Wimbledon Dons

The Wimbledon Dons were a professional motorcycle speedway team who operated from the Wimbledon Stadium, Plough Lane in London.[1][2]

Wimbledon Dons
Wimbledon Dons captain Barry Briggs (centre) shaking hands with Oxford Rebels captain Gordon Kennett in 1975
Club information
Track address	Wimbledon Stadium Plough Lane Wimbledon London
Country	England
Founded	1928
Closed	2005
Website	www.wimbledon-speedway.com
Club facts
Colours	Yellow Star on Red
Track size	355 yards (325 m)
Major team honours
National League Champions 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961 National Trophy Winners 1938, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1960, 1962 KO Cup Winners 1962, 1968, 1969, 1970 London Cup Winners 1938, 1939, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985 RAC Cup 1954 Britannia Shield 1959 Gauntlet Spring Gold Cup Winners 1979

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]