PAUL CARPENTER OPEN LETTER

The following is an open letter to the greyhound industry submitted by the recently departed GBGB Director, representing greyhound owners, Paul Carpenter.

 

One minute you are walking around the supermarket looking at the Lean Cuisine meals and the next you are in the board room. Please remember, only 2 people out of thousands put their hands up to take on the role of Owner’s Practitioner Director. That fact alone must tell us something!

It’s been 14 days since I resigned as Director of the GBGB, and it’s fair to say I have been overwhelmed by the messages of support and understanding from fellow owners, and other key stakeholders alike. For this, I thank you all. I hoped by resigning to get the attention of the Board, it certainly seems by the responses received I achieved that.

At least since resigning the GBGB have now accepted that being the Owner’s Rep is an invidious position and they will moving forward look to see how they can better support the position. Let’s hope they keep to their word.
I also hope they find my replacement sooner rather than later.

I have no regrets about resigning, and in fact it seems to have galvanised several people who want to see change within our sport. It’s apparent, by resigning I still might achieve some of my goals albeit by a far different route.
I’d also like to say while I am disappointed to have quit, I am proud that I at least tried. I hope to continue trying to help the sport and am happy to offer my replacement any assistance should it be wanted.

So where do we go from here? To quote Matt Newman in Monday’s RP column, who is going to try to represent those of us who supply the product in a sport where self-interest is the strongest currency. Great words Matt!
As for social media, as I said before, the internet can be a scary place. However, for the Chairman’s response to my resignation to focus solely on this point while “conveniently failing to address the thrust of my argument” as Muttley so eloquently put it, was self-absorbed & foolhardy! I had thought my letter was extremely clear as to the main reasons I had to leave.

Too reiterate, social media played less than 1% in my decision to resign. And, no, I’ve not gone bonkers, well not yet anyway.
I don’t want to see our sport fail. I don’t want to see people being influenced by anti-racing bigots. I want us all to have a prosperous vibrant sport but to achieve this we must make changes. My question is therefore, can the GBGB in its current form accommodate what the majority, not the minority, of U.K. greyhound owners and enthusiasts want? It can, providing, it is prepared to change for the long-term benefit of everyone involved in the sport. If they don’t change, I doubt we will have much of a sport left to change which saddens me.

The GBGB must do considerably more than simply focusing on governing the sport and promoting the welfare of racing and retired greyhounds. The welfare of greyhounds will keep the sport active, but welfare alone will not help revitalise the sport and attract new audiences.
I cannot help thinking a lot of the decisions being made are to further specific sectors of the sport rather than looking at the bigger picture.

I’ve said before the sport is fragmented, broken to a point. I said to Mark Bird, we need someone to join up the dots! The only time I really saw them all working together was when discussing welfare issues.
Now we each know the importance of welfare and as I have said on numerous occasions previously, the GBGB are doing, will continue to do, and have done, an outstanding job when it comes to welfare and the re-homing of all greyhounds.

Just parking welfare for one moment, I ask, do the Board understand or even consider the concerns other stakeholders in the sport have with the structure of the board of directors at GBGB and the BGRF? Rachel Corden (ARC) and Ian Smyth (Entain) now control 9 of the 18 tracks between them and both sit on the main Board and the Business Committee.

Now, I am not for one minute suggesting corruption of any sort, but surely this cannot be right, can it? Where is the transparency? My extremely limited understanding of company law (Google) say’s that directors must exercise integrity and always avoid conflicts of interest.
For example, which hat would they each wear in a welfare v media rights or revenue discussion?
Maybe this is the reason people are now speaking up and calling for change.
But the bigger question is, what role do the owners and trainers play in the sport moving forward. To my mind there is enough money within the sport for everyone to do well. But the current structure ensures the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

I am not the only one who asserted that ARC and Entain dominate the GBGB, many more have since said the very same thing. And so, we find ourselves at a crossroads. ARC and Entain aren’t realistically going to relinquish their power, unless they are made to by perhaps the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, (DCMS) or perhaps by a show of force from trainers and owners in withdrawing dogs. The truth is that ARC and Entain have the financial mite to employ keepers to take dogs to tracks and buy dogs for them and that owners are only needed by trainers, and trainers are only needed whilst keepers are not in their direct employ.

Any power owners and trainers have long since gone. The GBGB who are supposed to regulate our sport and be responsible for its commercial growth, have woefully failed in the latter objective, resulting in the sport now suffering from a shortage of dogs, lack of funds, sponsors, and footfall.

Certain media personalities defend them to the hilt, with their obvious bias shining through. And so, as I don’t condone strike action, the best I can do is make a plea to the GBGB to restructure the board, to appoint one person to represent each significant interested party and drive the sport forward for the benefit of everyone. If they aren’t willing or able to do that, then at least do the decent thing, be honest and transparent and tell owners as I claimed, they are no longer needed, and their needs not listened to or accommodated. We are back to “put up or shut up”

By doing this, owners can then make informed decisions to accept the current status quo regarding existing ownership terms or walk away in the knowledge nothing will change.
Last point, why do track owners have agreements with trainers and pay trainers each time they run an owner’s dog? The owner after all buys the dog and then pays the kennel bill. Why is this money not added to the prize money?

If we are going to make change, then the GBGB needs to regulate the people on their board. They cannot be given a free pass to break the rules and get away with it, whilst holding non board members (correctly) to the highest possible standards. I don’t feel self-regulation is good for our sport.
Recently, RPGTV read out an email from a prominent owner calling for reform. This is something I am hoping the entire greyhound community will support.

Specifically:

• The establishment of independent organisations representing Trainers, Owners, Kennel hands, Breeders, and any other significant interested parties I have overlooked, to sit alongside the Promoters Association. When you register in one of these capacities, you auto enrol as a member (although you can of course opt out). The members of these organisations vote for who they want to lead their organisation – and this leader sits on the GBGB board.
• The immediate resignation of all promoter members, and installation of the Chair of the Promoters Association to represent Promoters on the board.
• The resignation of the Chair of the GBGB – surely his position is untenable now as he has and continues to be complicit in these goings on.
• The commissioning of an independent enquiry to examine the decisions made by the current board members and whether these decisions were made in the interests of greyhound racing, as they had a legal duty to be, or solely in the best interests of the companies they work for day to day. The enquiry to establish whether these directors were negligent in their duties and depending on how severe any negligence is found & what repercussions they should face.
• A review of the nature and structure of all sub-committees and a plan established for reorganisation of members to ensure the removal of conflicts of interest.
• The establishment of Risk and Audit Committees to ensure good corporate governance moving forward.
• A policy to be established and followed to ensure the open race calendar is established at least a rolling 6 months in advance.
• The making available of all injury statistics on a per track basis. Owners & trainers must be permitted to know where the safest tracks are to run their dogs. I appreciate this might be providing the antis with damaging information.
• Publication of minutes, to the extent information can be made public, so Directors can report back to the groups they represent.
• A review of the cost and benefit of the Commercial Director role since his appointment, and either proof of a financially positive contribution to greyhound racing, or removal from post.
• The protection of long standing and historic competitions.
  The sport will continue either way, but just in a more balanced and unbiased form. Either way what has become abundantly clear is that the current status quo is not working, and the sport continues to suffer.
  Which leads me to the following question, who is in charge at the GBGB? The Board or the track owners? I have decided to stop calling them promoters for the time being.
  To achieve any meaningful changes there needs to be a willingness of the GBGB to accept that mistakes have been made & that some tough questions need to be asked & answered.

I will leave you with these thoughts.
I believe owners and the GBGB have become detached.
Make no mistake, showing a lack of appreciation for owners and the need to promote the sport will simply drive more owners away and the brand down further.
Maybe it’s the GBGB’s belief that a naïve minority could never truly understand the industry’s inner workings.
It is not our abilities that show what we truly are, it is our choices. Choosing the right partners is therefore essential. Just ask Mercedes!
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. (Touch of plagiarism here)
The sport of greyhound racing in the UK in my opinion deserves a fairer a shake and I hope the GBGB will now lend a helping hand.

Yours in sport
Paul