1946 Speedway Northern League

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]

1946 Speedway Northern League
LeagueNorthern League
No. of competitors6
ChampionsMiddlesbrough Bears
A.C.U CupNorwich Stars
Highest averageJeff Lloyd
Division/s above1946 Speedway National League

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

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.

A.C.U. Cup (Div 2) 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

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

Newcastle

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

See also

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.
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