Sandwell Cycle Speedway History

Sandwell Lions Cycle-Speedway Club
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Brief History The origins of the club go back to 1947 when Charlie Humphrey who lived in Balsall Heath Road in Birmingham and who attended Dennis Road School in the same district, was shown a cycle speedway bike by one of his school friends and began laying the outline of a track on a bomb-site in Balsall Heath Road. Charlie and his friends raced against each other on the basic track and the best of the pioneer riders was Ray Goode whose father F.L.Goode took an immediate interest in this new spot and set about organising a new club which in 1948 joined the Birmingham and District League. Frederick Leonard Goode had been a great sportsman himself in his youth having been a successful amateur athlete of some note in the Rhondda Valley where he was born, playing professional football as a centre half with Everton, and competing in motorcycle trials and grass track racing as a teenager, but in cycle speedway he found the true sporting love of his life and remained a great servant to the sport until his death in 1972. The original intention was to call the club Balsall Heath Panthers but Mr Goode thought the name too parochial and the somewhat grander name of Birmingham Lions was adopted instead. Mr Goode was a great organiser and on of his first tasks was to turn the original track at right angles to make room for the huge hordes of spectators who were attracted to watch this exciting new sport which was at that time sweeping the country. The track was levelled and surfaced with rolled cinders and with a circumference of 118 yards was soon recognised as the largest and fastest track in Birmingham, and the team developed into a major force in local racing with a great and often extremely bitter rivalry developing with Kingstanding Monarchs (these days identified as the “Birmingham” team racing at Perry Hall). Although the Balsall Heath Road track was on a bomb-site, the circuit soon boasted a safety fence, public address system, and floodlights and Sunday morning fixtures attracted large crowds. The team prospered, reaching the Semi-Finals of the British Team Championship for the first time in 1951 but losing by two points in controversial circumstances against the Manchester club Carrs Wood at Leicester, and although the club were later losing semi-finalists again in 1959 when they were beaten by the Bradford club Lindale and reached the same stage twice more in more recent years, national honours have always eluded them. The early 1960’s saw harder times for the club and the sport. The Balsall Heath Road track was lost to redevelopment in 1961 and it seemed that the club would collapse after withdrawing from the league after only two away matches had been raced. Birmingham City Council were indifferent to the club’s request for help in finding a new site, but towards the end of the season the rump of the membership reconstructed a disused circuit in Kent Road, Quinton and two challenge matches were raced at the new venue with the club re-entering the league the following season. There were soon to be more problems though when Halesowen Council who were the owners of the Kent Road site, refused permission for it to be used for cycle speedway and the club were homeless again, but continued to race away fixtures whilst the search for a suitable alternative site continued, and another disused track was soon located at Oldbury a few miles outside the City in Old Park Lane. This had been abandoned in 1947 by the short-lived Oldbury Stars club and was completely overgrown with weeds, but with a supreme effort the weeds were cleared within two weeks and racing resumed on a reasonably presentable circuit, but now being sited outside the City of Birmingham, the club decided to change its name to Oldbury Lions and continued to operated at the new site until the end of the 1969 season when Oldbury Council advised that the land was required for the construction of the new M5 motorway. For a time it seemed that the track might survive when the sweep of the new motorway curved away from it, but a 24 inch diameter pipeline eventually cut straight across the circuit and overnight, the track had disappeared. Negotiations had been continuing with Oldbury council and led to the offer of a piece of land adjoining Tividale Sportsground which the council had just purchased from the local company Edwin Danks Ltd. The offer was for the use of the land only, and the club were required to construct and maintain the track at its own expense. It was all that was on offer and it was accepted gradually been improved to its present situation and which has won praise from all parts for the quality of the racing and for its facilities and presentation. The merger of the Town of Oldbury with other local towns of Rowley Regis and Smethwick to form the Town of Warley and the later combination of Warley with Tipton, Wednesbury, and West Bromwich to create the new Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, inspired the club to adopt its present title of Sandwell, and the club had progressed to become one of cycle speedway best known names.
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Brief History

The origins of the club go back to 1947 when Charlie Humphrey who lived in Balsall Heath Road in Birmingham and who attended Dennis Road School in the same district, was shown a cycle speedway bike by one of his school friends and began laying the outline of a track on a bomb-site in Balsall Heath Road. Charlie and his friends raced against each other on the basic track and the best of the pioneer riders was Ray Goode whose father F.L.Goode took an immediate interest in this new spot and set about organising a new club which in 1948 joined the Birmingham and District League.

Frederick Leonard Goode had been a great sportsman himself in his youth having been a successful amateur athlete of some note in the Rhondda Valley where he was born, playing professional football as a centre half with Everton, and competing in motorcycle trials and grass track racing as a teenager, but in cycle speedway he found the true sporting love of his life and remained a great servant to the sport until his death in 1972.

The original intention was to call the club Balsall Heath Panthers but Mr Goode thought the name too parochial and the somewhat grander name of Birmingham Lions was adopted instead. Mr Goode was a great organiser and on of his first tasks was to turn the original track at right angles to make room for the huge hordes of spectators who were attracted to watch this exciting new sport which was at that time sweeping the country.

The track was levelled and surfaced with rolled cinders and with a circumference of 118 yards was soon recognised as the largest and fastest track in Birmingham, and the team developed into a major force in local racing with a great and often extremely bitter rivalry developing with Kingstanding Monarchs (these days identified as the “Birmingham” team racing at Perry Hall). Although the Balsall Heath Road track was on a bomb-site, the circuit soon boasted a safety fence, public address system, and floodlights and Sunday morning fixtures attracted large crowds.

The team prospered, reaching the Semi-Finals of the British Team Championship for the first time in 1951 but losing by two points in controversial circumstances against the Manchester club Carrs Wood at Leicester, and although the club were later losing semi-finalists again in 1959 when they were beaten by the Bradford club Lindale and reached the same stage twice more in more recent years, national honours have always eluded them.

The early 1960’s saw harder times for the club and the sport. The Balsall Heath Road track was lost to redevelopment in 1961 and it seemed that the club would collapse after withdrawing from the league after only two away matches had been raced. Birmingham City Council were indifferent to the club’s request for help in finding a new site, but towards the end of the season the rump of the membership reconstructed a disused circuit in Kent Road, Quinton and two challenge matches were raced at the new venue with the club re-entering the league the following season.

There were soon to be more problems though when Halesowen Council who were the owners of the Kent Road site, refused permission for it to be used for cycle speedway and the club were homeless again, but continued to race away fixtures whilst the search for a suitable alternative site continued, and another disused track was soon located at Oldbury a few miles outside the City in Old Park Lane. This had been abandoned in 1947 by the short-lived Oldbury Stars club and was completely overgrown with weeds, but with a supreme effort the weeds were cleared within two weeks and racing resumed on a reasonably presentable circuit, but now being sited outside the City of Birmingham, the club decided to change its name to Oldbury Lions and continued to operated at the new site until the end of the 1969 season when Oldbury Council advised that the land was required for the construction of the new M5 motorway. For a time it seemed that the track might survive when the sweep of the new motorway curved away from it, but a 24 inch diameter pipeline eventually cut straight across the circuit and overnight, the track had disappeared.

Negotiations had been continuing with Oldbury council and led to the offer of a piece of land adjoining Tividale Sportsground which the council had just purchased from the local company Edwin Danks Ltd. The offer was for the use of the land only, and the club were required to construct and maintain the track at its own expense. It was all that was on offer and it was accepted gradually been improved to its present situation and which has won praise from all parts for the quality of the racing and for its facilities and presentation.

The merger of the Town of Oldbury with other local towns of Rowley Regis and Smethwick to form the Town of Warley and the later combination of Warley with Tipton, Wednesbury, and West Bromwich to create the new Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, inspired the club to adopt its present title of Sandwell, and the club had progressed to become one of cycle speedway best known names.