2020 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year

rdf:langString 2020 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year

rdf:langString The 2020 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year is the 95th year of greyhound racing in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The year was best known for the major disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 English Greyhound Derby was postponed and the Arena Racing Company tracks announced a behind closed doors policy from 24 March. ARC's rivals SIS took advantage of the horse racing cancellations by increasing its own schedule by an extra 54 races per week to 532 in total. Henlow increased to eight meetings per week. Racing in Ireland was seriously affected with the industry banning the public from attending meetings. The Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) enforced the ban from Thursday 12 March, with racing continuing with a behind closed doors policy. The situation worsened and following increased government restrictions all betting shops were closed from March and the open race calendar was suspended, meaning that only graded racing would take place until further notice. Following further announcements by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 23 March racing in the UK was suspended and this was followed by Ireland the following day. The industry united with many tracks announcing financial help for every racing and retired greyhound attached to their track, the payments were in addition to the financial help pledged by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB). When trials returned (18 May) following the lock-down Peterborough announced that they would not be re-opening until they sought further clarification from the GBGB. The concerns over the financial implication of racing behind closed doors was evident and the following day (20 May) the Perkins family announced the permanent closure of the track. Although UK racing finally returned on 1 June (at Perry Barr) it was behind closed doors and both Poole Stadium and Belle Vue Stadium remained closed with the possibility of not re-opening being a serious consideration. Then on 1 August, Belle Vue announced that it had closed for good and this was followed by Poole on 22 September. Three tracks had now closed permanently, two of them as a consequence of the pandemic. As 2020 came to a close the pandemic continued to dramatically affect the industry with no immediate sign of crowds being allowed to return. One positive consequence of the pandemic was that many homing organisations including the Lincolnshire, Suffolk and Portsmouth Greyhound Trusts were reporting that all retired greyhounds were being homed and that there was a shortage. The shortage was caused by a combination of higher demand for pets and less race tracks, however concerns were raised that if the shortage of retired greyhounds continued it could force some homing organisations to close.