Halifax Dukes - 1966 Season - Finished 1st (54pts) Out of 19

Finished 1st (54pts) Out of 19

The main question at the start of the new 1966 season was whether the team could live up to the expectations created by the strong finish at the end of the previous year?

It looked like the loss of Bryan Elliott who had emigrated to Australia during the winter would weaken the team as the only addition was Greg Kentwell who was yet another in the supply of promising young Aussies that promoter Reg Fearman had tapped into, but he was an unknown quantity in British League terms.

Success therefore looked like depending on the heat leaders from the previous season maintaining their progress, and for last years Aussies (Kingston, Gavros and Jameson) building on their experience from 1965 and taking significant steps forward.

A series of good away performances at the start of the season showed some promise although there was still only patchy support to Boocock, Younghusband and Boothroyd from the rest of the team. Unfortunately, after a good 41-37 win over last years champions the West Ham Hammersin their first home league encounter, the team surprisingly lost 38-40 in their next match at the Shay to the Newcastle Diamonds. It was a controversial match full of incident - machine failures and falls costing the Dukes dear. The highlight of these early matches was the form shown by captain Eric Boothroyd, but by the end of May the team were languishing in the lower half of the table with the Coventry Bees showing the best early season form to lead the table by 4 points.

June however saw a change in fortune as the team racked up big home wins against Newport Wasps and Long Eaton Archersas well as a first KO cup win 57-39 against the Glasgow Tigers. This was combined with good away wins at Long Eaton, Exeter Falcons and a magnificent 41-37 win at the West Ham Hammers where Eric Boocock underlined his progress with an impeccable maximum 12 points. Although the contribution from the heat leaders was vital, it was the improved results from Tommy Roper and the Aussie brigade that was making the difference. Solid home scoring from Kingston, Gavros and Jameson was being complemented by more effective away form that was now showing in the team results. At the end of June, although Coventry were still 7 points clear, Halifax had shot up the table to joint second with Swindon, Belle Vue and Glasgow.

It began to look as though the bubble might have burst at the start of July when the Dukes lost heavily at both title rivals Coventry Bees (25-52) and Swindon Robins (29-49) in successive weeks - the ex-national sides heat leader strength proving too much even for the emerging Eric Boocock to master. Despite these reverses good home form kept the Dukes in contention, but July ended with further problems with both Eric Boothroyd and Eric Boocock on the injury list.

Despite the lack of the two Erics, sterling performances from Dave Younghusband and Tommy Roper plus significant contributions from guest riders Ron Mountford and Cyril Maidment brought two further away wins at the Oxford Cheetahs and Hackney Hawks. This proved to be the start of an amazing run of wins for the team which, with a full team again, saw them unbeaten through to the end of September. At this stage the team were still 3 points behind Coventry at the top of the league, but the momentum was with the Dukes and not even the loss of Bert Kingston with a broken ankle in a cup victory over West Ham could dampen the enthusiasm around the team. Meanwhile, Coventry were struggling to maintain their progress following a dispute with their captain Jim Lightfoot which led to him missing a number of crucial matches. The only cloud on the horizon were a couple of official protests after the wins at West Ham (about the use of Kingston at reserve) and Hackney (about the injury to Eric Boothroyd), but the authorities eventually found in favour of the Dukes so the points were secure.

October saw the realisation of the teams and supporters dreams, where home and away wins against the Belle Vue Aces saw Halifax snatch the league title away from Coventry literally at the death. Then a massive 69-27 thumping of the Wimbledon Dons in the first leg of the KO cup final made the result of the away leg (a 44-52 defeat) academic as the team went on to scoop up both major competitions – just as West Ham had done the previous year. A marvellous achievement that earned the respect of even their most consistent critics.

So 1966 had ended as a memorable year, culminating in a record run of 15 consecutive league victories with all the team improving their averages and contributing to the success. Eric Boocock established himself as the star rider and made the breakthrough as a regular in the Gt Britain team. Dave Younghusband was a consistent high score all year after some initial problems with new machinery, but it was Eric Boothroyd who came up with a true captains performance adding over a point on his previous years average. Of the rest, Tommy Roper again proved a remarkably effective “fourth heat leader” scoring particularly well during the second half of the year and Bert Kingston established himself as the best of the Aussie second strings although both Dennis Gavros and Bob Jameson had many memorable meetings. Greg Kentwell had only a limited number of opportunities in the team, but had confirmed the promise with which he’d arrived and spent much of the year loaned out to Long Eaton to gain more experience.

1966 Averages (League and Cup matches) :