The 1973 Season

1973 - the year of the Watergate Scandal, the UK joining the EEC, and Jackie Stewart winning his third Formula One World Championship.  The winter of 1972 saw the biggest upheaval for the Dukes since their inaugural year in 1965.  Only skipper Eric Boocock, young Aussie John Titman, and the spectacular Mike Hiftle would remain from the team which ended the previous season.  Dave Younghusband was forced into retirement following his broken leg the previous summer, and the Dukes were also rocked when Greg Kentwell announced the end to his Halifax career, opting to stay in Australia after 7 seasons.  Alan Jay decided a change was needed to revive his fortunes, after a declining average over the last 3 years, a move to Coventry would hopefully spark an upturn in his fortunes.  

The only change in the league was the eviction of Glasgow from their Hampden home, the Tigers eventually able to return to Coatbridge.  Curiously, Cradley Heathens re-named themselves Cradley United!  And a change of format would enhance the Knock-out Cup, with matches to be contested over two legs for the first time.

Halifax moved into the transfer market, signing veteran Aussie Charlie Monk, a Shay track specialist, albeit in the latter years of his career, after 7 seasons with Glasgow, and 1 with Sheffield on loan.  They also added 33 year old New-Zealander Bill Andrew, who returned to the UK after a season away, having previously ridden for Poole and Newport, and who had previously expressed an interest in signing for Halifax, citing a liking of the Shay track.  And the final rabbit from the hat was the return of Les Sharpe, after 2 seasons away.

The final place in the team was offered to Norwegian Per Hansen, who was returning to the UK after a badly broken leg the previous season, whilst riding for Wolverhampton.  In addition, the Dukes signed John Jackson as number 8, after he impressed at the Shay in 1972, and also added David Gatenby of Sunderland as cover.

The season started slowly - away defeats at Sheffield and Belle Vue in the Northern Trophy were offset by victory home and away against Coatbridge, without Andrew who was still to arrive.  By the time he did arrive, Sharpe was already injured, a crash in the second half at Cradley leaving the Aussie on the sidelines for a month, and incredibly, Halifax could not field their first choice 1-7 until the end of May.  As the league campaign progressed, the usual pattern emerged - unbeaten at home, no wins away, although a creditable draw at Sheffield offered hope.  But by mid-June, Hansen was out - a serious infection following his previous season leg injury landing him in hospital for over a month, and ending his season.  

Within weeks, it was Hiftle in the wars, breaking his elbow in a tumble at Wimbledon, and with Jackson and Gatenby not always available, Halifax moved to sign another Norwegian,  the unknown Jan Gravningen - but the move was a disaster, and he was dropped at the start of September having had a dreadful run of low scores, with Gatenby taking his place.

In the cup, Halifax disposed of Wimbledon over two legs, with both Boocock and Andrew unbeaten in the home leg.  But drawn against Belle Vue in the third round, the Dukes were destroyed at Hyde Road in the first leg, to make the plucky win in the second leg academic.  By then, Halifax were without their leader Boocock, whose season was ended by a badly broken arm following a crash with team-mate Andrew at Newport in early August.  Without Boocock, Halifax won only 5 more matches in the league, dropping to a disappointing 9th in the final table, despite another victory at Coatbridge.  The Dukes lost at home to Sheffield, and drew against King's Lynn as the strain on those remaining started to show.  And they suffered an embarrassing defeat at eventual champions Reading, scoring a paltry 19 points, 9 of those coming from guest Ray Wilson.

The hopes for individual glory in the World Championship again fell to Boocock - both the skipper and Bill Andrew progressed to the British Final.  But whilst Andrew failed to go any further, Boocock successfully negotiated his way into the British/Nordic final, only to be controversially eliminated after a second race exclusion resulted in Boocock walking out of the meeting, and to subsequently face a disciplinary charge.  But Boocock's injury at Newport a week later would have certainly ended his pursuit, even if he had progressed.  Boocock also had a long stint as holder of the Golden Helmet, before being deposed by Ivan Mauger in the week of his season-ending crash.

The eventual demise to finish 9th in the league after being in a promising place for parts of the season can ultimately be blamed on the injuries, but some signings failed to contribute the necessary back-up to Boocock for the Dukes to move forward.  Titman developed into a solid seven point rider, and was an ever present, but both Monk (also ever present) and Andrew failed to hit the heights, with only 5 double figure scores between them in the league.  Sharpe was affected by his early season injury, and was ultimately a pale shadow of the rider who briefly looked unbeatable 3 years earlier, save for a spike in scoring in September.  Hiftle looked to have made progress, scoring useful points until his injury, and the remaining reserve berth was always an issue, with Hansen, Jackson, Gravningen and Gatenby all failing to make much of an impact.

The Dukes promotion had made efforts to boost the strength of the side following the loss of the previous era's stars during the winter, but as the 1973 season ended, the jury was out as to whether any improvement had been made, or whether a change of strategy was needed as 1974 approached...

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