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Catford's gone to the dogs
By Jonathan Hobbs, in the Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 17.11.03The traps first opened at Catford Stadium on 30 July, 1932. They closed for the last time on 5 November, 2003. Or, to be more exact, the previous afternoon when Redders Senorita became the last winner of a greyhound race at the famous old venue.
The next day, the track's owners, the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA), issued a press release stating that Catford was to close "with immediate effect". Even those who worked there had no idea, no notice.
"It's like losing a close friend or family member, without having the opportunity to say goodbye," said one Catford regular of 30 years on hearing that the turnstiles had shut at what was the home of greyhound racing in the south-east for 70-plus years.
The GRA's decision has incensed large sections of the sport, and especially those who lived and breathed greyhound racing at Catford. Racking up losses year-on-year, the track's demise had been long predicted, but just as any bereavement, it came as a shock.
While greyhound tracks up and down the country invested in plush bars, restaurants and other creature comforts, Catford was left behind to rot. Unlike other south-east London institutions, it was not a listed building - maybe it should have been.
The rich and famous, Hollywood stars and those from the world of sport all visited this corner of Adenmore Road, underneath Catford Bridge. The Gold Collar trophy, its most prestigious race, regularly had a ' personality' to present the winning trophy.
In 1934, in its first running, film star Tallulah Bankhead greeted the successful owners in style, and it was a tradition that lived on in the modern day when, under the sponsorship of local bookmaker John Humphreys, the likes of Henry Cooper, Lester Piggott, Lennox Lewis, Frank Bruno, Leslie Grantham and even Red Rum stepped across the famous sand track to the presentation podium, where starstruck owners, trainers and well-wishers celebrated before being joined by their heroes in a lap of honour. The following race would always be delayed by half an hour!
But behind the scenes all was not well. The GRA stopped spending money on Catford, as it chose to plough money into its other stadia - Wimbledon, with its 'Mick the Miller' enclosure, Hall Green (Birmingham) and Oxford, with their 'executive' boxes - in the largely successful search for the corporate pound, and the recent purchase of another track in Birmingham, Perry Barr.
The reason for the lack of interest in probably the most atmospheric greyhound track of all, in its heyday at least, was that the GRA didn't actually own the land. To be more precise, it didn't own the car park, which is the property of Railtrack. The GRA's critics will argue they didn't do enough to prise it away from them.
The fact that the stadium sits between two commuter rail lines, and that access to it is limited, always seemed to be Catford's advantage, especially in the property boom of the 1970s and 1980s, during which time several of the capital's tracks were lost.
It was felt that the surrounding roads would not take the congestion caused by a supermarket. The same reason might preclude any housing development, and it must be hoped that Lewisham Council do not lose the fact that another leisure and recreational facility has been lost in an already largely deprived area. There is not even a cinema in the area.
But while the local council has a responsibility, so too do the GRA. Greyhound racing's largest promoter has let the sport down badly, again, with another high-profile closure, and another PR disaster. In the minds of the ignorant, such news will have sounded the death knell for greyhound racing, but they really could not be further from the truth.
The GRA claimed it was dwindling attendances that caused Catford's closure, and that's right to an extent. But people just chose not to take family and friends to a dilapidated arena, and who could blame them? It is no reflection at all on what remains a great sport, just take yourself over to Walthamstow, Wimbledon, Crayford or Romford, and have a look.
As for Catford's faithful supporters, its loyal staff and management, bookmakers and punters, they have been denied the chance to bid farewell at a final meeting, which would have matched the crowds that surged through the gates to be sure of a place in the stands for the traditional, and hugely popular, Boxing Day morning meeting. You were probably there once or twice yourself.
Reader views (2)
When I was a child my Dad used to take me to watch the racing every Saturday night. It was always my dream to have my own greyhound. And I did, he was one of the winners at the last meeting when it closed, he then raced at Crayford and I now have him at home with me as he was badly injured. A few weeks ago I was on a train to London and I could have cried to see the remains of the old stadium, (I imagined seeing the dogs racing and hear the noises, it was very eerie) it is now all over grown with the sign "Catfrod Stadium" still standing. What a waste when it could have still been left open and maybe my boy would still have been running. His racing name by the way is Murrays Lad.
- Yvonne Murray, Mottingham, London
What a shame Catford had to close and even more was the way it finally went. Surely one last evening of racing could have been organised with some open races. I feel like it is the death of an old friend without being able to say goodbye to.
- Michael Rivers, East Grinstead W.Sussex
