Davies tells centenary audience of responsibility for the future
GBGB chairman Sir Philip Davies told the audience at Dunstall Park's celebration of the centenary of greyhound racing that they now have a responsibility "not simply to protect what we've inherited, but to leave it stronger than we found it."
Davies was the key speaker before a special meeting mirroring that held at Belle Vue exactly a century earlier on 24th July 1926.
Davies said: "Thank you for joining us on what is, without question, one of the most important evenings in the history of British greyhound racing.
One hundred years.
When you say those words out loud, they carry a certain weight.
A century ago today, on a summer's evening in Manchester, people gathered at Belle Vue for something entirely new.
No one knew what the future held.
No one knew whether it would last a year, a decade, or longer.
But they knew excitement when they saw it.
They knew excellence when it flashed past them.
And they knew they had witnessed the beginning of something rather special.
I wonder what those first spectators would make of tonight.
I think they'd recognise more than we'd imagine.
The anticipation before the traps open.
The roar of the crowd.
The conversations afterwards, when everyone is absolutely convinced they knew what was going to happen all along.
Some things, thankfully, never change.
Now, anniversaries have a habit of making us look backwards.
Tonight, we certainly should.
Because a hundred years is not built by one generation.
It is built by thousands.
Thousands of owners who took a chance on a young dog.
Thousands of trainers whose alarm clocks have rung before sunrise more times than they care to remember.
Thousands of kennel staff who have devoted their lives to the care of these remarkable animals.
Officials.
Veterinarians.
Track staff.
Volunteers.
Families whose names have become woven into the very fabric of our sport.
They didn't ask to be remembered.
They simply loved what they did.
And because they did, we are here tonight.
I think that's worth celebrating.
You know, people sometimes ask me what makes greyhound racing different.
They expect me to talk about speed.
And yes, watching a greyhound run at full stretch is one of the most incredible sights in British sport.
Grace.
Power.
Athleticism.
It lasts only seconds, but somehow it leaves a lasting impression.
But I don't believe speed is the secret of this sport.
I believe the secret has always been its heart.
Because wherever greyhound racing has flourished, communities have flourished with it.
Friendships have been formed.
Families have found a shared passion.
Young people have discovered a vocation.
Spectators have become lifelong friends.
And, of course, the dogs.
The stars of every generation.
Magnificent competitors.
Gentle companions.
If you've never owned a greyhound, let me reassure you - they spend twenty-eight seconds convincing you they're the fastest creatures on Earth...
...and the rest of the day convincing you they're the laziest.
Now, if there is one lesson that history teaches us, it is this.
Nothing worth preserving stands still.
For a hundred years, our sport has evolved.
It has learned.
It has improved.
It has challenged itself to be better.
That is our strength.
Because excellence is never achieved by believing you've finished.
It is achieved by believing tomorrow can always be better than today.
That spirit has carried British greyhound racing through a century of change.
And it will carry us through the next.
Tonight, though, I don't want us to dwell on the challenges.
Every generation has had them.
The people who stood at Belle Vue in 1926 could scarcely have imagined the Great Depression.
Or a world at war.
Or the extraordinary changes that Britain would experience over the next hundred years.
Yet through it all, this sport endured.
Not because it was easy.
But because people believed it mattered.
And they kept showing up.
That is a lesson far bigger than greyhound racing.
It reminds us that traditions do not survive by accident.
They survive because each generation chooses to carry them forward.
And now that responsibility belongs to us.
Not simply to protect what we've inherited.
But to leave it stronger than we found it.
So that one hundred years from now, another Chairman can stand before another audience...
...perhaps in ways none of us can yet imagine...
...and tell the story of the people gathered here tonight.
The people who believed the next chapter was every bit as important as the first.
What a privilege that is.
Before I finish, I'd like to ask you to think of the people who introduced you to greyhound racing.
Perhaps it was a parent.
A grandparent like mine.
A friend.
A colleague.
Someone who said, "Come along - you’ll enjoy this."
Most of us are here because someone opened the door for us.
Perhaps our task, over the next hundred years, is simply to do the same for someone else.
To introduce another family.
Another young trainer.
Another owner.
Another supporter.
To make sure that the story which began in Manchester in 1926 continues to inspire long after we're gone."
Jonathan Kay