1969 British League season

The 1969 British League season was the 35th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the fifth season known as the British League.

Summary

The 19 competitors were the same as the previous season.
Poole Pirates won their first title. The Pirates were extremely consistent and despite their riders not coming in the top 18 league averages they won the league by a clear 6 points. Pete Smith was their top rider with an average of 9.34 but aided by four other riders, Odd Fossengen, Bruce Cribb and Gordon Guasco ) they were able to claim the title. Wimbledon Dons had a much better season than the last, finishing third and managed to retain their British League Knockout Cup crown. Belle Vue Aces finished runner-up, mainly due to the performances of their outstanding World champion rider Ivan Mauger; the New Zealander finished with an average of 11.67 and would also seal his second world title before the end of the season.

Final table

M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

Fixtures and results

+ match awarded to away team

British League Knockout Cup

The 1969 British League Knockout Cup was the 31st edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Wimbledon were the winners.
First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
10/05	Coatbridge	53–25	Hackney
06/05	Leicester	54–24	Newport
06/05	West Ham	39–39	Kings Lynn
31/05	Kings Lynn	39–39	West Ham
17/06	West Ham	36–42	Kings Lynn

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
10/07	Sheffield	52–26	Kings Lynn
17/06	West Ham	36–42	Oxford
14/06	Canterbury	51–26	Crayford
14/06	Coventry	46–32	Oxford
14/06	Cradley Heath	41–37	Glasgow
11/06	Poole	43–35	Coatbridge
09/06	Exeter	36–42	Wimbledon
09/06	Newcastle	36–42	Belle Vue
07/06	Halifax	43–35	Wolverhampton

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
02/08	Belle Vue	38–40	Sheffield
31/07	Wimbledon	49–29	Poole
21/07	Cradley Heath	41–37	Swindon
05/07	Halifax	47–31	Coventry

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
27/09	Cradley Heath	36–42	Wimbledon
21/08	Sheffield	43.5-34.5	Halifax

Final
First leg
Second leg
Wimbledon Dons were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 94-62.

Riders' Championship

Barry Briggs won the British League Riders' Championship for the fifth consecutive year, held at Hyde Road on 18 October.

Pos.

Rider

Heat Scores

Total

London Cup

Wimbledon retained the London Cup.

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Wimbledon Dons	4	4	0	0	190	121	8
2	West Ham Hammers	4	1	0	3	154	157	2
3	Hackney Hawks	4	1	0	3	122	188	2

Midland Cup

Coventry won the Midland Cup, which consisted of six teams.
First round

Team one	Team two	Score
Leicester	Wolverhampton	43–35, 38–40
Oxford	Cradley	39–39, 32–45

Semi final round

Team one	Team two	Score
Cradley	Coventry	37–41, 31–47
Leicester	Swindon	44.5–33.5, 40–38

Final
First leg
Second leg
Coventry won on aggregate '''82–74'''

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

11.67
10.09
8.58
6.41
5.92
4.60
4.33
4.30
4.14
3.84
3.56
3.24

Coatbridge

10.01
7.94
7.14
6.39
5.93
5.17
4.24
3.82

Coventry

10.78
7.55
7.36
6.81
6.67
5.54
5.41
4.83
4.74
3.28

Cradley Heath

9.27
9.11
7.93
5.29
4.90
4.31
4.15
1.29

Exeter

9.97
8.12
7.31
5.22
5.15
4.95
4.75
4.55
4.27

Glasgow

10.01
9.56
8.09
5.61
5.01
4.25
3.41
2.91

Hackney

7.35
7.05
6.33
6.17
5.45
5.10
5.03
4.88
4.50
3.10

Halifax

11.08
9.38
7.67
7.16
6.23
5.33
4.00
3.76

King's Lynn

9.35
8.14
7.72
6.44
4.95
4.89
4.19

Leicester

10.56
8.76
6.47
6.44
6.21
5.16
4.88

Newcastle

10.39
7.34
4.80
4.63
4.27
4.00
3.47
3.23

Newport

8.34
6.29
6.06
5.95
5.92
5.83
4.67
3.74
2.73

Oxford

8.08
8.03
7.24
7.00
6.65
5.27
4.17
4.00
4.00
3.61

Poole

9.34
9.05
7.73
7.31
7.26
5.55
4.50

Sheffield

9.90
8.62
8.43
6.00
5.85
5.59
5.42
3.80
0.50

Swindon

11.12
7.78
6.71
6.13
5.43
4.87
4.76
2.04

West Ham

9.78
8.49
7.91
7.69
5.30
5.03
4.07
3.63
3.62
2.20
1.87

Wimbledon

10.33
9.74
9.39
6.56
6.34
6.10
5.57
3.30

Wolverhampton

10.35
7.38
7.27
6.11
5.98
5.70
5.22
3.76
3.26