History of motorcycle speedway in Sweden

In the 1950s motorcycle speedway became one of Swedens most popular team sports where each fixture often was viewed by audiences between 10000 and 20000 people.^[1][2] The Swedish speedway league was founded a few years earlier in 1948 and was inspired by British speedway including adopting the British teams nicknames in Swedish versions. For instance the Norrköping team became Vargarna (English: "The Wolves"), the Eskilstuna team became Smederna (English: "The Blacksmiths") and the club Motorsällskapet became Getingarna (English: "The Wasps"). As popularity of the sport grew there were many new clubs founded all around Sweden and during the 1950s more than 30 different clubs competed at least one season in the league system.^[3] Unfortunately many of these new teams were short lived and only survived a few years but one can still find some of those new teams of the 1950s in today's Elitserien.

League tables of 1950

This year Smålänningarna changed name to Dackarna and GEMA changed name to Kaparna
Division 1

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Filbyterna	21	Swedish champions
2	Vargarna	19
3	Monarkerna	13
4	Indianerna	12
5	Griparna	8
6	Getingarna	7
7	Dackarna	4

Division 2 A

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Piraterna	10
2	Kaparna	8
3	Kuggarna	4
4	Vikingarna	2

Division 2 B

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Saxarna	7
2	Gastarna	7
3	Falkarna	6
4	Kanonerna	4
5	Husarerna	4
6	Örnarna	2

Division 2 C

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Vetlanda	7
2	Vimmerby	1
3	Växjö	0
4	Tändstiftet	0

League tables of 1951

Division 1

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Vargarna	22	Swedish champions
2	Smederna	14
3	Dackarna	12
4	Filbyterna	11
5	Indianerna	10
6	Getingarna	8
7	Monarkerna	7	Relegation to division 2

Division 2 East

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Vikingarna	18	Promotion to division 1
2	Piraterna	16
3	Folkare	9
4	Vesslorna	8
5	Kuggarna	6
6	Munkarna	3

Division 2 West

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Kaparna	16	Promotion to division 1
2	Kanonerna	12
3	Falkarna	12
4	Saxarna	10
5	Hyllingarna	8
6	Solkatterna	2

League tables of 1952

This year Falkarna changed name to Knallarna, Hyllingarna changed name to Stenbockarna and Solkatterna changed name to Kavaljererna
Division 1

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Getingarna	23	Swedish champions
2	Smederna	21
3	Indianerna	18
4	Vargarna	16
5	Filbyterna	14
6	Kaparna	10
7	Dackarna	10
8	Vikingarna	0	Relegation to division 2

Division 2

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Monarkerna	20	Promotion to division 1
2	Knallarna	12
3	Kuggarna	11
4	Stenbockarna	8
5	Garvarna	7
6	Kavaljererna	2

League tables of 1953

Division 1

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Vargarna	25	Swedish champions
2	Indianerna	18
3	Smederna	16
4	Monarkerna	14
5	Getingarna	13
6	Kaparna	12
7	Filbyterna	10
8	Dackarna	4

Division 2

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Vikingarna	6	Promotion to division 1
2	Kuggarna	6
3	Stenbockarna	0

League tables of 1954

Division 1

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Vargarna	26	Swedish champions
2	Monarkerna	22
3	Indianerna	20
4	Smederna	18
5	Kaparna	16
6	Filbyterna	15
7	Getingarna	12
8	Dackarna	12
9	Vikingarna	2

League tables of 1955

Division 1

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Monarkerna	18	Swedish champions
2	Kaparna	13
3	Filbyterna	10
4	Dackarna	10
5	Indianerna	5
6	Getingarna	4

League tables of 1956

Division 1

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Monarkerna	16	Swedish champions
2	Dackarna	15
3	Filbyterna	15
4	Kaparna	8
5	Indianerna	6
6	Getingarna	0

League tables of 1957

Division 1

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Dackarna	22	Swedish champions
2	Kaparna	16
3	Monarkerna	14
4	Filbyterna	13
5	Indianerna	8
6	Getingarna	7
7	Vargarna	4

League tables of 1958

Division 1

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Dackarna	14	Swedish champions
2	Monarkerna	14
3	Kaparna	10
4	Filbyterna	10
5	Vargarna	6
6	Getingarna	2

Division 2

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Örnarna	12
2	Filbyterna B	10,5
3	Dackarna B	10,5
4	Folkare	7

League tables of 1959

Division 1

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Dackarna	14	Swedish champions
2	Kaparna	10
3	Monarkerna	8
4	Vargarna	7
5	Getingarna	1

Division 2

Pos	Club	Pts	Comment
1	Folkare	12
2	Dackarna B	12
3	Filbyterna	9
4	Älgarna	9
5	Örnarna	8

References

1. Vargarna Speedway (2007). "Vargarna Speedway" (in Swedish). Vargarna Speedway. Retrieved August 30, 2007.
2. kaparna.nu. "Slottsskogsvallen -Kaparna Speedway" (in Swedish). kaparna.nu. Retrieved August 30, 2007.
3. speedway.org. "History: Speedway and Longtrack". speedway.org. Retrieved August 30, 2007.