In the Nth. Rivers, once the strong hold of racing in NSW, has almost been forced over the border into Qld. Both Lismore & Casino are struggling big time to produce enough dogs to enable meetings to take place! Why? Prizemoney!!! Look at the huge difference between Qld & NSW.

Qld Class 2 Sprint pays $1750-$500-$250-$100 4th.
NSW Class 2 Sprint pays $900-$275-$205 no 4th.

Qld Class 3 pays $1400-$400-$200-$100 4th.
NSW Class 3 pays $635-$195-$140 - no 4th

133 dogs from the Rivers raced in Qld last week. Why wouldn't they? $50 per dog travel subsidy. 43 dogs nommed for Albion Park this Sunday while Lismore struggle with 6 dog fields in most races.

Country racing in NSW has been strangled almost to extinction, with lack of prizemoney & resources. Meanwhile, EMPIRE building has been allowed to run rampant in both Sydney & Bathurst. How much difference would $1.7 mil have made to country racing? A huge difference.

Government Agenda: Spend Spend Spend, exhaust all resources, then claim industry no longer viable to continue.

Mark

I can tell you, GWIC doesn't decide any issues regarding to prizemoney or trainers allowances

The best they can do is make recommendations but its up to Commercial Board of GRNSW based on advice from the executives at GRNSW to make any final decisions on financial returns to participants

You can choose to believe it or not

Ill make the point again, it was about removing the appearance money. Anyone is entitled to discuss subjects and if GWIC makes an argument to GRNSW about it, participants wouldnt be happy If it was removed.

Yes, TAB C monies with trainer bonus and music. So they will saturate the entertainment over five weeks? Interesting.

I note at the end of the email, they are still using the Rhodes address. I thought they moved over to Darlinghurst?

I agree that it would be a very negative move against participants

The only reason I questioned you is because you wrote 'him', not 'her'

On another note, big difference in prize money over the border and I cant blame trainers going over. What is GRNSW doing ?

Also, tonights Wenty Park Meeting has been abandoned.

Prize money disgrace from amount to format payout 1-3rd only

Wenty drama on top is the icing .......

Embarrassing is not enough to describe

Does this mean Bulli and the 40k cup will be on the tab channel 1 instead of 2 ?

Let me guess Nup! Just more time for spastic interviews with trolley drivers

Ps hurry up and be done with this stupid track and make

Bulli premier

Richmond and Goulburn back ups , obviously after upgrades should be implemented ie Richmond make over , fix practice straight run ...bullring ...

Straight track in front of grandstand at Goulburn with a modified larger track

One supplies PET MEAT, the other HUMAN COMSUMPTION MEAT. Doubt they will ever pay enough prizemoney for participants to buy Abattoir meat for their dogs.
These are the people that are running our Industry.

"Ps hurry up and be done with this stupid track and make Bulli premier

Richmond and Goulburn back ups , obviously after upgrades should be implemented ie Richmond make over , fix practice straight run ...bullring ... Straight track in front of grandstand at Goulburn with a modified larger track".

I agree that all three tracks warrant re-building. The problem is that all have already been rebuilt for figures from $0.5m to $1.1m each (in old money - much more today).

In each case they produced "new" tracks that contained as many or more faults than there were before - eg Goulbourn 450m had to be changed back to 440m, Bulli still has a flat home turn.

To fix these would require upwards of $5m now and that assumes that someone with competence would be able to lay out a decent circuit and would also be able to fix Wenty. There is no evidence that such competence exists.

That still leaves Dapto, Nowra (1st turn), Maitland turns and poor layouts in Northern Rivers, all of which have disruptive factors, to say nothing about non-Tab tracks. Dapto alone would have to cost upwards of $2m-$3m as it requires a complete shift of the track to the north - ie away from the ugly "grandstand".

Blind freddy can see we now can't support all the tracks

We need a sustainable long term plan now

When were being starved we start to blame and look at one another instead of the ones feeding us this rubbish. We have to find an extra $15.8 million p.a. to operate GWIC when GRnsw was doing the same thing before the intervention. Thats what is unsustainable!

There isnt a group of participants on the expert panel to make it transparent. As you can see we dont get much information from the authorities so its not surprising that we dont have representation on the panel. There is supposed to be $30 million over five years to fix tracks.

Gillian,
I have no time for Baird, Grant or Toole but I have yet to see why Labor would be different or better. Have you seen a policy statement which says so? Further, Daley strikes me as a functionary, not a go-getter.

1. The first point is that there is momentum - programs are funded or not and are under way. Changing them significantly may not be at the top of anyone's "to do" list. Much is legislated anyway - eg the formation and direct control over GWIC.
2. Judging by history or observable facts the performance of GRNSW (GWIC is less critical) has changed little over time, irrespective of board selection methods or of the party in power. Both lots have had the opportunity.
3. Those who complain about lack of representation are ignoring the presence of GBOTA (which, for example, features formally in the Strategic Plan). Right or wrong, authorities/governments will say that is real representation so what are you talking about. Regardless of your personal view of GBOTA it is pretty clear that they are part of the problem, not part of the solution - as evidenced by its participation and acceptance of the "Reform Panel" which introduced tough new and expensive rules. GBOTA must be bypassed.
4. GRNSW is a bureaucracy. As such it is not geared to make adequate commercial decisions, or operational ones for that matter (eg tracks). It is politically hamstrung anyway. Only a genuinely independent organisation could achieve progress.
5. The totality is that the system is broken. Whether one authority or two, the resultant culture and the physical operation of the industry has never and cannot perform or compete in today's world. It is long outmoded - not just by comparison with other industries but when matched against other sporting organisations.

The answer (and it will be a long road) is twofold: create a platform calling for an effective and efficient commercial organisation to run the industry and, secondly, empower Borsak to stir the pot - he at least has a fair understanding of the industry.

As an aside, the long rumoured rationalisation of tracks/clubs, if it comes about, will at least bring all the pollies into the action. You can bet they will come out of cracks in the ground. That would be a good time to present and push a fresh platform.

Why hasnt GBOTA made better efforts to attract more patrons to our Number 1 Track (Wenty Park) over the past ten years ? Are they capable?

Matt,

Probably right but we will have to wait and see. Quite a few seats will be up for grabs.

But you bring up a good point. "Public backlash" was the big deal. Orange would have scared the pants of either major party, and it did cost Grant the party leadership and now retirement.

However, that "public" was not just a matter of greyhound fans or punters; it was much more broadly based than that. In several cases our new supporters actually said they did not much like racing or gambling anyway but they did resent the arbitrary decision of Baird to shut down the industry - any industry.

At the least, this tells us the broad public prefer to see a fair go. At the most, it is something that can be parlayed into long term support for the greyhound - provided that we supply them with the right info. (Which can happen only with a concerted program).

On the other side of the coin, the industry is fragmented. We want a strong single voice but it is not there.

Supposedly, GRNSW is there to push the industry forward but that is a bit of a joke. Ditto in Victoria. That's the price of having authorities which think they are beholden to government.

Fewer than one third of NSW trainers are GBOTA members and apparently even some of those are not thrilled at the moment.

Apart from leading the push to overturn the ban (and keep their own jobs) I find little to admire about what GBOTA has done. My personal experience is that they are arrogant, even when wrong (which is often).

In other words, by far the major part of the industry (from all occupations) is unrepresented at any level. Clubs are under the thumb of GRNSW, which can wipe them off the map in a flash, and trainers - the most critical group - are unco-ordinated and far from expert at economic and political issues.

Somehow, some way, the big message has to be put together so as to make up the backbone of the campaign politically. We need major reform at both grass roots and top management levels. Getting broad public support is a key part of that. But you will have to start with the breed and move upwards from there. (Remembering that survey after survey has shown that the majority of people do not like the greyhound, or greyhound racing or gambling, or all three. So don't kid yourselves about the size of the job).

I have a horror about OneNation being in control of anything but that's just a personal view. Even so, it is possible that SFF and/or others could end up with the balance of power.

As for Foley - his main motive was to oppose the Libs; he had no personal attachment to the industry. Labor generally - we just don't know. However, Labor is normally the only party of reform.

The Libs/NP - well, don't forget that several MPs opposed the ban (at personal cost) while many others would have been on the fence and influenced only by party obedience. Today's schemozzle (my assessment) is totally a function of what Baird/Grant did and Toole supported. Gladys and the others had minimal involvement and were ordered what to do. That's how politics works.

The swinger is how many seats go to the Greens. Failing a major party majority, they will tend to torpedo progress. Still, there is not much you can do about it, although their NSW organisation is full of ruckuses now. Let's hope that SFF or NP knock them off in non-city seats at least. Northern Rivers folk need to do some work there.