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INTERNATIONALS - SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa v Britain

1977-78 Britain won series 3-1
??.12 : Johannesburg (Wembley) South Africa lost to Britain
??.12 : Pretoria (Mahem Stadium) South Africa lost to Britain
??.12 : Pretoria (Mahem Stadium) South Africa lost to Britain
11.02 : Cape Town (Goodwood Showgrounds) South Africa beat Britain (Att: 12,000)
The Britain team at Cape Town was probably Bert Harkins, Nig Close, Roni Ferguson and Alex Hughson
There is some doubt about these matches, as neither the reports from Bert Harkins or Benny Rourke (in Speedway Star and Speedway Mail in the UK) carry any mention of these "Test matches".

David Austin writes about this tour:
"The tour progressed in two parts divided by SA's 'Xmas Holidays (mid-December to mid-January). The first part from arrival in SA in late November to mid-December was spent in the North with meetings taking place at Wembley and Mahem, Pretoria under the promotion of Jim Macklin and Danie Fourie. During the 'Xmas break the promoters effectively went 'bust' and as they were unable to pay rent arrears at Wembley, the stadium management closed the track. Wembley was due to be demolished at the end of February 1978 anyway but the problems with the speedway promoters brought the demolition forward. Mahem was also in dispute with the promoters and they decided to cut speedway out of their programme. Due to bad weather on the tourists arrival, the first meeting they rode in didn't take place until December. From all this the Tests at Wembley and Mahem could only have taken place in December 1977.
After the 'Xmas break the tourists together with Alex Hughson and Roni Ferguson formed a syndicate to promote the rest of the tour themselves. They opened a new track at Rainbow outside Jo'burg and staged the 1978 Southern African Open Championship there on 4th February (Bert Harkins won). Thereafter, Benny Rourke returned to the UK whilst the rest of the party travelled to Cape Town for some meetings at the Goodwood Showgrounds before they too returned home at the end of February. Therefore, the last Test must have been staged in February 1978."
Since writing the above, David tells me that a 1988 South African programme refers to this 1977-78 series as Britain v Overseas, and that Overseas won the series 3-0!

Ken MacLeod says of the last match of the series:
"A Test Match ... was held at the Cape Showgrounds at Goodwood, Cape Town (its official name) on Saturday 11 February 1978. As always with South African speedway, things are not always quite what they seem. The match was advertised in both the Cape Times and Die Burger (both morning papers, the latter Afrikaans) the previous day (i.e. the 10th). Die Burger advertised the meeting as being South Africa v Overseas Stars. The only South Africans mentioned in the ad were Arthur Bruins and Brian Stephen.
Only the Cape Times ran a report, on the Monday. As follows: "The South African champion, Peter Prinsloo, led his team to a great win over the visiting British touring team at the Cape Showgrounds on Saturday night. Prinsloo was unbeaten in his four races. Bert Harkins was the outstanding rider for the visitors. It was the main event of the Cape Hell Drivers Club meeting and attracted 12 000 spectators" Unfortunately no score was mentioned. You'll notice from the ad and the report the absence of the term Britain or the description "test match".
As you know the Speedway Control Board placed some restrictions on British riders touring South Africa. One was the use of the term Britain or any British-orientated name. Hence the term Overseas used later. Another, I surmise, was the use of the term "test match" to describe meetings. Buddy Fuller was co-promoting at Goodwood at this time and I can detect his hand in the name of the touring team and the (lack of) the term test match. Personally I think that with South Africa in the equation it would qualify as a test match. And I suspect the SCB could hardly take reprisals against the touring riders concerned 32 years down the road! "

and promoter/rider Alex Hughson says:
"I also rode in that match in Cape Town in '78. I'm sure that Benny was not in CT though and I'm pretty certain that Peter Prinsloo rode for South Africa. Nig, Bert, Roni and I all went down in the train from Jo'burg; a long but great fun journey."

Contributors : David Austin, Ken MacLeod, Alex Hughson

© Brian Collins