Halifax Dukes
| Halifax Dukes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club information | |||||||||
| Track address |
The Shay Shaw Hill Halifax |
||||||||
| Country | England | ||||||||
| Founded | 1928, 1949, 1965 | ||||||||
| Closed | 1930, 1952, 1985 | ||||||||
| League | British League | ||||||||
| Website | Halifax Dukes Website | ||||||||
| Club facts | |||||||||
| Colours | Red and Blue with White Elephant | ||||||||
| Track size | 370 metres (400 yd) | ||||||||
| Major team honours | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
The Halifax Dukes were a Speedway team which operated from 1949–1951 and again from 1965 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.
A team called Halifax Nomads operated racing a few fixtures in 1948, and speedway in Halifax was originally staged at Thrum Hall between 1928 and 1930.
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. The new team opened to big attendances as the sport hit another 'boom' period and the 'Dukes' popularity was re-inforced by winning the British League Championship and KO Cup in only their second year of operation, 1966. In 1969, the team's captain, local geengrocer Eric Boothroyd retired from riding after a long and successful career to join Reg Fearman as Co-Promoter. 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's Odsal Stadium to become the Bradford Dukes.
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.
...
Wikipedia