1966 Miscellany

Other Fixtures:  

In addition to a full league programme and an extended cup run, Halifax were involved in eight other matches - an early season Challenge match victory against Belle Vue, and an October filler fixture against a BL Stars team.  The other fixtures were in the Northern Cup, staged between the Dukes, Newcastle, Sheffield, and 2nd-tier Middlesbrough.  Halifax won 4 of their 6 fixtures to win the competition and add to their silverware for the season.  

The Shay also hosted two international Test Matches, with England taking on Scotland (at the second attempt) in June and the touring USSR side, led by world number 2 Igor Plechanov in July.

The details of the above matches can be found in the archive pages for the 1966 season.

Individual Meetings:

Halifax staged 2 individual meetings during 1966, both part of the World Championship qualifying system.  The home qualifying round in May (meeting 10) was won by home star Eric Boocock, whilst the British Semi Final three weeks later (meeting 15) was won by eventual World Champion Barry Briggs.  An attempt to run the Easter Trophy in April (meeting 1) was thwarted by rain, and the meeting was subsequently not staged.  Details of individual heat results and scores can be found on the respective archive pages for 1966.

The Juniors/Second-Half Riders:  

During 1966, the following riders took part in various junior and second half races at The Shay - those who rode for the main team are not included in this list, but will have their own biography in the riders archive - many thanks to:

Taffy Owen, Dave Schofield, Dave Durham, Dave Burnett, Frank Walker, Trevor King, Dave Hardy, Phillip Howe, Kevin Torpie, Stan Holly,  Alan Palmer, R Hyde, Ian Wilson, John Serman, Dennis Wasden, H Arnist and Stuart Hickman.

Silver Sash Match-Race Championship:

During the 1966 season, Dukes riders were involved in the match-races on only two occasions, with Eric Boocock winning the title from long-time holder Barry Briggs in July, only to lose to Olle Nygren at the first defence.  Details of the various races are as follows: