Swindon Robins

Origins and 1940s

The formation of the club followed the sport's prehistory in the town at the now-demolished Gorse Hill Aerodrome, where dirt track racing had taken place since 1928.^[2]

The birth of the Robins was a product of the partnership of Bristol speedway manager Reg Witcomb and businessman Bert Hearse. Under their direction, a 410-yard (370 m) cinder track was built.^[3]

The first meeting, a non-league home challenge match, took place on 23 July 1949 against future rivals Oxford Cheetahs,^[4] and an official attendance figure of 8,000 was given, although employees of the club believe that 10,000 would be closer to the truth. The Robins lost their debut meeting 39–45 in a meeting that saw Ginger Nicholls top score for the home side with 11 points on his wedding day.^[5] In the process he won the first-ever race, was beaten by an opponent only once, and set the first-ever track record at 82.8 seconds.

The team then joined the 1949 Speedway National League Division Three late in the season, when Reg Witcomb applied to the Speedway Control Board to take over the remaining fixtures of Hull Angels, who had withdrawn from the league.^[6] Swindon finished in 11th place.^[7]

1950s

The first silverware came to the club in 1956 and 1957. In 1956, they won the 1956 Speedway National League Division Two title, finishing one point clear of Southampton Saints,^[8] with three riders, Bob Roger, Ian Williams and George White securing 9+ averages for the season.^[9] Promotion ensued and the following year Swindon joined the highest league, that of the 1957 Speedway National League. Several riders were brought in to bolster the campaign but it was the same three riders that steered Swindon to back to back league titles.^[10]

1960s

The Robins continued to compete in the top division, which became known as the British League in 1965 and during the period the leading riders included Mike Broadbank, Neil Street and Tadeusz Teodorowicz. The Robins strengthened the team in 1964 with the signing of Barry Briggs, who won his third world title during the same year.

The next major success came during the 1967 British League season when Swindon won the league title. Swindon finished with four riders with averages over eight, Barry Briggs topped the entire league with 11.05 but the contributions from Martin Ashby (8.83), Bob Kilby (8.61) and Mike Broadbank (8.55) were pivotal in the Swindon's success.^[11] The Robins also won the Midland Cup for two consecutive seasons in 1967 and 1968.^[12][13]

Martin Ashby would go on to ride for Swindon for 16 seasons from 1961 to 1979 and score 5,476.5 points for the club.

1970s

The 1970s failed to live up to the success of the previous decade but the Robins did manage two fifth place finishes in 1971 and 1976 respectively. The team consisted of various number one riders throughout the period including Briggs, Ashby, Kilby before the signing of Phil Crump in 1979 by the new promoter Wally Mawdsley.^[14]

1980s

The 1980s followed the same path as the 1970s, with a full decade of top level speedway but with only two third place finishes to show for their efforts in 1981 and 1987. The majority of the deacde was led by Swindon stalwart Phil Crump before Jimmy Nilsen took over as the team's number one rider. Phil Crump scored 4,254 points and was the Robins' leading rider for eight years from 1979 to 1986.

1990s

In 1990, the club paid £20,000 to Poole Pirates to secure the transfer of Leigh Adams,^[15] who would go on to become the number 1 rider at Swindon during three different spells, in addition to being regarded as one of the world's best riders for over a decade. Despite securing his services he lacked support and the Robins suffered a poor 1992 season, finishing last and dropping down to the second division from 1993 to 1994. The team (Tony Olsson and Tony Langdon) won the British League Division Two Pairs Championship, held at Arena Essex Raceway on 28 May 1994.^[16]

With the merger of the divisions for the 1995 season, Swindon returned to the top league. Jimmy Nilsen returned to the club in 1996, as did Leigh Adams in 1997 but the club dropped again to the second division in 1999.

2000s

The club experienced success in 2000, winning the Div 2 KO Cup and Young Shield during the 2000 Premier League speedway season, a season in which they were unlucky to finish league runner-up behind Exeter Falcons. The Falcons only won the title on points difference and actually won three less matches than Swindon that season. In 2003, the Robins won the Premier League Four-Team Championship, which was held on 27 July, at the Abbey Stadium.^[17][18]

In 2004, the club returned once again to the top league, which was now called the Elite League and won the Elite League Pairs Championship in both 2004 and 2005.^[19][20]

From 2006 until 2009 the Robins reached four consecutive play offs. During the 2009 Elite League speedway season the Robins finished first in the regular season table but lost in the play off final. The Australian Leigh Adams was the best rider in the league, topping the averages twice and was the track record holder, with a time of 63.86 seconds, on 31 August 2009.

2010s

Following difficult campaigns in 2010 (when Adams left the club) and 2011, Swindon signed Denmark's Peter Kildemand, former world #5 Hans Andersen and Australian international Troy Batchelor, who rode for the Robins in 2008 and part of the 2009 season. Alun Rossiter also returned as team manager after a 2-year spell with Coventry, with whom he won the Elite League in 2010. In 2012, the Robins won the Elite League title after beating the Poole Pirates 95–89 on aggregate following a 45-year wait for glory.^[21]

In 2013, 2014 and 2015, the Robins made the semi-finals of the playoffs, but failed to advance further. At the start of the 2015 season, Swindon's No 1 Adrian Miedziński was injured in the first meeting at the Abbey, with Peter Kildemand filling in on a temporary basis before the club signed Australian international Darcy Ward. However, Ward suffered a career-ending accident while riding in Poland, and Kildemand once again stepped in to complete the season. The 2016 Robins team was nicknamed Roscos Roo's, because it contained five Australians in addition to the required two British reserves.

In 2017, the Robins won the League Championship play off final against Wolverhampton Wolves despite losing the first leg at their home track. Jason Doyle was instrumental in helping Swindon claim the crown.

Due to stadium issues, a new stadium was planned to be built for the 2018 season^[22] but this did not happen and at the start of the 2019 season, the Abbey Stadium was reduced in size to 320 metres from its original 363 metres. It turned out to be their last season at the Abbey Stadium.

2020s

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 SGB Premiership was completely cancelled^[23] and in January 2021, the Robins confirmed their withdrawal from the 2021 season, citing uncertainty around the potential redevelopment of their stadium.^[24] The Robins' promoter, Terry Robins, confirmed that the team would not be fielding a team in the 2022 season due to uncertainty over when the new stadium would be completed.^[25] In December 2022, a stand-off continued between the council and builders Taylor Wimpey over the stadium's perimeter and its expected redevelopment. Around that time Clarke Osborne of Gaming International issued a press release calling for sites, seeking a 5,000 capacity stadium to host speedway, karting and car racing.^[26]