GBGB Managing Director Mark Bird is promising to unveil the first industry ‘ambassadors’ next month as the greyhound industry gets to work on its public image.
Contrary to some of the views expressed on social media on Tuesday, the greyhound board did not sanction the appearance of controversial former racing journalist John McCririck on Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain TV show.
The man who reputation dive-bombed during his appearances on TV show ‘I’m a celebrity, get me out of here‘ – principally over allegations of misogyny – stepped in after GBGB decided not to send a representative to what they saw as a loaded debate.
Mark said: “We were originally told that the debate would be with a representative from a charity, which wasn’t true and it became obvious that the programme makers had their own agenda. Quite frankly we weren’t going to give them the oxygen of publicity by taking part.
“We certainly didn’t endorse John McCririck’s appearance which, let’s face it, was a disaster. The first thing I knew was a phone call at the weekend from Jim Cremin explaining McCririck intended to participate so we then attempted to furnish him (McCririck) with the facts, which in the end, he never referred to.”
Bird himself appeared on BBC Radio London on Tuesday night (wind forward to minute 40 and 1 hr 37 mins) where he gave a robust response to a statement from the League Against Cruel Sports. Overall though, the topic was massively overshadowed by the two shootings on teenagers in London earlier in the day.
Mark said: “It was a much better format than the TV programme where the two sides were trying to talk over each other. My piece was recorded and it allowed the listener to consider two different views on the subject without interruption.
“Overall though, I am not sure that the industry regulator is the best person to represent the industry in this type of debate. Although we have a retired dog, I would rather see someone younger and with a greater knowledge and understanding of handling greyhounds.
“There are a number of people within this industry who feel every bit as passionate as the welfarists and armed with accurate information will be able to provide an alternative view to the antis.”
(McCririck followed up his TV appearance with a long eccentric rant about greyhound racing on the LoveSport radio station on Wednesday afternoon. Mark Bird was due to appear opposite welfare campaigner Clarissa Baldwin on Radio Kent at the same time – Ed)
