GBGB is committed to ensuring that practitioners in the sport of greyhound racing are properly represented on the Main Board of the organisation.
Below is the time line for the process of the election of Practitioner Director to sit on the Main Board to represent the interests of owners.
Following an interview process undertaken by the GBGB Nominations Committee involving eight applicants, Bob Boswell and Paul Ephremsen were identified as the best candidates to put forward for election.
Biographical details of both candidates and an indication why they would like owners to vote for them are included on follow on pages (in alphabetical order).
Practitioner Director Voting Process
Eligibility
All owners (individuals, partners and syndicate heads) with at least one greyhound currently registered with GBGB that has raced in the last six months are eligible to vote in the election. Voting instructions will be circulated to eligible owners on Friday 21st April 2017.
Voting
Included with the instructions will be a voting card listing the two candidates for the position of Practitioner Director (Owner) with a postage licence paid envelope to return the vote.
Voters will be asked to indicate their selection by putting a cross in the box next to their preferred candidate. Voting cards with more than one box marked or in any way defaced will be invalid.
The voting card should be returned in the envelope provided to arrive no later than 5pm Friday 5th May 2017. Votes received after that date will not be counted.
Counting
The count will take place under the direct supervision of Barnes Roffe LLP Chartered Accountants at Leytonstone House, Leytonstone, London E11 1GA commencing at 10am on Tuesday 9th May 2017 with both candidates invited to attend.
Votes will be counted and the candidate with the highest number of votes will be declared the winner.
Any owners with queries should contact [email protected]
GBGB Practitioner director candidate – owners representative
Bob Boswell
I am delighted to have been selected by the GBGB as an Owner deemed suitable to possibly represent all Greyhound Owners on the board of the GBGB.
Many owners will know me by sight if not by name. For nearly twenty years I have represented owners through the chairmanship of both firstly the Wimbledon Greyhound Owners Association and latterly the Hove Greyhound Owners Association. I have a track record of representing all owners from the lowest grader to open class Greyhounds.
I have vast experience of negotiations with promoters and track management and developed excellent working partnerships at both Wimbledon and Hove, raising the profile of owners.
I have a very good relationship with all the forms of greyhound media both written and TV, and have always promoted greyhound racing in a positive light whenever I have been in the media. I believe that I am well liked and respected by this part of the greyhound industry and would be able to develop positive ideas for the benefit of greyhound racing and owners.
I am passionate about Greyhound Welfare and have worked very closely with Wimbledon Retired Greyhounds (Hersham Hounds) throughout my time at Wimbledon. I have collected at twenty Greyhound Derby’s to raise many thousands of pounds for Wimbledon, not to mention standing on Street corners in many Surrey towns shaking a bucket.
I am also a Trustee of Brighton and Hove Retired Greyhounds. And I would like to lead on encouraging more owners to become involved in greyhound welfare and Retired Greyhounds and their life after the track.
I have three Retired Greyhounds at home, two of which are ex racers of mine. I often take my Retired Greyhounds to race nights and introduce the dogs to racegoers. People are genuinely fascinated to meet the dogs that they have come to watch, seeing that they are gentle and charismatic, and asleep most of the time!
By having the dogs at race meetings has a two-fold benefit, people get engaged in conversation and can develop a desire to enter Greyhound ownership, but also see what great pets they make and can generate either future volunteer walkers or rehoming’s, and people can see there is a positive post racing future.
With ten Owners expressing an interest in becoming the Owners Representative on the Board this clearly shows that there is a good number of people who have a passion for greyhound racing and ownership and want to be part of shaping its future. If I were elected I would certainly be looking to use people with certain knowledge and expertise to serve on sub committees of The GBGB and certainly using Paul Emphreson in looking at the commerciality of owning a greyhound and the other areas that he has expressed an expertise in.
I do not envisage representing owners on the GBGB Board as being an “easy ride” full engagement and support of all owners will not be easy.
I have over the last eighteen months been a regular attendee at meetings of the Federation of British Greyhound Owners. Through attendance at the FBGOA meetings it has given me a small insight in to the workings of the GBGB Board and sub committees, the complexities and personalities, and if elected I would not be going in totally blind.
I am also encouraged by the appointment of Peter Harnden as the Trainers Representative on the Board, I believe that there is much common ground between owners and trainers, and that in working collaboratively we could achieve a great deal.
In terms of priorities obviously prize money is top of the agenda, as this lies at the heart of pump priming the whole industry, from trainers, kennel hands to greyhound ownership and ultimately retirement and greyhound welfare. I would also be looking to work with the supporters of Greyhound Racing, in both the lower and upper houses of Parliament, and certainly setting up a meeting with Lord Lipsey to discuss the betting levy, which he has agreed to mediate on.
We live in a digital age and I would like to explore video conferencing and telephone meetings as a method of engaging with owners from areas outside of London. I also have excellent contacts in the North East and the Midlands and it would be easy for me to visit such areas if necessary to meet with owners. I have also spoken to the Greyhound Star and would look to using their online platform as another method of communication with owners.
Again, it will not be easy but I would like set up a recognised organisation in every area or track to represent owners. I believe there is funding and a will to achieve this at the GBGB.
My first introduction to greyhound racing was as a Boxing Day tradition with my grandfather, I then used to go to Catford with my father and a further tradition was established of drinking Bovril whilst watching the dogs in the open kennel before going out over the bridge to the traps.
I continued to go to Catford throughout my teens and in my twenties and always enjoyed a night at the dogs. In my forties, I got my first Retired Greyhound and it was through Harry that I first started to visit the kennels at Hersham and met Norah McEllistrim who bought my first dog, and the rest as they say, is history.
I have loved every moment with each and every Greyhound I have owned and their unique characters. One of the best I owned was Pigalle Star who had a defeat of the late great Jimmy Lollie on her CV.
GBGB Practitioner director candidate – owners representative
Paul Ephremsen
I’m Paul Ephremsen, 48 years old and from Hertfordshire. I live with my partner Zoe and two teenage boys Harry and Oliver. I’ve been involved in greyhound racing for 25 years as an owner with trainers including Ken Linzell, Paul Young, and Mark Wallis.
In 2004 the sport literally took over my life when I set up an open race kennel for 20 dogs at my home for Carly Philpott to use as her base. We had some great success in a short space of time with the likes of Ballymac Kewell, Ballymac Pires and Droopys Chester and I look back on that time extremely fondly.
Away from the dogs, I have always worked for myself and I’ve launched a few marketing agencies, most notably an experiential agency called iD (www.idagency.com) which I’ve co-owned for 23 years.
So why have I applied for this role? I think there is a big communications gap between the GBGB and owners. I would hope I can take on the challenge of giving owners a voice, and developing communications channels (live and online) so they can share their positive ideas for change. I would use the help of other respected owners to help me filter all the new ideas (both quick fixes and the bigger things) into realistic agendas for GBGB discussion. I would take responsibility for ensuring owners receive feedback and updates on all initiatives.
The sport is not innovating. I believe many owners are frustrated that greyhound racing has not modernised like many other leisure activities, in terms of stadia and facilities, customer/owner experience, standards of presentation, quality of TV and online broadcasts, expectation for welfare provision and the general PR and hype about events. These are all fundamental if we want to attract more owners into the sport. I hope that my role could ensure the sport modernises through innovation – I intend to set up an innovation panel with some of the best minds in the sport to meet periodically to develop new ideas, for example:
- How can we boost syndicates to increase ownership significantly?
- How can we make the dogs the stars?
- What innovative betting products could capture the public’s imagination?
- What does the stadium of the future look like?
- What is the owner experience at a stadium?
- What training schemes should exist to attract more owner/trainers?
- How can we achieve HD quality streaming of every race?
- How do we create the right image for the sport for the future?
Funding will be a barrier to real change. I would like to help explore a more collaborative approach to raising the necessary funds whereby the bookmaking industry and the GBGB create a real collaboration and together produce a future blueprint for the sport that increases betting turnover significantly for the benefit of us all.
The GBGB needs to be clearer with regard to strategy, measurable objectives and performance updates. I hope I can help improve the level of transparency and openness over time.
Do I have the necessary skills? I think I am a good communicator. I am down to earth and think I can fit in with people at all levels of the sport, which is a prerequisite if I become the middle-man between the owners and the GBGB. I am also extremely honest, trustworthy and professional so you can trust me to give this role my best shot. And finally, I’m entrepreneurial and innovative so I will be constantly pushing for our ideas to be listened too.
So in summary my manifesto can be summed up a 4 key points:
- Develop new communication channels so that owners have a voice for their ideas to be heard at board level, with regular feedback
- Keep the pressure on the GBGB to modernise and innovate
- Collaboration – work together with industry partners and the best brains in the sport to develop a blueprint and funding model for the future
- Transparency – be clearer with owners re targets / future strategy and performance
