Chairman’s Statement continued
This led to some comments thatmatched funding is wrong in principle because small tracks cannot afford even half of high cost projects. Equally, other commentators have suggested thatmoney spent on struggling tracks is risky and itmight be better to invest in those stadia with the best prospects for the future. In all, 19 tracks received improvement grants, all of themconsidered by the Fund Board to be essential to either the continuance of racing or increasing the attraction of the sport to the public.
Faced with the prospect of criticismeither way, the Fund believes that 100% grants are neither justified nor affordable. Fromthe resources available, the Fund will do its best to respond across the face of the sport, but it would be wrong not to encourage - again where possible - stadia prepared to spend significant amounts of their ownmoney onmaking greyhound racing more attractive to the public.
Marketing
In previous years, the Fund has supported a number of initiatives, notably including national television campaigns promoting the sport, which, in the current climate, were considered not to be the best use of limited resources. Instead, a range of local and regional initiatives were undertaken by the GBGB’smarketing committee, including the Big Dog Tour - the photograph below speaks for itself.
The Big Dog proved to be a show-stopper and was used by stadia as it toured the country as the focus of localmarketing efforts -much less expensive than TV advertising and, it would seem,more effective. Attendance figures at many tracks improved during the period, encouraging us to allow Big Dog out of his kennel again this year.
People
During the year, there were a number of changes on the Fund Board. The first of these was the arrival of DavidMacDonald, who replacedme as a nominee of the ABB when I became chairman. The next was trainer John Simpson, who was appointed to one of the Greyhound Board seats, which had been vacant for some time. This was followed by the replacement of JimFox by Billy King (junior, not senior) representing the Scottish Independent Bookmakers’ Association. Then, most recently, Bill Glass took over fromClarke Osborne, who had represented the Greyhound Board (formerly BGRB) since the Fund’s inception. Clarke will bemissed as a wise counsellor and also as a friend, though I doubt that his taste for the politics of the sport will be totally lost.
Finally, Joe Scanlon, another foundermember of the Fund Board, resigned following the sale of the Tote to BetFred. However, such was Joe’s contribution over the years and the esteemin which he is held, the bookmaker Directors invited himto take the one seat on the Board reserved for an individual deemed to be of specialmerit and to havemade a special contribution. Joe, therefore, remains on the Board as an unaffiliated representative of the betting industry.
TomKelly Chairman, British Greyhound Racing Fund
Courtesy Sportsmadmedia 4 Annual Report 2011-2012
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