Upset greyhound clubs vote no confidence in NZ body

Disenchantment at the manner in which their sport is being run has led to the Wairarapa Greyhound Racing Club being one of three signatories to a memorandum asking for their national body to call a special general meeting at which a vote of no confidence in Greyhounds New Zealand will be tabled.
In an unprecedented move the Wairarapa, Welllington and Ashburton clubs have signed the four-part memorandum, part two of which asks that the three regional representatives and the three independent members currently serving as board members be removed from office immediately "by way of a vote of no confidence from all the affiliated clubs of the New Zealand Greyhound Association"
The memorandum will be debated at a special general meeting called by the national body at a date still to be confirmed, and the no confidence vote will be passed if it receives the support of seven of the 12 greyhound racing clubs operating in this country.
Wairarapa president Gary Caffell said the stage had been reached where the grassroots of greyhound racing-trainers, owners and breeders were "gravely concerned" at where their sport was heading, and starting afresh with a new board was seen as the best hope of getting it back on track.
Caffell said a no confidence vote in the national board had received unanimous support at the Wairarapa club's annual meeting some weeks ago despite the fact that the Wairarapa club itself had just completed five very successful TAB meetings and were in a sound financial state.
"We have probably achieved as much, if not more, than any other club in the country over the past 12 months or so, but our members looked at the direction in which the sport as a whole was heading, and obviously didn't like what they saw," he said.
Caffell said his club committee had taken the opinion of their members on board but had held off promoting a no confidence until now in the hope that the association would be coerced into making moves to right some of the more pressing issues facing their code but that had not happened.
"We fully understand the implications of a no confidence vote?they are huge and anything but a good advertisement for our sport," he said.
"But, quite honestly, we don't see any other way that the views of the ordinary licensed person are going to be heard.
"The board and their officers just don't seem to want to know so unfortunately we have been forced to ask clubs to vote on whether they should stay or go."
Caffell cited a number of issues which needed to be addressed if greyhound racing was to prosper.
They included the implications of the current funding structure and dates process, stipendary control, the closure of the Hutt Park track, and the lack of input of licensed persons in the decision making process.
And then there was the make-up of the national board itself with the number of independant members, who often had no hands on knowledge of the sport and therefore struggled to come to grips with the practicalities of it, basically matching that of licensed persons.
"We really do need to start again, to elect a board which has a passion for our sport and which is prepared to listen to what the participants want," Caffell said.
"Obviously there will be times when unpopular decisions have to be made but if the board are transparent in what they are doing then licensed persons will at least understand their motives.
"Right now we don't have that transparency and we don't have that understanding??.and we won't until a new board is elected."