The 1946 Northern League was a season of speedway racing in the United Kingdom for Northern British teams in 1946. With a National League in place and no Southern counterpart, it was effectively a second tier.

Four of the six entrants were previously members of National League Division Two before war broke out. Glasgow and Birmingham were new entrants.

Middlesbrough Bears won their first trophy. The Bears only lost four league fixtures and had three riders in the leading averages; Frank Hodgson, Fred Curtis and Will Plant all contributed significantly during the season.

During a fixture on 7 October at Brough Park the Birmingham Brummies Canadian rider Charlie Appleby crashed. A rider had fallen in front and in an effort to avoid the fallen rider, Appleby swerved and hit the machine instead. He was thrown into the air and suffered a fractured skull. He was taken to Newcastle Infirmary but died during the early hours of 8 October.

Northern League Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Middlesbrough Bears 20 12 4 4 282 Sheffield Tigers 20 11 1 8 233 Norwich Stars 20 10 1 9 214 Birmingham Brummies 20 9 1 10 195 Newcastle Brough 20 8 1 11 176 Glasgow Tigers 20 6 0 14 12

Fixtures & results A fixtures

B fixtures

A.C.U. Cup (Div 2) On account of the small number of teams in the league the ACU Cup was run in a league format. Norwich Stars came out on top on points difference.

Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Norwich Stars 10 6 2 2 142 Middlesbrough Bears 10 7 0 3 143 Sheffield Tigers 10 6 0 4 124 Birmingham Brummies 10 4 1 5 95 Glasgow Tigers 10 3 0 7 66 Newcastle Brough 10 2 1 7 5

Top five riders (league only) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Jeff Lloyd Newcastle 10.38 2 Frank Hodgson Middlesbrough 10.38 3 Bert Spencer Norwich 10.15 4 Tommy Allott Sheffield 10.00 5 Stan Williams Sheffield 9.75

Riders & final averages

Birmingham

9.42 9.04 8.73 8.00 6.40 5.46 4.19 3.67 3.29 Charlie Appleby 3.12 2.93 2.22

Glasgow

9.67 8.65 7.90 7.57 6.30 4.12 4.00 3.57 2.91 2.67 0.89

Middlesbrough

10.38 9.68 9.45 7.27 6.95 6.51 6.45 6.29 5.50 4.71 2.33

Newcastle

10.38 8.90 7.77 6.86 6.79 4.51 4.11 3.70 2.00 1.33

Norwich

10.15 9.00 (Horace Burke) 8.20 7.59 6.22 5.71 4.52 4.00 3.94 1.60 1.14 1.00

Sheffield

10.00 9.75 8.00 6.56 5.64 4.84 3.79 3.75 3.49 3.27

See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)

References