Early racing history Greyhound racing was developed from
coursing in 18th-century Britain. The first official coursing club was the
Swaffham Coursing Society in
Norfolk, England, which put on its first event in 1776. Modern greyhound racing was effectively developed by Owen Patrick Smith, the chamber of commerce director in
Hot Springs, South Dakota in the early years of the 20th century. He had been involved in organising local coursing events but did not like the sport, which he felt was inhumane. He began to look for a way to make the sport less bloody by using an artificial lure. After much trial and error, Smith attracted investors and perfected an artificial lure system in 1912. His tracks allowed for six greyhounds to race at a time, and were circular instead of straight. Although it took some time for the concept to be fully developed and put into practice, by the 1920s, his greyhound racing tracks were spread across the USA and attracted thousands of visitors.
Formation of GRA Modern greyhound racing was developed in England by the GRA. American businessman Charles A. Munn had secured the rights from Smith for artificial-lure racing in England in the early 1920s. With three others - Brigadier-General
Alfred Critchley, a Canadian-born
World War I flying veteran, Major L Lyne Dixson, a noted coursing judge; and Sir
William Gentle, a retired chief constable - he formed the Greyhound Racing Association Trust Ltd in August 1925. Although Gentle was the first company chairman, it was Critchley who took control of the company as managing director, and provided the energy and vision to drive it forward. The other directors were Robert Grant Jr., Francis Steward Gentle, F A Lumley, Henry Haworth Hardman and Charles A Munn. The North West of England was chosen to introduce the sport to the country, most likely hoping that the area's coursing tradition would make it attractive to the local population. On 14 October 1925 the association took a seven-year lease on land at the northern end of Kirkmanshulme Lane (an old brickfield),
Manchester at an annual rent of £276, leased from the adjacent
Belle Vue Zoological Gardens. With capital of £22,000, £8,000 of which was borrowed,
Belle Vue Stadium was built on the land. The stadium opened on 27 July. Although the attendance at the first meeting was disappointing, by the end of the first season in October, thirty seven meetings had been held, with an average attendance of 11,000. Its relationship to many of these tracks was affiliation, rather than full ownership.
Post-war development The popularity of greyhound racing boomed in the post-war years, with 25 million people passing through the turnstiles nationwide each year. The sport peaked in 1946, with White City alone recording a turnover of £17,576,190. The 1960 Betting and Gaming Act heralded the end of the sport's popularity. The Act allowed alternatives to track-betting including bingo halls, casinos and betting shops. The development of high street betting meant that people could now bet without having to visit tracks. The Act also subjected greyhound track operators and the Greyhound
Tote to much higher tax rates than betting shops. Presaged by the sale of the
Harringay Arena in 1958, the company soon moved to support it share price in the face of falling attendance by focusing the market on the value of its property portfolio. In 1965 John Sutton became Managing Director and the GRA extended its board by adding Major Percy Brown, John Cearns (son of
WJ Cearns) and Charles Chandler Jr. to the directors but sold the Kingsfurze breeding establishment at
Naas in
County Kildare, the seven acre grounds had been breeding greyhounds for over 17 years. They then sold Upper Childown Farm and Fan Court Farm grounds in
Longcross near
Chertsey. The two properties were used as a nursery and rearing establishment by the GRA. Further cutbacks by the GRA included the sacking of two advertising executives and five trainers from the
Hook Estate and Kennels. In mid 1969 it traded as the 'Greyhound Racing Property Trust'. This move, together with a contemporaneous improvement of tax conditions for the industry by
Chancellor Jim Callaghan, saw the GRA's share price improve dramatically. The GRA's strategy was to buy up tracks which raised the value of the company's stock and to sell when the price of property boomed. They sold six tracks from 1970-1974 (Charlton, Kings Heath, West Ham, Reading, Liverpool and Clapton) and had previously agreed the sale of their flagship track White City. They then sold their third share in Walthamstow and their 23% stake in
Coral. The company survived in part through 1980s sale of a number of leading GRA venues, including White City, Slough, Shawfield, Harringay, and Powderhall. In 1987 GRA was the subject of a £68.5 million reverse takeover by
Wembley Stadium. Wembley assumed control of GRA and in February 1988 the GRA Group was renamed Wembley plc. The company went through a period of reorganisation and modernisation during the 1990s, and in 1998 GRA purchased
Oxford Stadium. 2003 saw the lease acquisition of another new track,
Perry Barr Stadium, in north
Birmingham. At the same time the
Catford Stadium track was closed. Wembley Plc sold the GRA to Risk Capital Partners in 2005 and later traded as GRA Acquisition Ltd. == Stadiums ==