Editor's Chair - Is the fightback finally on?

Judicial reviews called for on both sides of the globe

Some will view it as closing the door after the horse has bolted but greyhound racing has its claws out, and not before time!

The GBGB announced last week that they have issued a claim for judicial review against the banning of the sport in Wales. 

Branded as an 'inherently cruel sport' by the Dogs Trust, the RSPCA and the Blue Cross amongst others seems to have finally galvanised a response. The years of the sport sticking its head in the sand and hoping they will go away could be coming to an end. 

To try and engage them is not easy to do. As Mark Twain put it, ‘never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.’ For every Kelli Windebank who is open minded enough to engage with the sport and come around to the ‘right’ way of thinking, there are thousands of others who will argue that black is white until they are blue in the face. 

But this has never been about arguing with the antis in particular. 

We all know there is no point. It’s about the fight that has to made for the attention of the ordinary person in the middle. There is a huge grey area of the general populace who have no strong opinion about greyhound racing. It is not about winning them all over, more to ensure that they understand enough about the dogs and their love for racing to consent to the continuation of the social license.

Unfortunately, since the advent of social media the village lunatics have found much easier ways to connect with one another. The biggest issue is that while antis bounce off the rubber padded walls of their echo chamber their door has always been wide open to allow others with the same views as them inside. 

In stark contrast, it has always felt that the door on the pro greyhound racing side has been closed tight with an aging population trapped inside, slowly watching the sport we love disappear in front of our eyes. The sport has been too scared to step outside and convince the general public that they should be joining us rather than the antis, all the while trying to convince ourselves that... 

While it may only be a small first step, the call for a judicial review is a key one if the sport isn’t just going to channel its inner possum anymore. There is no question that any response that the sport makes to the lies that the antis tell has to be done carefully. 

It cannot be gung-ho, all guns blazing as hot-headed, heat of the moment responses are when mistakes happen. We cannot be stooping to their level ourselves but as was shown with the Jane Dodds piece that we produced in back in March, the truth will out eventually.

A judicial review is the case in New Zealand as well where a ban was announced back in December to take effect from 2026 due to an 'unacceptably high rates of injuries and deaths.' Those deaths had fallen from 232 in 2021 to less than 30 in the following two and a half years. That is a monumental drop but the injury numbers stayed similar.

As with the GBGB injury stats, it is great that they are open for all to see but at the same time, people will wilfully misinterpret the injury numbers. This is something that Floyd discussed in an excellent Editor's Chair back in December which you can read here if you haven't already.

Where is the line to be drawn, however? 

Who is the self-appointed gatekeeper to what is and isn't an acceptable level?

The whole one dog is one too many argument is ludicrous. We aren't going to take away pets from owners when they injure themselves chasing a ball in the local park, although for some of these groups, no pets is exactly what they are after.

It needs some common sense and cool heads to find ways to limit injuries as much as possible. The new track build at Wolverhampton has had that in mind from the very start and while the track shape might not be to everyone's liking, if it helps to reduce injuries, it must be the direction in which we head. 

New Zealand's governing body has called for a judicial review, going to the High Court. Greyhound Racing New Zealand (GRNZ) have argued that the Department of Internal Affairs included no information from the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee in their Cabinet paper, and were selective in the numbers they took out of the injury reports from the Racing Integrity Board.

That should come as no surprise to anyone in the sport and while it might not produce much more than a delay in the banning of the sport in New Zealand, it is still a key moment in the fight to show that GRNZ are not going to just roll over. There are more than 1000 jobs at stake as well as the near 2,500 canine population. 

Part of the fight back here could come in the form of the documentary 'Going To The Dogs' from director Greg Cruttwell. It is a well-balanced hour and a half that talks to those who are pro racing, anti racing as well as those who work for a rehoming centre. 

At present, it looks like it will be in October when a general release of the film will hit independent cinemas. Once that happens, the film will get reviewed nationally and then hopefully it gets picked up on one of the streaming services. 

If that happens, it opens the door for the sport to really sell itself to a potential new audience. At that point, all involved in the sport needs to be pushing as many friends and family to watch it as possible to spread the word. There is a chance that it is going to create more antis but also a strong probability that it is at least going to win over enough people to keep the sport going. 

Although it is unlikely to put thousands more through the gates each week, the fight for acceptance of the sport from a country who love dogs will be a huge win for the industry. It boils down to one very important thing.

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