1929 Speedway English Dirt Track League


The 1929 English Dirt Track League was the inaugural season of speedway in the United Kingdom, featuring from Northern England. In the same year, the 1929 Speedway Southern League also commenced, catering to teams from Southern England The sport had been introduced to England in 1928 at High Beech Speedway.

Summary

The season was marked by mid-season withdrawals, but Leeds were ultimately crowned champions. In 1930, the league was renamed the Northern League, thus existing for only one year. White City Speedway (Manchester) withdrew from the league following a dispute and would have been crowned champions if they had not withdrawn. At the time of their departure, they were leading the table by four points, having won 18 of their 20 matches.
The introduction of speedway in Middlesbrough at the Cleveland Park Stadium was a success with the team holding their first home fixture was on 16 May 1929 against Salford. However, on 12 July 1929, Dennis Atkinson suffered critical injuries following an accident at Cleveland Park, riding in a Golden Helmet meeting. He died the following day.

Final table

Withdrawals :

English Dirt Track Knockout Cup

First round
DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
03/08Barnsley Lundwood32–30Sheffield
10/08Rochdale39–23Salford
10/08Sheffield33–30Barnsley Lundwood
13/08Middlesbrough25–38Newcastle
16/08Manchester White City50–13Warrington
21/08Liverpool16–47Preston
22/08Halifax49–13Leeds
22/08Leicester Stadium34–27Leicester Super
22/08Preston 44–19Liverpool
23/08Newcastle38–24Middlesbrough
23/08Warrington33–29Manchester White City
24/08Leeds32–31Halifax
24/08Leicester Super30–32Leicester Stadium
24/08Nottingham35–23Wombwell
26/08Salford 37–26Rochdale
29/08Wombwell38–24Nottingham

Second round
DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
12/09Halifax35–25Wombwell
14/09Rochdale30–33Leicester Stadium
16/09Wombwell31–31Halifax
18/09Sheffield35–28Preston
19/09Leicester Stadium35–27Rochdale
19/09Preston55–11Sheffield
Manchester White Cityw/oNewcastle

Semifinals
DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
19/09Halifax44–19Newcastle
20/09Newcastle37–25Halifax
21/09Preston48–14Leicester Stadium
03/10Leicester Stadium39–24Preston

Final

First leg
Second leg
Preston were Knockout Cup winners, winning on aggregate 87–39.

Riders

Barnsley
  • Bob Allen
  • Tommy Allott
  • Albert Brown
  • Bert Round
  • Fred Ledger
  • Reg Marshall
  • Joe Mitchell
  • Arthur Moore
  • Tommy Thompson
  • Charlie Ward
Halifax
Leeds
Leicester
Liverpool
Manchester White City
Middlesbrough
Newcastle
  • Phil Blake
  • Gordon Byers
  • Arnie Cattell
  • Fred Creasor
  • Walter Creasor
  • Percy Dunn
  • Charles Sanderson
  • Roy Sanderson
  • Ernie Smith
  • Tommy Storey
  • Bud Thompson
Preston
Rochdale
  • Jack Atkinson
  • Buster Breaks
  • Cyril "Squib" Burton
  • Ben Higginbottom
  • Wally Hicklin
  • Scott Michie
  • Skid Nock
  • Bud Proctor
  • Fred Proctor
  • Ron Thompson
Salford
  • Hen Helsby
  • Billy Howard
  • Tommy Mason
  • Ken Miller
  • Sid Newiss
  • Tommy Simpson
  • A.J. Ward
  • Cliff Watson
  • Arthur Wilcock
  • Cyril Wilcock
  • Fred Williams
Sheffield
  • Jack Barber
  • Clem Beckett
  • Frank Bianchi
  • Johnny Broughton
  • George Crawshaw
  • Scotty Cummings
  • Eric Hall
  • Dusty Jenkins
  • Arthur Longley
  • Gus Platts
  • W.S. Shuker
  • Spencer Stratton
  • Arthur Westwood
Warrington
  • Cyril Crowther
  • Norman Dawson
  • Ezra Deakin
  • Harold Formby
  • Tommy Hach
  • Charlie Horby
  • Phil Hughes
  • Alec McLachlan
  • Tom Middlehurst
  • George Milton
  • Harry Solomon
  • Jack Wood