Whippet Racing in the North

Above photo from the 1960s.

Not too bad, thanks Ronnie.  I forgot this was your part of the world and Sid of course in his latter days.

You never really lose that accent Ronnie,  but it still exists mostly in Essex and certain parts of London.

In the 19th century whippet racing was a year-round national sport more popular than football. In the summer the dogs raced on a straight grass track 150 yards long and in the winter, when the ground was hard, they raced on an oval sand track known as “racing on the bends”.

“Whippet racing used to be a family day out,” says Tony Cooper, chairman of the British Whippet Racing Association (BWRA). “It used to be written up in the local papers and draw really big crowds and have decent prize money. In 1969 I remember winning £10 for coming second in a race when I was only earning £10 a week. Now the sport is dying on its feet. The crowds have vanished.”

He believes the reason for its failure is two-fold. First, that so many tracks have closed (“councils don’t like dogs”) and so it is diffi cult and expensive to get to a track and second, that the sport can’t shake off its underprivileged image.

“People still think of whippet racing as a poor man’s working-class sport,” he said. “Nowadays the sort of people who used to do it would either rather do something that sounds more respectable or sit at home and play a game on the computer. It is an effort to keep and race a dog.”