The 1966 Season

For many people, the year 1966 will always be remembered for England winning the football world cup at Wembley.  But for a few thousand people in West Yorkshire, the year will always be associated with the success of the Halifax Dukes speedway team.  After the stresses and strains of starting up as new in 1965, the 1966 season was one of promise, given the team's strong ending to the inaugural season.  

The British League, in it's second season, was boosted to a total of 19 teams, with King's Lynn Stars making the move up from the lower tier.

On the team front, the Dukes managed to avoid attempts by rider-control to prise away one of their star riders - and so were able to retain the previous season's top trio of Boocock, Younghusband and Boothroyd - and, crucially, Tommy Roper who had boosted the team's performances in the second half of 1965.  A strong top 4 was offset by the loss of Bryan Elliott, who announced his retirement and intention to emigrate to Australia.  Bert Kingston and Dennis Gavros would continue at the bottom end of the team, with Bob Jameson and local Maury Robinson competing for the final team place.  A further young Australian, Greg Kentwell also made the trip over to the UK, and after impressing in practice, got the nod to start in the team in place of Kingston, who was delayed in Australia until the end of April.

There was no sign of what was to come later in the season as April progressed - the Dukes were hampered by the weather on several occasions, and despite impressive starts from Boocock and Younghusband, the team were finding success hard to come by - a narrow home win against West Ham being offset by defeats on the road - and then frustratingly at home to Newcastle, where they lost Roper to concussion.  Results picked up during May and June, but despite starting to get big scores at home, away form was still disappointing, and by mid-June, the Dukes sat 13th in the table.  But then the team went on a run of 8 wins in a row, including away victories at Long Eaton, and then, vitally, away at Exeter and West Ham on successive nights.  Those 2 victories seemed to galvanise the now settled side and the Dukes, following the win at West Ham, were now up to 3rd in the league...

Any thoughts of possible success were brought crashing down in mid-July, when 2 heavy away defeats at Coventry and Swindon checked the Dukes' progress.  But whilst the win at West Ham might have been the catalyst for something special, those two defeats saw the Dukes then start on a record-breaking run of victories.  The Dukes won an amazing 15 league fixtures in a row - not losing a match until King's Lynn away in October.

In the Knock-out Cup, home draws helped Halifax progress through the rounds - they comfortably defeated Glasgow, West Ham and Belle Vue to reach the 2-legged final against Wimbledon.

As they moved into August, the Dukes sat 3rd in the league, but with fixtures in hand on both Coventry and Swindon.  And in a 48 hour spell, the pendulum swung in Halifax's favour - Coventry lost at Wolverhampton when one of their key men failed to arrive, and the Dukes defeated Swindon, effectively ending their title challenge.  By the end of the month, Halifax had the momentum, and although Coventry were still ahead in the table, the Dukes had 5 matches in hand...

Home and away victories over Sheffield, either side of a demolition of Glasgow, and then a gutsy away win at Newport moved Halifax to within a point of the Bees.  At the end of September, the Dukes beat Wolverhampton, whilst Coventry lost heavily away at Poole - and the title was now in the Dukes' sight.  As Halifax defeated a League Stars select side on the 1st of October, Coventry had to win at Swindon to keep the fight going - and lost.  Halifax now knew a win in any of their last 3 fixtures would see them as league champions - and they did it at the first opportunity, with a 52-26 demolition of the Belle Vue Aces at The Shay.  Four days later, and the cup was also effectively secured, with a 69-27 first leg win over Wimbledon - the second leg being a formality.  The Dukes were League and Cup Double winners - and also added the Northern Cup to the tally as well!  

The success the Dukes had during 1966 was based on an all round team performance, but the achievements of the heat-leader trio cannot be under-estimated.  Eric Boocock turned an amazing 1965 into a stellar 1966 - a near 10.50 league average, and Boocock went from the middle of August to the middle of September without losing a single race to an opponent - 8 maximums in a row, with many more throughout the season.  Eric Boothroyd and Dave Younghusband competed all season for the number two spot, and pushed each other to averages over 9 points a match.  And Tommy Roper effectively became the best number 4 in the league, averaging almost 7.50 points a match!  At the bottom end of the team, Aussies Jameson, Gavros and Kingston all provided solid support for the others, whilst Greg Kentwell and Maury Robinson also showed well in limited appearances.

The 1966 Halifax Dukes - Boocock, Boothroyd, Younghusband, Roper, Kingston, Gavros, Jameson - Treble-winners!!

The heat details, scorers and reports for each meeting through the season can be found by clicking on the pages for each month.