Tapes Up

An Oral History of Speedway at Wimbledon Stadium

This project was run by digital-works in conjunction with Wimbledon in Sporting History and The Dons Den.

For 77 years going to see the Wimbledon Dons speedway team race was a huge part of the history of leisure in Wimbledon and yet there is little to no trace of it. From the 1930s to the 50s it attracted sell-out crowds and thousands of Londoners would regularly go to their "home" track to see their team. The Stadium opened in 1928 and provided a source of entertainment and income to local people with staffing, cafes and tickets sales providing jobs. At the first meeting after WW2 a crowd of 46,000 were in the stadium with a further 10,000+ unable to gain access.

Speedway in Wimbledon was a family based sport covering multi generations, the husband and wife who followed the Dons in the 1930s then took their children in the 1940/50s, who in turn brought along their children in the 1970s. This would predominantly be a white working class fan base but the fans also reflected the international nature of the team with riders from across the world, in particular the Polish community who came from the local area to support their riders. The gradual then rapid decline of the sport reflects social changes around leisure time with a move towards TV and other sports with the final meeting for the original Dons team in 2005.

The project explored, recorded and shared this rich heritage using oral history as the primary means of research. A group of volunteers were trained by digital-works to carry out the interviewing and recording that lead to a documentary film. The full interviews are available to listen to on the project website and all materials have been depositied with Merton Archives and Wimbledon in Sporting History.

This project has been made possible with funding from the Merton Culture and Heritage Grants Programme and Wimbledon in Sporting History. We are grateful to AFC Wimbledon for their support.