1954 Speedway National League

1954 Speedway National League
League	National League
No. of competitors	8
Champions	Wimbledon Dons
National Trophy	Wembley Lions
London Cup	Wembley Lions
Midland Cup	Birmingham Brummies
Highest average	Ronnie Moore
Division/s below	National League (Div 2); 1954 Southern Area League
	← 1953; 1955 →;

The 1954 National League Division One was the 20th season of speedway in the United Kingdom and the ninth post-war season of the highest tier of speedway.^[1]

Summary

Bristol dropped out of the league and joined the National League Division Two. Wimbledon won their first National League Championship, beginning a run of 7 titles in 8 years, ending a similar run by Wembley Lions. ^[2]^[3]^[4]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Wimbledon Dons	28	21	2	5	44
2	Wembley Lions	28	20	0	8	40
3	Bradford Tudors	28	15	0	13	30
4	Norwich Stars	27	14	0	13	28
5	West Ham Hammers	28	11	1	16	23
6	Harringay Racers	28	10	1	17	21
7	Belle Vue Aces	27	9	0	18	18
8	Birmingham Brummies	28	9	0	19	18

Top Ten Riders (League only)

	Rider	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ronnie Moore	Wimbledon	10.59
2	Jack Young	West Ham	10.55
3	Geoff Mardon	Wimbledon	10.43
4	Eddie Rigg	Bradford	10.11
5	Arthur Forrest	Bradford	10.00
6	Brian Crutcher	Wembley	9.98
7	Eric Williams	Wembley	9.79
8	Barry Briggs	Wimbledon	9.39
9	Freddie Williams	Wembley	9.18
10	Split Waterman	Harringay	9.07

National Trophy

The 1954 National Trophy was the 17th edition of the Knockout Cup.^[5]

Qualifying first round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
01/05	Edinburgh	60-48	Leicester
01/05	Rayleigh	65-43	Motherwell
30/04	Bristol	59-49	Oxford
30/04	Leicester	59-48	Edinburgh
30/04	Motherwell	64-44	Rayleigh
29/04	Ipswich	71-35	Southampton
29/04	Oxford	40-68	Bristol
29/04	Plymouth	45-63	Poole
27/04	Southampton	72-36	Ipswich
26/04	Exeter	59-49	Swindon
26/04	Poole	69-38	Plymouth
24/04	Swindon	65-43	Exeter
11/05 replay	Southampton	62-46	Ipswich
06/05 replay	Ipswich	56-52	Southampton

Qualifying second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
25/05	Southampton	61-47	Coventry
22/05	Coventry	64-44	Southampton
22/05	Edinburgh	65-43	Rayleigh
22/05	Swindon	69-39	Wolverhampton
21/05	Bristol	61-47	Poole
21/05	Rayleigh	55-52	Edinburgh
21/05	Swindon	w/o	Wolverhampton
17/05	Poole	63-45	Bristol

Qualifying Final Round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
14/06	Poole	67-41	Swindon
12/06	Edinburgh	50-57	Coventry
12/06	Swindon	53-55	Poole
05/06	Coventry	56-52	Edinburgh

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
05/07	Coventry	41-66	Bradford Odsal
03/07	Belle Vue	71-37	Poole
03/07	Bradford Odsal	84-24	Coventry
28/06	Poole	46-62	Belle Vue

Quarterfinals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
24/07	Belle Vue	61-47	Wimbledon
22/07	Wembley	70-37	West Ham
21/07	Harringay	54-54	Bradford Odsal
20/07	West Ham	50-58	Wembley
19/07	Wimbledon	76-32	Belle Vue
17/07	Bradford Odsal	78-30	Harringay
10/07	Birmingham	62-46	Norwich
08/07	Norwich	74-34	Birmingham

Semifinals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
28/08	Bradford Odsal	63-45	Wembley
28/08	Norwich	64-44	Wimbledon
23/08	Wimbledon	51-57	Norwich
05/08	Wembley	63-44	Bradford Odsal

Final

First leg

9 September 1954

Wembley Lions Brian Crutcher 15 Eric Williams 12 Tommy Price 10 Freddie Williams 8 Fred Lang 7 Trevor Redmond 5 Eric French 4 Jimmy Gooch 0	61 – 46	Norwich Stars Fred Brand 10 Cyril Roger 8 Aub Lawson 7 Bob Oakley 7 Fred Rogers 5 Phil Clarke 4 Merv Neil 3 Billy Bales 2
	^[6]

Wembley Stadium

Second leg

11 September 1954

Norwich Stars Merv Neil 14 Aub Lawson 11 Bob Oakley 8 Phil Clarke 6 Fred Rogers 4 Billy Bales 2 Cyril Roger 1 Fred Brand 0	46 – 62	Wembley Lions Brian Crutcher 14 Trevor Redmond 12 Freddie Williams 10 Eric Williams 8 Tommy Price 6 Fred Lang 6 Eric French 5 Jimmy Gooch 1
	^[6]

The Firs Stadium

Wembley were National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 123–92.

London Cup

First round

Team one	Score	Team two
Wimbledon	61–46, 56–52	Wembley

Semi final round

Team one	Score	Team two
Harringay	44–63, 48–60	Wembley
Wimbledon	69–38, 53–55	West Ham

Final

First leg

19 August 1954

Wembley Freddie Williams 17 Tommy Price 12 Eric Williams 12 Brian Crutcher 10 Trevor Redmond 8 Eric French 6 Fred Lang 3 Jimmy Gooch 1	69–38	Wimbledon Peter Moore 11 Ronnie Moore 11 Geoff Mardon 4 Cyril Maidment 4 Don Perry 3 Reg Trott 3 Barry Briggs 2 Cyril Brine 0

Wembley Stadium

Second leg

30 August 1954

Wimbledon Geoff Mardon 13 Ronnie Moore 8 Peter Moore 7 Barry Briggs 6 Cyril Brine 6 Cyril Maidment 5 Reg Trott 1 Bill Longley 1	47–61	Wembley Brian Crutcher 18 Eric Williams 15 Freddie Williams 8 Eric French 8 Jimmy Gooch 5 Trevor Redmond 5 Tommy Price 2 Fred Lang 0
	^[7]

Plough Lane

Wembley won on aggregate 130–85

Midland Cup

Birmingham won the Midland Cup, which consisted of four teams. There was one team from division 1 and three teams from division 2.

First round

Team one	Team two	Score
Oxford	Leicester	56–28, 47–49

Semi final round

Team one	Team two	Score
Oxford	Coventry	61–35, 34–62

Final

First leg

9 October 1954

Birmingham Ron Mountford 12 Alan Hunt 11 Doug Davies 11 Hec Mayhead 7 Jim Tolley 6 Eric Boothroyd 6 Harry Bastable 2 Vic Hall 0	55–40	Coventry Charlie New 11 Tommy Miller 9 Jim Lightfoot 5 Johnnie Reason 4 Reg Duval 4 Derrick Tailby 4 Vic Emms 2 Bob Mark 1

Perry Barr Stadium

Second leg

16 October 1954

Coventry Charlie New 11 Tommy Miller 9 Bob Mark 8 Johnnie Reason 7 Les Tolley 7 Derrick Tailby 6 Vic Emms 6 Jim Lightfoot 1	55–41	Birmingham Alan Hunt 12 Doug Davies 11 Jim Tolley 6 Eric Boothroyd 6 Vic Hall 3 Harry Bastable 1 Alan Pearce 1 Cyril Page 1
	^[8]

Brandon Stadium

Birmingham won on aggregate 96–95

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Peter Craven 8.47
Ron Johnston 8.41
Rune Sörmander 7.60
Ken Sharples 7.27
Harry Edwards 5.66
Don Cuppleditch 5.20
Jack Parker 4.58
Bob Duckworth 4.25
Dick Fisher 3.93
Willie Wilson 3.28
Bob Fletcher 2.86
Peter Williams 1.71

Birmingham

Alan Hunt 8.68
Ron Mountford 7.39
Eric Boothroyd 6.54
Arthur Payne 5.60
Jim Tolley 5.14
Ivor Davies 3.72
Les Jenkins 3.69
Doug Davies 3.68
Hec Mayhead 3.33
Harry Bastable 3.04
Ron Barrett 1.84
Dennis Bennett 1.43

Bradford

Eddie Rigg 10.11
Arthur Forrest 10.00
Arthur Wright 8.83
Ron Clarke 5.76
Keith Milner 5.70
Dent Oliver 5.43
Al Allison 5.08
Dick Seers 3.71
Guy Allott 3.11
Wal Morton 2.00

Harringay

Split Waterman 9.07
Jack Biggs 7.42
Ron How 7.20
Ken Walsh 5.43
Danny Dunton 5.17
Frank Lawrence 4.98
Allan Quinn 4.82
Alf Hagon 4.79
Jeff Lloyd 4.73

Norwich

Billy Bales 6.90
Aub Lawson 8.87
Fred Rogers 7.58
Cyril Roger 7.81
Bob Oakley 6.52
Phil Clarke 6.51
Merv Neil 6.46
Fred Brand 6.48
Roy Craighead 5.20
Fred Pawson 3.43
Barry East 2.55

Wembley

Brian Crutcher 9.98
Eric Williams 9.79
Freddie Williams 9.18
Trevor Redmond 7.93
Tommy Price 7.02
Jimmy Gooch 6.29
Eric French 6.26
Fred Lang 3.66
George Wilks 2.67

West Ham

Jack Young 10.55
Gerry Hussey 8.16
Wally Green 7.35
Bert Roger 5.64
Howdy Byford 5.32
Pat Clark 5.03
Alan Smith 4.70
Malcolm Craven 4.77
Keith Gurtner 4.26
Terry Courtnell 3.17

Wimbledon

Ronnie Moore 10.59
Geoff Mardon 10.43
Barry Briggs 9.39
Olle Nygren 9.00
Peter Moore 7.08
Dom Perry 6.64
Cyril Brine 6.47
Bill Longley 6.09
Cyril Maidment 5.87
Reg Trott 4.68

References

^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
^ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
^ "1953 National Trophy". Speedway archive.
^ ^a ^b "1954 National Trophy". Speedway Archive. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
^ "Wembley's Cup 9 times". Daily Herald. 31 August 1954. Retrieved 26 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Bees just failed in Midland Cup". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 18 October 1954. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.