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I know that the dimensions of the current Shay pitch are larger than those of Wembley BUT there is no speedway track there now. You have to think that it was narrower in those days.
The first time I went to the Shay was for the famous promotion battle in the late sixties. The pitch was really small but the thing that amazed me was the area near the corner flags. At least a couple of yards of the pitch where the corner flags were consisted of grass laid on top of boards sat on top of housebricks ! They jutted out onto the speedway track. kid you not. You really needed a winger with one leg shorter than the other to take a good corner.
I presume the boards were taken away for the speedway.
The first time I went to the Shay was for the famous promotion battle in the late sixties. The pitch was really small but the thing that amazed me was the area near the corner flags. At least a couple of yards of the pitch where the corner flags were consisted of grass laid on top of boards sat on top of housebricks ! They jutted out onto the speedway track. kid you not. You really needed a winger with one leg shorter than the other to take a good corner.
I presume the boards were taken away for the speedway.
Correct, and i recall one game where the corner quadrant was nowhere near level and the ball just wouldn't settle in it. The ref had to allow corners to be taken with the ball about a foot outside the quadrant