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Wembley and West Ham, drawing an estimated crowd of 85,000 with 20,000 locked outside, listening to a BBC radio commentary of the match via loudspeakers set up in the car park. Towards the mid-1950s speedway crowds fell away dramatically and
Wembley's last season in 1956 saw average attendances of around the 15,000 mark.
250:
continued in the
National League, winning the title in the opening season in 1946. The following season they retained their title. The Lions operated until the end of the 1956 season, winning the title a further five times (successive titles between 1949 and 1953) but in 1957 they withdrew from the
304:
continuously from 1936 to 1938 and then when it was re-introduced after World War II from 1949 to 1960. It went on to stage the championship a further nine times before the last contest at
Wembley in 1981. Lions riders won in 1936 (Lionel Van Praag), 1949 (Tommy Price), and 1950 and 1953 (Freddie
266:
During this era, speedway went through the biggest crowd "boom" in its history. Wembley, who ran league meetings every
Thursday, had by far the biggest crowds. The average weekly attendances were around the 60,000 mark from 1946–1951, with one meeting of note, a London Cup match between
291:
promoter Ian
Hoskins who was operating at Coatbridge. The Lions only managed to stay in operation for two seasons due to the stadium not being able to support speedway at all times due to commitments to other events being held there.
35:
1181:
1186:
1135:
1065:
1045:
636:
384:
226:
which they won at the first attempt. The Lions continued to compete in the
National League until the outbreak of
223:
126:
1148:
654:
330:
259:. Many of the Wembley "home" meetings in 1948 were staged at Wimbledon as the Empire Stadium was used for the
978:
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280:
137:
256:
191:
55:
1102:
1077:
167:
233:
287:
and
Bernard Cottrell bought their licence and the contracts of some of the riders from the
260:
8:
187:
288:
1015:+3rd when season suspended and jointly declared National Trophy winner with Belle Vue
190:
team which operated from 1929 until their closure in 1971. Their track was located at
1131:
1061:
1041:
546:
456:
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348:
284:
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557:
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also hosted the
British Riders' Championships Finals 1946 to 1948.
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413:
377:
341:
323:
306:
276:
247:
222:, winning it in 1930 and 1931. The 1932 season saw them join the
205:
The original stadium which hosted speedway has been redeveloped.
73:
59:
359:
199:
63:
647:
629:
251:
league before the season started due to the death of
1147:
1103:"BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)"
1078:"BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - PRE-WAR ERA (1929-1939)"
1173:
132:1932, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953
1182:Defunct speedway teams in the United Kingdom
864:champions & British Speedway Cup winner
218:After opening in 1929, the Lions joined the
312:
232:
172:1930, 1932, 1933, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951
237:Tommy Price's Wembley Lions race jacket
1174:
1164:– via British Newspaper Archive.
1056:Jacobs, N. & Lipscomb, P.(2005).
13:
1058:Wembley Speedway The Pre-War Years
1036:Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001).
33:
14:
1203:
1107:Official British Speedway website
1082:Official British Speedway website
663:
302:Speedway World Championship Final
646:
628:
610:
592:
574:
556:
538:
520:
502:
484:
466:
448:
430:
412:
394:
376:
358:
340:
322:
279:speedway returned, entering the
208:
1140:
1120:
1095:
1070:
1050:
1030:
1:
1023:
979:1956 Speedway National League
967:1955 Speedway National League
951:1954 Speedway National League
938:1953 Speedway National League
925:1952 Speedway National League
912:1951 Speedway National League
899:1950 Speedway National League
886:1949 Speedway National League
870:1948 Speedway National League
857:1947 Speedway National League
844:1946 Speedway National League
828:1939 Speedway National League
816:1938 Speedway National League
804:1937 Speedway National League
792:1936 Speedway National League
780:1935 Speedway National League
768:1934 Speedway National League
756:1933 Speedway National League
739:1932 Speedway National League
722:1931 Speedway Southern League
709:1930 Speedway Southern League
697:1929 Speedway Southern League
295:
16:For the ice hockey team, see
1000:
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736:
719:
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694:
270:
241:
148:British Speedway Cup Winners
143:1931, 1932, 1939, 1948, 1954
41:Wembley Lions Speedway Badge
7:
300:Wembley Stadium staged the
220:Southern League (1929-1931)
10:
1208:
1003:1971 British League season
1001:
991:1970 British League season
989:
977:
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936:
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15:
1038:Homes of British Speedway
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108:
100:
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87:
79:
69:
51:
46:
32:
27:
1187:Speedway teams in London
687:
1126:Jacobs, Norman (2001).
313:Notable Wembley riders
238:
38:
1149:"Wembley Lions split"
236:
37:
261:1948 Summer Olympics
681:
188:motorcycle speedway
1156:. 29 February 1972
1128:Speedway in London
680:
289:Edinburgh Monarchs
255:, the chairman of
239:
117:Major team honours
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685:Year and league
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673:Extended content
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637:Freddie Williams
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547:Lionel Van Praag
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253:Sir Arthur Elvin
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112:378 yards (345m)
47:Club information
25:
24:
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1201:
1200:
1198:
1197:
1196:
1192:Wembley Stadium
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1154:Hull Daily Mail
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959:National Trophy
878:National Trophy
836:National Trophy
748:National Trophy
731:National Trophy
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457:Wally Kilmister
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273:
271:1970–1971
257:Wembley Stadium
244:
242:1946–1957
224:National League
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192:Wembley Stadium
157:Southern League
138:National Trophy
127:National League
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746:champions and
744:
741:
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734:
729:champions and
727:
724:
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714:
711:
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686:
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664:Season summary
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660:
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643:
641:
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623:
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605:
589:
587:
583:Split Waterman
571:
569:
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349:Brian Crutcher
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297:
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285:Trevor Redmond
281:British League
272:
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246:After the war
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56:Empire Stadium
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1136:0-7524-2221-9
1133:
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1123:
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1104:
1098:
1083:
1079:
1073:
1067:
1066:0-7524-3750-X
1063:
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1047:
1046:0-7524-2210-3
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671:
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655:Eric Williams
649:
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338:
336:
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331:Frank Charles
325:
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286:
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278:
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264:
262:
258:
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249:
235:
231:
229:
225:
221:
209:Brief history
206:
203:
201:
197:
193:
189:
185:
184:Wembley Lions
171:
169:
166:
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158:
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104:Red and White
103:
99:
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90:
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78:
75:
72:
68:
65:
61:
57:
54:
52:Track address
50:
45:
36:
31:
28:Wembley Lions
26:
23:
19:
18:Wembley Lions
1158:. Retrieved
1153:
1142:
1127:
1122:
1110:. Retrieved
1106:
1097:
1085:. Retrieved
1081:
1072:
1057:
1052:
1037:
1032:
1014:
619:George Wilks
601:Colin Watson
565:Ray Tauscher
511:Jack Ormston
475:Bill Kitchen
403:Bert Harkins
299:
283:. Promoters
274:
265:
245:
228:World War II
217:
204:
196:Wembley Park
183:
181:
22:
1160:5 September
529:Tommy Price
493:Ginger Lees
421:Dave Jessup
305:Williams).
1176:Categories
1024:References
945:champions
932:champions
919:champions
906:champions
893:champions
851:champions
716:champions
367:Ove Fundin
296:Big events
168:London Cup
162:1930, 1931
109:Track size
96:Club facts
1112:14 August
1087:14 August
688:Position
439:Nobby Key
275:In 1970,
159:Champions
129:Champions
838:winner+
186:were a
961:winner
880:winner
750:winner
733:winner
307:Wembley
277:Wembley
248:Wembley
214:Pre-war
140:Winners
101:Colours
80:Founded
74:England
70:Country
60:Wembley
1134:
1064:
1044:
691:Notes
200:London
88:Closed
64:London
1162:2024
1132:ISBN
1114:2021
1089:2021
1062:ISBN
1042:ISBN
995:14th
832:3rd+
182:The
151:1947
91:1971
83:1929
1040:.
1007:9th
983:2nd
971:3rd
955:2nd
942:1st
929:1st
916:1st
903:1st
890:1st
874:4th
861:1st
848:1st
820:3rd
808:2nd
796:2nd
784:4th
772:2nd
760:6th
743:1st
726:1st
713:1st
701:5th
1178::
1152:.
1130:.
1105:.
1080:.
1060:.
263:.
230:.
202:.
198:,
194:,
1116:.
1091:.
20:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
