Poole Pirates (also known as Poole Speedway) are a

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

team based in

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

, England, competing in the SGB Championship. The club have been the champions of the United Kingdom on ten occasions. Poole Speedway is promoted by local businessman Matt Ford and son Danny Ford, who took over promoting rights of the club in 1998. The team is managed by past rider and former

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

team manager

Neil Middleditch Neil Middleditch (born 7 January 1957 in Wimborne, Dorset) is a former motorcycle speedway rider, who rode for England and was the team manager of Great Britain. He earned seven international caps for the England national speedway team and was ...

. Poole Stadium (known as Wimborne Road when speedway takes place) has been home to the club since it was founded in 1948.

History

Origins and 1940s

In 1947,

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

based

Exeter Falcons The Exeter Falcons were a Motorcycle speedway, speedway team based in the city of Exeter. The Falcons operated from 1947 to 2005 at the County Ground Stadium in Exeter. History Origins & 1920s Speedway began at the County Ground in 1929, ...

riders Tommy Crutcher and Charlie Hayden created a consortium, which also included Crutcher's brother Jack and Herby Hayden, with the aim of opening a speedway club closer to their home. The consortium applied to Poole Borough Council in 1947 to stage speedway racing in the town and the council approved their request on 6 January 1948. The home ground of the Poole Pirates would be Poole Stadium, which had been used primarily by Poole Town F.C. up to that point. The cycle track around the football pitch was replaced by a speedway track in preparation for the 1948 Speedway National League Division Three season. The first fixture held by the team was away to Tamworth Hounds, on 14 April 1948 and the first home match followed shortly afterwards, on 26 April against Yarmouth Bloaters. Terry Small was signed for 1949, as the team improved on their inaugural season by finishing sixth.

1950s

Tony Lewis and Ken Middleditch (the latter signed from

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

) formed an effective pairing for the Pirates in 1950. Middleditch topped the league averages that season and led the Pirates to the runner-up position behind

Oxford Cheetahs The Oxford Cheetahs are a British Motorcycle speedway, speedway teamLawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. based at Oxford Stadium, in Oxford, England. They were founded in 1939 and are five times champions of Britain, in 1964 Speed ...

. Poole strengthened the team further by bringing in Brian Crutcher, Bill Holden and Roy Craighead, which resulted in the Pirates winning their first title in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

and subsequently being promoted to the National League Division Two. Crutcher became the first Poole rider to reach a World Speedway Final in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

and Ken Middleditch won the Riders' Championship. Poole won the Division Two title and National Trophy (tier 2) double at the first attempt, but were denied first division status by the Speedway Control Board, who claimed that Poole were not a big enough club to be able to sustain top flight racing. The following two years (1953 and 1954) saw the Pirates narrowly finishing as Division Two runners up. Brian Crutcher left Poole for

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

at the start of the 1953 season but Ken Middleditch won a second Riders' Championshiop in 1954. In 1955, the Pirates again won the league and National Trophy double and were allowed promotion to division oOne of the National League, becoming the only club to ever have won promotion from the bottom league to the top tier. However, by the end of the 1956 season, the Poole promoters closed the club, blaming poor attendances and the introduction of fuel rationing due to the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

. Despite losing their league status, Poole Stadium continued to stage meetings during 1957, including two National League meetings.

Rayleigh Rockets The Rayleigh Rockets were a Motorcycle speedway, Speedway team which operated from 1949 until their closure in 1973 from the Rayleigh Weir Stadium in Rayleigh, Essex, Rayleigh, Essex . History Origins and 1940s In June 1948, the Speedway ...

promoter Vic Gooden took over the promoting rights of Poole at the end of the year and transferred his team to Poole, who rejoined the National League in 1958.

1960s

Southampton Saints promoter Charles Knott took over from Vic Gooden in 1960 and brought back the successful pairing of Middleditch and Lewis. Ross Gilbertson was also signed and Geoff Mudge was brought over from Australia. The stadium was also redeveloped in 1960, with the track being made slightly smaller to accommodate a

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...

track. A sheltered 1,100 seat grandstand was erected on the home straight and is still in use. The league structure was re-formed and Poole opted to join the newly formed

Provincial League Provincial League (formerly known as Professional League) also known as Pro League was the old regional Football league in Thailand in 1999–2008. It was founded in 1999 under the name "Provincial League" organized by Sports Authority of Thailan ...

. Poole finished joint top of the table with

Rayleigh Rayleigh may refer to: Science *Rayleigh scattering *Rayleigh–Jeans law *Rayleigh waves *Rayleigh (unit), a unit of photon flux named after the 4th Baron Rayleigh *Rayl, rayl or Rayleigh, two units of specific acoustic impedance and characte ...

, but lost out on points difference. However, success returned to Poole with the Provincial League title in 1961 and 1962. Following a power struggle between the Speedway Control Board and speedway club promoters, the

British League The British League was the main motorcycle speedway league in Britain from its formation in 1965 until 1995 when British speedway was restructured. It initially had a single division, with a British League Division Two, second division starting i ...

was formed in 1965. Poole joined the British League (the top league Division) with 18 other teams and remained there for the next 20 years. They won the British League title in 1969 with Pete Smith, who would eventually go on to score over 3,287 points for the club, the biggest contributor. Smith was supported with contributions from team captain Geoff Mudge, Bruce Cribb, Gordon Guasco, Frank Shuter and

Odd Fossengen Odd Kristian Fossengen (27 February 1945 – 29 December 2017) was an international motorcycle speedway rider from Norway. He earned 8 caps for the Norway national speedway team. Career summary Fossengen signed for the Poole Pirates in 1968, ...

who was in his second year at Poole and would become a fans favourite.

1970s

Poole continued to race in the British League and major changes in personnel took place in 1974, with the arrival of riders such as Colin Gooddy and

, son of former rider Ken Middleditch. In 1975, Poole completed the signing of Malcolm Simmons from

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

. Simmons finished top of the Poole riders averages for the next six seasons and in 1976 finished in second place at the Speedway World Championship. Mid-way through the 1979 season, Reg Fearman bought the promoting rights to run the club but ultimately the decade was one of mediocrity.

1980s

Fearman continued to promote the club until 1984, when financial debts of £200,000 forced the club to close. However, the club was rescued by the then Weymouth Wildcats promoters Peter Ansell and Mervyn Stewkesbury, who moved their team to Poole for the start of the 1985 season. The team name was changed to the Poole Wildcats and they entered the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

– the second league tier of speedway. The name change proved to be unpopular and was reverted to the Poole Pirates after two seasons, although the Wildcats did finish runner-up in the league during both the 1985 and 1986 seasons. Australian manager

Neil Street Neil Joseph Street (15 January 1931 – 6 October 2011) was an Australian international motorcycle speedway rider, manager and engineer. Career Street was born in Melbourne, Australia, first arrived in Britain in 1952 to ride for the Exeter ...

was appointed as Poole team manager and an influx of young Australian riders began to arrive, including Craig Boyce in 1988 and Leigh Adams in 1989. Poole finished as National League runners up 1988, were National League champions in 1989.

1990s

Led by captain Alun Rossiter and despite losing Leigh Adams, the Pirates won the League and Knockout Cup double in 1990. After the 1990 season, Poole re-joined the top flight of speedway – the

. Poole won the league championship in 1994 led by Boyce, 1993 signing Lars Gunnestad, veteran Steve Schofield and a young

Jason Crump Jason Philip Crump (born 6 August 1975) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Australia (UK born). He is a three-time Speedway World Champion, and a World Cup winner. In a 21-year career in Speedway, Crump finished with sev ...

, grandson of manager Neil Street. The Pirates also won the fours championship final, held at the East of England Arena on 7 August. In 1997, the structure of the leagues was once again changed with Poole joining the Elite League. The terracing on the back straight of the speedway track was demolished in 1997 and replaced with a new glass fronted grandstand incorporating a 440-seat restaurant, two bars,

Tote betting The Tote is a British gambling company founded in 1928. It operates the world’s largest online pool betting website. Its product offering also includes sports betting and online casino. Business operations are led from its headquarters in W ...

facilities and multiple viewing screens. The speedway track was reduced in size to to accommodate a new greyhound track. Stadia UK were issued a long-term lease on the stadium by the council, with the Pirates promotion sub-leasing use of the stadium and facilities from Stadia UK. Poole initially struggled in the Elite League and were sold to local businessmen Matt Ford and Mike Golding in 1998. In a clear out at the club, only Magnus Zetterström remained from the 1998 season and Neil Street was replaced as manager by former rider

. Craig Boyce left for Oxford Cheetahs, Lee Richardson was signed from Reading Racers, Gary Havelock was brought in as captain and Mark Loram was signed from

Wolverhampton Wolves Wolverhampton Wolves were a British motorcycle speedway team based in Wolverhampton, England. They were champions of the United Kingdom five times and raced at Monmore Green Stadium from 1928 to 2023. History 1928–1930 Speedway (known ...

. Poole finished as Elite League runner up in 1999.

2000s

Mark Loram was to become the first Pirate to lift the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

title with his success in 2000 and in 2001, the Pirates signed

Tony Rickardsson Jan Tony Sören Rickardsson (born on 17 August 1970) is a Swedish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1989 to 2006 and won six Speedway World Championship titles in 15 attempts. ...

, won the World Championship that year. Rickardsson led the Pirates to another runner-up position during the league campaign, in addition to winning the

Craven Shield The Craven Shield and Young Shield were short-lived Motorcycle speedway, speedway end of season cup competitions in the United Kingdom governed by the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association ...

. In 2002, the club signed

Bjarne Pedersen Bjarne Aagaard Pedersen (born 12 July 1978 in Holstebro, Denmark) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider who represented Denmark in the Speedway World Cup, winning it on two occasions: in 2006 and 2008. Career summary Pedersen beg ...

as they won another Craven Shield but it was Rickardsson who set the headlines for the season, winning another World Championship, the Riders' Championship and topping the league averages. Leigh Adams re-joined the club in 2003, spearheading the team to a triple championship of Elite League, Knockout Cup and the British League Cup. The Pirates followed up 2003 with another successful year in 2004 despite the loss of Grand Prix rider Leigh Adams. Solid point scoring from Bjarne Pedersen,

Antonio Lindback Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular ...

and Ryan Sullivan led Poole to an Elite League and Knockout Cup double and Poole became the first top flight club to achieve back to back League and Cup doubles since 1960. After signing

Chris Holder Christopher Robert Holder (born 24 September 1987 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian speedway rider, who was the 2012 World Speedway Champion. He is also five times Australian champion (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014. Career Hold ...

and re-signing Davey Watt and

Krzysztof Kasprzak Krzysztof Kasprzak (; born 18 July 1984 in Leszno, Poland) is a Polish international motorcycle speedway rider, who became World Under-21 Champion in 2005 and won the silver medal during the 2014 Speedway Grand Prix. He also won five World te ...

, the Pirates won their third Elite League championship in 2008, defeating the Lakeside Hammers in the play-off final with an aggregate score of 108–75. The decade ended with Hans Andersen and Chris Holder winning the Elite League Pairs Championship, held at the Arlington Stadium on 8 August 2009. Poole operated a junior team called Bournemouth Buccaneers, in the

in 2009.

2010s

The Pirates finished 20 points clear of nearest rivals Wolves, during the 2010 season but lost to

Coventry Bees Coventry Bees are a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon, Warwickshire, Brandon near Coventry, England. They are eight times champions of Britain. History Origins and 1920s The firs ...

in the play off final. The team did however take consolation from winning the Knockout Cup. The following season in 2011, the Pirates somewhat aggrieved after the 2010 season, dominated the league, led by

Darcy Ward Darcy Stephen Ward (born 4 May 1992 in Nanango, Queensland) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Australia. He won the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Australian Under-21 Championships as well as the 2009 and 2010 World Under-21 Championships. C ...

and Chris Holder and finished the season off by defeating the Eastbourne Eagles in the play-off final. They team completed a treble of trophy wins by winning the Knockout Cup and Pairs. The success of Poole continued with a third consecutive Knockout Cup win in 2012. The Pirates were then crowned champions in three successive years during the

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

seasons. The team won their tenth highest league title after winning the SGB Premiership 2018. The decade was Poole's most successful period of speedway throughout their history and the south coast team were the leading club during the decade, with many top riders appearing for the club, most notably Holder, Ward, Watt, Pedersen, Andersen and

Maciej Janowski Maciej Janowski (born 6 August 1991 in Wrocław, Polandwww.janowskiracing.com
Retrieved on 2008-07-04 ...

2020s

After the leagues were cancelled in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and the Pirates returned to action in the second tier SGB Championship. They finished top of the regular season table and secured a place in the playoff final against Glasgow, before winning the division 2 Knockout Cup for the third time in their history and then completed the league and cup double by winning the play off final. The team was led by Steve Worrall and Danny King. The following season in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, the Pirate brought in Richard Lawson and the success continued as the team dominated again, winning the SGB Championship and Knockout Cup 'double double'. In

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, despite winning the early season BSN Series, the Pirates suffered a shock play off final loss to Glasgow, which prevented a third consecutive league title win. In 2024, the team made amends for the 2023 loss by winning their third league title and knockout cup in four years and securing a treble by winning the BSN Series.

Season summary

Season summary (Juniors)

Honours

''League'' *

/ Elite League/ SGB Premiership **Winners (10):

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

* National League Division Two/

/ SGB Championship **Winners (7):

, 1955,

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

* National League Division Three **Winners (1):

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

'' * Elite League Knockout Cup **Winners (5):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

*National Trophy/

National League Knockout Cup The National League Knockout Cup is a motorcycle speedway third tier Knockout Cup competition in the United Kingdom. The competition was previously known as the Academy League Knockout Cup (1995) and the Conference League Knockout Cup (1996-2 ...

/ SGB Championship Knockout Cup **Winners (5):

, 1955,

*British League Cup **Winners (1): 2003 *

**Winners (3):

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

* Elite Shield/Premiership Shield **Winners (6): 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2019 * Elite League Pairs Championship **Winners (3): 2007, 2009 & 2011 *BSN Series **Winners (2): 2023, 2024

World Champions

* Mark Loram (

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

). *

(

) *

(

)

Notable riders

* An asterisk indicates that the rider has been voted into the Pirates

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

by supporters.

Testimonial riders

Seven Poole riders have received

testimonials In promotion (marketing), promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product (business), product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales pitc ...

at the club, usually for being a Poole asset for 10 years or more. * 1976 Pete Smith * 1984

* 1995 Steve Schofield * 2000 Alun Rossiter * 2001 Lars Gunnestad * 2003 Craig Boyce * 2005 Magnus Zetterström * 2009

* 2011 Davey Watt

References

{{SGB Championship Speedway Elite League teams Sport in Poole Sport in Dorset SGB Championship teams SGB Premiership teams