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Inducted into the Hall of fame in 1990. The name of Sir Arthur Elvin MBE, whilst maybe not a
household sporting one, will forever be associated with that of Wembley. Born July 5th 1899 in Norwich, Arthur Elvin
left school aged fourteen years and tried numerous jobs before joining
the Royal Flying Corps during WW1. He was later shot down over France
and spent two years as a prisoner of war. His association with Wembley started in 1924, working as
an assistant in a tobacco kiosk at the British Empire Exhibition. After
its closure, he made his fortune by buying up and clearing out the
derelict pavilions one by one, and selling off the scrap materials. When
the stadium went into liquidation, Elvin quickly quickly raised
sufficient backing to buy up the complex, becoming managing director of
Wembley Stadiums Ltd in 1927. His next move was to persuade the board to
build a multi-purpose indoors sports arena to complement the main
stadium. The result was the Empire Pool and Sports Arena, later known
simply as Wembley Arena, which opened its doors in 1934. Having promoted new sports such as greyhound racing and
speedway in the stadium, Elvin introduced ice hockey to a wider British
public. Canadians were recruited in large numbers to come to Britain and
within a couple of years, two further large arenas were constructed in
the London area, at Harringay and Earls Court. All three of the London
arenas were capable of seating eight thousand spectators. Wembley iced two teams, the Canadians later renamed the
Monarchs and the Lions, and fans flocked to see the ‘new’ sport
superbly presented in comfortable surroundings and complemented by an
informative programme unequalled by any other sport at the time. There were more boom years immediately after WW2, but the
advent of long-running ice shows over the Christmas and New Year period
made the continuation of two teams impractical and in 1950, the Monarchs
folded. The Lions remained members of the English, later British, League
until 1960, when economic factors meant that the importing of large
numbers of Canadian players was no longer viable, causing the virtual
collapse of organised hockey in the south of the country. Whether the then Sir Arthur Elvin MBE, who had died three
years earlier while on a cruise to South Africa, would have been able to
do anything to ensure continuation of ice hockey at his beloved Wembley,
we shall never know. One thing is certain however, he would have been
proud that the Wembley Arena became regarded as the spiritual home of
ice hockey in Britain and until the dawning of the Superleague era in
the late nineties, Wembley was used, albeit once a year for the
showpiece finals weekend. Arthur Elvin was made a Member of the British Empire in
1945 and received his knighthood from King George VI in 1947. He died at
sea on February 4th, 1957. Compiled
with research, provided by
Martin C.Harris –
1990. |
