The enduring memories of great Wembley weekends

As venues go, Wembley Arena in the 1980s was nothing special.

The walk-up was drab - a far cry from the smart, wonderfully lit plaza that exists now - and the building was a bit of a barn.

But it remains a magical place for ice hockey fans across the UK. If ever the sport had a spiritual home, this was it.

The venue had hosted ice hockey across the decades, and was home to the famous Wembley Lions who formed part of the sport’s post-war heyday.

But, it was also home to the championship finals weekend.

The competition continues to this day, and is now resident in Nottingham, where the weekends are still as much about friendships off the ice as they are rivalries on it, but, for a generation or more of hockey fans, nothing will ever quite match the magic of Wembley.

That may well be partly down to nostalgia, and a yearning for a time when hockey teams were filled with local skaters, there were many intense local rivalries, and games were played in rinks rather than arenas - but, 30 years on,  those Heineken era memories remain strong.

And they do so for a reason.

Wembley was special to fans whether or not their teams qualified. 

There was a real sense of community as well as a buzz as fans gathered in the concourse, and browsed stalls which, from memory, were run as much by clubs and supporters organisations as they were by major companies.

The Brass Bonanza theme tune blasted through the PA, along with the dulcet tones of  Norman DeMesquita - the man from The Times who was also the championship finals announcer.

Rival fans formed allegiances for the weekend, although some lines could never be crossed. A Fife fan would always support the team playing Racers ... and absolutely no-one outwith Durham seemed keen to yell for 'dirty, dirty Durham'

You saw familiar faces at every turn, and the Heineken on tap at

the beer stalls went down very well.

The sport was different- every decade or era is -  but, for many, it was the best of times.

Hockey was on a high, fans thrilled to see incredibly talented imports who lit up match nights with goals galore - they were the stars - and emerging local talent who found a place to skate and hone their own skills.

Fife Flyers,Whitley Warriors, Murrayfield Racers,  and Durham Wasps were all key players in the old Premier Division before the dawn of brash new arena teams and the arrival of ‘cheque book hockey’ - a phrase hurled with real intensity, sometimes venom,  from the stands on many match nights as the clash of the old and the new started to heat up.

Durham Wasps’ Big Blue Machine, and Murrayfield Racers dominated the silverware,

It was the era of Rick Brebant, Chris Kelland and his 60-minute shifts, Steve Moria and Fred Perlini, the Coopers and the Hands, Rocky Saganuik and Danny Shea, the Taskers and Johnsons, Gordon Latto, Chic Cottrell, and true characters such as Andy Donald.

Wembley - the view from Fife Flyers
team bench (Pic: Fife Free Press archives)

It was also the era of Streatham Redskins, Peterborough Pirates and Dundee Rockets - great clubs with proud traditions - and fans travelling on the team bus. Road trips were nothing other than fun.

It was the era when BBC’s cameras would roll up and broadcast games live on Grandstand - one of their favourite venues was Fife where there were no pillars to block the cameras’ view, and the atmosphere, even for an afternoon face-off was incredible with every single seat filled.

Cardiff Devils brought a new perspective to the Wembley Weekends with their huge travelling support in fine voice, and quickly got into the spirit of the occasion.

Devils were young, hungry and ambitious - and also bloody good - but they fitted in a way perhaps Sheffield, equally ambitious and equally good, didn’t as they swaggered in with an attitude which never sat comfortably with everyone.

But their arrival marked the closing days of the Heineken era.

The splits which followed were painful - the short-lived, over-ambitious, unsustainable Super League forced other teams into lifeboats simply to survive, and watching Fife, a Grand Slam winning team,  skate out at Elgin to play a reccy club in a Scottish League game remains the saddest moment I’ve witnessed in 37 years rinkside.

Boom and bust is nothing new to this sport and, in the middle of this pandemic, it may well happen once more,

But it has a spirit that endures because enough people care about it to keep it going.

That’s what made Wembley extra special. It was as much about the kitmen and equipment teams as it was about the stars on the ice. 

And it was a weekend fans booked months in advance and counted down the days to boarding the fleet of buses which used to depart the ice rink car park. 

Gordon Latto on the bench with Fife Flyers
at Wembley (Pic: Fife Free Press archives)

Others piled on to trains pulling out of Kirkcaldy station, and entire hotels were taken over for the weekend - I recall one year ending up in The Grosvenor where the hotel once had its own ice rink, one of the first in the UK -  while another at The Grafton saw a smashing sing-song well into the wee sma’ hours.

But, no matter where you stayed, all roads led to Wembley on that Saturday morning for a weekend like no other. The hangovers may have gone, but the memories, and the stories,  burn bright.