Elland Road Greyhound Stadium
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Elland Road Greyhound Stadium also known as Leeds Greyhound Stadium was a
greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...
stadium in
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
,
West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...
. The stadium is not to be confused with the football ground
Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...
or Fullerton Park.


Origins and opening

Elland Road football stadium was built in 1897 and thirty years later in 1927 two stadiums were constructed on its west side. The first Fullerton Park was built directly next door to the football stadium on the north side of Elland Road and the second Elland Road Greyhound Stadium was constructed opposite Fullerton Park on the south side of Elland Road. The stadium opened on Saturday 16 July 1927 and featured racing every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday evening with an additional Saturday matinee at 3.00pm. Races took place over 300, 500 and 750 yards on a circuit with a tight 400 yard circumference. Resident kennels within the stadium grounds numbered 120 and exercise grounds were situated adjacent to the stadium.


Pre Second World War history

A bitter battle took place during 1927 between the Leeds Greyhound Association Ltd (LGA) owners of the Elland Road track and the
Greyhound Racing Association The Greyhound Racing Association was a UK-based private company founded in 1925 and existed until 2019. It was involved in the management of sports venues, notably greyhound racing stadia. The GRA was responsible for introducing Greyhound racing ...
(GRA) owners of Fullerton Park which had opened just three months later. The LGA took the GRA to court for false advertising following the public claim by the GRA that they had sole rights of greyhounds chasing electric hares and this upset other companies because it implied that they were the only company allowed to race greyhounds. The GRA quickly realised that their greyhound stadium being so close to Elland Road stadium would not be able to monopolise trade in the city. This resulted in them closing Fullerton Park to greyhound racing and buying a stake in the LGA. The early 1930s brought about government legislation issues with the
totalisator A tote board (or totalisator/totalizator) is a numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track (to display the odds or payoffs for each horse) or at a telethon (to display the total amount donated to the char ...
; it would have to be closed down on more than one occasion following questions over the legality of using the system. Despite the issues the track maintained a very healthy business and even introduced professional baseball before the start of the war. Mark Barker the Racing Manager and a Director at
Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...
died in 1943 following illness and the racing was held sporadically during the duration of the war.


Post Second World War history

Following the war business boomed in 1946 with the tote turnover being £1,167,103. The profits enabled the company to upgrade the facilities and Harold Richards was brought in as Racing Manager in the early 1950s. Two competitions were inaugurated; the Ebor Stakes was introduced in 1951 followed by the Yorkshire Two Year Old Produce in 1958. In the early 1960s Totalisators and Greyhound Holdings (T.G.H) purchased the track and added it to their portfolio of existing tracks. Racing was held on Monday and Saturday evenings and the amenities included five buffet bars, five licensed bars and a restaurant. The hare was an 'Outside Sumner' hare and the resident trainers were Tommy Brown, Joe Kelly, Alf Eggleston and Ann Harrison. Successful Leeds greyhounds were Lisamote Precept trained by Joe Kelly who won the International, Lincoln and the 1968
Scottish Greyhound Derby The Scottish Greyhound Derby was an original classic greyhound competition held from 1928 to 2019, at Carntyne Stadium and then Shawfield Stadium. History The competition was introduced at Carntyne Stadium in 1928. It was held until 1968 at ...
, Brilane Clipper won the 1970 Scottish Derby. In 1971 Leeds won the annual Duke of Edinburgh Cup after defeating
Clapton Stadium The Clapton Stadium, also known as Millfields Road, was a football ground and greyhound racing stadium in the Lower Clapton area of London. History The stadium was originally named Whittles Athletic Ground and was mostly used for whippet rac ...
in the final. During the 1970s
Ladbrokes Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The Ladbrokes portion of the group was established in 1886, and Coral in 1926. In November 2016, th ...
acquired the Totalisators and Greyhound Holdings (T.G.H) group which included the tracks at Brough Park,
Crayford & Bexleyheath Stadium Crayford & Bexleyheath Stadium was a greyhound racing and motorcycle speedway stadium in the London Borough of Bexley. Origins and Opening In 1930 the Bexleyheath and District Motorcycle Club started making plans for a grass speedway track ...
,
Gosforth Gosforth is an area of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, situated north of the Newcastle City Centre, City Centre. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district of Northumberland from 1895 until 1974 before of ...
,
Willenhall Willenhall is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, Walsall district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, with a population taken at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census of 49,587. It is ...
and Monmore. The track kennels were demolished in 1979 forcing Tommy Brown and Jim Brennan to retire and Joe Kelly switched to
Owlerton Owlerton () is a suburb of the city of Sheffield, England, northwest of the city centre near the confluence of the River Don and River Loxley. Owlerton was a small rural village from the Early Middle Ages; it became part of Sheffield in the e ...
; they were replaced by contracted trainers Pete Beaumont, Jim Brown and Ray Andrews. Between 1973 and 1980 the stadium was the home ground of
Hunslet RLFC Hunslet R.L.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. They play home games at South Leeds Stadium and compete in Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club was formed as a Pho ...
, the original club's Parkside ground not being available to the new club.


Closure

Tim Hale and Derek Bowman replaced Racing Manager Harry Bridger on 1 January 1981 but would only oversee the action for one year because Ladbrokes closed the track. The last meeting was held on 15 March 1982 with the last winner being Mike Supreme. In 2014 the new Leeds District Police HQ opened on the site of the stadium.


Competitions

*Yorkshire Puppy Derby


Ebor Stakes

The Ebor Stakes was a competition held from 1951 until the stadium closed. *1951-1968 (500 yards), 1956-1958 (not held), 1970-1974 (650 yards), 1975-1976 (600 metres), 1977-1981 (650 metres), 1982-1982 (held at Owlerton)


Yorkshire Two-Year Old Produce Stakes

(1958-1969 500 yards)


Track records


References

{{Hunslet R.L.F.C. Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Sports venues in Leeds Defunct sports venues in West Yorkshire