Northumberland County Ground or the Gosforth Greyhound Stadium was a rugby stadium and
greyhound racing stadium in
Gosforth
Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 2001, it had a populati ...
,
Tyne And Wear
Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newc ...
.
Origins
The urban district of
Gosforth
Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 2001, it had a populati ...
hosted greyhound racing from 1932 following the revamping of the existing County Athletic Ground. The athletic ground had been in use since 1900 as the Gosforth Cycling Grounds but when greyhound racing plans were passed it underwent major re-construction. The
Northumberland Rugby Football Union
The Northumberland Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in the historic county of Northumberland, England and one of the constituent bodies of the national Rugby Football Union having been formed in 1880. In addition, the county has ...
took out a 15-year lease on the Gosforth Cycling Tracks at a cost of £80 per annum in 1912 (the County finally purchased the ground in 1923).It was situated south of Harewood Road and north of Hollywood Avenue but could be accessed from the Great North Road or Hollywood Avenue, and at the time had a fraction of the housing that exists in the area today.
Opening
The opening night for greyhound racing was on 21 May 1932 thus becoming the third major track in
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
area at the time. It was licensed at different times by both 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 ...
(NGRC) and the short lived British Greyhound Tracks Control Society (BGTCS). The circumference of the track was 456 yards with initial distances of 420 and 520 yards.
Covered stands surrounded the entire track culminating with two major stands on the home and back straights. The north stand on the back straight included a club enclosure downstairs. The Sports Club was situated between the third and fourth bends and the Stadium Club could be found on the opposite side of the track. A large paddock and resident kennels were set back behind the Stadium Club with further isolation kennels and paddocks not far from the second bend area. The racing kennels were near the first bend next to the Northumberland Rugby Union Pavilion, the latter served as the dressing rooms and offices for the
Northumberland RFU that used the centre green as their pitch.
Gosforth RFC played home games at the stadium before moving to their own ground at North Road in 1955.
History
The Gosforth Stadium Greyhound Racing Company Ltd established the track being just behind
Brough Park in terms of
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 chari ...
turnover and attendances.
Following the closure of
White City Stadium in Newcastle in 1951 the Racing Manager Mr Greggs joined Gosforth before Mr Martin became Racing Manager succeeded by Mr Slater in 1959. Just like White City the majority of the greyhounds were owned by the company and trained by the resident trainers resulting in very little open race action. Racing took place on Monday and Friday evenings at 7.30pm on a peat surface with an 'Inside Sumner' hare system.
In 1959 a grader called Wine Steward (a June 1950 whelp) was retired after competing in 508 races and 118 wins.
During the 1960s the track was acquired by the Totalisators and Greyhound Holdings (T.G.H) who were actively purchasing tracks at the time to increase their portfolio. In 1966 rival track
Gateshead closed and in 1974 TGH was bought out by
Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company founded in 1886. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations are c ...
who persuaded Arthur Aldridge to leave 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) and take over as racing director.
[ In 1977 a graded greyhound called Gorton Road won her 100th race. One year later in 1978, Paul Richardson took over as Racing Manager at Brough Park and Gosforth.][
]
Rugby
Rugby arrived on the ground in 1912. The Northumberland Rugby Football Union
The Northumberland Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in the historic county of Northumberland, England and one of the constituent bodies of the national Rugby Football Union having been formed in 1880. In addition, the county has ...
had taken a 15-year lease on the Gosforth Cycling Tracks at a cost of £80 per annum in 1912 (the County finally purchased the ground in 1923).Two clubs also played there; Northern FC until 1937, and Gosforth (Newcastle Falcons), until 1955. A brick rugby clubhouse was built in the 1930s to replace an earlier wooden structure at the South West side of the stadium.
Closure
Ladbrokes began to sell off the tracks in their portfolio and with the sale of Brough Park in 1983 the new promoters of Brough Park stopped their trainers from supplying runners to Gosforth, leaving the track under pressure for a supply of runners. The track's promoter Jim Glass made the decision in 1985 to leave the NGRC and race independently blaming NGRC costs as the reason. It was the beginning of the end for Gosforth before the stadium was finally sold for re-development in 1987. The last meeting was held on 7 August 1987 and today the site is occupied by an Asda
Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of Yorks ...
superstore.
Track records
References
{{English greyhound tracks
Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom
Sport in Tyne and Wear
1932 establishments in England
1987 disestablishments in England
Defunct rugby union venues in England
Rugby union in Northumberland
Sports venues completed in 1932
Sports venues demolished in 1987
Demolished sports venues in the United Kingdom