Jimmy Cobain RIP

Sadly Jimmy passed away last week. He really had done it all when it came to cycle speedway, having been a rider, captain, Glasgow Test star, Scottish internationalist, team manager of both club and country and office bearer on both the Glasgow Control board and NACSA. Please excuse me if I’ve missed anything out. Indeed you could add historian, raconteur and driver to the list. He was the inspiration behind the Glasgow revival in 1969 and team managing the Scottish team to a rare victory over England must have been one of his finest hours. Not only did he write and produce the program that day, he also managed to get the bunting – anyone remember Burma petrol? However the highlight of that sunny afternoon nearly a lifetime ago was his polite but firm handling of the Glasgow police who seemed highly perturbed at the size of crowd we had drawn that day. He refuted any claim of crowd trouble and pointed out how much work us youngsters had done in preparation for the event and said we were a credit to the area. Exit the constabulary, suitably satisfied!

He was always prepared to travel long distances for the sport, notably between Glasgow and Manchester and took a very young Glasgow team down to take part in the Manchester 21^st Anniversary weekend, even though we were well out of our depth. A great trip for me. He had a fund of CS tales and was always good company at our functions. Time passed quickly when you were with Jimmy. He had a great memory and a lot of the historic details of early tracks on our website came from him.

It just seems like yesterday that we were all at the night in Sloans to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the Scottish win over England, and that’s how I’ll remember him, with a smile on his face and a pint in his hand telling a tale about his CS days. Goodbye Jimmy, it truly was a privilege to have known you.

Nicky Nicolson

March 2015