Clubname: | Wimbledon Dons |
Track: | Wimbledon Stadium Plough Lane Wimbledon London |
Country: | England |
Founded: | 1928 |
Closed: | 2005 |
Colours: | Yellow Star on Red |
Tracksize: | 355yd |
Honour1: | National League Champions |
Year1: | 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961 |
Honour3: | National Trophy Winners |
Year3: | 1938, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1960, 1962 |
Honour5: | KO Cup Winners |
Year5: | 1968, 1969, 1970 |
Honour6: | London Cup Winners |
Year6: | 1938, 1939, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1985 |
Honour7: | RAC Cup |
Year7: | 1954 |
Honour8: | Britannia Shield |
Year8: | 1959 |
Honour9: | Gauntlet Spring Gold Cup Winners |
Year9: | 1979 |
The Wimbledon Dons were a professional motorcycle speedway team who operated from the Wimbledon Stadium, Plough Lane in London.[1] [2]
The track opened in 1928 and the Dons operated there from 1929 until 1991. They were closed during the Second World War but upon their reopening in 1946 there were 42,000 people in attendance with an estimated 10,000 more locked outside. The club were very successful at the highest level of British speedway during the 1950s and 1960s, and attracted numerous famous riders.
Having been defunct for eleven years, the team was reopened again in 2002 by Steve Ribbons & David Croucher in the Conference League[3] but were forced to close in 2005, with Ian Perkin, Dingle Brown & Perry Attwood being joint owners of the club, when the stadium owners insisted on dramatically increasing the rent paid by the team to the stadium.[4]
Champions: 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961
Winners: 1938, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1960, 1962
Winners: 1938, 1939, 1961, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985
Winners: 1954
Winner: 1959
Winners: 1979
Winners: 2004, 2005
width=350 | Year and league | width=50 | Position | width=350 | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
11th | |||||
4th | |||||
5th | |||||
5th | |||||
2nd | |||||
5th | |||||
7th | |||||
4th | |||||
7th | |||||
4th | National Trophy winner, London Cup | ||||
2nd+ | London Cup | ||||
4th | |||||
3rd | |||||
6th | |||||
8th | |||||
3rd | National Trophy winner | ||||
3rd | National Trophy winner | ||||
5th | |||||
5th | National Trophy winner | ||||
1st | champions | ||||
1st | champions | ||||
1st | champions & National Trophy winner | ||||
3rd | |||||
1st | champions | ||||
1st | champions & National Trophy winner | ||||
1st | champions & National Trophy winner | ||||
1st | champions | ||||
2nd | National Trophy winner | ||||
3rd | |||||
6th | London Cup | ||||
2nd | |||||
4th | |||||
11th | |||||
9th | Knockout Cup winners, London Cup | ||||
3rd | Knockout Cup winners, London Cup | ||||
2nd | Knockout Cup winners, London Cup | ||||
10th | |||||
13th | |||||
12th | |||||
8th | London Cup | ||||
9th | London Cup | ||||
16th | |||||
9th | |||||
4th | London Cup | ||||
9th | |||||
13th | London Cup | ||||
16th | |||||
11th | |||||
6th | London Cup | ||||
7th | |||||
4th | London Cup | ||||
6th | |||||
7th | |||||
4th | |||||
2nd | |||||
7th | |||||
N/A | fixtures taken over by Eastbourne Eagles | ||||
11th | |||||
9th | |||||
7th | |||||
2nd |
Book: Oakes , P . Speedway Star Almanac . Pinegen Ltd . 2006 . 0-9552376-1-0.