Old grounds and greyhound racing

[Agbrigg]

This may interest some of you who like memorabilia on old rl ground. greyhoundracingtimes.co.uk . It's a site about long lost greyhound stadiums (another interest of mine)

If you search some of the old tracks there are quite a few old photographs of the old rl grounds. One even shows a game being played at liverpool Stanley.

Take a bit of sorting through but some interesting stuff.

[Eddie]

Do you think there is any way back for Oldham? Serious question btw, I can remember you being a decent sized team as a kid and am surprised about how badly crowds have dwindled. 

[paulwalker71]

Please don't make this another thread about Oldham's ground issues 

Thanks for posting the link Agbrigg, some really interesting stuff on there. And here is a better link to the site that can just be clicked https://greyhoundracingtimes.co.uk

 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

I think Wembley used to be used for Greyhound racing 

[paulwalker71]

5 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

I think Wembley used to be used for Greyhound racing 

https://greyhoundracingtimes.co.uk/2019/01/11/london-wembley/

[sentoffagain2]

1 minute ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

I think Wembley used to be used for Greyhound racing 

True me and my mate bought one which was owned by Captain Marcos Lemos a Greek shipping magnate,who later owned a string of racehorses.We paid 130 guineas for the greyhound  and he went on to win 82 races flapping.I was never skint in those days.

[deluded pom?]

The old Craven Park and the Boulevard were both used for greyhound racing and speedway.

[Agbrigg]

Yes Wembley was massive for greyhound racing. Initially a grass track around the pitch, which was later replaced by sand.

Oldham', rochdale,  Blackpool,(2) liverpool ,Halifax, hunslet (2) ,hull and hull kr. All feature  with old photos

Sheffield eagles also started life at dog track and workington had dog track adjacent to ground

[Gooleboy]

2 minutes ago, Agbrigg said:

Yes Wembley was massive for greyhound racing. Initially a grass track around the pitch, which was later replaced by sand.

Oldham', rochdale,  Blackpool,(2) liverpool ,Halifax, hunslet (2) ,hull and hull kr. All feature  with old photos

Sheffield eagles also started life at dog track and workington had dog track adjacent to ground

I think Doncaster first started out at a Greyhound Stadium. Also White City in London had been used for RL and GR.

[Eddie]

While not an RL ground, Central Park Cowdenbeath is a classic old speedway / greyhound / football stadium - it would make a perfect league 1 rugby league ground. 

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g3646694-d13083617-Reviews-Central_Park-Cowdenbeath_Fife_Scotland.html#photos;aggregationId=101&albumid=101&filter=7&ff=287672002

[Agbrigg]

50 minutes ago, Gooleboy said:

I think Doncaster first started out at a Greyhound Stadium. Also White City in London had been used for RL and GR.

Yes you are correct Doncaster did play at the old dog track. Also I believe a GB international was played at white city.

Did streatham and mitchum also play at a dog track during their brief flirtation with rl ?

[Gooleboy]

5 minutes ago, Agbrigg said:

Yes you are correct Doncaster did play at the old dog track. Also I believe a GB international was played at white city.

Did streatham and mitchum also play at a dog track during their brief flirtation with rl ?

I believe it was Wigan Highfield who relocated to White City and changed their name to London Highfield. It didn't last long, and they moved again, this time to Liverpool and became Liverpool Stanley.

[marklaspalmas]

Hunslet played at a dog track after Parkside.

Workington?. Hull KR, Doncaster also.

[Whippet13]

Borough Park, Blackpool, had a dog track round it. Could be wrong, but I think it still operated for a while after the club left.

Owlerton Stadium was the Sheffield Eagles venue mentioned above.

In the 1940's, greyhound racing was the 2nd most popular spectator "sport" in the UK, second only to soccer. It's in danger of extinction these days though due to numerous issues including major animal welfare problems. Although its image has been improved, much of it driven by online gambling companies, it still might easily disappear entirely.

[Gav Wilson]

Donny Dragons played at Stainforth dog track when they reformed in 1996 aye.

[deluded pom?]

1 hour ago, marklaspalmas said:

Hunslet played at a dog track after Parkside.

And they also used American Football type posts at the Elland Road dog track too.

[Gooleboy]

2 minutes ago, deluded pom? said:

And they also used American Football type posts at the Elland Road dog track too.

They did, and were called New Hunslet for a few seasons.

[deluded pom?]

1 minute ago, Gooleboy said:

They did, and were called New Hunslet for a few seasons.

I remember I only went once and the pitch was tiny. There were huge windows in the bar overlooking the pitch so we watched the game from there  

[marklaspalmas]

7 minutes ago, deluded pom? said:

And they also used American Football type posts at the Elland Road dog track too.

Ah yes. Quite the thing at the time.

[kev p]

2 hours ago, Agbrigg said:

Yes you are correct Doncaster did play at the old dog track. Also I believe a GB international was played at white city.

Did streatham and mitchum also play at a dog track during their brief flirtation with rl ?

A World Cup game was played at white city in 1966, because of a greyhound meeting at Wembley that night. 

[paulwalker71]

4 minutes ago, kev p said:

A World Cup game was played at white city in 1966, because of a greyhound meeting at Wembley that night. 

Yes, the site talks about this. It was France vs Uruguay.

Could you even imagine such a thing happening today? Unthinkable. Just shows how what a massive thing Greyhound Racing was back in the day...

[The Future is League]

4 hours ago, paulwalker71 said:

https://greyhoundracingtimes.co.uk/2019/01/11/london-wembley/

Sometimes use to go there on Friday nights when i lived in London.

Sadly it appears that Greyhound racing is dying a slow agony death now in this country. Such a shame as i use to enjoy going

[Denton Rovers RLFC]

I wonder if any of the 'athletic' grounds that hosted rugby league in the early days such as the Boulevard had cycle racing on them? Cycle racing on outdoor athletic tracks was fairly widespread across the country including the North so it wouldn't surprise me if that did occur. Obviously greyhound and speedway racing is very much linked historically to RL stadia, there was even a limited overs cricket game at the Boulevard with some of the Windies national team playing a 'rest of the world' side.

[SSoutherner]

I dont know how usual it was but in Reading the Greyhounds and Speedway shared a track

[Gooleboy]

36 minutes ago, Denton Rovers RLFC said:

I wonder if any of the 'athletic' grounds that hosted rugby league in the early days such as the Boulevard had cycle racing on them? Cycle racing on outdoor athletic tracks was fairly widespread across the country including the North so it wouldn't surprise me if that did occur. Obviously greyhound and speedway racing is very much linked historically to RL stadia, there was even a limited overs cricket game at the Boulevard with some of the Windies national team playing a 'rest of the world' side.

Rochdale's old ground was called the Athletic Grounds and was used for Greyhounds, Stock Cars and Speedway. Odsal used to have Stock Cars and Speedway as well. Also The Shay, before Halifax RL moved in Helsinki Speedway. Didn't the Boulevard and or Hull KR's current ground have Speedway?