Belle Vue Speedway

[Dinger2]

my old mate Brian from schooldays and I went to our first speedway match in nearly 50 years at the Belle Vue dog track tother night, knowing the "Aces'' are soon to have a new stadium of their own soon,we reminisced about the old days and wondered what was the average attendance gate on a match night in the fifties/sixties ? we guessed somewhere between5-10,000 maybe more.Does anyone have a more accurate figure?

[paulllambert]

Hi Dinger. I can't help you with the figures you're after, I'm afraid, but I used to go to watch Wimbledon Dons in the seventies. Crowds of 10,000 plus were commonplace, and I remember once the gates were closed at an individual meeting, the crowd estimated at 23,000. I now watch Peterborough Panthers occasionally, and I doubt if the crowd reaches 300. Very sad, I feel, for a sport which can be terrific entertainment.