Greyhound Racing struggling for the last breathes
The moments of intense and exciting races at the Walthamstow Stadium have now become memories after its closure in August, 2008. The stadium was opened in 1933 by William Chandler and the estate is still owned by the same family. The venue was the centre piece as compared to the rest of the tracks in London. The stadium could accommodate 5,000 spectators at a time, and had the largest attendance and income from gambling in the UK.
In 1940s there were seventy-seven greyhound licensed tracks, and collected more than 50 million punters each year. Back then, London alone had thirty-three tracks which after the closure of Walthamstow Stadium have come down to Romford and Wimbledon. Catford remained operational until 2003.
There were 12 attached trainers to the track, the most famous out of them, Mark Wallis and Seamus Cahill. Many greyhounds were able to set the track record at the stadium over varying distances while significant events like the Arc, Stewards Cup, Puppy Stakes, Grand Prix and the Racing Post Festival were staged at the stadium.
The closure of the stadium gathered huge agitated crowds for whom the stadium was part of their community, and an integral element of their entertainment.
Some views expressed were as followed:
"Whenever my son sees the lights of the stadium, he says 'I'm home'."
"This is to Walthamstow what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris."
"Nothing beats the buzz of standing on the terrace cheering on your dog."
"I've been coming since I was six, sipping Bovril. How can they say no one's interested? Last Saturday it was jammed with 6,500 people."
"It's wrong to close it, completely wrong,"
"This is a real community here, and they're destroying it. Look around you, you've got all sorts. Four- and five-year-old kids jumping up and down; they won't do that in front of a computer screen."
As the greyhounds close in on the distance to the wire in order to conclude the race, in the same manner the time is ticking for the greyhound sport as it inches in on the closing chapter.
Killing a sport does not have a few benefits and drawbacks, rather has a multi dimensional and ripple effect that can take form of a plague.
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