Stanley Greyhound Stadium, also known as Murray Park 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

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

Origins

In the northerly part of County Durham stands the former colliery town of Stanley and the Murray Park Stadium was built on the site of a football pitch on the east side of Ridley Street, Church Street and Joicey Square. The track would later be known as Stanley Greyhound Stadium and could be accessed from its south side off the Chester Road or High Street. The track ran as an independent (unaffiliated to a governing body) at this stage and had no connection with either the British Greyhound Tracks Control Society (BGTCS) or the larger rival

National Greyhound Racing Club The National Greyhound Racing Club was an organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom Greyhound racing is a sport in the United Kingdom. The industry uses a parimutuel betting tote system with on-course and off-course be ...

(NGRCS).

Origins and Opening

Greyhound racing started on Thursday 26 August 1937 when five thousand people witnessed the first ever meeting with the first past the post being a greyhound called Beatrice May who stopped the clock at 18.30secs for 305 yards. It was described as having a small circumference of 367 yards resulting in race distances of 275, 450 and 635 yards of which most were

handicap races A handicap race in horse racing is a race in which each horse is assigned a specific weight to carry, determined by its past performance and perceived ability. Stronger horses carry more weight, while less accomplished ones carry less. This syst ...

History

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 ...

turnover was significant for an independent track and towards the end of the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

only

Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...

in the county returned better figures than the 1947 figure of £750,765 posted by Stanley. The promotion of Arthur Seymour and his wife Lily resulted in the track racing under NGRC rules towards the end of the decade, in the 1949 listings the track raced every Monday and Saturday at 7.00pm. The NGRC affiliation only lasted five years because during 1954 the decision was made to revert to independent status due to the fact that the NGRC refused to allow Stanley to race under a C-Licence. This type of licence was available to trainers who owned and trained a small kennel and if the tracks operated under what was termed the 'combine' they could allow C-Licence trainers race nights. Only

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

and

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...

remained in the combine following the withdrawal of Stanley. On Saturday 2 October 1954 the track re-opened to independent racing with the press reporting a packed house and it remained as a 'flapper' (nickname for unaffiliated tracks) afterwards. Throughout the 1960s racing took place on Thursday and Saturday nights at 7.15pm over distances of 277, 460 and 637 yards behind an 'Inside Sumner' hare system. The main races hosted at the track were the Sprint Classic, Stanley Derby and Stanley St Leger.

Closure

Stanley survived until 29 October 1994 when sold for housing.

References

{{English greyhound tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Sports venues in County Durham