JessicaJones

@LeftyThe completion date referred to the stadium.

According to the company's latest accounts (filed three months late last week) work is due to be completed by July 2021.

Hi @HGould We put forward a petition to the council that asked them to consider other uses for the stadium that don't involve animal exploitation and that would make the stadium financially viable. To support the petition, we sent a 35 page report to every councillor suggesting other uses that would secure the future of the track. I asked for support on here and got none from the speedway community. Three greyhound stadiums have closed in the last year. It's a dying industry. So the irony is that relying on dog racing is more likely to hasten the end of speedway tracks too. I made that point on here last year and, again, got no support. Our position could have been win-win. We could have put pressure on the council to end the greyhound racing and asked them to work with GI to develop the stadium for other uses and that would have helped the speedway team. In terms of making money to support the speedway, Gaming International lost money in its last set of accounts - available from 2018. They state in those accounts that their lenders are reluctant to lend the money for the new stadium and, if they can't secure that, their future as a going concern is at risk. They obviously aren't making money from spectators now and are getting income from streaming the races but, when you consider how much that is compared to the amount they would get for developing the land another way, I find it hard to believe that they would want to continue with a greyhound and speedway track. As their accounts for 2019 are now over a month late, they're not helping their credit rating either. I understand your position of wanting to keep your sport going. However, are you sure that other uses for speedway stadiums can't be found that don't result in the deaths of around 1,000 dogs per year and the injuries of nearly 5,000 (these are the industry's own figures)? Are you really so keen to keep your sport going at any cost that the deaths and injuries of dogs is just collateral damage? If it was used for bullfighting during the week instead to keep the speedway going would that be ok? I watched a video that was streamed on a Coral site the other day of a dog that was racing, crashed into the other dogs, and it broke a leg. It was screaming in pain. Not an eyelid batted by the presenter.

Yes - am aware of that. It's now being operating as serviced offices.

Meanwhile Clarke Osborne has had time to set up two other companies, one of which is registered at the Abbey Stadium and which is described as a software development company.

On the subject of a 'save our speedway' campaign, those of us who are against greyhound racing did ask a year ago for support with the petition that went to the council. This petition asked them to work with Gaming International to redevelop the stadium without the greyhound racing. The aim was to ensure the future of the speedway, which is important to the town, end the cruel greyhound racing, and to make the stadium financially viable. Three greyhound tracks closed in the last year and it doesn't make sense to rely on a declining industry to prop up the speedway. We didn't get any support from speedway fans and sadly, even though the petition got the required number of signatures to trigger a council debate, they declined to debate it. In other news, Gaming International, TokLon Ltd - the parent company, and Poole Stadium Ltd, all with Clarke Osborne as a director, are now over a month late in filing their accounts at Companies House for 2019. Companies were given an extra three months to file their accounts last year because of the pandemic. Originally they were due at the end of September and then the deadline was put back to the end of December. As of today, all three are late in filing. They will be fined for this, it is not a good look for a company, and it could affect their ability to get loans and credit. Having seen the stadium up close a few months ago, I was shocked at how decrepit the place is. It will need several million to be spend on it to make it half decent. Does anyone on this thread really think that Gaming International either want to do that or are going to be in position financially to do it?

For those who do want the speedway track to continue in Swindon, here is the link again for you to sign. I will bear in mind Orion’s points - thank you for the helpful information. http://ww5.swindon.gov.uk/moderngov/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?id=41&fbclid=IwAR0yPO6cQFN4Zr-TZRoqPxQv98_IjLO3XCkDR4HGXzDo30uAVQ-qFgZ6tHE

Thanks for the information.

Great.

Please read up about Gaming International. This is not a comment on speedway. We support it. Please stop putting words in my mouth. If you want to run speedway down, that’s up to you.

It would be sensible for the speedway fans to lobby the council on this too otherwise the speedway track will go the same way as the other greyhound/speedway tracks that Gaming International has owned. Many people on here know that that’s a possibility as there are many jokes on this thread about having good fire insurance etc. Milton Keynes, Reading & Bristol have all gone the same way.

PS Orion - Please stop putting words in my mouth about speedway!

Yes, Weasel, that’s true - I know. But sadly not at all tracks. I was at the track in Swindon on a very hot day last year when other tracks had cancelled meets and the RSPCA was advising people not to walk their dogs. Also, dogs have been raced in the storms recently with lashing rain and howling winds. Most dogs wouldn’t want to be walked in that weather let alone kept in kennels and then raced. Again, some tracks cancelled during the storms but some tracks went ahead. Orion - please spend some time researching Gaming International or read through this thread. A lot of the relevant information is already on here. Have a look at their latest accounts on Companies House and have a look at what happened to other stadiums they owned. Swindon will go the same way and will lose its speedway too unless other uses are found for the stadium. Read up about Torquay FC - also owned by Clarke Osborne.

I am sorry that you are not very good at googling!

If speedway fans think it’s an outdated industry that makes no economic sense, that’s their view! I’ve never said that’s mine.

No, we have been very clear that we support the speedway. You are (deliberately?) misinterpreting the petition wording.

Yes, last summer. Have a google. It’s all there.

No. Not sure why you have interpreted it that way.

Why do you like greyhound racing? I love seeing dogs run but when they choose to, not when they are forced to. They are also made to run in all weathers - in the very cold and in heatwaves when other dog owners are advised not to walk their dogs. It seems very cruel. There are too many ‘bad eggs’ in the industry. I have seen the most horrific cruelty and it’s systemic, not just one off individual cases. If anyone loves dogs, they would not support greyhound racing.

Yes.

Yes - plenty of ideas! But did you read my post properly? The track isn’t financially viable even with the greyhound racing. Have you seen Gaming International’s last set of accounts? The greyhound racing is loss making and the company has a paragraph in there about potentially not even being able to fund the stadium redevelopment. Remind you of what happened with other tracks that Gaming International has owned? It’s in the speedway’s interest to get the council to ensure that the company puts something in place that is going to make a profit. Why would you want the speedway track to be propped up by an industry that results in dogs being injured and killed each year anyway? I can’t understand why any speedway team would want to be associated with it and why they’re not all actively working to get a more ethical and financially viable business in place at tracks to support them.

Yes, we have and are. But even then, I wouldn’t support it as a form of entertainment. I don’t believe in using animals for entertainment. Taking away the green form won’t solve all the cruelty involved with greyhound racing.

Not sure how popular this petition is going to be on here but we are on the same side. We want the speedway to continue and don’t think Gaming International are going to redevelop the stadium. The council should be working with GI to ensure that the stadium is financially viable - which it currently isn’t. The speedway is being subsidised by the greyhound racing but the greyhound racing is loss making and it looks as though GI will not fulfil its promise to redevelop the stadium, which is good news if it ends the greyhound racing but bad news for the speedway. The council could be making a deal with the owners to let them build on the land nearby in exchange for a lump sum for the stadium. With GI’s history, it’s unlikely that they will ever live up to their part of the bargain. Please sign this petition to ask the council to ensure the speedway continues but without the cruelty of the greyhound racing and that a more financially viable use for the stadium is found. http://ww5.swindon.gov.uk/moderngov/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?id=41&fbclid=IwAR0rDHAMfiyYvesTN-grF1gtjcMELTFQOZ-2BUXgvARVba47bOJY89jNWNU

Has anyone at the Swindon speedway club approached Dr Laurie Marsh about a new stadium? He is a philanthropist who wanted to redevelop Swindon town centre but his plans were turned down by the council last September. He clearly wants to do something good for Swindon and, as speedway is important to the town, he may be interested in helping out with a new stadium for the club. It’s pretty clear by now that Clarke Osborne and his company have little interest in improving the stadium for the town and are unlikely to ever see their plans for it through.

And, as these are the “official” figures from the GBGB, they could be a lot higher. The GBGB only publishes them because they were forced to by a House of Commons select committee. David Smith, a builder’s merchant, shot around 10,000 greyhounds and only stopped because he was exposed in the national newspapers. The RTE documentary broadcast in June 2019 had some very disturbing footage of a greyhound being shot while the owner waited in the car for the collar to be returned. Greyhounds are now ending up in China where they are used for breeding and then sent off for the dog meat trade where they face horrific ends. The Irish Greyhound Board complained about the programme but the Irish broadcasting board dismissed their complaint. The case of Clive Elliott - the greyhound trainer in Swindon - who was found guilty in early January of neglecting eight greyhounds (three of which were found dead in the house and one died a week later) and his own mother - shows how some of these dogs are treated. https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/18147202.greyhound-stuffed-freezer-others-starved-swindon-dog-kennel/ The death or injury of any dog for entertainment purposes is surely unacceptable for anyone. The latest accounts of Gaming International show that the greyhound racing made a loss in 2018-19. How long before the company says it can’t afford to run the stadium anymore and decides to close it down? The speedway is great for Swindon and surely it would be better for the stadium owners to support it with other activities that have more of a future - it could be used as a conference centre, or for concerts or even be used as an athletics track. However, from what others have said, and from looking at the history and accounts of Gaming International, it seems they have no intention of redeveloping this or any other track anyway.