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Clive, at the end of the day there’s no escape…. It’s just Iv’e had a better experience at Lord’s. Some bad ones at the Oval. Essex supporters threatening some Surrey players at the presentation ceremony some years ago. Nice.
A lot of posters will pull faces at this, but its always struck me as being a bit worse in the north than the south. There is far more of a boozingforthe hellofit culture up there and also thsi strange desire to get legless during the day (which i can never understand). Seen it bad at Donny, York and Ripon
quote]I was about to say the opposite!: though there are always rowdy-ish gangs of men and women at York who are obviously only there for the drinking, they’re mainly non-threatening, not that much louder than regular racegoers (like me) and easy to ignore. I’ve certainly never seen a fight, which is remarkable when you consider that lots of people are losing money while drinking heavily, in the midst of a frenzied crowd and often in uncomfortably hot weather.
But if this coming Friday it’s got worse, and it’s like these nightmare scenarios that have been described here, I would think it’s a bit pathetic to let them drive me away – maybe I can just tolerate it better, because when I go to any public place I’m willing to accept that there maybe people there who I wouldn’t choose to hang around with in my private life.
But if this coming Friday it’s got worse
…which is likelier now that the meeting no longer finishes on Thursday.
Agreed that wanton violence – other than the verbal threat – is rare, but it’s the boorish, loud-mouthed behaviour and reek of aggressive testosterone that’s unpleasant
Mind you that applies to weekends wherever certain young men (and increasingly certain young women) gather and alcohol flows
If you’re gonna get smashed do it with panache
Many meetings have been heading hell for leather down this path for years now – attend such events at your peril.
Watching Chester this last week on C4 just seemed to highlight the crass, uncomfortable nature of many major meetings, the course crammed to bursting point, with the inner seemingly choc-a-bloc with corporate hopsitality. What made it worse for me was the TV presenters pandering to, for example, the airheads who’ve nothing better to do with their time than flaunt acres of fake tan and gob off about some lovely boutique in Wilmslow.
Once saw a fight in Newbury tatts, between a small fat bloke with belly showing, and a tall "person" in a fancy dress. It was exactly that, do asure you, I suppose it was another bloke. It was wearing a long flowing dress with hob nail boots. The only thing these two had in comman was a pint of yellow liquid.
Newbury were quite good at preventing drink from being consumed in the stands, for safety reasons. But when the days sponser is a drinks firm, this rule seems not to prevail. Wonder why? Are racegoers not entitled to be safe on such days?
Where as Newbury do not normally allow even plastic "pints" in the stands, Goodwood seem to actively encourage it, with real glass. The place I stand for the Glorious meeting is around 20 metres from the Members Bar door. Members bring their drinks out on to the Grandstand, and every ten minutes or so comes the sound of breaking glass. Children use the walkways as a race track. It is only a matter of time before serious injury occurs.
Value Is EverythingI was about to say the opposite!: though there are always rowdy-ish gangs of men and women at York who are obviously only there for the drinking, they’re mainly non-threatening, not that much louder than regular racegoers (like me) and easy to ignore. I’ve certainly never seen a fight, which is remarkable when you consider that lots of people are losing money while drinking heavily, in the midst of a frenzied crowd and often in uncomfortably hot weather.
Why is it so remarkable to expect people to behave in a civilised manner whatever the circumstances? This is exactly the problem of becoming too tolerant – it is okay as long as it doesn’t affect me – the I am all right Jack society. If people did stay away and left it to you and the yobs someone might actually try and enforce a few standards of behaviour.
Sadly have to echo much of the above. I used to really enjoy going to Haydock and Chester but, the May meeting aside, I will not set foot on either track again in the summer.
It’s not so bad at Aintree because the course is so big and there are lots of places to avoid the aletanks.
Having had the "pleasure" of living in Cambridge for three years I would have to say that the world’s worst racetrack for this kind of behaviour is Newmarket.
I still remember the huge ruck on the day they opened the new grandstand – and the residue of cocaine in the toilets. It looked like the Bullingham Club had been in. Sadly, Newbury isn’t much better on a summer Saturday either.
Would also echo the comment about Ireland. I was shocked at the Punchestown Festival to find very modest queues at the main bars and a properly poured pint of Guinness on offer. Aside from the old boys struggling with the no-smoking rule, there wasn’t a semblance of trouble or the feeling of being stranded in a drinking competition.
Is it like this at The Curragh in the summer too?In tatts at Newbury the Gents toilets are filthy, horrible stench, and the only way to get out of one cubicle is to force the door open at the top. If a child was in there alone, he’d have a hard job (as apposed to a soft one) getting the door open. Sorry for my juvenile soh.
Ginge
Value Is EverythingThere have been similar threads in the past to this and whilst, sadly, the behaviour described is all too common what is the answer?
There are many people, I’m sure, who won’t attend a meeting at our premier racecourses again due to the obnoxious antics on display. However, their numbers are likely to be outweighed by the morons that the racecourse executives and their marketeers seem happy to attract, profits burgeoning from the excessive consumption of over-priced booze, soaked up by equally expensive food.
Will any course make a stand against the drink and drug fuelled oafs? Don’t hold your breath.
Not that it would have any effect but perhaps this thread should be forwarded to the Race Course Association.
Colin
London course wise i have done Newbury,Sandown and Windsor and have not noticed any sign of trouble at any of the venues which made it a pleasure to be their.
Haydock,York,Chester,Doncaster and Newmarket are definatley places where walking around with plastic glasses of booze are encouraged and having mobile lager vendors is also a bad sign.
I would encourage a quiet midweek day at Wolves as the crowd is small and racing is in a much more relaxed atmosphere.
Haydock have their first Ladies night in 2 weeks but however the women who attend are most certainly not ladies more drunked bints.
Not that it would have any effect but perhaps this thread should be forwarded to the Race Course Association.
Colin[/quote
I would second that.
In 2007 and 2006 I took both my Grand-daughters to the 2000 guines meeting.. The scene that took place in 2006 was well documented and not what you want any youngsters to see. Or many adults for that matter. I have been attending race meetings since my informative years in the late 60’s and over the last 5 or so years it has become progressively worse. There is certainly an underlying threat of violence, and it’s not rocket science to know that copious amounts of alcohol fuel this. How this can be overcome without a complete drinking ban I do not know. But it needs to be addressed and quickly.
Regards,
Llanrumneyboy
I think racegoers should be allowed to do whatever they like, to enjoy themselves.
Unless, what they do interferes with the enjoyment of others.
I do wonder whether the knifeing / killing of people who dare complain about drunken behavior has stopped others from complaining.
Value Is EverythingInteresting observation is that (unlike in real life perhaps) the more suits that are worn at a meeting…the more obnoxious it is…
And dont some blokes make it obvious that their only other appearances in this garb are in the local magistrates ?
and dont they always have laughably gelled hair and cheap ties not quite knotted up ?
and doint they always stand around in a circle in just about everyones way?
Laughing at jokes that are even less funny that Vic Reeves
The only answer is to limit the amount of drink sold at the racecourse by closing the bars at certain times and having a limit on how many pints each person can buy – to stop someone buying 50 pints etc.
Another possible answer is to only allow drinking inside the bars and not in any outdoor areas – that would at least limit things slightly.
But it would mean the stag trips etc wouldn’t turn up so profits would go down so it’s about as likely as Haydock bringing the drop fences back. And it wouldn’t stop people having 15 cans of Stella on the coach on the way.
I couldn’t believe it when I saw the lager vending machines and mobile lager tanks at Haydock a couple of years ago.
There really is nothing wrong with having a few drinks on a day out, nothing at all. It’s just that people are absolutely plastered by 2pm – there are lots of pubs that would throw people out who were that drunk. But I suppose drunks tend to bet big and lose which also helps.
So the idea that racing is a family day out is a nonsense – you don’t take your kids to a place where there are gangs of drunk people staggering around.
That’s why there won’t be a next generation of people who love racing. It’s something that racegoers will always complain about and day-trippers won’t notice.
And don’t start me on stewards at the bigger tracks – these are people who think nothing of ejecting someone for not having the right type of jacket on – but who stand idly by as people get more and more drunk.
So the idea that racing is a family day out is a nonsense – you don’t take your kids to a place where there are gangs of drunk people staggering around.
That’s why there won’t be a next generation of people who love racing. It’s something that racegoers will always complain about and day-trippers won’t notice.
And don’t start me on stewards at the bigger tracks – these are people who think nothing of ejecting someone for not having the right type of jacket on – but who stand idly by as people get more and more drunk.
And that would be a very sad day when the perpetrators of non-social behaviour rule the roost. I wish to introduce my grand kids to the pleasure of the turf. And why shouldn`t I or anyone else be alowed to do so?
Also, with regards to the Stweards, the last time I visited Worcester with a mate, we were treated like a couple of Al-queda terrorists because we had the affrontery to have a pack of sarnies on our person. We were swifly told to leave the course until the offending items had been wolfed down. Of course, it would be OK to go in and get hammered and make a tw@t of ourselves. Needless to say Worcester is now off my schedule. Shame really.
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