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History » Speedway's Halifax Dukes
Football and rugby aren't the only sports to have made the Shay its home. Speedway has had two spells there, the first of which began in 1949.
Prior to the Shay, the Halifax Dukes used a track at Thrum Hall, but on 8 February 1949 construction began on a new speedway track at the town's other stadium. It had been hoped to complete it within the month but thirteen days were lost due to bad weather. The total length of the track was 402 yards, and nearly 3,000 cubic yards of earth were moved to accommodate it. Obviously this meant that the soccer pitch had to be reduced in size, and each goalpost was moved three yards into the playing area.
An agreement was reached by the speedway and soccer clubs whereby the former had to pay the latter 10% of all gate receipts. The first speedway meeting was held on Wednesday 6 April and the opponents were Yarmouth Bloaters. The track was officially opened by Major RE Austin, commanding officer of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment at Halifax.
However, speedway at the Shay didn't take off in the way it had been hoped, and poor attendances saw the club struggling financially. Things got so bad that on 10 November 1951 speedway promoter Bruce Booth brought midget car racing to the Shay to boost funds. 15,000 spectators witnessed this one-off venture - 3 times higher that the average speedway gate.
On 31 March 1952, Booth announced the end of speedway 'while rates and taxation remains at the present levels'. And so it was until November 1962, when Middlesbrough promoter Reg Fearman saw the Shay for the first time, and in 1963 he made a formal application to Halifax Town for use of the ground to revive the sport.
At the beginning of 1965 work began on constructing the ground and speedway returned. Second time around it proved successful, and remained here for the next twenty years. By the 1970s people valued it greater than football for family entertainment, with the Dukes producing such great riders as Eric Boocock and the late, great Kenny Carter. Attendances became regularly higher than those of the football club and the Shay often hosted speedway internationals.
But in 1986, after rows over money with Halifax Town, speedway waved goodbye to the Shay and moved out of town to neighbouring Bradford, and another chapter in the Shay's history came to a close.
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