Nowadays, if English Premier League football grounds are going to collaborate with another sport, it’s guaranteed to be for a big money partnership with the National Football League (NFL), or to host a massive boxing event.
Look at Tottenham Hotspurs’ state of the art new stadium in North London for example. The £790 million ground was purpose built for football and the NFL, and is the only ground outside of North America to be designed specifically for the sport, including separate dressing rooms, medical facilities, warm-up areas, and even a ground-breaking artificial pitch, which is underneath the retractable football surface.
Spurs’ 62,000-seater stadium was also supposed to hold Anthony Joshua’s bout against Kubrat Pulev, which the former was tipped to win – according to the betting exchange – in November, but that was scrapped, due to Covid-19, whilst Wembley Stadium, the home of the English national team, was also a host to various other sporting events and concerts over the years, including NFL games and Joshua fights.
However, this wasn’t always the case. Before the stylish new stadiums, and massive amounts of money that have taken over modern-day football, grounds used to boast a much less glamorous feature – a greyhound track.
The connection between the dogs and football was little more than the lack of grounds across the country, and the revenue which could be brought in by hosting dog racing at the stadium, of course! This was at a time before stadium tours ran multiple times a day, and club store’s and ground-based restaurants were open daily to bring in money. With football only being played at stadiums once, or maybe twice, per week, there was a lot of spare time on hand, and, for owners, having a greyhound track was the perfect way to make a bit of extra cash during non-match days.
Greyhound racing was actually the second most popular sport with working class punters back then. Following the second World War, the dogs shot in popularity, with millions now attending events yearly. Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge and Clapton Stadium, the original home of Clapton Orient (now known as Leyton Orient) were two of the most popular venues.
Chelsea’s link with greyhound racing wasn’t straightforward to begin with, the south west London club initially purposed the idea to the English Football Association in 1928, but they declined the idea, stating that the two sports shouldn’t be linked, and the Blues’ turned to dirt track racing instead.
The motorcycling events lasted just four years before Chelsea, who were now in substantial money difficulty, were eventually given permission to host the dogs. July 1932 marked the first greyhound event at the Bridge, and soon enough, several thousands were making their way to the stadium for races. The dogs brought in millions of pounds worth of revenue for Chelsea and played a massive part in saving the club from liquidation.
By 1937, Chelsea and the Greyhound Racing Association had agreed a 30-year partnership for the dogs to carry on being held at Stamford Bridge, and in that time, the iconic Shed End – which is still a much-loved part of the stadium today – was formed. But, at the end of the lease in 1967, the club’s owners decided to redevelop the Fulham Road stadium, and this meant the end of Chelsea’s relationship with greyhound racing.
Over the years, the old Wembley Stadium also hosted a number of dog racing events, in fact, the venue even refused to give up a meeting during the 1966 World Cup, which resulted in the match being moved to, the now demolished, White City Stadium.
Unfortunately, greyhound racing is on a rapid downhill spiral, and the chances of seeing the dogs make a return to football venues is pretty much zero.
