Will greyhound racing ever get back on track?
Following the expose of blooding and other practices in greyhound racing last week Damian Madden looks at what the sport needs to do to regain public trust.
As an animal lover, and somebody who has been to the dog track occasionally, I was abhorred when I saw the Four Corner’s footage earlier this week of greyhound trainers ‘blooding’ their dogs using live animals.
Watching the fallout in the days that followed I began to wonder if greyhound racing could recover from this catastrophic blow. Has its brand been damaged beyond repair?
What the people involved did was inexcusable, inhumane and indefensible. This post isn’t intended to excuse them or ‘make good’ what is truly a horrible crime. I’m focusing here on the overall brand – looking at its positioning before, during and after this revelation – because it offers valuable insights that other brands can learn from.
No there’s nothing they can do. Any time you bring animals, paid entertainment and gambling together, greed leaves the animals worse off.
There’s all sorts of ‘entertainment’ from years past that we no longer find acceptable. Greyhound racing itself is illegal in many countries.
It’s day is done.
Hey editor, there are some Crimes Against Grammar in this blog post that shouldn’t have made it past your red pen.
“I was abhorred”
“Greyhound racing in Australia has long courted controversy”
Good lord. The author means the opposite of what he’s writing.
Nana
Have a look at the win betting pools for the dogs on tab.com.au. I haven’t run the numbers, but after perusing a few weeks results, I would say the numbers are not down that much, if at all.
Clearly most of the people expressing outrage over this do not contribute to greyhound racing’s bottom line anyway, so the business will go on until it is banned.
The LARGE majority of people expressing ‘outrage’ have no financial influence on the sport. Live baiting has gone on for decades upon decades. Yes, it has been outlawed and the majority in the industry WOULD report anyone that they knew was doing such a thing these days, but just like with the cobalt issues in Horse Racing recently, there are always a few bad eggs. Betting on the greyhounds won’t decrease and hasn’t if you look at the numbers.
Yes, a few sponsors have pulled out, but in the end, it’s the gambling $$$ that keeps the sport going. The industry needs to take a good hard look at itself and bring in an independent body (not one they are pulling the strings off) to over-see an Australia wide review.
I watch my butcher as they hack the meat up and I still eat beef?!
This entire “case study” is a bit daft… as an animal lover, you’ve been to the races & you’re a bit outraged at what has been uncovered about the “sport”?…
Come on, using this as a case study for re-branding is about as relevant as using slavery, apartheid, people trafficking, or any number of cruel animal “sports” like cock or bull fighting. “Can the whites regain ultimate power!?”, “Will we be able to take the vote back from women!?”, “Can we make it look like the bulls enjoy the game!?”.
It’s not the brand or branding that’s the problem, it’s the existence of the industry as a whole. Hopefully I have kids one day who can look back & say “Wait, that used to be okay to do?”.
Hi there, I’m really confused as to why this is being used as a case study. Any industry (I refuse to call it a sport when the athletes participating get killed when they are injured) that results in 9 out of 10 dogs dying when they ‘retire’ needs to be banned full stop. As Suzanne says, this is akin to saying that the branding of the cock fighting industry is the problem and not the industry itself.
How about we do a last minute swap with the Indonesian govt. We give them the trainers who laughingly watched possums being torn to pieces – and they give us back our reabilitated drug smugglers.
Yes it will, I personally would be surprised to see much of a decline in revenue at all – Public opinion is a different story but at the end of the day greyhound racing isn’t exactly a sport that anyone cares about too much other than those in it.
Horse racing would be a different story because there is such a huge casual interest by many Australians because going to the races is more of an event for most rather than a punt.
The dog’s are strictly for punters and they will not stop punting because of a issue like this.