About

About NSW GBOTA

The NSW Greyhound Breeders, Owners & Trainers Association was first formed in 1939. The Association has two prime functions; Racing Operations & Membership.

Our branch membership is divided across NSW into areas, shown below.

The NSW GBOTA currently operates seven venues and six of these venues operate for racing, while Appin Way is a trialling facility.

NSW GBOTA History

Resulting from a Royal Commission in 1932, the introduction of non-proprietary Greyhound Racing in Australia commenced. Non-proprietary meaning that Greyhound Racing could only be conducted by clubs or Associations with voting members and not by individuals or private companies.

In 1936 a group of enthusiasts associated with Greyhound Racing formed a body of owners and trainers to gain some form of financial assistance to ensure the existence of Greyhound Racing and from this small beginning the NSW Greyhound Breeders, Owners & Trainers’ Association Limited was formed.

The Association was incorporated as a Company on July 31, 1939. The then Secretary was to select and engage an organiser to move among owners, trainers and breeders and join them together as a united body with the instruction to form branches and district associations to enable the Association to serve the whole of the State of NSW. It does this today with seven districts and thirty branches, with some 1,200 members actively involved in the Greyhound Racing Industry.

In 1939 the first Memorandum and Articles of Association were drawn up and registered. The aims and objectives of the Association were set out and there have been few changes since that time. Pages 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the current Articles outline these objectives.

Ten Directors are elected by the members themselves by way of a postal ballot. These ten Directors manage the Association’s affairs and finances. Districts the Directors represent are: Metropolitan (3 Directors), Newcastle and Hunter River (2 Directors), the other Districts having one Director each and are: South Coast and Southern Tablelands, Northern Rivers, Western, North and North Western and Riverina.

In 1948 the Association petitioned the Government to allow the Association to hold the licence for Greyhound Racing at Harold Park and following the introduction of night trotting, the then current licence holder, The NSW Trotting Club (as it was then known) relinquished the licence to the Association and the two bodies, until September 1987, conducted their own sport at Harold Park. The success of the Association’s operations at Harold Park is well documented and until Greyhound Racing ceased there in 1987, the track was considered the premier track in Australia.

In 1959 the Association purchased land and a factory at North Rocks in NSW where it designed and built greyhound race and trial track equipment for the Australian and overseas market.
The factory proved a worthy asset as it did much to ensure the continuation of Greyhound Racing. In the 1960’s many trial tracks were closing down as the land on which they were built was becoming much sought after by developers for housing. The Association realising the danger to Greyhound Racing if trial track facilities were not available to owners and trainers, encouraged new proprietors to secure land and offered the services of its factory to advise and supply equipment at a minimal cost. The factory was eventually sold in the late seventies.
From that small beginning in 1936, the Association currently owns the land and holds licences to race at Temora (1953), Lismore (1954), Appin (1967), Bathurst (2003) and Gunnedah (2003). It also owns the land on which the Muswellbrook Club is situated.
The Association also holds the licence to race at Wentworth Park, Bulli, Gosford and Maitland.
In 1992, the Association purchased a property at Lidcombe which it had rebuilt and re-furbished for the Registered Offices of the Association.
In 2010 the Association moved to the 2nd Floor of the Wentworth Park Grandstand and that location is now the Association’s Registered Office.

Below is an honour roll of Association Chairpersons & Executive Officers:

Life Members and DSA

The NSW Greyhound Breeders, Owners & Trainers’ Association Limited Life Membership Criteria as at October 2014

Article 5(h) of the Association’s Articles of Association states:

“The Directors shall have the power, by resolution to make any Member a Life Member of the Association. A Life Member may be a member of a branch or on the Direct List. A Life Member shall be entitled to all the privileges of membership and be subject in all respects to the provisions of the Articles, with the exception of those provisions relating to the payment of subscriptions.”

In February 2005 the following additional criteria was added:

1. Recipients of Life Membership will be determined by the Board of Directors from the nomination of a Director.
2. Nominees must be the holder of the Association’s Distinguished Service Award and in most circumstances will have been a member of the Association for 20 years or more on a continuous basis.
3. Nominees must have served the Association in an exceptional manner at Branch or District level or they will have progressed the objects of the Association extraordinarily via a wider Greyhound Industry contribution.
4. Members who serve in the capacity of an Association Director for a period of at least 10 years will automatically be formally considered for Life Membership.
5. Directors will assess the nominees on their overall contribution to the objects of the NSW GBOTA and the Greyhound Industry. At all times, the nominees will be considered as having contributed loyally, consistently, selflessly and in a manner well above the normal contribution of a member.

In October 2014 the following additional criteria was added:

1. Consideration of Life Membership applications by Directors is to take place generally on a two yearly basis except where extraordinary circumstances required
2. Nominations are to be given to the Executive Officer by 30 June on a two yearly basis.
3. The Executive Officer puts the nominations together with information held on file regarding the membership, executive positions etc.
4. The nominations and relevant information is presented to the executive for that group to discuss the merits of the nominations at one or more of their July, August or September meetings.
5. The executive by majority decide on those nominations that should be recommended for life membership having regard to the criteria. Each member of the executive has one vote only.
6. The recommended nominations are forwarded to the full Board for their decision at the October meeting. The September meeting is not suitable as it is a short meeting to allow for the meeting of Chairmen that weekend.
7. The new life members are named at the Association Dinner at Wentworth Park held in January each year or such other event as agreed to by the Board.

Life Membership Recipients

Distinguished Service Award Criteria

1. Recipients of the DSA will be determined by the Board of Directors from nominations received by (or) made to Directors.
2. As a minimum pre-requisite, any nominated person must have been a member of the Association for at least 20 years on a continuous basis unless extenuating circumstances exist whereby membership of 20 years (but not continuous) could be considered.
3. Any nominations whereby the nominee has served in a Branch Official capacity for a period of 20 years (continuous or non-continuous) will be automatically endorsed by Directors.
4. Any nomination where the minimum pre-requisite (Clause 2) has been achieved but the ‘branch official’ requirement has not been met, will be considered on merit.
5. With reference to nominations received under Clause 4, Directors will assess the nominees on their overall contribution to the GBOTA, at branch level and/or voluntary and paid employment and/or other services or contributions to the Association. At all times, the recipients will be considered as having contributed in a distinguished manner.
6. Directors are automatically eligible for the Distinguished Service Award after serving six years on the Board of Directors.
7. Any nomination where the above pre-requisites have not been met, but Directors consider the nominated persons contribution to the Association or the Greyhound Industry generally (as a member or non-member) to be obvious, substantial and well above that which would normally be expected, consideration may be given to the awarding of the Distinguished Service Award.

Distinguished Service Award Recipients
(Listed in alphabetical order by Branch)

History Of Greyhounds:

Going To The Dogs is a wonderful book about the history of racing in NSW by Max Solling & John Tracey, published by Halstead Press. The book is available for purchase from NSW GBOTA. Below is an extract from the book:-

The greyhound is one of the oldest purebred domesticated dogs in existence. Gentle and affectionate, they were prized as a hunting dog capable of outpacing quarry.

Originating in the Middle East, they are depicted in Egyptian engravings and sculptures. Their value in life recognised by the numerous images that adorn Egyptian tombs. Phoenician traders are believed to have brought greyhounds to Britain around 1,000 BC, and as the dogs moved north to Scotland, they developed a rough coat as protection against harsh conditions. The Celts occupied northern Europe and the British Isles from the fifth century BC, and wherever they went they brought their dogs with them, one of which may have been an ancestor of the Deerhound.

Coursing, one of the most ancient field sports, dates from around 150AD when Greek philosopher and historian Arrian (c86–160AD), born in Nicomedia in Asia Minor, became a citizen of Athens. Later, through consular work, he became a Roman citizen, senator, and one of the most distinguished authors of the second century Roman Empire. He wrote the earliest known treatise on the greyhound (Cynegeticus, translated as Arrian on Coursing) who wrote “I have myself bred up a hound whose eyes are the greyest of grey; a swift, hard-working soft-footed dog; in his prime a
match at any time for four hares,” and a little later, “The true sportsman does not take out his dogs to destroy the hares” wrote Arrian, “but for the sake of the course and the contest between the dogs and the hares, and is glad if the hare escapes.”1 He referred to greyhounds as Celt Hounds, and described coursing among the Celts of Gaul. The competitive running of greyhounds in England, Ireland and Scotland began in the 16th century, and it’s probable that gambling was present from the beginning. Henry VIII arranged coursing matches involving hares and sometimes deer as quarry, and also regulated formal procedures on betting. Henry, an inveterate gambler, popularised sports and wagering among the aristocracy who often bet heavily. The Privy Purse expenses of Henry VIII in one year reveal a loss of £30,000 on gambling, which included coursing. From his reign (1509–1547) gambling debts were not recognised by the law, and except for a brief period under George II, such debts could not be legally recovered in Britain until 1960. The rationale was that all agreements in a wagering spirit were outside the affairs of a court of law.

In common with the royal Tudor line, Henry’s daughter Elizabeth I enjoyed watching coursing, and also liked to bet. However she was concerned about the absence of a set of rules for determining excellence.2 Queen Elizabeth therefore instructed her Earl Marshall, Thomas Howard (1473–1554), 4th Duke of Norfolk, to draw up a set of rules of coursing that would define the points of the course on which the relative merits of the dogs could be judged and, as a consequence, coursing became known “The Sport of Queens”.