Diamond Stadium was a

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

stadium situated in

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It was also known as the Brockville Greyhound Stadium and Falkirk Diamond Stadium and is not to be confused with the nearby

Brockville Park Brockville Park was a football stadium located on Hope Street in Falkirk, Scotland, north-west of the town centre. It was the home of Falkirk F.C. from 1885 until the end of 2002–03 Scottish football season.

Origins

The stadium became the third venue in Falkirk to introduce greyhound racing following

Firs Park Firs Park was a football stadium in Falkirk, Scotland, which was the home of East Stirlingshire F.C. between 1921 and 2008. It was located on Firs Street, 0.3 miles north-east of the town centre. At the time of closing the ground had a capacity ...

and

. The site chosen in 1932 for the newly purpose built track was on the old Springfield Iron Foundry. Falkirk at the time was immersed in iron works with a significant percentage of the population employed in the industry. The name Diamond Stadium was derived from the former Springfield Iron foundry that was locally known as the Diamond Foundry.

Opening

Four thousand people attended the opening night on 19 August 1932 with the first winner being Willie C who won a Kennel sweepstake competition. In a match race on the same night the

White City Stadium, Glasgow White City Stadium was a greyhound racing and speedway track in Glasgow, Scotland. Greyhound racing Origins The stadium was built on Paisley Road West in Glasgow close to Ibrox Stadium, which was situated to the north-east and even closer to t ...

champion and

Scottish Greyhound Derby The Scottish Greyhound Derby was an original classic greyhound competition held at Shawfield Stadium. Held at Carntyne Stadium from 1928 to 1968, after the closure of Carntyne the race appeared at Shawfield from 1970 until 1985. In 1988 the Gre ...

winner Laverock defeated the

Carntyne Stadium Carntyne Stadium was a multi-sports stadium situated in the Carntyne area of Glasgow, Scotland, used mainly for greyhound racing and speedway. Origins and opening The Carntyne Greyhound Racecourse was situated between the Parkhead and Carntyne ...

champion Man Friday by nineteen lengths. The Diamond Stadium management initially declared their intentions to be independent and race on Saturday afternoons in an attempt to damage the football match day crowds of the other two rival tracks but they soon joined the

National Greyhound Racing Club The National Greyhound Racing Club was an organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom. History The National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) was formed in 1928 and this body would be responsible for regulation, licensing and the r ...

(NGRC) and began a regular race schedule. The competition between the tracks was fierce and it made the Scottish national papers who labelled it as a war. Firs Park reverted to football only in 1933 and Brockville Park followed suit in 1935.

History

The track had long straights and tight bends with distances of 250, 450, 580 & 800 yards around a 320-yard circumference. The stadium was owned by the Brockville Greyhound Racecourse Ltd with racing taking place on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday evenings. The main stand, kennels and paddock were all adjacent to the same Stirlingshire Midland Junction railway that ran below the Brockville Park football ground. The stadium lost its NGRC licence on 22 October 1937 but experienced a totalisator turnover high in 1946 of £218,962; a large sum for an independent track. The Falkirk council acquired the stadium for £31,000 at the beginning of 1972 following the exit of the previous track owner Mr George Jack. They in turn leased it initially to John O'Donnell and then for a number of years to Falkirk businessman William Barr. William Barr invested much needed funds turning it into a family affair and by 1980 all races were handicaps on an all-sand surface over distances of 215, 535, 730 & 900 yards. There were ten bookmakers and racing took place on Tuesday and Friday nights at 7.30pm. Trials were held on a Sunday.

Closure

The track closed in July 1988 and was redeveloped into the Central Retail Park.

Track records

References

{{Scottish greyhound tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Greyhound racing in Scotland Sports venues in Falkirk (council area)