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Poole Pirates (also known as Poole Speedway) are a motorcycle speedway team based in Poole, England, competing in the SGB Championship. The club have been the champions of the United Kingdom on ten occasions.
Poole Speedway is promoted by local businessman Matt Ford and son Danny Ford, who took over promoting rights of the club in 1998. The team is managed by past rider and former Great Britain team manager Neil Middleditch. Poole Stadium (known as Wimborne Road when speedway takes place) has been home to the club since it was founded in 1948.
The home ground of the Poole Pirates would be Poole Stadium, which had been used primarily by Poole Town F.C. up to that point. The cycle track around the football pitch was replaced by a speedway track in preparation for the 1948 Speedway National League Division Three season. The first fixture held by the team was away to Tamworth Hounds, on 14 April 1948 and the first home match followed shortly afterwards, on 26 April against Yarmouth Bloaters.
Terry Small was signed for 1949, as the team improved on their inaugural season by finishing sixth.
Poole won the Division Two title and National Trophy (tier 2) double at the first attempt, but were denied first division status by the Speedway Control Board, who claimed that Poole were not a big enough club to be able to sustain top flight racing. The following two years (1953 and 1954) saw the Pirates narrowly finishing as Division Two runners up. Brian Crutcher left Poole for Wembley at the start of the 1953 season but Ken Middleditch won a second Riders' Championshiop in 1954.
In 1955, the Pirates again won the league and National Trophy double and were allowed promotion to division oOne of the National League, becoming the only club to ever have won promotion from the bottom league to the top tier. However, by the end of the 1956 season, the Poole promoters closed the club, blaming poor attendances and the introduction of fuel rationing due to the Suez Crisis. Despite losing their league status, Poole Stadium continued to stage meetings during 1957, including two National League meetings. Rayleigh Rockets promoter Vic Gooden took over the promoting rights of Poole at the end of the year and transferred his team to Poole, who rejoined the National League in 1958.
Following a power struggle between the Speedway Control Board and speedway club promoters, the British League was formed in 1965. Poole joined the British League (the top league Division) with 18 other teams and remained there for the next 20 years. They won the British League title in 1969 with Pete Smith, who would eventually go on to score over 3,287 points for the club, the biggest contributor. Smith was supported with contributions from team captain Geoff Mudge, Bruce Cribb, Gordon Guasco, Frank Shuter and Odd Fossengen who was in his second year at Poole and would become a fans favourite.
Mid-way through the 1979 season, Reg Fearman bought the promoting rights to run the club but ultimately the decade was one of mediocrity.
Australian manager Neil Street was appointed as Poole team manager and an influx of young Australian riders began to arrive, including Craig Boyce in 1988 and Leigh Adams in 1989. Poole finished as National League runners up 1988, were National League champions in 1989.
In 1997, the structure of the leagues was once again changed with Poole joining the Elite League. The terracing on the back straight of the speedway track was demolished in 1997 and replaced with a new glass fronted grandstand incorporating a 440-seat restaurant, two bars, The Tote facilities and multiple viewing screens. The speedway track was reduced in size to to accommodate a new greyhound track. Stadia UK were issued a long-term lease on the stadium by the council, with the Pirates promotion sub-leasing use of the stadium and facilities from Stadia UK.
Poole initially struggled in the Elite League and were sold to local businessmen Matt Ford and Mike Golding in 1998. In a clear out at the club, only Magnus Zetterström remained from the 1998 season and Neil Street was replaced as manager by former rider Neil Middleditch. Craig Boyce left for Oxford Cheetahs, Lee Richardson was signed from Reading Racers, Gary Havelock was brought in as captain and Mark Loram was signed from Wolverhampton Wolves. Poole finished as Elite League runner up in 1999.
In 2002, the club signed Bjarne Pedersen as they won another Craven Shield but it was Rickardsson who set the headlines for the season, winning another World Championship, the Riders' Championship and topping the league averages.
Leigh Adams re-joined the club in 2003, spearheading the team to a triple championship of Elite League, Knockout Cup and the British League Cup. The Pirates followed up 2003 with another successful year in 2004 despite the loss of Grand Prix rider Leigh Adams. Solid point scoring from Bjarne Pedersen, Antonio Lindback and Ryan Sullivan led Poole to an Elite League and Knockout Cup double and Poole became the first top flight club to achieve back to back League and Cup doubles since 1960.
After signing Chris Holder and re-signing Davey Watt and Krzysztof Kasprzak, the Pirates won their third Elite League championship in 2008, defeating the Lakeside Hammers in the play-off final with an aggregate score of 108–75.
The decade ended with Hans Andersen and Chris Holder winning the Elite League Pairs Championship, held at the Arlington Stadium on 8 August 2009. Poole operated a junior team called Bournemouth Buccaneers, in the National League in 2009.
The success of Poole continued with a third consecutive Knockout Cup win in 2012. The Pirates were then crowned champions in three successive years during the 2013, 2014 and 2015 seasons. The team won their tenth highest league title after winning the SGB Premiership 2018.
The decade was Poole's most successful period of speedway throughout their history and the south coast team were the leading club during the decade, with many top riders appearing for the club, most notably Holder, Ward, Watt, Pedersen, Andersen and Maciej Janowski.
The following season in 2022, the Pirate brought in Richard Lawson and the success continued as the team dominated again, winning the SGB Championship and Knockout Cup 'double double'. In 2023, despite winning the early season BSN Series, the Pirates suffered a shock play off final loss to Glasgow, which prevented a third consecutive league title win.
In 2024, the team made amends for the 2023 loss by winning their third league title and knockout cup in four years and securing a treble by winning the BSN Series.
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