Durham Wasps - The History of The Wasps

The History of The Wasps

John Frederick James Smith known as "Icy", was a successful ice seller who decided to build an ice rink in Durham.

The rink opened sometime around 1940, and Icy relied on skaters to help out with the maintenance and protection of the rink. During wartime, men around Durham City were scarce, but there was an airbase nearby, Middleton St. George, and Canadian Airmen often came to the rink as ice hockey was very popular in Canada at that time, as it still is, and competition was a good way to boost morale.

The hockey at the rink became an attraction and there were other shows such as figure skating.

A mix of contemporary NHL superstars who were, at the time, in service with the Canadian Air Force, came to the rink. These included players such as Bobby Bauer, Woody Dumart, and Milt Schmidt.

The rink had a number of wooden beams running across the middle of the roof to serve as support. Incidentally this structure was an old circus tent, and at the time was the largest big top in Europe. This caused a number of problems for the players, though they were eventually able to adapt. Many people crowded in or around the rink, but Icy was not able to advertise the hockey due to laws by the War Office, which stated that no movement of military personnel was allowed to be advertised.

When World War II ended, many of the Canadians went home, but some remained and Durham's enthusiasm for ice hockey continued. A new rink had to be built for Durham's skaters.

The rink, when it was completed with a permanent roof on the site of the old one cost just over £64,000. Money was saved by buying in a surplus of war coffins and bought many for the rinks seating and stands. The nails going into the coffins would suggest the beginning and not the end, for the future to come.

The Durham Wasps began their prosperous start to hockey just after the war, and was started by Michael Davey of Ottawa, Canada, along with a few other Canadians, who after the war made their homes in Durham.

In the 1950s, Icy, inspired by the Wasps and the Riverside, started another ice rink at Whitley Bay, their hockey team called the Bees to start with, then the Braves, and then the Warriors, the name which still survives.

The opening at Whitley Bay started a long lasting rivalry between the two places, and Icy arranged to have games across the border with Scotland on weekends.

Ice hockey remained popular in the sixties and seventies, but it exploded with popularity between the eighties and nineties, and the period from around 1982 to 1992 was one to remember for the Wasps. In this period alone they won the Heineken Championship four times, the league championship six times, the Norwich Cup three times, and other trophies like the Autumn and Castle Eden Cups on many other occasions. The Durham Wasps dominated the British League for over 10 years. There was an intense local rivalry with both the Whitley Warriors and the Billingham Bombers. It was a golden period for hockey in the North East with derby matches against the Warriors often resulting in crowds which exceeded the stated capacity of the rink by a considerable margin.

With the rise of teams such as the Cardiff Devils and Sheffield Steelers, the Wasps started to struggle to fund a competitive team. At the same time, the rink was in need of significant investment. Around this time, John Hall, then owner of Newcastle United Football Club, laid plans to form a centre of sporting excellence in Newcastle. As part of this he purchased the team with the intention of moving them to a new ice rink in Newcastle. In the meanwhile, the team temporarily played out of the Crowtree Leisure Centre in Sunderland.

This proved very divisive amongst Wasps fans with many to this day refusing to watch Ice Hockey in Newcastle. A replacement team was established in Durham called the Durham City Wasps who played in the English League. This featured some players who the new Wasps owners decided not to retain, as well as players from the junior teams. Unfortunately the team only lasted one season before the costs of maintaining the rink came to a head and the rink was sold to be redeveloped.

The plans for a new rink in Newcastle came to nothing so a deal was made which resulted in the Whitley Warriors being evicted from the Telewest Arena to make way for the team. After a season of playing out of Crowtree, Wasps were taken to Newcastle and renamed the Newcastle Cobras. In the next few years they changed owners and names from the Cobras, to the Riverkings, to the Jesters, and the Vipers. Due to low crowds and problems getting regular ice time at the Arena, in November 2010 the Vipers were forced to move in with the 'old enemy' and play for part of their final season out of the Hillheads rink in Whitley Bay. It proved impossible to keep the team going and the 2010/11 season was the last featuring a Newcastle team.

The Riverside Rink closed on 8 July 1996, and re-opened as a bowling alley around a year later. The Wasps' era had finally ended. The building was earmarked for demolition following the closure of health club situated in the former rink in early 2006. The Riverside Rink was finally demolished in early 2012 to make way for offices on the site.

Since 1996, a campaign for the construction of a new ice rink in County Durham has been spearheaded by the County Durham Ice Foundation, a pressure group made up of ice skaters, ice hockey fans and players. Despite promises of support from Durham County Council, no real assistance has materialised and all proposals have come to nothing as a result.