The Sheffield 'Tru Plant' Tigers 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

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. They currently race in the British SGB Premiership, and their home meetings take place at

Owlerton Stadium Owlerton Stadium, also known as Sheffield Stadium, is a purpose-built speedway track built in 1929 which also hosts greyhound racing The track is in Owlerton near Hillsborough in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Greyhound racing takes plac ...

. The Tigers traditionally hold their race nights on Thursdays between March and October. The Tigers are sponsored by Tru Plant, promoted by Damien Bates, Peter Mole and Julie Reading.

History

Owlerton Owlerton () is a suburb of the city of Sheffield, it lies northwest of the city centre near the confluence of the River Don and River Loxley. Owlerton was formerly a small rural village with its origins in the Early Middle Ages; it became pa ...

was a purpose built speedway track built in 1929. The team were inaugural members of the English Dirt Track League and

Northern league Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

the following season. In 1930 they rode as the Sheffield Blades. It operated for most of the pre-war years and re-opened for a short spell in 1945. The team operated in the Northern League of 1946 and in the National League Division Two between 1947 and 1950. The team won their first trophy in 1947, after winning the British Speedway Cup (Div 2). It closed part way through 1951 and staged open meetings in 1952. The track re-opened in 1960 and has operated most seasons since then. The team has been known as The Tigers apart from part of 1950 when they were known as The Tars and 1930 when they were the Blades. Sheffield won the Premier League (speedway's second division) twice during the

1999 Premier League speedway season The 1999 Premier League speedway season was the second division of speedway in the United Kingdom and governed by the Speedway Control Board (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA). Season summary The Leagu ...

and the

2002 Premier League speedway season The 2002 Premier League speedway season was the second division of speedway in the United Kingdom and governed by the Speedway Control Board (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA). Season summary The League ...

. They also won the

Knockout Cup A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

in 2002 to complete the double. The club's junior side the Sheffield Prowlers also won silverware winning the Conference League in 2000 and 2001. The SGB Championship 2017 season was the 21st consecutive season that the Sheffield Tigers competed in division 2. The Tigers finished in 1st place having beaten Ipswich Witches in the two leg Play Off final 99–81. In 2019, the club won their fourth historical league title winning the SGB Championship 2017 after finishing top of the regular season table and winning the playoffs. Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) the 2020 season did not take place. The club topped the SGB Premiership 2022 table but lost in the play off final to

Belle Vue Aces The Belle Vue Aces are a British speedway club, based in Manchester. The club hold the record of having won the top tier League championship 13 times. They currently compete in the SGB Premiership, racing at The National Speedway Stadium, with ...

, which foiled the chance for the club to win their first ever top tier league title. However, they did gain compensation by winning the League Cup. The Tigers all-time leading point scorer is Sean Wilson with 4246 points and the record appearance maker is

Reg Wilson Reg Wilson (born 26 January 1948 in Sheffield, England)Oakes, P.(2004). ''British Speedway Who's Who''. is a retired professional speedway rider who was team manager of the Sheffield Tigers until 2011. Wilson spent 18 years riding at the O ...

with 470 appearances. Their official track record holder is former captain and No.1 Ricky Ashworth with a time of 59.1 seconds.

Club honours

*British Championship League SGB Championship Winners 2017 *British Championship Pairs SGB Championship Winners 2017 (Kyle Howarth & Lasse Bjerre), 2018 (Kyle Howarth and Charles Wright) *British Speedway Cup (Division 2) - 1947 *British League Knockout Cup winners - 1974 * Premier League Four-Team Championship winners - 1999 (

Wilson Wilson may refer to: People *Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender *Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Rod ...

, Smith, Compton,

Stead Stead (pronounced 'sted' as in "instead") is an English language, English surname, and may refer to: Surnames * Barry Stead (1939–1980), English cricketer * C. K. Stead (born 1932), New Zealand writer and critic * Christina Stead (1902–1983) ...

), 2000 (

, Kessler,

Lee Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

) *Premier League Play off winners - 1999, 2002 *Premier League winners - 1999, 2002 *Conference League Champions - 2000, 2001 * Premier Trophy winners - 2001 *Premier League Riders Championship winners - Sam Ermolenko (1996), Sean Wilson (1999, 2003, 2005), Andre Compton (2004), Ricky Ashworth (2009), Simon Stead (2014, 2016). *Premier League Pairs winners - Ricky Ashworth & Josh Auty 2010

Notable former riders

Full seasons summary

Season summary (juniors)

Previous seasons

References

{{SGB Premiership Speedway Premier League teams SGB Championship teams

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...