The Yarmouth Bloaters were a

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

team who operated from

Yarmouth Stadium Yarmouth Stadium is a greyhound racing track located at Caister-on-Sea in the Borough of Great Yarmouth and English county of Norfolk. It is licensed by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Greyhound Racing takes place every Monday, Wednesd ...

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

from 1948 to 1962.

History

Speedway meetings had been taking place at Yarmouth Stadium since 1932. In 1948 the Yarmouth Bloaters speedway team were created and they joined the National League Division Three. The original plan was to use the name Yarmouth Mariners but the name was disliked by supporters and the name Bloaters was chosen because of the town's connections with the fishing industry. It was also the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

of the local football team,

Great Yarmouth Town F.C. Great Yarmouth Town Football Club is a football club based in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Wellesley Recreation Ground, whose grandstand is believed to be the world's oldest football stand ...

The team's race jacket consisted of red and black quarters which then became red with black cross adorned with an image of a silver bloater. The team finished in 11th place in their inaugural league season. In

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

the Bloaters finished joint top of Division Three with the Hanley Potters, but the Potters superior race points average meant that Yarmouth finished as runners up. Yarmouth were offered promotion and moved up to the National League Division Two for the 1950 season. They spent fours seasons in Division two, with the last in 1953 being the best as the team finished in third place. Yarmouth wanted to open the 1954 season several weeks late but this wish was denied by the

Speedway Control Board The Speedway Control Bureau (SCB), known as the Speedway Control Board between 1948 and 2002, governs the sport of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom on behalf of the Auto Cycle Union (ACU). The directors are appointed by the ACU and Bri ...

and the Bloaters were not issued a racing licence for that year. The track remained closed until a consortium of local businessmen took over in 1957. Yarmouth continued with a number of open meetings and minor local speedway leagues until becoming one of the founder members of the

Provincial League Provincial League (formerly known as Professional League) also known as Pro League was the old regional Football league in Thailand in 1999–2008. It was founded in 1999 under the name "Provincial League" organized by Sports Authority of Thailan ...

in 1960. During the season the club lost money after several home meetings were cancelled due to bad weather, and they finished seventh out of ten teams. The decision was taken not to enter the Provincial League for the 1961 season by the promoters and after taking part in several open meetings the Bloaters closed due to financial problems. The stadium now hosts

greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgenc ...

and

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It or ...

, and the speedway track has been covered over with

tarmac Tarmac may refer to: Engineered surfaces * Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902 * Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded tar ...

Season summary

References

{{Reflist Defunct speedway teams in the United Kingdom Sport in Great Yarmouth 1948 establishments in England 1962 disestablishments in England