Michael Watts MRCVS
Democracy, along with Motherhood and apple pie, is one of those things of which it is generally wise for a guy to be seen to be in favour, although it is as Churchill is famously supposed to have said, the worst form of government apart from all the other forms. To those who are accustomed to a world of greyhound sport in which diktats are handed down from On High and those at the bottom of the pile can only choose either to shape up or ship out, it must come as something of a gratifying culture shock to learn that the Irish Coursing Club [I.C.C.] is at heart a democratic organisation where the card-carrying members of the constituent clubs get to have at least some say in the formation of policy and charting the future direction to be taken by the organisation. For example, following an unprecedented number of greyhounds testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs at the national Coursing Meeting in 2014, it was a motion from the floor put forward by the good people of Trim Coursing Club at that year’s I.C.C Annual General Meeting that ushered in drug testing at local level the following season, rather than an edict from the President or the Executive Committee. Mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow, and all that.
Like so many of my fellow countrymen, the I.C.C. conveniently overlooks the presence of The Border and is organised on a 32-county, all-Ireland basis. As a preliminary to the Club’s A.G.M., the undercard to the main bout, four Provincial Meetings are held around midsummer every year, in which the burning issues of the day are thrashed out, the fat is chewed, the odds shouted and a load of inconsequential rumour and gossip discussed forbye. It is at this more local level that the motions that have attracted widespread support are shortlisted and honed to perfection before they get an airing on the big stage at the A.G.M. a few short weeks later.
It is often said, tongue in cheek and only half in jest, that when the first greyhound racing stadium, the late lamented Celtic Park track, first opened its doors in 18th April 1927, the I.C.C. took no interest in the proceedings in the belief that track racing would prove to be a passing fancy, a nine day’s wonder which would disappear almost as quickly as it had first emerged. Nice try, no cigar. Within a few months of Celtic Park opening in Belfast, Dublin also had a thriving track of its own at Shelbourne Park, the sport had taken off like a house on fire and the rest, as they say, is history. Whatever the real reason, the train pulled out of the station leaving the I.C.C standing alone on the platform, and the first steps were taken down the road to the Irish greyhound world of two parallel universes, track and field, that we know only too well today. This division was set in stone in the Republic of Ireland by the Greyhound Industry Act 1958 under the terms of which Bord na gCon was established. Created to have a regulatory and developmental function in the greyhound industry, the Bord’s functions include the control, promotion and operation of greyhound racing, the promotion of greyhound exports, the operation of totalisator betting, the regulation of public sales of greyhounds, the making of grants for prize money, the allocation of grants to improve amenities at tracks, the licensing of greyhound tracks and their officials, the authorisation of bookmakers to conduct business at tracks, the collection of levies on course betting, the issuing of permits to trainers and the implementation of the rules of racing. In short the Bord is responsible for almost any and every aspect of greyhound track racing that you care to mention.
Under the terms of the Greyhound Industry Act 1958 as amended by the Greyhound Industry (Amendment) Act 1993, the appointment of the Chairman and the six ordinary members of the Bord is in the gift of the Minister of Agriculture. You might think that this gives said Minister considerable powers of patronage and porkbarrelling but I for one could not possibly comment. There certainly seem few opportunities for a bit of good old-fashioned grassroots democracy here.
One further function of the Bord will probably come as a surprise to many: it maintains overall control over coursing. Is that not properly the responsibility of the I.C.C. someone will surely suggest? The answer is that the two bodies are less distinct, and in the case of the I.C.C. much less independent, than the average guy down his local track on a Saturday night probably imagines.
Under the terms of the Greyhound Industry Act (1958) the I.C.C is “recognised as being, subject to the provisions of this Act and of the constitution of the Club and subject to the general control and direction of the Board, the controlling authority for the breeding and coursing of greyhounds.” Having said that, the very Constitution of the I.C.C., which was originally laid down in the Schedule to the Act, is “subject to any alterations which, with the prior written consent of the Board, may from time to time be duly made therein”, so if the I.C.C. wishes to change its own Constitution, it first has to seek the approval of the Board. Indeed “the Board may advise and assist the Club in connection with any activities or measures conducive to the better implementation by the Club of its constitution and rules, to the better discharge by the Club of its functions or to the improvement and development of the greyhound industry” It is indeed most kind of the Board to chip in once in a while with its ten cents worth to try and keep the Club up to speed. The Bord also gets to keep a weather eye on financial affairs at the I.C.C as “it shall be the duty of the Club to keep such books, accounts and records as may be approved of by the Board and to furnish to the Board such information in relation to the Club’s activities as the Board may require” Furthermore “Rules made by the Club shall require the consent of the Board”. The familiar concept of the division of interests and responsibilities between the two bodies which imagined that the I.C.C. looked after the Winter Game and breeding for both track and field while the Bord was in charge of the track side of the sport is clearly way wide of the mark and hugely over simplistic. In fact the I.C.C folk can hardly cross the street or go to the bathroom on their own without the Bord giving them the thumbs up first. So much for that exercise in populism at the 2014 A.G.M of the Club that saw drug testing at local meetings come into force. Nothing would have come of it all if the Bord had not seen fit to sign off o it,
Of course since Bord na gCon is a branch of the government of the Republic of Ireland, it has no direct influence on the greyhound industry north of the Border. How and when the I.C.C. became the regulatory body for greyhound racing on the track in Northern Ireland is another story, for another day. Perhaps it will suffice to say that greyhounds that race in Northern Ireland do so under the I.C.C’s Northern Ireland Rules of Greyhound Racing, they are registered by the I.C.C. in the Irish Greyhound Stud Book and are issued with I.C.C identity cards, However if you want to look up race results, or upcoming race cards on line, then your first port of call is the I.G.B website www.igb.ie rather than that of the I.C.C. www.irishcioursingclub.ie. Paradoxically since coursing was outlawed in the Six Counties by the Wildlife and Natural Environment Act (Northern Ireland)(2011) the I.C.C. no longer has responsibility for the Winter Game there, the only two coursing clubs in Northern Ireland now staging their meetings south of the birder in conjunction with southern clubs, Ballymena C.C. running their meeting at Tubbercurry and Dungannon & District having a joint meeting at Cavan.
With the balance of power in the Northern Ireland greyhound game swinging inexorably towards the track game, it comes as little surprise to learn that at the Ulster Provincial Meeting of the I.C.C this year a move was made to increase the influence of the Northern Ireland tracks in the I.C.C. hierarchy.
“In view of the Irish Coursing Club having a unique and specific role in Northern Ireland greyhound track racing” the motion read “unlike in the rest of Ireland, and under effective governance and representation , tracks in Northern Ireland shall be entitled to one direct representative on the Executive Committee, thereby increasing the number from the Ulster Provincial Committee to three. The appointee shall alternate between the respective tracks, the first one to be determined at the Ulster Provincial Committee meeting in 2018. Alternatively if the Ulster number must remain at two, then one of them must come from Drumbo Park or Brandywell in the interest of constitutional representation as they are the only tracks governed by the I.C.C.”
In response to this motion, D.J. Histon, the Secretary of the I.C.C. put forward a proposal of his own, suggesting the setting up of a Northern Ireland Greyhound Racing Regulatory Authority consisting of the two track representatives, with a further two co-opted members and on which the I.C.C. would also be represented. This suggestion has much to recommend it. From the standpoint of public relations, given that there is no real connection between the two tracks and the Winter Game, it might suit the tracks very well to distance themselves from the I.C.C. with all the negative connotations that coursing has for a considerable section of society in the Province.
In the discussions that preceded the passing into law of the Welfare of Animals (Dog Breeding Establishments and Miscellaneous Amendments Regulations)(Northern Ireland) 2013 it became clear that Northern Ireland government departments were having legal difficulties negotiating with the I.C.C. because the Club was based outside the jurisdiction and was therefore not subject to Northern Ireland law. A regulatory body based within Northern Ireland might be better placed to achieve more
The Provincial Committee decided to put the motion to the A.G.M. unless an alternative arrangement was considered and agreed beforehand. All involved await the decision of the A.G.M with great interest.
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