Having been closely associated with the Fund since its inception, I am well placed to begin my first Chairman’s Report by stating that at no time has the Board been more united. These days, boardroom disagreements are a rarity, with all Directors putting the interest of greyhound racing in general first, regardless of their affiliations.
The present incumbent has not been in post long enough for this productive harmony to
be attributable to him, the foundations having been laid by the previous Chairman (more of whom later) and built on by a Board which is committed to enhancing both the image and the actuality of greyhound racing.
Economically, we are suffering in the same way as other leisure activities, and we are grateful to the betting industry’s representative bodies for their support and to all of the bookmakers, large or small, who contribute to the Fund.
Before turning to the detail, however, I ask one favour. If you are in receipt of this Report, you are likely to be a bookmaker. We know that company reports are not everyone’s leisure reading, but even if you do no more than skim the pages please take just a few minutes to view the enclosed DVD, which illustrates why the activities of the Fund are so important – not just to greyhound racing but to your own business.
| Income
On the face of it, a decline in contributions from the £9.9 million we reported a year ago (following a record £13.8 million in 2008-9) to £7.8 million can in no way be described as good news. Our original estimate for the year was £9.1 million, but as the economic situation worsened it soon became clear that this was not achievable and the Board had no choice but to implement two successive budget cuts during the year.
At one point, the Board was concerned that greyhound betting turnover would fall to such an extent that we might have been heading for considerably less than the £7.8 million finally achieved. However, the last few months of the year brought a limited but significant improvement on our forecast which we hope will continue.
Another positive note is the efforts being made by Steve Clare, who is retained in a consultancy role to promote both the virtue and the good business sense of contributing
to the Fund, even in these difficult times.
For those who need prompting, the recommended rate of payment (as agreed with the betting industry’s representatives) is 0.6% of greyhound betting turnover. We are aware
of the arguments put forward by bookmakers who decline to contribute, but we would ask them to look again at the realities – what greyhound racing does for their bottom line and what would be the impact on their profits if the sport were unable to sustain its present high levels of welfare and integrity and failed to attract sufficient numbers of new owners.
| Welfare
Anyone in doubt about the importance of taking good care of the animals who make our sport possible need only look at the furore that following the Grand National – horseracing’s best known and, at the same time, most controversial event.
The needs of greyhounds differ to those of horses. But the vulnerability of the two sports to public opinion – even the ill-informed type – are similar, and there is an unavoidable obligation on those who benefit from greyhound racing to ensure that the dogs are properly protected and cared for, both during their racing days and after their careers are over.
This is why the Fund has in the last 12 months donated more than £1.5 million to the Retired Greyhound Trust and spent a further £1.3 million on other welfare-related issues such as veterinary care and track safety, in total over £2.8 million or 36% of all expenditure.
| Integrity
In terms of the sport’s reputation, integrity is close behind welfare in importance. Indeed
for bookmakers is it supremely important, for greyhound racing would diminish quickly
as a betting medium if the layers and their customers could not have total confidence in its honesty. Thus the Fund spent a total of £1.2 million (15.5% of expenditure) this year on drug testing, the Greyhound Board’s field force, racecourse integrity and earmarking/ microchip identification.
| Prize money
The third big demand on the Fund is prize money. This, plus welfare and integrity, are the holy trinity and last year the Fund contributed £2 million (26% of expenditure) to prize money, our largest single expenditure head. Without the Fund’s contribution in these areas, the burden on both tracks and owners would be significantly increased and all of the Fund Directors are acutely aware that although greyhound owners participate because it’s
a lifestyle choice and they love it, the Fund is vital to the future wellbeing of the sport.
| Marketing
When times are hard, getting spending right on marketing can be difficult. Nevertheless, if the public is not reminded that the sport is out there, attendances will fall and the Fund was pleased to contribute just over £1 million to the sport’s marketing effort last year.
| Stadia
While the provision of good facilities at the tracks is important, it was necessary for the Fund to take a hard look at grants to stadia and the outcome was that a total of just under £418,000 was allocated last year compared to the £1.6 million in 2008-09 and just over £500,000 in the 15 month period to March 2010. The Board understands the importance of the grants system to tracks, but in today’s circumstances it cannot be a top priority
and is likely to fall again in the current year.
| People
In September last year, Charles Lenox-Conyngham stepped down as the Fund’s Chairman after 14 years’ service, having steered the Board through stormy seas into relatively calm and more productive waters.
When Charles arrived in 1996 the Fund’s income was just beginning to take off due to
an agreement with the bookmaking industry which saw the recommended rate of contribution rise from 0.25% to 0.4% and then, later, to the present 0.6%.
For those not aware, the Fund was established as a consequence of an informal agreement with the Treasury following the 1992 Budget when the then Chancellor linked a reduction in betting duty to increased support for both horse and greyhound racing.
Charles became the Fund’s second Chairman at a time when the politics surrounding the bookmaker–greyhound relationship were at their fiercest. He showed remarkable fortitude in those days and the Fund has due cause to be grateful for his sterling service.
As Charles’s successor, there is no possibility of my matching his length of years in office,
but, for the record, my qualifications are long experience of bookmaker affairs and an involvement in greyhound racing that dates back to having been a youthful SP returner
at Powderhall in the early sixties.
The Fund continues to operate from one office within the Greyhound Board premises in London, with one full-time member of staff, the highly efficient Margaret Woodruff, and one part-timer in myself. Overall administration costs last year were just over 2% of income.
In May last year, Barry Faulkner became CEO of the Greyhound Board and, as such, became a Fund Director. On the bookmaking side, David Hood, who had himself replaced Ian Spearing, as an ABB representative, was succeeded by Kate Miller. A more recent ABB appointee is Gordon Bissett, well known in greyhound circles, who took the seat vacated by Alan Ross. Jim Fox of the Scottish Independent Bookmaker’s Association stepped down in June and has been replaced by Billy King junior, son of former board member and Shawfield representative Billy King senior.
A full list of Directors appears on page 19.
The so-called workhorse of the main board is the Board Committee, the members of which during the last year were Rachel Corden, Barry Faulkner and Clive Feltham from the Greyhound Board and Alan Ross (now replaced by Gordon Bissett) and Joe Scanlon from the bookmaker side. I am also a member of this Committee and will now attend in my new capacity whilst Kate Miller joins the team for the ABB.
Our Audit and Finance Committee comprises Joe Scanlon and Clive Feltham.
Finally I have to thank the Board for its confidence in appointing me to succeed Charles Lenox-Conyngham and its support in the period since I took office. And I must also record the Board’s gratitude to Charles, who chaired the Fund with skill and style for so many years.
Tom Kelly
Chairman, British Greyhound Racing Fund