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Yes and it`s showing all over Social media, this is just wrong in every way, the violence I mean, someone needs to get a grip
https://www.facebook.com/TheWinnersEnclosure/videos/1623480371103515/?fref=mentions
The media clearly have decided to have a horse racing punch up period where every incident will be reported until they get bored.
The future of British racecourses.
There’s more drunken behaviour at horse racing than football games.
Some on here would say there’s no issue.Probably not a good combination booze with gambling
Can you imagine those buffoons on the FOBT’s after a few jars of Malibu and cherryaidCharles Darwin to conquer the World
All about perspectives for me. Fighting at racecourses is nothing new. Epsom for example used to be the organised venue for bare knuckle gypsy fights. He problem these days is social media shines a huge light on a problem. 99% of people would have left ascot on Saturday knowing nothing of the trouble. You have a crowd of tens of thousands and invariably you will have a small minority causing trouble. I have bern racing 50+ times and witnessed maybe 3 minor skirmishes. This isn’t not an epidemic
“This is not an epidemic”
Problem gambling is not an epidemic either, with under 2% of gamblers in England identifying as such. That didn’t stop one determined man with a decent budget homing in on one product.
Any similarly determined individual or group with an anti racing bias could spin this out of control throughout the summer.
The football season has finished and the yobs who follow that migrate to the racecourses for the close season: summer saturdays on-course have long been no place for the civilised
For one person, three times in roughly fifty events is 6%. So at a decent weekend or high-profile weekday meeting with a crowd of 10,000, then roughly 600 people will experience some kind of unpleasantness associated with violent conduct. A few decades ago, I had the pleasant task of driving my racing-mad but carless granddad to race meetings from Pontefract to Goodwood and Taunton to Newmarket. We had a great time for several years, and I recall zero times at hundreds of meetings where anything of a violent nature was witnessed. Perhaps the people in the Silver Ring and Public Enclosures were then a better class of person than nowadays. The BHA pay lip service to wanting to increase the number of people who go racing, but the evidence suggests that their hearts are not really in it. They are keeping very quiet about any positive initiatives, and seem to be uttlerly unprepared to tackle the negative issues; everything seems to catch them by suprise.
On the problem gamblers: The Gambling Commision collects data every year about everything in their remit. Their 2017 report says that there are two million people in the UK who are addicted to, or at risk of being addicted to, gambling. They state that the 2017 figure is 33% higher than the 2014 figure. My thoughts are that the actual number and the rate of increase are very significant, and indicate that there is a severe problem. As to the effects of gambling addiction, it might be worth looking at the website of aquarius.org.uk, a Birmingham University research project started forty years ago, and read about the effects and consequences of gambling addiction.
Once we have looked at the data, I guess we all have to make up our own minds about where racecourse violence and problem gamblers are on the scale of trivial to serious.
Would the BHA ever accept Barry Hearn’s advice: this can seriously affect the public’s view of your product, so get involved, take control and take action?
Or will the BHA’s softer approach of communicating with one racecourse, and reviewing licensing procedures later in the year, have any effect at all. Their statement lacks any commitment to leadership or action in dealing with a problem, perhaps because they do not see it as a problem, but as I said earlier, they always seem surprised and on the back foot when something bad happens. It is their job to take the future of the sport seriously. This response is so weak that I assume they want to kick it into the long grass and hope it goes away.
The action verbs and phrases in their statement might have been written by an administrative assistant told by the senior staff to put out a “holding” statement while they go and have another drink. “We will be writing…” “… ask for assessment…” “… we will be carrying out a review…” “… it is our intention to ensure…”
I know a large amount of profit at racecourses comes from the sale of alcohol but I have to confess I really am at a loss as to why anyone needs alcohol when they go racing.
Is the product on offer so poor it cannot be savoured or enjoyed without those attending having to consume alcohol – if the answer is yes then racing has a fundamental problem.
Are individuals lives so shallow they cannot enjoy an afternoon out or relax without having to consume a recreational drug?
They may sound naive questions but I really do struggle to understand the attraction of alcohol and peoples dependency on it.
Racing clearly has a problem. We all know these aren’t ‘racing people’ causing trouble, but the moment they enter a racecourse, they unfortunately become our problem.
In the past few weeks, I’ve heard a lot being said about perspective. With how you might only get mass brawls at 10-15 meetings from several hundred each year, which, on the face of it, does not seem like much.
But, you will find that these are always big race days. Be it a Saturday or a mid-week festival day. A meeting that will capture the interest of non-racing folk who may fancy attending for the day out. Therefore, it’s vital that racing makes a good impression when appealing to the masses on big race days for the future of our sport.
Otherwise, once-a-year race goers will stay away and go to the local zoo or ten pin bowling instead.
I attended the Guineas meeting last year as well as Glorious Goodwood. They were my first flat meetings for probably 10yrs (I attend more NH fixtures) and I saw a very noticeable change in the clientele and I get why folk are comparing them to football type fans/ yobs, because that’s what they act like. I was with my Girlfriend and even though we both like a drink ourselves, I kept my wits about me and reduced my intake as I felt it could kick off at any given time. It wasn’t a pleasurable experience until we spent the rest of the day at the parade ring. There was a bar nearby and we could watch racing on the big screen so there was no need to move. Although, it’s tragic that we took the decision to isolate ourselves and not experience the whole course which is why you go racing to begin with. You
It’s easy to see the appeal as to why the racing product has found its way to the younger generation who have no real interest in the sport itself. Groups of young lads and girls have an excuse to dress up for the day, consume as much alcohol as they want without any real fear of being chucked out (in the same way they might in a bar), have the odd bet where they could win money and bragging rights, chat/ flirt with the opposite sex and if you’re lucks out, no big deal, move onto the next one. If they feel they need an energy boost half way through the day? No problem, a cubical trip will soon sort that without any fear of you being thrown out once more. And when the day is done and you feel like a good ole scrap, there’s no real security to do anything about it.
This problem will only get worse unless courses seek help from professional security firms. That is going to be costly, so they have a decision to make on whether to protect racing’s image or turn a blind eye and welcome/ line their pockets from these ‘new’ race-goers with open arms.
It’s a very worrying time for the sport. This current clientele will not suddenly decide to not have their binge day out in the sun. Why, when everything’s so perfect the way it is right now.
This all boils down to security. Racecourses have a duty to protect the paying punters and the image of the sport. Let’s see which courses take this seriouslyI imagine Barry Hearn knows a thing or two about event security. Racing needs to learn from other sports here.
But, you will find that these are always big race days. Be it a Saturday or a mid-week festival day. A meeting that will capture the interest of non-racing folk who may fancy attending for the day out
The terrific marketing initiative of shifting the mid-week festivals towards and into the weekends has increased footfall but diminished the sport
Musidora day will be as sweet and genteel as it ever was today but Yorkshire Cup day on Friday won’t be
Oh for my Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays of youth
Quality midweek sport when there’s little other competition is/was/should be racing’s USP
The number of those enslaved by the traditional working week of ‘office hours’ 9-5 Monday-Friday is declining and the number of retirees with significant disposable income increasing
Market the sport at this growing happy band who ponder ‘what is a weekend?’
Paul said
“I know a large amount of profit at racecourses comes from the sale of alcohol but I have to confess I really am at a loss as to why anyone needs alcohol when they go racing.Is the product on offer so poor it cannot be savoured or enjoyed without those attending having to consume alcohol – if the answer is yes then racing has a fundamental problem.
They may sound naive questions but I really do struggle to understand the attraction of alcohol and peoples dependency on it.”
It’s not necessarily that the product is poor it’s that there is so little of it. Take York as an example today. If you arrived on course three quarters of an hour before racing you would be on course for a little over 4 hours and yet see only about 12 minutes of sport. It’s therefore not surprising that some like to while away the spare time by visiting the bar. When I go racing I like to think I have the choice of having an alcoholic beverage just as I would if I went to watch the football, rugby, cricket or whatever. Rightly or wrongly the modern world craves for constant activity and for racecourses to attract the increased crowds and the money that goes with that then they are offering non-racing activities such as your music after racing and family enclosures with bouncy castles etc. The actual racing is becoming a part of a package. I’m a racing fan and go to the racecourse to see the racing. I enjoy a day out with my old man, we have a couple of drinks and a bet but take both of those away and I’m not sure if I was Joe Public looking for an afternoons entertainment I would bother spending 4-5 hours of my time to see 12 minutes of sport without there being another incentive to go. My wife sometimes goes to Royal Ascot but she goes for the social occasion, dressing up, champagne lunch etc. The horse racing is secondary and this is what I believe is the attitude of a large number of racegoers who are on course for a day out. Take all that away and they would be spending their leisure pounds somewhere else. As is usual it is a tiny majority that are causing a problem but that is not just a racing problem that’s society in general. It’s how that tiny majority are dealt with that is the issue and it seems racecourses need to take note of what people like Barry Hearn are saying if they want to keep or increase their share of the leisure pound.
Top post , Aaron.
I can’t agree that racing should be targeting the retired Drone, racing already caters for this group it’s the young and family’s that need better targeted.
Kevin Blake has written a brilliant blog on this subject (not sure if the link will work, my work has blocked ATR) –
I’ve watched the footage and it’s terrible. More windmills than Old Amsterdam. Barry Hearn is right, what the courses need is more Security. I would describe the guys working the event in the video as Stewards rather than Security.
I worked as a door supervisor in my Uni days at the Student Union venues (even though I am 5 8″ and at the time was 9st dripping wet!) and when we had a large scale event we would employ a “Crash Team” of non-student security to help police the event. There would be 15-20 of these guys all experienced at working doors in pubs and clubs around Herts and North London. If there was any fighting that we couldn’t deal with (90% of it we could,) we would state our location on the walkie talkie and say “Crash, Crash, Crash.”
The team would make there way to the fracas and wade into the middle of it, anyone who raised a hand towards them would get a left hander (the weakest hand and less likely to do serious damage,) and within seconds the culprits would either have run away or been bodily ejected from the premises. The spectacle had 2 effects on the crowd. The few would be dissuaded from getting involved in any argy bargy and the majority would be reassured that any troublemakers would be dealt with swiftly.The racecourses need a mobile team of people like this, broad of shoulder and thick of neck to keep order at the biggest events, but kept in reserve for serious incidents, racing should be a genteel and relaxing pastime after all!
The plebs involved in the fighting on the video wouldn’t last 5 minutes against proper event staff like this. The fact that they were throwing and taking multiple punches to the head shows they couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag thankfully, they’d all watched too many Danny Dyer movies, had a couple of beers and got over excited.
The stewards on the day did a great job as they had managed to shepherd these people from the 4th floor of the stand to the exit which must have been like herding cats, but it took over 10 minutes thus exposing more people to the trouble. Beefier security would have prevented this. I hope that racing takes heed of Hearn’s advice.
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