The Golden Age of greyhound racing

Every modern racing greyhound has a pedigree that can be traced almost 150 years. 

In fact, when the first Greyhound Stud Book was published in 1882, it was already overdue as a method to identify the thousands of greyhounds currently engaged in a sport that held its official first meeting at Swaffham in Norfolk since 1776. In fact, the ‘rules’ of hare coursing, to distinguish it from mere ‘hunting’ were first drawn up in the 16th century and it is mentioned as a sport by Shakespeare in several of his plays. Hare coursing popularity continued well into the 19th and 20th centuries with crowds in excess of 100,000 would turn out for the Waterloo Cup. 

| Did you know that horserace courses such as Sandown Park and Haydock Park were originally created as grounds for ‘park’ hare coursing – as opposed to open or countryside coursing?

So popular was the Waterloo Cup that the The Times newspaper would delay publication in order to publish the result on its front page. Prince Albert owned a greyhound as a pet and the most famous greyhound in Britain, Fullerton, who landed the Waterloo Cup on three separate occasions, was presented as a guest to Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle.

The 1952 English Derby winner. 

A first attempt at asking greyhounds to chase the ‘tin lure’ was attempted at the Welsh Harp, Hendon in September 1876 when pairs of greyhounds chased a dummy hare mounted on a sunken rail.

The Times ran a headline ‘Coursing By Proxy’ though the invention never took off. It wasn’t until the 1920s that greyhound racing as we know it, was introduced in the USA. American businessman Charles Munn saw the potential and, with three partners, set up a new company, the Greyhound Racing Association Ltd. They opened their first greyhound track at Belle Vue in Manchester and the first meeting was staged on 24 July 1926. 1,700 folk turned out. There were six races and the greyhounds chased the patented mechanical lure which was installed by its American inventor OP Smith. There were 37 races staged that summer and greyhound racing became possibly the fastest expanding sport/pastime ever seen in Britain. 

Just three months after the opening, the Daily Express newspaper reported “There were 22,000 people present on the Saturday evening, a good proportion of them women and girls and a fair proportion of children.  “A representative of the American company which owns the patent rights of the device which makes racing possible forecast that within five years as many people would follow greyhound racing as were at the time interested in horse racing.”

The prophesy proved uncannily accurate.

Within a year, there were plans for a further nine tracks in Britain the first of which was London White City, home of the 1908 Summer Olympics and destined to be Britain’s foremost stadium. Ireland had its first greyhound track at Celtic Park in the North and Shelbourne Park in Dublin. It is also worth noting that the famous ‘Twin Towers’ Wembley Stadium was in danger of being demolished after its parent company went bankrupt. However it was saved following the intervention of Sir Arthur Elvin and a regular diet of the new sport of greyhound racing. Its star was a greyhound born with coursing in mind but destined to become a household name in Britain and Ireland, Mick The Miller. Mick achieved many great feats on the track, notably winning the English Derby twice, though such was his status that he starred in a feature film, Wild Boy.

 Sir Arthur J Elvin MBE

By the end of 1927, annual attendances were 5.5 million. Within two years they had scaled 16 million and they continued to rise through the 1930s and the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Greyhound racing continued throughout the war on the grounds of maintaining morale though on a lesser scale, given the difficulties of staffing and rationing. Ironically, the post war period would prove the making, and almost the breaking of the industry. Given the lack of other forms of entertainment, and rationing, 1946, was greyhound racing’s boom year. In January 1947 there were 77 tracks licensed by the National Greyhound Racing Society including 15 in London where the bigger tracks would attracts crowds of 30-40,000 customers at the weekends.

It is impossible to put an exact figure on the number of attendees throughout the year though it is certain to be in excess on 70 million. The true figure will never be known as many stadia were reluctant to provide accurate figures with many tales of ‘freewheeling’ turnstiles. Customers would be charged for admission but the turnstile counting dial was not engaged. This would have been particularly true on the non-licensed ‘flip’ and ‘flap’ tracks. There is no record of the number of ‘flip’ tracks, which could only operate eight meetings per year. 

Similarly, the ‘flap’ tracks operated on the same licensed betting rules as the NGRS tracks, but not under the rules of the National Greyhound Racing Club which was the sport’s equivalent of the Jockey Club. The leading racing publication of the day estimated that there were more than 250 greyhound tracks in operation across the three codes. While attendance numbers might be open to challenge, not so totalisator figures which were subject to strict monitoring by a local authority appointed accountant. In 1946 there were 191,687,800 tote transactions. London White City turned over £17,576,190, followed by Harringay with £11,046,994 and Wembley £9,086,557. Added together an adjusted for inflation those three tracks alone would have turned over the equivalent of £2.12bn.

So, if greyhound racing was a close competitor to league football at the time, how did it decline?

Well, the decline began in 1946 and was sparked by the post war Labour Government. The country was on its financial knees and greyhound racing would prove a massive cash cow. The regulations and taxation burdens facing greyhound tracks were brutal. In addition to the regular business taxation, greyhound operators were also subject to a combination of betting tax and entertainment tax. On average, tracks reported paying 19 shillings in tax for every pound of profit; effectively a tax rate of 95%. Worse still was the red tape. At one stage, totalisator betting was banned, but only on greyhound tracks. It didn’t apply to horseracing.  Tracks were not only restricted to racing on specific day, with a regulated number of races, but all the tracks in the same licensing area were required to race on the same nights.

In addition, there were significant restrictions on rebuilding stadia damaged during the war. Tracks like Wimbledon, whose main grandstand was burnt out by a Nazi incendiary bomb, were not allowed to spend more than £100 on building materials, which again were restricted in their type. Unsurprisingly, many track owners decided not to rebuild and instead sold their businesses for development. As towns expanded in the 1950s and 1960s, the ‘edge of town’ 6-10 acre sites that staged greyhound racing became increasingly valuable housing and retail sites. The most valuable pitch of all, London’s White City Stadium in Wood Lane, Shepherds Bush was eventually sold to become the new BBC headquarters.

Packed betting ring on Derby final night.

Wimbledon 4th June 2016.

Photo: Steve Nash

Greyhound supporters will point to a whole string of reasons as to the decline in popularity of the sport.

The legalising of betting shops back in 1961 would have been one of the major landmarks. What rankled particularly with greyhound folk though wasn’t so much the change in legislation as the fact that horseracing was granted a statutory levy in compensation. Despite attempt after attempt, greyhound racing has never been given similar status. The main excuse given tended to be ‘the betting shops are open at the same time as horseracing but closed in the evening when most of greyhound racing takes place’.

Even allowing for all of the above, though, it also has to be said that the public now have many more entertainment options. The growth of the three-channel TV industry in the 1960s and 1970s would later be followed by digital TV and online entertainment. The same cold wind that has affected greyhound tracks, with emphasis on ‘weekends only’ has applied to thousands of pubs, clubs, as well as other spectator sports such as speedway and entertainment options such as dance halls and Bingo.

Nevertheless, greyhound racing has adapted and continues to do so.

A busy modern stadium will stage as many races in a week as four tracks combined might have 50 years ago and there are currently 18 greyhound tracks in operation under the rules of the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB). While opportunities for a night out have declined given the widespread nature of the stadia, the growth of digital betting worldwide has presented additional commercial opportunities.

In short, greyhound racing remains a vital product for Britain’s betting shops. Combined with digital output, UK greyhound racing produces in excess of £1.4bn per year. At the same time, the reduction in the number of stadia and greyhounds has provided an opportunity for the industry to extend and maintain the highest levels of welfare. Underpinned by legislation, including specific regulations relating to greyhound racing, and monitored by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), there is no higher standard of welfare for any racing animal anywhere in the world.