Kinsley boss and GBGB director John Curran has resigned from the board’s Racing Committee with immediate effect. His resignation reads:
“It was with a tinge of sadness that I informed the secretary to the GBGB Racing Sub Committee that I had resigned my membership of the racing committee with immediate effect. In doing so I wish the remaining members of the racing sub committee success in their work for the future.
“I have been a member of the racing sub committee post Donoghue serving what was then a committee of the British Greyhound Racing Board. In my time I have served with a number of practitioner representatives all being committed and passionate to get a better deal for owners and trainers from at time a definite scarce resource.
“At that time it was a real battle to obtain a fair share of a small cake with some others who sat at the same table always wanting the biggest slice of the cake resulting in the practitioner picking up the crumbs, that scenario went on far to long. Thankfully times have moved on with a much bigger resource now available for the committee to distribute and more fairly.
“In wishing the committee well for the future given we now have two democratic elected practitioner representatives who have the same drive passion and a vision to make a better more fairer distribution of resource. I would give food for thought, should the racing committee be a sub-committee to the main committee i.e. business committee, a committee who has no practitioner seat or should the racing committee be a main committee with its three practitioner representatives able to take control of the distribution of competition and prize-money.
“This has been a contentious argument of past practitioners the time could be right to resolve this issue with Mark Bird now doing a review of the business committee, surely this important issue should now be resolved. Only time will tell – not in my time!”
From the editor:
John Curran has been a key industry participant since bringing his ‘shanty track’ under NGRC rules in January 2000 and he is due to retire as GBGB director in December. The fact that he has chosen to resign at a time when new MD Mark Bird is due to review GBGB committee structures is no accident.
In the old days of BGRB, Curran was the leading promoter ally of the owners, trainers and breeders representatives, Stuart Locke-Hart, John Haynes and Bob Gilling. On numerous occasions, Curran threatened to vote alongside the ‘grass roots’ on issues that he felt were unfair to them, or to the smaller tracks.
He backed them on prize money claims, was pivotal, with Haynes, in setting up the trainers assistance fund, and helped to dismantle the grant scheme that saw the bigger tracks given prize money grants some twenty times greater than the smaller circuits such as Rye House and Henlow.
The Kinsley boss has always argued for greater communication between the industry and the welfare organisations and sits on the Greyhound Forum.
By resigning, and not quietly retiring, ‘Comrade Curran’ as he was once described by a former GRA Chairman, is clearly hoping to raise the profile of the debate on committee membership.
He is a firm advocate of greater owner/trainer participation in Board affairs and has let it be known of his concerns that new directors Paul Elphremsen and Pete Harnden could be sidelined in key board business.
This is nothing new. On countless occasions, he heard his great friend and colleague John Haynes express his frustration that so many initiatives, including prize money increases, were blocked at business committee level.
In other words – for Mark Bird to achieve real change, he will need, in John Curran’s view (above) to give real clout to the racing committee, by giving it control over its own budget, or allow at least one of the practitioner directors onto the business committee. Although still outvoted by two promoters, assuming the current make-up of the committee remains the same, Curran’s suggestion indicates confidence in the impartiality of the interim chairman and new MD.
Greyhound racing politics has come a long way during John Curran’s 17 year association in it. Before he retires, the master strategists clearly has ambitions on one final piece of reform.
