1931 Speedway Southern League

The 1931 Southern League was the third season of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom for Southern British teams, and its final season before amalgamation of the Southern and Northern Leagues. The Northern teams also had their third season known as the 1931 Speedway Northern League.

Summary

Both Birmingham teams based at Perry Barr and Hall Green had left the league but the latter did ride in the National Trophy.
Coventry returned mid-season to replace Leicester Stadium who were liquidated in late May.
Harringay Canaries resigned in June to be replaced by a Belle Vue team, who then rode both in the Northern and Southern Leagues, the latter as Manchester. Nottingham closed in July but they were not replaced and their results stood. The league season was the longest in the short history of the competition as teams met each other four times instead of twice.
The Wembley Lions won their second consecutive title finishing three points clear of 1929 champions Stamford Bridge. The league suffered a fatality during the match between Belle Vue and Wembley at Hyde Road. James Allen was thrown from his bike and hit his head on a fence, trying to avoid a rider who had fallen in front of him. He died three days later in hospital on 12 September 1931. Another rider Noel Johnson of Plymouth had been killed in a challenge match against Coventry reserves on 25 August.

Final table

Harringay scored 12 points from 14 matches, Belle Vue scored 16 from 24

** Leicester scored 1 point from 8 matches, Coventry scored 16 from 30

Fixtures & results

A fixtures

+ Awarded to Coventry

National Trophy

The 1931 National Trophy was the first edition of the Knockout Cup. It was contested between teams from the Southern and Northern Leagues.
First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
11/05	Wimbledon	67-26	Birmingham Hall Green
12/05	West Ham	51-45	Southampton
13/05	Lea Bridge	59-33	Nottingham
14/05	Exeter	34-59	High Beech
14/05	Leicester Stadium	39.5-54.5	Stamford Bridge
15/05	Hall Green	42.5-49.5	Wimbledon
16/05	High Beech	61-33	Exeter
16/05	Southampton	42-49	West Ham
16/05	Stamford Bridge	59-35	Leicester Stadium
21/05	Nottingham	46-47	Lea Bridge

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
25/05	Belle Vue	73-22	Wombwell
25/05	York	42-53	Leicester Super
26/05	Glasgow White City	43-52	Preston
28/05	Sheffield	54-40	Leeds
30/05	Leeds	39-52	Sheffield
30/05	Leicester Super	69-26	York
30/05	Wombwell	27-64	Belle Vue
04/06	Preston	70-26	Glasgow White City
08/06	Wimbledon	60-36	Crystal Palace
09/06	Harringay	?	Stamford Bridge
09/06	West Ham	44-52	Wembley
10/06	Lea Bridge	52-38	High Beech
11/06	Wembley	56-37	West Ham
13/06	Crystal Palace	48-48	Wimbledon
13/06	High Beech	55-39	Lea Bridge

Quarterfinals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
02/07	Preston	65-31	High Beech
11/07	Belle Vue	50-46	Wimbledon
11/07	Sheffield	41-55	Wembley
16/07	Leicester Super	44-50	Stamford Bridge
18/07	High Beech	48-42	Preston
23/07	Wembley	70-25	Sheffield
27/07	Wimbledon	55-41	Belle Vue
19/08	Stamford Bridge	61-31	Leicester Super

Semifinals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
10/09	Preston	43-51	Stamford Bridge
17/09	Wembley	48-47	Wimbledon
21/09	Wimbledon	46-49	Wembley
26/09	Stamford Bridge	66-30	Preston

Final

First leg
Second leg
Wembley were declared National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 120-69.

London Cup

First round
Semi final round

Team one	Score	Team two
Lea Bridge	41–55, 27–69	Crystal Palace
Stamford Bridge	50–46, 41.5–35.5	Wembley

Final

First leg
Second leg
Crystal Palace won on aggregate '''114–76'''

Riders & final averages

Crystal Palace

8.32
7.75
7.51
6.79
6.61
6.55
6.30
4.20
2.67

Harringay

10.56
6.95
5.94
5.65
5.41
5.33
5.33

High Beech

7.26
6.76
6.69
6.43
6.37
6.09
5.56
4.80
4.79
4.57
4.23
4.00
3.83

Lea Bridge

10.22
7.91
6.97
6.95
6.80
6.39
6.00
4.79
4.44
4.32
3.71

Leicester/Coventry

6.86/9.22
8.20/x
6.27/7.10
x/6.50
5.36/6.67
2.40/5.16
5.00/4.27
x/4.98
x/4.89
4.55/x
x/4.55
x/4.31
x/4.00
3.14/3.47

Manchester

8.14
6.39
6.20
6.06
6.00
5.33
5.33
3.64
3.56
3.28
3.20
3.20
2.57

Nottingham

8.93
8.26
7.58
7.29
5.07
5.03
4.57
4.00
4.00
3.72

Southampton

9.87
7.42
6.98
6.44
5.83
5.35
4.88
4.67
4.00
3.14

Stamford Bridge

10.09
10.06
8.65
8.31
6.85
6.40
5.60
5.33
5.20
4.32
4.43
Keith Harvey 4.29
4.25
3.60

Wembley

9.56
9.09
8.75
7.96
7.50
7.33
7.09
6.59
5.30
4.76
4.00
2.09

West Ham

10.55
9.32
9.00
8.79
6.90
4.13
4.10
4.36
3.79
3.25
3.09
1.71

Wimbledon

10.19
9.43
8.48
6.90
6.17
6.06
5.91
5.72
5.41
5.19
3.24