The Wagga greyhound community has joined local MPs Michael McCormack and Dr Joe McGirr in protesting against Greyhound Racing NSW’s plans to close the Wagga track. Photo: Jarryd Rowley.
The Wagga greyhound community has made an impassioned plea to keep its track at the Wagga Showground up and running ahead of what Member for Riverina Michael McCormack has labelled the club’s D-Day – next Tuesday (9 December).
Auditing company Deloitte released a report in October recommending Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) to phase out several tracks across the state to ‘optimise’ the industry’s future.
Wagga is one of the tracks set to be culled, with the final decision set to be made by GRNSW on 9 December.
Mr McCormack and Member for Wagga Dr Joe McGirr travelled to Sydney earlier this week to put forward a case to GRNSW about why it should protect the local track.
Both MPs were then joined by trainers and stakeholders of the Wagga Greyhound Club on Tuesday, with the stance that they would fight tooth and nail to keep meets in NSW’s biggest inland city.
“Don’t mess with our greyhounds. Don’t mess with our sport. Don’t take our sport away,” Mr McCormack said.
“Next Tuesday, we have been told, is D-Day for the Wagga Wagga Greyhound Club; it’s when GRNSW will make a call as to whether this track remains open.
“We met with the chief executive officer, Steve Griffin, we met with the chief racing officer, Brian Charman, and we told them that the Wagga Wagga and district Greyhound Club is not going to go anywhere.”
The Member for Wagga described Tuesday’s decision as the people who love their animals vs the corporate bean counters looking to save cents.
“We’ve just got to make sure that people, the animals they love, win,” he said.
“If you want to grow greyhound racing, you got to stick with the biggest inland city and a club as successful as this one.”
Greyhound racing has been a sport in Wagga for 98 years. Photo: Jarryd Rowley.
Jack Strutt spends most of his week training and caring for his dogs.
Mr Strutt said if the Wagga track closed, he would be forced to move elsewhere.
“If the track here closes, we have to travel several times a week. The convenience of having the Wagga track isn’t just to race on a Friday night when we all have work. It’s all the education as well.
“Like others, I’ve sacrificed a lot to train dogs, and if the track closes, lots of people will have to pack up and move.
“It shouldn’t come down to that. I grew up here. You know, this is where I want to be, but if it closes, I won’t be.”
Wagga Greyhound Club president Ben Talbot said the club had raced weekly for nearly 100 years and spent more than $300,000 in recent years to upgrade and maintain the facilities at the showgrounds.
Mr Talbot said there was little to no conversation between the club and GRNSW prior to the recommendation to close the track.
“It was certainly a shock. There was no talk of the tracks closing, anything like that,” he said.
“I didn’t think with such a large population here in Wagga that Wagga would even be on the chopping block to shut. We tick all the boxes. We’re financial, and all our safety upgrades are up to scratch. I mean, what more do they want?”
Mr Talbot said if GRNSW chose to close the track, it would be a huge mistake.
“The club is getting busier and busier every week,” he said.
“We’ve done all the safety upgrades on our own bat. We’ve done the bungalow upgrade, the safety rails, the new kennel block, and the new canteen. It’s not just that we love our animals, we do, but we’ve got third- and fourth-generation trainers whose families have been here for nearly 100 years.”
The Wagga Greyhound Club hosts 11 races every Friday night with more than 80 dogs taking to the track each week.
