British League of Racing Cyclists - The War and Percy Stallard

The War and Percy Stallard

The National Cyclists Union was the international body for cycling in England and Wales and sent teams to the Olympic Games and to world championships. It also licensed riders to compete abroad in races such as Bordeaux–Paris. But teams had to be selected not in races akin to which they were being entered but in competitions held on private roads such as airfields and car-racing courses.

One of the riders to be selected was an enthusiast from Wolverhampton, Percy Stallard. The experience of massed racing stimulated him and he believed that the NCU's objection to it on grounds that it would disrupt traffic and give cycling a bad name was pointless in wartime when petrol rationing had largely cleared the roads of vehicles.

He wrote in December 1941 to A. P. Chamberlin of the NCU:

It is amazing to think that this is the only country in Europe where this form of sport is not permitted... There seems to be the mistaken idea that it would be necessary to close the roads. This, of course, is entirely wrong... There would be no better time than now to introduce this form of racing to the roads, what with the decreased amount of motor traffic and the important part that the cycle is playing in wartime transport.

I am convinced that to allow massed-start racing to recommence its career after the war on circuits is utter madness. Even before the war massed-start racing could not be counted as a national branch of the sport as it was only possible for riders living within easy reach of Donington and Brooklands to try their hand at the game, excepting on special occasions. It should be obvious to anyone the least bit interested that there cannot be a future to this form of racing while it is allowed to remain on the circuit.

Stallard protested that the airfields and car circuits which were the only place that the NCU would allow massed racing had been taken by the Army and RAF. Chamberlin was not impressed and replied at the end of January to say that the NCU had considered the question but considered it unwise.