Post by coombes on Jun 22, 2011 13:08:03 GMT 1
Next month is the fortieth anniversary of the Nordic British Final being staged at Hampden and I have always thought it was the greatest event ever held in Scotland, but thinking about it again I’m not so sure - what do you guys think?
Hampden was certainly an unpopular choice with English fans and English based riders alike. Briggo growled that the track was bad and the geography worse, although that was after he had been eliminated, ending an unbroken run of World final appearances. The track had come in for widespread criticism. Maintenance was awkward as parts of the third and fourth bend, and most of the home straight, were often in the shade, while the rest of the track baked in the long hot summer of 1971. I remember Neil Mcfarlane punching the air when Jim McMillan fortuitously broke the track record in the week before the Nordic British staging.
Sadly Jim’s World Championship quest never got off the ground as he was nursing a broken collarbone, courtesy of being “chopped” by Bernie Persson when entering the third bend in an early season meeting. Ironically, Bert Harkins, Scotland’s sole representative in the Nordic British event was also nursing a collarbone injury. He was neither fast enough nor fit enough to withstand Ray Wilson’s challenge and his hopes ended in a heap. In retrospect, maybe he shouldn’t have been allowed to ride.
The meeting attracted a reasonable, but not great crowd, variously estimated at 6000-8000. However the opening meeting at Hampden in 1969, and indeed the opening meeting at Shawfield, almost twenty years later, attracted similar attendances while Paisley’s televised Strathclyde Championship attracted close to twice that number, even if only a few thousand actually paid
The Nordic British Final was a World Quarter Final – the next stage was the European Final at Wembley and then the Final in Sweden- but then again the British Semi-Final staged at the White City in 1965 was also two steps from the World Final – British Final at West Ham, then the final at Wembley.
It seems unlikely that we will ever see its like again – or will we? Certainly some tentative enquiries were made about staging a GP at Hampden but they never got beyond that. However the stadium is a great shape for speedway as it is one of the few anywhere in the country to have space for a track behind the goals.
Other contenders for Scotland’s greatest ever meeting include the two Scotland versus Russia test matches, one in torrential rain in Edinburgh in 1965, the other on a fine sunny night at the White City in 1966. While the two test against Poland in the same decade must also be considered, both in Edinburgh, a mammoth defeat on the day England contrived to be awarded the football World Cup at Wembley, and the other, the following year when a Scots side bolstered by Persson and Eide took care of the Poles fairly easily. I am sure, that sadly, it will be quite some time before we see a Scottish representative side again. Who knows? The Thistle may yet rise again, and we may yet see another Scotland versus Poland meeting at some level. There may be enough Poles now resident in the west of Scotland to make this viable. However I would doubt that we will ever see a Russian side in Scotland ever again, and with that in mind, must conclude that the Scotland versus Russia test at the White City was Scotland’s greatest ever meeting. Like I said at the start – what do you think
Hampden was certainly an unpopular choice with English fans and English based riders alike. Briggo growled that the track was bad and the geography worse, although that was after he had been eliminated, ending an unbroken run of World final appearances. The track had come in for widespread criticism. Maintenance was awkward as parts of the third and fourth bend, and most of the home straight, were often in the shade, while the rest of the track baked in the long hot summer of 1971. I remember Neil Mcfarlane punching the air when Jim McMillan fortuitously broke the track record in the week before the Nordic British staging.
Sadly Jim’s World Championship quest never got off the ground as he was nursing a broken collarbone, courtesy of being “chopped” by Bernie Persson when entering the third bend in an early season meeting. Ironically, Bert Harkins, Scotland’s sole representative in the Nordic British event was also nursing a collarbone injury. He was neither fast enough nor fit enough to withstand Ray Wilson’s challenge and his hopes ended in a heap. In retrospect, maybe he shouldn’t have been allowed to ride.
The meeting attracted a reasonable, but not great crowd, variously estimated at 6000-8000. However the opening meeting at Hampden in 1969, and indeed the opening meeting at Shawfield, almost twenty years later, attracted similar attendances while Paisley’s televised Strathclyde Championship attracted close to twice that number, even if only a few thousand actually paid
The Nordic British Final was a World Quarter Final – the next stage was the European Final at Wembley and then the Final in Sweden- but then again the British Semi-Final staged at the White City in 1965 was also two steps from the World Final – British Final at West Ham, then the final at Wembley.
It seems unlikely that we will ever see its like again – or will we? Certainly some tentative enquiries were made about staging a GP at Hampden but they never got beyond that. However the stadium is a great shape for speedway as it is one of the few anywhere in the country to have space for a track behind the goals.
Other contenders for Scotland’s greatest ever meeting include the two Scotland versus Russia test matches, one in torrential rain in Edinburgh in 1965, the other on a fine sunny night at the White City in 1966. While the two test against Poland in the same decade must also be considered, both in Edinburgh, a mammoth defeat on the day England contrived to be awarded the football World Cup at Wembley, and the other, the following year when a Scots side bolstered by Persson and Eide took care of the Poles fairly easily. I am sure, that sadly, it will be quite some time before we see a Scottish representative side again. Who knows? The Thistle may yet rise again, and we may yet see another Scotland versus Poland meeting at some level. There may be enough Poles now resident in the west of Scotland to make this viable. However I would doubt that we will ever see a Russian side in Scotland ever again, and with that in mind, must conclude that the Scotland versus Russia test at the White City was Scotland’s greatest ever meeting. Like I said at the start – what do you think