs) were re-established in 1948 by a consortium including Frank Varey, ex-rider and Sheffield promoter, and R.L.Rae, a local Edinburgh businessman.

The team operated at Old Meadowbank 1948 in the National League Second Division until midway through 1954. The team finished at the bottom of the league in 1948 but improved to a best place of third before closure in 1954. Under its promoter Ian Hoskins from 1960 until 1964 the Monarchs raced in the Provincial League and were founder members of the British League that ran from 1965 to 1967. The track was used for practice sessions between 1957 - 1959.

Old Meadowbank Stadium had been purchased by the City of Edinburgh Council from Leith Athletic in 1956. Following their successful bid to host the 1970 Commonwealth Games they decided to redevelop the site of the stadium and surrounding area. The Monarchs were evicted as Speedway was not incorporated into the new Meadowbank Stadium plans due to the government of the day refusing to fund stadia which would be used by professional sports. The new stadium sits immediately west of Old Meadowbank essentially on the site of the old running track known as New Meadowbank. The team moved en bloc to a new track at Cliftonhill, Coatbridge (nearer to Glasgow than Edinburgh) and operated as the Coatbridge Monarchs for the 1968 and 1969 seasons before the track licence was sold to Wembley.


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Wikipedia

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