I am still waiting to hear from the PGA about by application for professional membership. I could quite fancy spending a few hours on the course with Rory and Padraig. Well not so much ON the course as in the general vicinity of the fairways (hopefully they are good at ball finding). I could have been a professional golfer – if I could hit the ball straight.
Alternatively I could have been a professional footballer – if I could pass, shoot, trap, dribble, tackle and head the ball more like Jamie Vardy and less like Jamie Lee Curtis. But still no news on my application to join the PFA!!
Britain has always had professional greyhound trainers, the earliest ones were employees, working in stadium owned kennels.
By the early 1970s, the big stadia were closing down their kennels and offering contracts to trainers in their own premises. Many pros without facilities were forced out of the game.
Conversely, there have always been private trainers and assorted hobbyists from ‘C’ licence holders to owner and permit trainers.
The professionals and the hobby trainers have a lot in common as organisations like NAGO and GOBATA have tried to acknowledge, but there is just as much that separates them.
You might even argue that the amateurs undermine the position of the professional trainers. GOBATA founder Martin White, himself an owner-trainer, was at pains to acknowledge that it was the professional handlers, not the amateurs, who were in dire need of financial help from the industry.
Belle Vue professional June McCombe touched on the subject in comments this week. As much as she would like a bigger cheque from GRA every month, her bigger issue was being undermined by trainers who subsidise their greyhound operation with additional income.
As she put it “I only charge £5.50 a day, but I can’t put prices up because there are some kennels who don’t charge a kennel bill and are happy to take the prize money.”
Now I am a huge fan of amateur trainers and six months on am still waiting to hear whether my suggestion to re-introduce permit racing is being considered by the GBGB.
It is over 30 years since I last held a professional trainers licence but I would probably take out a permit myself and run a couple at Henlow, if I was allowed to.
Like every hobby trainer, I would want as much prize money as I could get. But realistically, I would be training for the fun of it. If it stopped being fun, I would stop training and walk away with a couple of racers turned pets.
It isn’t the same for the professionals, they are committed to staff, properties and careers. Many have already left the industry, others are holding on grimly.
The letter from the 20 trainers – including non-professionals – to the GBGB this week, was not just about opening a dialogue. It was about acknowledging the particular plight of the professionals.
Unfortunately, as acknowledged by Tom Kelly, the GTA has been infiltrated by non-professionals. In fact there appear to be very few associated with the organisation who mainly or exclusively earn their living from greyhound racing.
That presents a problem in terms of funding. Despite Tom Kelly’s efforts to secure more income from the off-course betting industry, that figure will be nowhere near the £16m that is being bandied around the internet. It probably won’t be much more than half that.
The reason? I am told by two extremely well placed sources that income from the betting shops is falling faster than additional income through streaming, which is a disaster from a BGRF perspective. With the exception of Bet365, most of the bigger players are still not paying into the BGRF from their overseas income. Betfair was paying eff-all as usual.
The net result is – any money that comes in will need to be targeted towards the industry professionals. The idea of simply increasing prize money across the board just won’t do the job.
The GBGB have been offered the chance to resolve the biggest issue in the sport by 20 handlers who were prepared to stand up and be counted on behalf of all professional trainers.
To ignore this opportunity would be unforgivable.