Once marred by controversy, NSW greyhound racing has gone from strength to strength
Unlike a lot of modern parents and grandparents, postie Merv Pinney always knows where his grandchildren are and exactly what they are up to.
NSW
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UNLIKE a lot of modern parents and grandparents, postie Merv Pinney always knows where his grandchildren are and exactly what they are up to.
“When they are not studying they are with the greyhounds,” he said.
Last weekend his entire family, son Michael and his wife Nora and their four teenage children, made the six hour drive north from Temora for the 50th Coonamble Greyhound Carnival.
Merabai, 16, spoke for all the children when she said: “We love the greyhounds and it is great to see what an event like this can do for a community like Coonamble.”
The family arrive the week before, check in with their friends at the bowlo, set up camp and before you know it are making friends with complete strangers.
Dad Michael said: “It’s all true blue Aussies here mate. The first thing that happens when you pull up at the campsite is someone offers you a beer.”
New research shows that more than 80 per cent of the NSW greyhound industry’s participants racing in NSW’s 32 registered clubs are from regional areas.
Out in the bush greyhound racing is more than just a sport – for towns like Coonamble in the eighth year of a bone dry drought it can be the difference between survival and a boarded-up main street.
“For the town this is the single biggest event of the year,” Coonamble mayor Ahmad Karanouh said. It pumps an extra $1.4 million into the local economy.
“This drought is the toughest I have seen in 20 years here and the Greyhound Carnival just keeps things kicking. It’s the only time of year I see $100 notes being handed over the counter,” Mr Karanouh said.
“Even more importantly these events are really good for people’s mental health. Some people are not leaving their farms for a couple of months at a time and then they come in for this and suddenly they are talking to people.”
At the Coonamble Bowling Club the joint was jumping all weekend. “It is the biggest weekend of the year by far,” manager Tessa Pennell said. “Half of our TAB takings for the whole year are done over the long weekend.”
Volunteer Carl Molloy, 57, spends two hours a day after work watering, rolling and mowing the pristine green track. “I never had anything to do with greyhounds but this is such a great thing for the town,” he said.
Four years ago all of that was in doubt.
Premier Mike Baird launched a Special Commission of Inquiry into the Greyhound Industry after an ABC report revealed illegal live baiting in the industry and the culling of dogs. He followed that up in July 2016 with a ban on the industry to start the following year.
Three months later, after an enormous outcry, he back flipped and said: “We got it wrong, I got it wrong, cabinet got it wrong, the government got it wrong.
“We did not give the good people in the industry the chance to respond, a chance to reform.
“On behalf of that, I am sorry. The industry will be given one last chance — it will be given an opportunity to reform.”
Former NRL player and Gold Coast Titans chief operating officer Tony Mestrov was the man given the job of leading that reform – stepping into a world of betrayed greyhound owners and an appalled wider public.
“It was a wake up call,” Mestrov said of the ban. “It made everyone think about welfare which is at the forefront of what we are doing now.
“We have put the building blocks in place for zero tolerance on unnecessary euthanasia of greyhounds and a commitment to rehome greyhounds born into the industry,” he said.
Former Socceroo Tim Cahill signed up to be the face of the Greyhounds As Pets program that has this year rehomed more than 729 greyhounds who do not have an extended career ahead of them on the track.
“That number does not cover owners and trainers who have been incentivised to keep their greyhounds under ongoing care post racing, which makes it a much, much bigger number,” Mestrov said.
“The message is simple: You sign up to participate in this industry and you do it the right way, with the greyhound’s welfare at the heart of everything. If you don’t you’re out and we don’t ever want to see you again.”
Mestrov admits he came into the industry when it was at “ground zero” after the ban. Mestrov set about rebuilding it with a strategic plan that highlights responsibility, sustainability and competitive racing as its key pillars.
Baird was right about the good people and Mestrov had solid building blocks to work with.
Today greyhound racing has more than a million fans in NSW – the highest percentage of any Australian state – with seven out of 10 of those aged between 25 and 49. Forty per cent are women.
Astonishingly the industry has turned around to such an extent that on Friday it will run the Million Dollar Chase at Wentworth Park, the richest greyhound race in the world with a $1 million first prize and the Hoodoo Gurus playing a set afterwards.
That is life changing money for the winner who could come from any one of 64 qualifying races right across NSW. All proceeds from the big race, which will be broadcast live on free to air TV, go to the Greyhounds As Pets program.
That is part of an increase in prize money to $33 million which Mestrov said: “Is so critical to trainers in the bush.”
He has put together a top notch sporting administration team to manage an industry that pumps $500 million into the NSW economy but is conscious that it is always only one bad trainer away from oblivion.
Mestrov took the key players in his team from Sydney’s latte belt to Coonamble last weekend so that they could understand exactly who they are dealing with.
“This is what our industry is all about - salt of the earth people getting together and having a great time,” he said.
People like professional trainer Dave Pringle from Orange who knows no other life and loves his greyhound Ringo’s Magic so much that it sleeps in a $30,000 airconditioned caravan while Pringle, his wife and four young children swelter in a tent next door.
“How good is it here?” Pringle enthused as a goat slowly roasted on the spit over his 40 gallon drum barbie.
“Anyone who thinks this sport is cruel has no idea,” he said. “If you don’t look after your dog you are not going to make a living.”
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Originally published as Once marred by controversy, NSW greyhound racing has gone from strength to strength
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