Why do people not go greyhound racing ?

The answer to your question is on the thread lower down the page entitled Come Racing at Romford.......

For most people having been used to Walthamstow and many other Tracks that are now gone.. What is there left..... Nothing...!

Has this ever been discussed before?

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it would be nice to have a track within an hours travelling distance

Now everyone can sit at home and bet on RPGTV ,why on earth should they;
Get out car and drive to track
Pay £5 to £7 admission
Pay £3 to £4.50 a pint for a drink
Stand in cold surroundings,lisen to 6 pack drunks.
Use toilets that are cica 1940,s standard.
Watch load of repetitive graded races 90% same distance.
Only have 1 drink as got to drive back home.
Not an enjoyable evening really.

Not to mention the small matter of backing say a 5/2 shot that is likely to be 4/1+ on the machine.....

Maybe another reason poor quality racing. I often make the 100miles round trip to Sheffield to watch good dogs race, even though could nearly always watch at bookies (BAGS). BAGS racing used to be the poorest around, (some still is) but the best now. As for better odds exchanges, if no competitive early price, you can always bet Betfair SP. Usually much fairer and better than actual track SP and quite often more than reasonably close to the best price that was on offer

People go Greyhound racing because if they didn't there wouldn't be any as the sport would go bankrupt.

thurs afternoons and sat mornings at romford its free to get in but you can only have 20pound max with the track bookmakers why would you want to go people paying 5grand for dogs and can only have 20pound on your dog if the bookmakers dont want to lay a bet they can do one there are plenty of other bookmakers who would want to bet there

woodmanchester how do you take Betfair SP on greyhounds please

1. distance
2. rip off tote/on course bookies (although i dont mind a track with one of the big boys as you tend to get a better price)
3. cheap rubbish fried food and poor drinks

Spot, click on SP, not the actual price

my local track is shawfield, no need to say any more then

thing is you feel guilty if you don't go along now and again
.... but when you do
200% opening books , a tenner on the nanny is an earthmover
the fast food is sh1te and the shelter from the weather is atrocious
you come back asking yourself why did you bother
when you could have stayed at home
put yer feet up, rpgtv , glass of wine and earnt at least a ton at rommers ?

I just luv Donnie dogs. Hard to describe the atmosphere but it is just so good and you can just drift off particularly on warm summers night. Used to take the children for an hour on Saturday to give their mum a break watching Strictly et al and they thought it was fab. Good market and fair track and really good honest peeps. Place is absolutely spotless and bogs are cleanest you'll ever see. When they put the doggies in .. then you know your at peace with the world. Proper track. Still take the children even though they are older and costs a few quid more but hey who is counting. They pocketed my winnings anyway.

NO matter how much the rpgtv pundits try and talk the game up.. its absolutely Gone and Dead and Buried...I'm sad to say.. If another couple of Tracks somehow appeared out of the Blue in London there may be a chance.. but even if that Miracle happened..... probably be to late.

your right what you say

Exchanges started the downfall, then the rest became natural

Greyhound racing is dead in the water and has been for many years - the annexation of the sport by the bookmaking industry has happened with barely a whimper, and all that remains now is for the sport to sink further into decline and exist solely as a canine FOBT, whose only real function is to subtly rip off betting shop punters.

Don't expect the bookmaker side-salaried greyhound media to fight for greyhound racing's heart and soul either - they've just chosen long standing bookmaker henchman Tom Kelly, who, as former CEO of the ABB, is one of the major reasons greyhound racing finds itself in the pit it is in today, to get the Services to Greyhound Racing Award.

The turkeys really have voted for Christmas...

Millhouse spot on imho

It's gone from why people don't go racing
TOO GREYHOUND RACING DEAD !!!!
RPGTV PUNDITS should be more like JACK DEE !!!!
all doom and glum!!! on our TV sets
racing be over when there no fields for hounds to chase on , (maybe over in Somerset at the mo!!)
To say people don't go racing , every doggie person i know goes!
RPGTV or not !

why is it no one posts about the good things about the sport
Racing action !
I can't recall to seeing so much open racing about at moment !

You have just backed up millhouse's argument fattie "Don't expect the bookmaker side-salaried greyhound media to fight for greyhound racing's heart and soul either"

news to me!

I'd just rather people chat,  be nice to one another
have good banter about the good racing that on !

So would I

Fattie, Everyone I knew used to go to the dogs many times a week.. I dont know anyone who goes now.. reasons explained earlier in the Posts.. plus more which have not been mentioned.

Often, especially non-open BAGS, like ghost tracks. I still enjoy it anyway. We must be a dying breed. Not just dogs, look how local pubs have gone down the pan. In stark contrast, football booming!

People I know people you know are diffent than !
I love Romford Friday nights I'd go every Friday if I could
But I be out on my ear so maybe twice a month !

Yeah, same Vue Friday/Saturday parties, stags etc but used to be chocker every race meeting

Nonsense as usual by all you depressive numptys.Anyone tell me a track that did not make an operating profit last year.I will answer it for you NO.Greyhound racing struggles on weekdays like most leisure ,come the weekend it is busy, admittedly not as good as it used to be BUT NOT THAT BAD.

According to audited figures published when Belle Vue and Hall Green were put up for sale those tracks were making approximately £12k and £8k per week respectively.

The agenda, without any doubt, is for the survival only of the tracks under the bookmakers' control, and for the diversion of more and more of the sport's major events to the evening and afternoon BAGS service.

Perhaps most depressingly of all, while the contemptible Faulkner and Kelly are overseeing an annexation of this sport by their former bookmaking industry employers that will destroy greyhound racing as we know it, those who should be protecting the sport are on the side lines cheering them on...

I agree with everything millhouse says, he knows the score, what's went on

Though he missed one important point the restaurant takings have gone astronomical as five bellies barry has a ten course meal each time a sky meeting is on

I still hold my head in disbelief to stop it falling off when thinking he got the greyhound service award, it should of been for helping to close 20-30 tracks in the last 10-15 years or so

O well after Wimbledon closes, bookies should open a market for the next track to close

You had to laff when the hills chap was talking about the funding crisis, done nothing about it in the last 20 years or so. So why worry now, must be the Brough and Sunderland trainers are potless and can't afford to buy any more dogs, for the bookies benefit

It's a good crowd at Newcastle and Sunderland - all 7 of them

Ravage, the obscene part is that under Faulkner and Kelly's control, greyhound racing has done nothing remotely meaningful to promote itself to the mainstream or to encourage people to come racing.

Virtually all of the inward investment in the sport has been into initiatives that centre around increasing bookmaker turnover on BAGS racing or televised racing, and this is no surprise, given that Faulkner and Kelly are former bookmaking industry executives of many years standing.

The bookmaking industry want control, and a greyhound racing industry that has income streams for which it does not rely on their patronage is one that has autonomy, strength and a better negotiating position - hence the studied and quite deliberate agenda to ensure it remains in decline.

That Kelly is now being rewarded for a lifetime of putting the livelihoods in jeopardy of the people who rely on this industry to keep food on their families' tables is just totally obscene - that the media are the ones doing the cheerleading, well, that's stupid beyond all belief, imho...

Well I guess the people in the media know the war was lost many years and just say nothing to rock the boat

Hobsie and Phil just hope can get another 10-15 years out of the game to get them pension readies

Hobbsie "Wimbledon could be centre of the world"

did he really say that ?

like a yank first year law student, never knows when to shut up, just spouts garbage and drivel 19 words when only 1 needed

Fully agree Swayne.  Nice guy and probably good for the sport but as a pundit simply runs off at the mouth.