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(Manchester) withdrew from the league following a dispute and would have been crowned champions if they had not withdrawn.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 Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Leeds 20 16 1 3 332 Preston 20 14 0 6 283 Halifax 19 12 1 6 254 Newcastle 20 10 0 10 205 Salford 20 10 0 10 206 Rochdale 20 9 1 19 197 Leicester Stadium 20 9 0 11 188 Liverpool 18 8 0 10 169 Sheffield 20 6 1 13 1310 Middlesbrough 19 6 0 13 1211 Barnsley Lundwood 20 6 0 14 12
Withdrawals (Records expunged) : Belle Vue Aces Bolton Burnley Hanley White City Speedway (Manchester) Warrington
Fixtures & results
Top Five Riders Team C.M.A. 1 Syd Jackson Leicester 10.71 2 Joe Abbott Burnley/Preston 10.50 3 Ham Burrill Preston 9.44 4 Charlie Hornby Warrington 8.88 5 Walter Creasor Newcastle/Halifax 8.50
English Dirt Track Knockout Cup
First round Date Team one Score Team two03/08Barnsley Lundwood 32–30 Sheffield10/08Rochdale 39–23 Salford10/08Sheffield 33–30 Barnsley Lundwood13/08Middlesbrough 25–38 Newcastle16/08Manchester White City 50–13 Warrington21/08Liverpool 16–47 Preston22/08Halifax 49–13 Leeds22/08Leicester Stadium 34–27 Leicester Super22/08Preston 44–19 Liverpool23/08Newcastle 38–24 Middlesbrough23/08Warrington 33–29 Manchester White City24/08Leeds 32–31 Halifax24/08Leicester Super 30–32 Leicester Stadium24/08Nottingham 35–23 Wombwell26/08Salford 37–26 Rochdale29/08Wombwell 38–24 Nottingham Second round Date Team one Score Team two12/09Halifax 35–25 Wombwell14/09Rochdale 30–33 Leicester Stadium16/09Wombwell 31–31 Halifax18/09Sheffield 35–28 Preston19/09Leicester Stadium 35–27 Rochdale19/09Preston 55–11 Sheffield Manchester White Cityw/o Newcastle Semifinals Date Team one Score Team two19/09Halifax 44–19 Newcastle20/09Newcastle37–25 Halifax21/09Preston 48–14 Leicester Stadium03/10Leicester Stadium 39–24 Preston
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
Arthur Atkinson Cyril "Squib" Burton Bert Clayton George Corney Walter Creasor Jack Duddings Dusty Haigh Geoff Kilburn George Reynard Frank Smith Geoff Taylor Alec Tidswell Geoff Wilson
Leeds
Arthur Atkinson Dennis Atkinson Roy Barrowclough Tommy Bullus Billy Burrows Tommy Gamble George Greenwood Alec Hill Eric Langton Oliver Langton Arnold Moore John Scratcherd
Leicester
Stan Baines Alec Bowerman Len Brown Squib Burton Billy Ellmore Jimmy Gent Dilly Gittins Hal Herbert Syd Jackson Nobby Kendrick Slider Shuttleworth Henry Taft
Liverpool
Eric Blain Larry Boulton Crasher Coxhead Chris Hughes Eddie Myerscough Syd Plevin Thomas Arthur Price Les Wotton
Manchester White City (withdrew)
Cyril "Squib" Burton Larry Boulton Billy Dallison Harry Gresty Walter Hull Syd Jackson Arthur Jervis Hugh Jervis Rex Kirby Jack Owen Skid Skinner Bunny Wilcox Tommy Withington Les Wotton
Middlesbrough
James Allen Dick Bailey Charlie Barratt Billy Brown Dan Buck Ron Carling Edde Crenston Broncho Dixon Norman Evans Frank Harrison
Newcastle
Phil Blake Gordon Byers Arnie Cattell Fred Creasor Walter Creasor Percy Dunn Charles Sanderson Roy Sanderson Ernie Smith Tommy Storey Bud Thompson
Preston
Joe Abbott Bill Anderton Ham Burrill Frank Charles Jack Chiswell Frank Chiswell Doug Hutchings Jack Lund Len Mysercough Thomas Arthur Price Claude Rye
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 (withdrew)
Cyril Crowther Norman Dawson Ezra Deakin Harold Formby Tommy Hach Charlie Horby Phil Hughes Alec McLachlan Tom Middlehurst George Milton Harry Solomon Jack Wood
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
References