ANGLE PARK FORUM = NEAR RIOTS WITH POLICE!!!!!!!!!!!

[mighty_tiger_79]

There was a Greyhound Industry Forum held at 2:00pm wednesday afternoon and there was a good attendance despite the time. Many trainers who had dogs running that morning took there dogs home to feed and to look after there others, which is fair considering you wouldnt want to have a dog caged up for 4 hours which was the time from the last race till everyone dispersed yesterday. I think the admin did that deliberately and hoped no-one would show up to rock the boat or ask too many questions, but someone did rock the boat and asked too many questions but he raised many good points.

Im not sure where to start as there were many issues that were raised through the meeting.

The board got up and all had their say about the certain department they run and it went smoothly, a guy called John (dont know his last name but was in the advertiser today) got up and spoke. he didnt start off on a good note by upsetting the board and moreso the chairman of the meeting Mr Kennedy. they called for security to eject him and to get the police. Mick Giniotis stepped in and managed to keep John there as he put forward the case for many of the trainers/owners.

here are some key factors

*prizemoney dropping by an average of $50 per race = around $72 grand roughly.

*the CEO is rumoured to be on close to $500,000 for the 3 year term
marketing manager is on $80,000 with a car and a secretary.
currently working for a bookie is on around $18,000 for 4 meetings a year
Racing Manager is on around $100,000

why dont they take a small pay cut to help the loss of prizemoney????????

*Dapto have free entry and as a result turnover is up, food and bevvies are up, attendances are up!!!!!!!!!! we have to pay $6 and we get nothing for it, you should get a free bet or drink or something. but kennedy said something along these lines 'charge no admission will degrade the admission'

*debt is reduced from 2.4 mill to 1.4 mill

*pints in the tavern downstairs are $4.00 upstairs they are $4.70!!!!!!!!! what about having a happy hour????????

* a regular wasnt happy with the meal he was dished up yesterday morning. not only did it take them 30 minutes to deliver the bacon and egg sandwich they also decorated the plate with lettuce that had black spots CLEARLY VISIBLE!!!!!!!!! a rabbit wouldnt eat it.
the quality of food dished up in the upstairs restaurant was questioned, many believing the cheaper counter meals downstairs are better value and better quality.

*Kennedy told the owners to get off their arse!!!!!! thats because he wont!!!!!!!!!!!

*A 48 man syndicate was arranged through the Adelaide Bank and they didnt even get an acknowledgement. no welcome to the industry, good luck, free passes etc.
Thats a shame really when you consider what the Adelaide Bank sponsors, they sponsor races at the Oakbank carnival

*Holden have a sign up down the back straight it cost $6 grand to put up, they wanted to put it above the starting boxes at the 515m start but was told he would have to pay again!!!!!!!!!

*another bloke wanted to sponsor the lure for $50,000, but was turned away.

*another sponsor has left the industry recently because he didnt receive any thanks for the thousands of dollars he pumped into the industry, where is he now?????

*no ministry reps rolled up, but a liberal rep rocked up, and unlike the bloke who came from the Racing Ministers office who left after the scuffles he stayed to the end.

it was quite an entertaining session, the board clearly wanted to leave at 3 but they stayed till 3:30pm, quite considerate of them really.

*kennedy basically looked down at the owners/trainers who were at the meeting and i get the feeling that he feels they are all second class citizens and he is right, they are, because they arent on $100,000 for sitting on there arse doing nothing. he clearly has no passion for the industry, in fact none of those blokes do.

*trainers mentioned that the costs of training dogs is increasing yet there livelyhood (prizemoney) is slipping!!!!!!!!!!

there are other points that i will add when they come to mind.

[bayman]

obviously petrol would be the first thing to come to mind & i thought the forums at the trotts were volatile nothing like what the dogs were like yesterday

[mal]

MT 79

A prominent greyhound trainer was asked by a person if he
would like any agendas brought up at the forum.
The irate trainer replied:
" The only thing brought up here is the food."

That was a bit over the top.

During the forum a trainer asked the chairman
" Why cant we have cheaper meals on course like they do downstairs
in Mcqueens tavern.[thats the tavern adjacent to the dogs owned ny the club]
The chairman replied:
" Yeah lets have cheaper meals and drop prizemoney again."

That was a bit over the top as well.

Personally i occasionally eat on course and for what i pay its a tad overpriced.
The lack of healthy alternative foods are a problem like all racing codes.

I will attempt to answer anyones posts on the meeting and be as impartial as possible.
As i have mentioned in the gmbling room posts, I have friends in the admin and as
well as the owners trainers bookies etc.

The club for near on 30 years have treated me with kid gloves and i acknowledge that.

However the relationship between trainers and admin is at boiling point.

To have to accept a 13 % loss of prizemoney whilst admin is about even is too lop sided.

I hope things will be resolved amicably for the industries sake.

Leading trainer Steve Collins has already said he will leave SA and train in Victoria.
The Collins's are wonerful people, we cant afford anymore defections

[mighty_tiger_79]

Steve COllins is moving to Melbourne and will be there by the end of the year it is anticipated.

Tony Rasmussen has cut his team of dogs down to around the 14 mark, just recently off-loaded 30 odd dogs. Tony Rasmussen at the start of the year went back to do fencing as employment at about $1500 p/w.

Mick Giniotis has his wife working full-time.

In the Advertiser recently it was noted Murrays are seriously considering moving to WA as there prizemoney in Grade 5's is sometimes better then our open company prizemoney!!!!!!!!!!!

ANYONE WISHING TO SHARE A VIEW PLEASE LIST IT.

Maybe something can be done to save the industry, if it keeps going like this it wont be around for much longer.

I dont think the greyhound club do enough to attract new people to the industry as punters, visitors, owners etc.

[mal]

GINIOTIS is disenchanted with the industry.
Dont be surprised if he is missing in action as well.

[Dutchy]

Does Giniotis still give the punt a touch up? Remember he used to punt with a fist full of green ones all the time

Anyway back on the subject - I dont have a problem with the Admin getting paid the amounts mentioned above...to get good people you have to pay the money...the issue is are they performing...if not get rid of them and find someone who will.

I say trash the Wed meeting and increase prize money....this will also put some depth into the other meetings...look at tonights meeting...ordinary

[mal]

DUTCHY

Giniotis

Heres a quote by the late bookmaker johnny holness.

" Mike is the best punter ive ever taken on at the dogs"

Gotta keep wednesdays mate its MT79 and MALs coffee lounge

[OhMyHat]

When I was working for a local trainer a few years ago as a handler I never thought for a second that Rasmussen would cut his workload back. He used to have about ten dogs at each Tuesday meet, coming off the back of numerous races the Monday night before (and then probably backing it up on the Thursday). He and wife Lisa had to come all the way down from Murray Bridge. It was his livelihood and whilst I never had much time for the bloke personally I always admired his passion for the sport.

Just goes to show how much the industry has changed. I was only young back then (16) so I didnt have too many views on the goings-on 'behind the scenes' so to speak. I've been out of it for a few years now but I always used to enjoy my time at Chasers before I went out to go and catch the dogs. I guess a friendly atmosphere doesnt count for much these days, does it.

Not that anything I've said here is entirely relevant but I just thought I'd put my 2c in.

[Footy Chick]

The Last word from OMH???

[mal]

GAZA SPORTS CLUB + TAB + CASINO

Every saturday apparently they serve $3 beers when the footys on at GAZA
The Hindmarsh TAB + the Glenelg TAB give out hoot food and coffees for free.
The CASINO has given an ex regular at the dogs valet parking, heavily discounted
meals etc .

Point being the Greyhound tracks are competing with pubs/tabs/ casinos.
Those other 3 places are FREE admission on top.

Clubs need to forget exercising their principles and address factors on face value.

[mal]

BIG CHRIS ...Where are thay now.

An ex regular larger than life punter who frequents occasionally
these days once told me:
" I turnover thousands on the TAB here on course, i am offended
that they make me pay $6 for me to make money for them."

This man sits in a western suburbs TAB these days.

[Dutchy]

*another sponsor has left the industry recently because he didnt receive any thanks for the thousands of dollars he pumped into the industry, where is he now?????

MT - Is this Allstaff your referring too?

[mighty_tiger_79]

DUTCHY no it isnt Allstaff.

[mighty_tiger_79]

DUTCHY

you mentioned to drop the wednesday meetings, but the wednesday meetings are intended to be for the dogs who dont get a start on monday and thursday nights. they have to run somewhere.

Prizemoney on a wednesday totals $300 per race.

[mighty_tiger_79]

strath run meetings once a fortnight on sundays, would anybody be interested if those meetings or one of those meetings per 2 months was run on sunday arvos in the twilight zone along with the victorian dog twilight meeting????????

[mighty_tiger_79]

MEDIA RELEASE

Thursday 25th May, 2006


MEDIA STATEMENT

Greyhound Racing Industry Forum



The Board and Management of Greyhound Racing SA (GRSA) today announces it is extremely disappointment with the behaviour of certain attendees at yesterday’s South Australian Greyhound Racing Industry Forum.

In particular, the Board and Management of GRSA feel disappointed that the opportunity for constructive feedback to be provided by industry attendees was marred by a minority group.

During the forum, a number of statements and recommendations were made by representatives of the industry relating to the operations and management of greyhound racing in South Australia .

Further detailed clarification is currently being sought by Greyhound Racing SA on these statements and recommendations

Greyhound Racing SA will respond accordingly to the concerns of certain industry members, based on gathering factual information relating to these matters.

Despite the behaviour witnessed yesterday, we will continue to adopt an open and transparent policy regarding the management and operation of the industry.

Greyhound Racing SA continues to encourage feedback from the industry on relevant issues and welcomes constructive suggestions on how improvements can be made. Existing forums for providing feedback include the Industry Consultative Group.

The Board and Management refuse to condone the behaviour witnessed yesterday by certain members of the industry and hope that this will never be repeated.

PETER ALI

[mal]

PETER ALI

Champion basketballer,champion personALIty.
Im sure he can rebuild the industry.

[mighty_tiger_79]

did anyone see the article by Craig Cook in the advertiser on thursday reporting what had happened at the meeting?

Its interesting that he wrote that a number of issues had been brewing up for a while now, it seems that given the response of the board at the forum, they did not know about these issues.

I also found it baffling and bemusing that Peter Ali got up and spoke about the lines of communication and the avenues that can be taken. Surely something as important as that should be well known by all the key stakeholders.

I have heard a few things in the pipeline and this is mainly to do with the Horse Racing Industry in particular and that is the government wont help them out and wait for them to fall on there knees begging and then the government will step in and take control of the industry.

[mal]

THE ISSUE

The whole crux of the meeting according to the owner/trainers :

ADMINISTATION over paid
OWNER/TRAINERS under paid.

Until we can restore the equilibrium the industry will spiral downwards.

ANSWER : Do something/somethings differently or die a slow or fast death.

[mighty_tiger_79]

"The profile of greyhound racing continues to grow in South Australia and we anticipate that this will have positive effect on the industry."

that was a quote from greyhoundracingsa.com.au and the about grsa. greyhound racing has stopped growing and is now in free fall.