Willenhall Greyhound Stadium
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Willenhall Greyhound 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 and formerly a
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
ground known as Spring Bank Stadium situated in
Willenhall Willenhall is a market town situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands, England, with a population taken at the 2011 census of 28,480. It is situated between Wolverhampton and Walsall, historically in the county of St ...
,
West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
, England.


Origins

The area of Spring Bank in the West Midlands town of Willenhall was heavily populated even before the football ground was built. The stadium opened in 1905 and was located on the south side of Victoria Street and the west side of St Annes Road and north of the relatively new Temple Road and its housing. By the time Willenhall FC went into liquidation in 1930 there were plans for more housing and the Spring Bank Stadium saw extensive changes in 1932 with not only the conversion into a greyhound track taking place but housing being added along Victoria Street and a new road called Latimer Street added on the west side of the stadium.


History

The ground became the Willenhall Greyhound Stadium and it was squeezed between housing on all four sides. The new track had been subject to protests in particular from the Willenhall Sunday School Union in March 1932 who felt that the welfare of the people of the town was at risk. Nevertheless, the opening night was set for Saturday 26 March 1932 and went ahead with bookmaker-farmer Tom Webster running the venture as a flapper (a track without regulation). The original distances of 440 and 550 yards changed to 420 and 590 yards when the lease was taken over by Truemans's Brewery. The circuit was a small 340 yards in circumference and was described as a small sharp track most suitable for small, handy sized type of greyhound. Affiliation to the British Greyhound Tracks Control Society (BGTCS) was recorded before 1935. The Midland Greyhound Racing Co Ltd stepped in to take ownership of the track choosing to be affiliated with 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) from August 1935. John Wilson was Racing Manager before becoming General Manager in 1938 being replaced by George Turnpenny. The Midland Greyhound Racing Co Ltd also owned
Monmore Green Stadium Monmore Green Stadium is a greyhound racing and speedway stadium located in Wolverhampton. The stadium has private suites, a restaurant and a number of bars. The venue is owned and operated by the Ladbrokes Coral group. Speedway Motorcycle sp ...
which housed the greyhounds attached to Willenhall. The 'Outside Sumner' hare system was added in 1938 with distances becoming 400 and 565 yards. Willenhall suffered considerable disruption during the war and remained closed from 1943 to 1945 before the stadium re-opened in June 1946 before a crowd of 3,500, sixty bookmakers and having the benefit of the industry's peak spending period. Peter Cartwright replaced Turnpenny who moved to the
Derby Greyhound Stadium Derby Greyhound Stadium or Derby Stadium was a greyhound racing venue in Derby, England. Origins A full century before turning into a greyhound stadium the site was used as the county gaol and called the Vernon Street Prison. It was a six-acre ...
. Cartwright introduced the Midland Two Year Old Produce Stakes and Midland Sprint Championship in the 1950s before leaving to take up a position with the NGRC and Bob Harwood replaced him as Racing Manager. Following a devastating grandstand fire at sister track Monmore in 1963 the prestigious Midland Puppy Derby was held at Willenhall for the first and only time. Racing was held on Monday and Friday nights throughout the sixties at 7.30pm and an annual stayers event was inaugurated known as the Willenhall Stayers Stakes. Totalisators and Greyhound Holdings (TGH) purchased Willenhall and Monmore from the Midland Greyhound Racing Co Ltd in 1970 to add to the existing tracks of Crayford & Bexleyheath,
Gosforth Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of New ...
,
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
and Brough Park that they already owned. Four years in 1974
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 ...
bought out TGH and added another racetrack
Perry Barr Perry Barr is a suburban area in north Birmingham, England. It is also the name of a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. Birmingham Perry Barr is also a parliamentary constituency; its Member of Parliament is Khalid Ma ...
. A major boost for the track arrived in 1978 when Racing Manager Norman Russell was able to fulfill the gap in the Bookmakers Afternoon greyhound Service (BAGS) fixtures left by the demise of the Watford greyhound track at Vicarage Road.


Closure

In 1980 Ladbrokes agreed the sale of the site and the last meeting took place on Monday 31 March 1980.


Track records


References

{{English greyhound tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Defunct football venues in England