Former Premier League Official looking for Derby Day glory with Ballybough Nutz
Mike Bull, part owner of Ballybough Nutz is a former Premier League Official, West Ham fan and Dallas Cowboys Season Ticket holder and he discusses his hopes with Ballybough Nutz what it was like to referee at Wembley, how he became a Cowboys season ticket holder, and answers one tough question!
Former Premier League Official looking for Derby Day glory with Ballybough Nutz
Mike Bull, part owner of Ballybough Nutz is a former Premier League Official, West Ham fan and Dallas Cowboys Season Ticket holder and he discusses his hopes with Ballybough Nutz what it was like to referee at Wembley, how he became a Cowboys season ticket holder, and answers one tough question!
One of the most impressive winners in the first round of the StarSports/TRC Greyhound Derby occurred on Saturday night when Maxine Locke’s Ballybough Nutz, runner-up in the recent BetGoodwin & JR Racing Maiden Derby behind Hello Diego, produced an impressive five and a quarter length victory when beating Teddie in a time of 28.87, off of a lightning fast 3.93 sectional.
Owned by the JR Racing Syndicate, one of those members is Mike Bull, a former Premier League Official and he tells me how he was able to get involved in Ballybough Nutz, in greyhound racing itself, and amongst other things, what it was life to referee at Wembley.
Refereeing
“I’ve been involved in professional refereeing for near enough the last 25 years; I did three years as a Football League referee and spent a couple of years in the Premier League as an Assistant Referee. The best game I was involved in at the Premier League was Tottenham 4 Chelsea 4 back in 2008 when I was an Assistant Referee"
"That was a bit of a humdinger that one, but the pinnacle of my career was being able to referee at Wembley when taking charge of the 2013 Conference Premier play off Final between Wrexham and Newport County. Everything went like a dream, it was a great day out with no controversies with Newport winning 2-0. Just to be out there and be able to do that was a dream come true, every footballer aspires to playing at Wembley and from a refereeing point of view, it’s exactly the same”
Supporting West Ham
“I can blame my family for that. My Grandfather and my Uncles took me from the age of four and my earliest memory is seeing West Ham play Wrexham and sitting on my Uncle’s shoulders on the old South Bank. Once you’re in, you’re in and you can’t change your team".
Getting into Greyhound Racing:
“So, when I was 18, I worked for Natwest straight out of college and I used to go to Romford quite a bit as I lived in Dagenham I always liked going down there, it was always a good night out. I got a group together from work with 10 of us involved, and being totally naïve, I walked into a Romford trainer’s kennel, and all 10 of us had put in £100 each which baring in mind quite a few years ago was a good deal of money, and said “I’ve got £1000, have you got a greyhound” and two days later a greyhound appeared".
"She was no good, but she raced for a couple of years, and she was a bit of fun and was good to watch her go round. When she retired, I managed to con my Mum and Dad into taking her home. My Dad said, “She isn’t coming indoors” and built her a paddock outside. Within a week, she had managed to chew her way through the gate and then spent the rest of the time back indoors"
"It all went from there really. I found what I thought was a nice pup from Ireland with the name called Group Motorbike. I didn’t like the name, so I came up with a suffix, and wanted all my dogs to run under the name something “Law” after refereeing which is the application of law. My wife was instrumental in the naming so she picked Harlequins Law and she was fabulous. She won me a little Maiden competition at Romford and when she won the £500 Final, I dropped the trophy on her head! I then took the step to breed from her which was an expensive adventure."
"She had eight pups, one sadly didn’t make it but I sold five and kept two. That was a good five to six years ago with Maxine Locke and we’ve been with her ever since. We’ve had Harlequins Law, Boudiccas Law, Lokis Law and a few more over the years at Romford"
Getting involved with Ballybough Nutz
“I spoke to Maxine and said breeding cost me a fortune and I want to stay involved but I’m not going to go down the route of owning my own dog outright. I knew Gavin from the kennels anyway and he said if something comes up again, he and Rob will keep me in mind. They then opened up the JR Racing Syndicate to a couple of new faces, with me being one of them and I jumped at the chance. I didn’t know anything about “Nutz” at all, I took their word on it, I think their words were “We are going to have some fun with him”.
"He then went to the Maiden Derby and came second in the heats, second in the semi-final and then when watching the final, I thought “Oh my god, we are going to win £10,000”. The most I’d ever won previously was £500! Obviously, it was disappointing when he was picked up on the line, but I think if that race had been run today, I don’t think he would have been picked up. Hello Diego ran well just to pick him up having led that race all bar the last 20 yards".
On the Second Round draw:
“I think the main danger is outside us with Slick Sentinel in five and March On Freddie in six. We just have to hope that he can ping the lids and lead the race. If he can lead the race he qualifies. No disrespect to the runners in traps one and two but he’s a faster starter than those, and if he can get out like he did on Saturday, then they could be looking at his back legs. The way he took the first bend was beautiful, and he didn’t slow down on the run-in like he did in the Maiden Derby".
"I think he needed those runs, and I’ve seen the times coming home and his time stands up, not as quick as some of the bigger boys but still useful enough. He’s 4/1 for his heat which I couldn’t ignore so I’ve had a bit of that. If the race pans out how I’d like it to, I think he leads one and two, and March On Freddie could have his hands full with Slick Sentinel, and it will only take a little bit of trouble for him to build up a winning lead".
“I am going Friday night, I said to the guys in one of the chats that Mike Bull is not a mythical character and you will see him on Friday night, and it’ll be the first time that I’ve met some of the guys in the syndicate and I’m bringing the little one with me as well”
I have to give a massive shout out to Gavin and Rob, who have been brilliant. It’s just nice to be involved. I like being involved in the game, but I’ve never been involved in anything like this, and just to win a Derby heat is amazing".
Dallas Cowboys:
As if Bull didn’t have enough going on in life, he talks about his love for the NFL team the Dallas Cowboys and explains how ended up being a season ticket holder
“I’ve always liked the Cowboys, but it was never anything to do with the team when I was a 14-year-old boy. I wasn’t interested in the game, but someone made me pick a team from a magazine, so I picked the team with the best looking cheerleaders!
"I used to follow them from afar and then I got a bit more involved when Sky picked up the coverage, so I made It a bucket list thing. About 12 years ago I went with a friend and once I’d been once that was it. AT&T Stadium is just an amazing place and now I go every year, but I was sick of being re-sale tickets as they were so expensive, so I looked into buying a season ticket."
"It’s not a cheap process, you have to buy a seat licence so that you can buy a ticket, and if you don’t buy the ticket again the next year, you then give up your licence. But I worked it out and by joining the re-sale market myself I can break even, so I go to two games myself and sell the rest on. I’ve now got five myself and I just rotate whereabouts I want to sit and can go when I like"
"I also try and get a road game in if I can, I’ve been to 12 NFL stadiums so far and would like to go to them all apart from Philadelphia. I actually prefer the NFL to the Premier League now as it’s always the same teams winning in the Premier League. Yes you can point to the New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs in recent years but generally because of the draft system, you can get different teams winning".
West Ham to win the Premier League, Cowboys to win the SuperBowl or Ballybough Nutz winning the Derby?
"Oooooooh.......I think I’d have to win the Derby. Not just for me, but I’d love Maxine to win something really big. It’s not just for me then, it’s for the team. I’m a bit of a team player so we would all get to share in that and we would all get to share in that"
