History
Resulting from a Royal Commission in 1932, the introduction of non-proprietary Greyhound Racing in Australia commenced. Non-proprietary meaning that Greyhound Racing could only be conducted by clubs or Associations with voting members and not by individuals or private companies.
In 1936 a group of enthusiasts associated with Greyhound Racing formed a body of owners and trainers to gain some form of financial assistance to ensure the existence of Greyhound Racing and from this small beginning the NSW Greyhound Breeders, Owners & Trainers' Association Limited was formed.
The Association was incorporated as a Company on July 31, 1939. The then Secretary was to select and engage an organiser to move among owners, trainers and breeders and join them together as a united body with the instruction to form branches and district associations to enable the Association to serve the whole of the State of NSW. It does this today with seven districts and thirty branches, with some 1,200 members actively involved in the Greyhound Racing Industry.
In 1939 the first Memorandum and Articles of Association were drawn up and registered. The aims and objectives of the Association were set out and there have been few changes since that time. Pages 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the current Articles outline these objectives.
Ten Directors are elected by the members themselves by way of a postal ballot. These ten Directors manage the Association’s affairs and finances. Districts the Directors represent are: Metropolitan (3 Directors), Newcastle and Hunter River (2 Directors), the other Districts having one Director each and are: South Coast and Southern Tablelands, Northern Rivers, Western, North and North Western and Riverina.
In 1948 the Association petitioned the Government to allow the Association to hold the licence for Greyhound Racing at Harold Park and following the introduction of night trotting, the then current licence holder, The NSW Trotting Club (as it was then known) relinquished the licence to the Association and the two bodies, until September 1987, conducted their own sport at Harold Park. The success of the Association’s operations at Harold Park is well documented and until Greyhound Racing ceased there in 1987, the track was considered the premier track in Australia.
In 1959 the Association purchased land and a factory at North Rocks in NSW where it designed and built greyhound race and trial track equipment for the Australian and overseas market.
The factory proved a worthy asset as it did much to ensure the continuation of Greyhound Racing. In the 1960’s many trial tracks were closing down as the land on which they were built was becoming much sought after by developers for housing. The Association realising the danger to Greyhound Racing if trial track facilities were not available to owners and trainers, encouraged new proprietors to secure land and offered the services of its factory to advise and supply equipment at a minimal cost. The factory was eventually sold in the late seventies.
From that small beginning in 1936, the Association currently owns the land and holds licences to race at Temora (1953), Lismore (1954), Appin (1967), Bathurst (2003) and Gunnedah (2003). It also owns the land on which the Muswellbrook Club is situated.
The Association also holds the licence to race at Wentworth Park, Bulli, Gosford and Maitland.
In 1992, the Association purchased a property at Lidcombe which it had rebuilt and re-furbished for the Registered Offices of the Association.
In 2010 the Association moved to the 2nd Floor of the Wentworth Park Grandstand and that location is now the Association's Registered Office. The Lidcombe property is currently being rented.
Below is an honour roll of Association Chairmen & Executive Officers: