When under-fire Greyhound Trust launched its ‘listening’ initiative recently, it was seen by some as an olive branch to an increasingly irritated greyhound industry. Others viewed it as a cosmetic attempt to divert the posse on its trail. John Curran took it as an opportunity to spell out a few home truths to the re-homing charity – and they will not have liked a lot of what they heard, writes Floyd Amphlett.
Kinsley boss Curran has spent most of the past two decades at the cutting edge of greyhound politics and governance. He spent literally thousands of hours in unpaid service of the industry as a GBGB and BGRF director and on the executive of the Racecourse Promoters Association.
When the track owners wanted their views delivered or their corner protected in discussions with ministers or top civil servants, Curran was their man.
When a track owner was required to form relationships with owners, trainers and breeders, in a previously fragmented BGRB, it was Curran, John Haynes, Stuart Loch-Harte and Bob Gilling who built a solid and trusted bond.
When it came to dealing with welfare groups, most notably the Greyhound Forum, which comprised most of the heavy hitters in the animal charity world, his role was more of an envoy.
While defending and explaining the concerns of the industry, he had no qualms about nudging and harrying his Board colleagues into accepting change and reform.
20 months after freeing himself of the legal burdens of directorship tied to the moral code of cabinet responsibility, the Yorkshireman is free to speak his mind.
He said: “I was asked to contribute to the debate by the Greyhound Trust and I agreed to do so, but only on the basis that my views were made public and that I do not want anonymity.
“Firstly, any views I hold are not personal in terms of individuals. Secondly, I have no interest whatsoever in any issues relating to the private lives of anyone working for the Greyhound Trust, providing they do not compromise their integrity or responsibilities.
“My sole focus is the policy and long term strategy of Greyhound Trust, and quite frankly I am not sure they have one. I have certainly never been made aware of it.
“In my opinion, Greyhound Trust should be working to one objective, to work with the greyhound industry shareholders to secure a home for every ‘homeable’ ex-racer.
“It really is that simple.
“How they implement that is secondary, but I see nothing to give me any belief that they can achieve it. There is a complete and total disconnect with the greyhound racing industry.
“The current Greyhound Trust management seem to have alienated virtually everybody. When my great friend and former colleague John Haynes recently resigned as a trustee, it really said so much about the current chairman and chief executive. John simply couldn’t work with them.
“We currently have around 7,500-7,800 greyhounds to home annually, and although it will be a huge challenge, I am convinced that it is deliverable by careful management of resources and volunteers.
“Make no mistake, it is crystal clear, we cannot deliver on this long term ambition without the full support of volunteers.
“But the Greyhound Trust management team seem to have pissed-off just about everybody. Good solid branches have severed their links with the Trust because of their incompetence, arrogance and bad management.
“I know of many others who would love to follow, if they weren’t so dependent on the Trust funding for their immediate survival.
“Money is at a premium but what is the Trust’s grand initiative? A select little showcase kennel for about 30 dogs in a field in Sussex. I don’t know what the total cost is, I did see figures of around £750,000, though I accept that they weren’t coming to GBGB for all the funding.
“Somebody has delusions of grandeur. We are not Dogs Trust with £60m annual income. How many of these show kennels are we going to have? One in the Midlands? One in the North East, The North West? Scotland? Wales?
“It isn’t the first ridiculous plan they have come up with. The whole re-branding to lose ‘Retired’ from their title would have cost thousands, with many people thinking it was the wrong decision anyway.”
Curran believes Trust has developed a feeling of misguided invincibility leading to its increasingly strained relationship with the industry shareholders.
He said: “It is true that for as long as I can remember, it was politically imperative for every board, from BGRB to GBGB, to be seen supporting the re-homing of greyhounds and the only mechanism for doing that was though the RGT/GT.
“But there is a growing feeling that GBGB could operate its own national re-homing scheme and could do it more efficiently by working with independent home-finders
“Since January, at Kinsley, we have re-homed 168 greyhounds, including 20 who were at risk of being euthanased due to injury, but qualified under our injury recovery scheme.
“When the dogs leave us, they have been neutered, inoculated, plus any dental work carried out and with a veterinary checked for any illness or injury.
“The dogs leave with leads, coats, muzzles and feeding and bowls and at an average cost of £350. That is roughly 40% of the average cost of homing a dog through Greyhound Trust.
“Now I accept that some of our homefinders are not in favour of greyhound racing. That is entirely their prerogative. But none are looking to close us down, and all have the best interests of the dogs at heart.
“I am not claiming for one second that Kinsley is the only track with a good re-homing scheme, tracks like Sheffield, Nottingham and Yarmouth, to name but three, do superb jobs. The Ladbrokes Coral tracks also have excellent home finding schemes.
My point is, there are alternatives to Greyhound Trust and we owe it to the greyhounds themselves to develop the best and most efficient re-homing program that we can.”
It was Lord Donoughue, who in his pitch/threat to scrap BGRB/NGRC and create GBGB – and with reference to welfare – famously described the greyhound industry as ‘drinking in the last chance saloon’
Is that how Curran views the future of Greyhound Trust?
“I was asked whether I thought it was too late for Greyhound Trust to recover”, he says.
“I answered, ‘No, but it is standing on the cliff edge looking down’. As to what can save it, the only solution is change at the very top. Once you lose confidence in the leadership of any organisation, it is never an option to get it back.”
