Jimmy Cobain

Died: March 14, 2015.

Jimmy Cobain, who has died aged 78, was an outstanding figure in cycle speedway in Scotland and England. He took part in every aspect of the sport as rider, team captain, Glasgow Test star, Scottish internationalist, team manager of both club and country, as well as a leading office-bearer in Glasgow, Manchester and the controlling National Amateur Cycle Speedway Association.

Cycle speedway was a post-war phenomenon, a minority sport which flourished in central Scotland for a quarter-of-a-century. Centred principally on Glasgow with some activity in Edinburgh, it peaked at some 18 clubs and tracks, with such names and locations as Knightswood Toffs, Eastwood Aces, Mansewood Lions, Craigton Eagles, Priesthill Giants, Redhill Rockets, Linthouse Lightnings and Everard Eagles in Bishopbriggs.

Hutchesons' Grammar School at Crossmyloof covers the site of a track which existed until 1955, with several clubs sharing it including Bishopton Buffalos, Crossmyloof Giants, Paisley Aces, Charing Cross Rangers and Craigton Eagles (who later operated from Rouken Glen). Speedway bikes were home-built jobs, low-geared, sporting knobbly tyres and without brakes (brake levers constituted a real hazard).

Jimmy Cobain began as a 17-year-old with Linthouse in 1954 before transferring to Knightswood Toffs. The latter prided themselves on smart turn-out, living up to their name by one rider occasionally sporting a top hat.

Fast and furious on the bends, he made a name for himself as a rider who gave no quarter - and expected none. His ability shone, and it proved no surprise when he was selected to ride for Scotland against England in the 1957 international at Hungerford, Berkshire.

His problem however was that he was at that time a national serviceman stationed at RAF Boddam, near Peterhead, 550 miles from Hungerford. A NATO exercise meant that he could not reach Glasgow to travel south with the rest of the team, and in the fashion of those days, he hitch-hiked.

But he arrived late for the start, and as a result was not allowed to race. His sole option was to hitch-hike back to Boddam. As he ruefully recounted years later: "With a round trip of 1100 miles, I reckon I hold the record for travelling farther than any other rider, not to take part in a scheduled match."

His chance to ride for Scotland came the following year at the Mansewood track. For both riders and spectators, this international meeting gained glamour for those times by a loudspeaker commentary from an Evening Citizen promotional van.

From age 15, Jimmy Cobain worked as a Clydeside stevedore, but by 1967, he recognised that containerisation would make him jobless, and he moved into marine insurance, working with Lloyds of London in Vienna, and as a marine cargo surveyor in overseas ports. Offered promotion to Manchester, he took the opportunity not just as career enhancement, but because the city and nearby Stockport have long been strongholds of cycle speedway.

He had given up racing by age 30, thereafter throwing himself thoroughly into administration of the sport both in England and Scotland. For over two decades, he was the very active chairman of Manchester, Stockport & District Cycle Speedway Association.

He proved not only the inspiration behind the revival of cycle speedway in Glasgow in 1969, but that year also managed the Scottish team in their first victory over England in 20 years at the Hampden track in Glasgow, a feat repeated the same year in Edinburgh at Whinhill.

Forty years later, survivors of those famous victories met for a celebratory evening in Glasgow, and Jimmy Cobain proved the raconteur of the evening.

He rightly looked back on those rare victories as among his finest hours. But behind the scenes, he had not only managed the team, but written and produced the programme, and encouraged Burmah Oil to sponsor bunting.

Doug Nicolson, historian of Scottish cycle speedway, said of him: "He was always prepared to travel long distances for the sport, notably between Glasgow and Manchester. He possessed a fund of cycle speedway tales and was always good company. His great memory proved the source for much of the detail we know of early cycle speedway tracks."

Mr Cobain, devoted to his wife Sandie, died suddenly while on a visit to Glasgow to see Rangers, the other great sport in his life. He was with Sandie when he died, and is survived by her, three children and four grandchildren.

GORDON CASELY