Book Review: From Hampden Park to Workington

Respected speedway historian Jim Henry has teamed up with Doug Nicolson from Backtrack and Classic Speedway Memories to bring ''From Hampden Park to Workington - Glasgow Speedway 1969 to 1987" to the speedway book market. This is a follow on from Jim's previous works on earlier periods in the sport's history in Scotland's biggest city.

The Tigers have always had a nomadic existence, particularly during this 1969 to 1987 period. Moving into the vast arena of Hampden Park, decamping to former enemy territory at Coatbridge, passing through two different tracks in Blantyre then ending up 150 miles away in a different country. Quite remarkable that they managed to survive such a tumultuous couple of decades.

The stadia were generally occupied in order of declining grandeur, with quite a contrast between the national football stadium at Hampden Park to the desperate surroundings of Craighead Park in Blantyre. John Callaghan once perfectly summed up the second Blantyre track as "situated in a splendidly inaccessible spot behind an industrial estate, approached by an unlit lane the exact width of a car and dotted with pot holes large enough to swallow a bungalow. The track was of an extremely narrow width and its surface was made up of bolts, garden refuse, dead dogs and sundry other nonsense''.

Despite this it was a track that kept the Tigers alive until better times came around.

It's fair to say the Tigers seldom enjoyed any great success, but they generally won home meetings efficiently and put up an acceptable show on the road. Always helped by tracking a genuine number one rider, in the form of three club greats - Jim McMillan, Brian 'Pogo' Collins and Steve Lawson.

They were usually backed up by interesting characters who will be fondly remembered by long term Tigers fans. In the Hampden era there were Charlie Monk, George Hunter, Bobby Beaton and the veteran Templeton brothers. At Coatbridge the fans warmed to Jimmy Gallagher, Mitch Shirra, Graham Dawson and Dave Gifford. The first Blantyre track was where they saw the best of Merv Janke, Derek Richardson, Andy Reid and the breakthrough of Charlie and Kenny McKinna. The second track in Blantyre was where the fans were thrilled by Martin McKinna, Geoff Powell and Colin Caffrey, plus witnessed the return of Beaton, Collins and McMillan as their careers started to wind down. Even the disastrous year at Workington saw the emergence of a new hero in Gordon 'One T' Whitaker, who was worth the admission money on his own.

Jim's detailed historical research is evident throughout, which means the book tends to be firmly based on fact, rather than anecdote or contemporary quotes. There probably would be room for an entirely different book on the same era, which told the story in broader strokes and with more reflection from those who were involved.

Each meeting the Tigers rode is covered in the book, with some commentary on the result, the scorers and any notable incidents or other points of interest. While there would be scope for this become repetitive, the writers manage to find sufficient different styles to avoid falling into this trap.

The foreword is written by 'Super' Steve Lawson, the Tigers greatest ever rider and their number one for the last decade of the period the book covers. He reflects on the different tracks he rode at and the highlights of these years - including lowering the colours of the great Bruce Penhall.

Covering nearly twenty years of track activity in one book is obviously difficult, though it doesn't seem like there are any obvious omissions from the main thrust of the story. This is a real deep dive into this period in the club's history, bound to delight the fans who lived through it and useful as a guide to anyone who needs to catch up on what they missed.

Every rider who rode more than five meetings is the subject of a brief biography at the end of the book, based on the excellent on-going work of Matt Jackson who is the undoubted authority in this area. Were the book to cover all the stop-gap signings the Tigers made then the book would be double the length. So apologies to any fans of Adrian Pepper, Roland Tebbs, Roger Commerford or Egon Muller out there who were hoping to find out more about them.

Further appendices provide rider averages, match results, league positions and a summary of the Scottish Junior League, a competition that ran from 1977 until 1984 and provided a pathway for many young riders in the north into league speedway.

We're told that a further volume on the Tigers' years at Shawfield will follow, which should make the Glasgow club just about the best documented team in speedway.

This book has been published by London League Publications who have become great friends of the sport, having published books on the Wembley Lions, Dave Jessup and Bert Harkins amongst others.

You can order your copy directly from the London League Publications website.

This article was first published on 18th August 2024