Dillington Park 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 on Highstone Road in
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...
,
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham.
In N ...
.
Origins
The stadium was constructed north of Highstone Road, south of Bank Street and east of Bedford Street. Dillington Park was originally a park and then a recreation ground named after the area known as Dillington in
Worsbrough Common.
Opening
The official opening date for greyhound racing was on 25 May 1934 but it was originally a popular venue for
whippet
The Whippet is a dog breed of medium size. It is a sighthound breed that originated in England, descended from the Greyhound. Whippets today still strongly resemble a smaller Greyhound. Part of the hound group, Whippets have relatively few ...
racing four times per week and was also used for significant boxing bouts. A second track in Barnsley, the Dearne Athletic and Sports Stadium in Old Mill Lane, also hosted greyhound racing from 1934-1935 but a third venue at the
Queen's Ground was refused a betting licence three times by the Corporation.
History
The whippet racing gradually disappeared and was replaced entirely by the greyhound racing. The racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body 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 ...
) and it was known as a flapping track which was the nickname given to independent tracks.
The stadium offered basic facilities with a fully licensed bar (serving Barnsley bitter), lounge area and snack bar in the main stand with panoramic views of the racing. The track was all-grass, 330 yards in circumference and used an 'Inside Sumner' hare system with race distances of 400, 500, 650 and 800 yards. All races were handicap races and there were eight on course bookmakers.
[
By the 1980s the owners were Terrence and Marjorie Green and racing took place on Wednesday and Friday evenings at 7.30pm. The track was now all-sand and had kennels for 48 greyhounds on site.]
Closure
In May 1990 a fire forced the closure of the stadium.
References
{{English greyhound tracks
Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom