“What! Labour are planning to ban coursing? We’ve got far bigger problems than that.”
The memory of that black observation – between two coursing followers took place probably 11 or 12 years ago and related to me a few days later by Charlie Blanning – came flooding back the recent launch of the book ‘The Greyhound and the Hare’.
When we visit our memories archives, we tend to be quite selective as to which memories we choose to replay and how accurately we choose to review them.
Will it be the 30 year old memory of a Waterloo Cup with 15,000 in attendance or the 15 year old memory of a dozen old enthusiasts who stood stoically in ever growing puddles at a club meeting in a Cambridgeshire field?
My point is, coursing was finished long before the Lefties banned it. It had an aging following that younger generations did not relate to in anywhere near the numbers it needed to be sustainable.
More tellingly, it became a political football that had feck-all to do with animal welfare. There would be more hares killed overnight on our four biggest motorways than would perish in a season (part year) of hare coursing.
Well no, I’ve never actually been coursing. I spend most of my time purging society of the capitalistic tyranny of the downtrodden working class. But it sounds like something the toffs would do. So ban it. And wax jackets and the name Rupert!
When it comes to memories, racing supporters do something similar.
Do you actually remember how sad and pathetic Wembley was when it finally closed? Or Walthamstow? Bet you can if you think hard enough.
Instead, in your mental video, you are probably replaying a famous St.Leger decider or a Grand Prix Final night with 9,000 in attendance’.
You may have misfiled the mental footage of near empty Tuesday nights, and the latest wave of cuts to prize money and trainer bonuses. They were regular occurances, if you can bear to dig deep enough into your personal archives.
The worst thing about selective memory is that it distorts history and that leads to muddled thinking. The recent announcement about the reduced St.Leger prize money is just one case in point.
It came about directly as a result of the media rights war AND the decision of SKY to ditch dog racing. Without the former, there is a reasonable chance that an alternative might have been found – and with that, a sponsor.
It might have been easier for GRA to find a sponsor, and retain a higher first prize had RPGTV stepped in to broadcast it – though the broadcaster (who generally do an excellent job) escaped any blame. It was only THE ST.LEGER after all!!!
Instead, we witness enough bile directed at ‘GRA’ to re-float the Titanic.
By all means, get stuck in. Fill your boots. Go to your ‘Blame GRA box set’ for all of greyhound racing’s woes. But you are missing two very important issues.
1) If owners and trainers decide to boycott the Leger to prove a point – do you really think that will be a major concern for GRA boss Clive Feltham? He will stage seven graded races and save himself around £10K. He can even say ‘don’t blame me, despite all the problems, I tried’.
Or as John Mullins pointed out, ‘Should I tell my owners we are boycotting the St.Leger and going to run in three £250 opens, or run in a heat that is worth £400, a semi final that is worth £750 and a St.Leger final that is worth £5,500?’
2) To paraphrase Dr.Joe Dispenza ‘Okay, bind and gag Clive Feltham, seal him in a rocket and shoot him to the moon. But then you still have to face your real problems.’
As things stand, there is a very strong chance that a large number of major events are facing significant prize money shortfalls next year.
In the words of one GMG promoter recently: “We are now receiving £50,000 less income per week than Henlow”.
Does that mean that greyhound racing is about to fold?
Or does it mean that despite there being a significant overall increase in money coming into the industry this year, it is being spread differently?
Greyhound racing has serious medium and long term issues. Focusing on a side issue like the St.Leger is dangerous because it takes our eye off the ball. So is blaming GRA for all its problems.
We are in the tenth month of a media rights battle between ARC and SIS. Sooner or later, one side will prevail and there will be significant casualties among the losers. Equally damaging would be ‘a settlement’ whereby the two sides agree to stop damaging each other, and sacrifice some of their own forces.
(I am reminded of the time the Sporting Life bought out the Racing Post – though to save face among the sheiks, it was presented as the other way round. Whatever, good people were lost)
Whatever the final outcome in the media rights issue, I can see no medium term scenario whereby we don’t lose at least five/six tracks. They would fold within weeks of losing their media rights contract. All it would take would be a board decision at ARC or SIS.
If that wasn’t bad enough, both sides are inevitably going to see their resources reduced as FOBT legislation kicks in and shops close. I have spoken to independent bookies who admit that they only take dog racing as live background while the FOBTs are being played in the shops.
Personally, although I am convinced that the reduction in shop numbers (my local Ladbrokes has just been boarded over) will be far greater than the actual decline in turnover, we have to face facts that there will be less revenue coming to greyhound racing – whoever wins the media rights war.
So your point is?
It might be best answered with another question. Will anybody buy Towcester as a greyhound track?
Not a horserace course or future housing estate, but the jewel in the greyhound racing crown?
(And ironically, the one management with a clear picture on how greyhound racing could operate without the traditional betting industry)
I have huge doubts since, fundamentally, the betting industry seems to regard dog racing as ‘cheap filler’.
Sure, useful, high margin, low risk, cheap filler, but not the fantastic betting product that we know it should be.
Furthermore, it seems to have very little imagination on how best to use or expand dog racing content.
Virtually everyday greyhound punters are being knocked back on very modest bets, particularly on open races and competitions, by major betting companies who are all just looking to ‘fiddle a bit’ out of dog racing.
As was pointed out by Gary Wiltshire recently, there are probably only two or three genuine odds compilers on greyhound racing for the whole country.
In the coming weeks, I hope we can highlight some of the issues and offer solutions. Expect another column shortly from professional greyhound punter Gary Noble, who has his own ideas on the way forward. There will be more from Gary Wiltshire with another man who makes his living from gambling – Mark Keightley – also contributing.
Ultimately, this will always be a gambling led, and financed, sport but the business model and relationship needs a serious overhaul.
Tom Smith, inventor of the Swaffham hare, keeps in touch, albeit he is a marina owner now in Ireland, buying and fixing boats, leaving son Gavin to the greyhound business. Think – Central Park!
Tom has always been a source of interesting tales, most of which couldn’t be told at the time for fear of reprisals from ‘the powers that be’. These days, he doesn’t give a toss.
The first story concerns his dealings with the old BGRB. When the Smiths left Swaffham because they couldn’t make it pay they left behind all fixtures, fittings and equipment.
Some weeks later, they received a demand from the Board for £20,000 en lieu of all the grants they had received for equipment. They eventually scraped together £10K which the Board took as a settlement. Understandably, Tom would like to know whether the Board have pursued the other promoters when they have shut their tracks, or transferred equipment.
The second story took place at an Irish track shortly after the Smiths had installed automatic timing. It apparently ‘failed’ in a trial at a Southern based track. The racing office gave out the time as 30.09 for a dog trialling for a confined ’30.00’ stake.
The Smiths discovered that the equipment had been tampered with but the settings showed that the trial had been won in 29.09. They reported their findings to the IGB who threatened them with court action if they went public. Tom said “we were told that if we were checking up on staff, we should have told them beforehand” A week later, the dog won his heat of the unraced stake in 29.09.
The third story was one of many concerning mismanagement by the IGB. Unusually, we are not even talking about Limerick! No this story concerns the thousands spent tarmacking a carpark for the Tralee trainers, only afterwards discovering that there was no access from the public highway.
The ultimate definition of a white elephant park.
Finally, I would like to add my tribute to those remembering the late John Gilburn.
John was a proud Lancastrian. But he could be every ounce as blunt and uncompromising as is often considered of those folk on the opposite side of the Pennines where he plied his trade in latter years.
John never ducked an argument and was prepared to take tough decisions, but I always found him to be fair and open minded.
John Gilburn was a great friend to Greyhound Star, even when GBGB seemed intent on wiping us out.
“We will always support you” he said on countless occasions, and John Gilburn’s word was gold plated.
For a man sometimes disparagingly as ‘Johnny Bingo’ following his former career, John grew to love greyhound racing and made it his life and passion.
Ask anyone to name the top three tracks in the country, and invariably Sheffield would be among them.
He kept his bosses on-side but still managed to deliver a service that the industry could be proud of.
In an industry almost crippled by negativity, lies, false accusations, and gloom, John Gilburn not only tried to make a difference, he actually delivered.
There are not enough people of John Gilburn’s calibre in greyhound racing, and we are all the poorer by his loss.
