Yarmouth Stadium

Yarmouth Stadium is a greyhound racing track located at Caister-on-Sea in the Borough of Great Yarmouth and English county of Norfolk. It is licensed by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain.[1]

Yarmouth Stadium

Yarmouth Stadium in 2015
Location	Yarmouth Road, Caister-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk NR30 5TE
Date opened	1940
Race type	greyhound racing
Official website

Greyhound Racing takes place every Monday, Thursday and Saturday evening. Facilities include a modern designed 'Raceview Restaurant' seating 240, several executive suites, fast food facilities and a number of bars.[2]

Speedway

Main article: Yarmouth Bloaters

Speedway arrived in 1948 running until 1961; Ernie Wedon became the manager of the speedway team called 'Yarmouth Bloaters' throughout this period.

Stock Car Racing

The stadium has continually run Stock Car racing since the 1960s and boasted its own team in the 1966 and 1971/2 team leagues. The 1966 team were nicknamed the Bloaters whilst the later outfit were known as the Greyhounds.

Greyhound Racing

Origins & Opening

In 1928 Len Franklin & Ernie Wedon, both professional gamblers in pre-war London visited the newly built Clapton Stadium. Franklin became a regular at Harringay Stadium, Stamford Bridge and White City Stadium and after investing in stocks and shares they invested in a new venture at Yarmouth. They purchased a field on the west side of the Yarmouth Road that contained a 'flapping' track; this track had opened on Good Friday 25 March 1932 with grass track speedway also held there after starting on 14 July. It was devoid of structures and on the opposite side of the road to the horse racing course.[3]

Franklin & Wedon also leased the adjacent field to enable better access and applied for planning permission for a new stadium. Although the initial planning was refused a subsequent appeal to the ministry saw the decision overturned. Work began in 1939 and the stadium was ready for business by the spring of 1940.[3]

The opening date for the new stadium was set for 11 May 1940 but on that same day the Germans invaded the Netherlands and Belgium resulting in the evacuation of Yarmouth. The opening afternoon meeting still went ahead, as did several other meetings on a weekly basis until most of the staff were called up to serve in the war. The stadium closed and it was taken over by the fire service.[3]

Post-war history

After the war Len Franklin and Ernie Wedon went into partnership with Clifford Yaxley forming the Norfolk Greyhound Racing Company and they were able to take advantage of the post war boom opening on Saturday 7 December 1946. The racing was over 500 yards and facilities included a restaurant in the main stand. Franklin was a steward and judge and when Racing Manager Ernie Wedon sold his share to buy Ipswich Stadium. Len Franklin then became Racing Manager. [4]

The East Anglian Derby was inaugurated at the track but this was an independent race (unlicensed) at the time because the track raced with no National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) affiliation from 1939 until 1975. [5]

The original field where the flapping track stood was sold and in 1958 would form part of the North Denes Airport, which later became a heliport serving as a private base for helicopters to the gas platforms in the North Sea. After the sudden death of Yaxley the Franklin family took sole control of the stadium, Len was the Racing Manager, his son Stephen was the Kennel Manager and M J Franklin was the General Manager. Race days varied from Tuesday & Friday evenings to Monday, Wednesday & Saturday evenings over distances of 300, 500, 710 & 910 yards.[3] In 1969 the stadium opened a new Raceview Grandstand Restaurant catering for 3,000 people.[6]

In 1975 Yarmouth joined the NGRC permit scheme and in 1985 Dick Keable the Racing Manager celebrated forty years at the track (Keable had been a kennel lad at the track back in 1945).[7] [8] Two years later in 1987 Yarmouth became the first permit track to register a totalisator turnover of £1 million. Stephen Franklin became General Manager taking over from Len Franklin. In addition to the racing there was a Sunday market, stock car racing three times per week, bingo nights and an amusement arcade. Stephen Franklin's wife Pamela and children Simon and Justin all joined the business. [9]

Recent History

Main grandstand view in 2015

Simon Franklin was appointed Racing Manager and then General Manager after Nigel Long became Racing Manager. Simon & Justin Franklin then brought in Nigel Bray as General Manager whilst they took control of other duties. One of which was overseeing the new £2.5 million grandstand built in 2006, the state of the art 250-seater restaurant and three executive boxes included a plaque naming the building the Len Franklin Grandstand in memory of the co-founder of the stadium. [10] The track hosted the TV Trophy in 2007 & 2013 and the Trainers Championship in 2013. Trainers Mark Wallis and John Mullins joined Yarmouth after the closure of Walthamstow Stadium via Harlow.

Track improvements costing £190,000 were completed in 2012 and Mark Wallis became Champion Trainer 2012 to 2014 as a Yarmouth handler. His 2012 English Greyhound Derby triumph with Blonde Snapper brought the ultimate prize to the track. Yarmouth also runs on the BAGS service overseen by Racing Manager Marcus Westgate who took over in 2012.

In 2018 the stadium signed a deal with ARC to race every Monday and Thursday evening.[11]

Competitions

East Anglian Derby

Track records

Current

Distance metres	Greyhound	Time	Date	Notes
277	Kilmore Lemon [12]	16.02	21.06.2018
462	Fear Zafonic [13]	27.17	11.09.2010	East Anglian Derby semi final
462	King Elvis [14]	27.17	10.09.2018	East Anglian Derby 2nd Round
659	Roxholme Poppy [15]	40.07	18.05.2019	George Ing St Leger final
843	Musical Gaga [16]	52.86	26.08.2013	TV Trophy heats
1041	Some Moth	68.81	08.12.1990

Previous

[17]

Distance metres	Greyhound	Time	Date	Notes
277	Knockrour Brandy	16.64	22.09.1979
277	Respect	16.50	16.08.2000
277	Against The Lead	=16.50	16.08.2006
277	Beardys Robbie	16.46	20.09.2007
277	Perrys Tango	16.44	13.08.2008
277	Boherduff Monti	16.40	18.09.2008
277	Boherduff Monti	16.34	23.09.2008
277	Rotar Wing	16.33	12.08.2009
277	Monleek Town	16.19	15.08.2012
277	Skate On	16.18	18.09.2014
277	Skate On [18]	16.18	18.09.2014
277	Broadstrand Kiwi [19]	16.12	16.09.2017
462	Ramtogue Dasher	27.91	09.09.1987
462	Dempsey Duke	27.68	19.09.1991
462	Geordie Parker	27.52	12.09.2007	East Anglian Derby 2nd round
462	Farloe Reason	27.49	10.09.2008	East Anglian Derby 1st round
462	Ninja Jamie	27.40	23.09.2008	East Anglian Derby final
462	Fear Zafonic	27.27	04.09.2010	East Anglian Derby 1st round
659	Dunmurry Girl	40.88	08.03.1972
659	Big City	40.79	24.09.1988
659	Masterpiece	40.77	20.09.2007
659	Rackethall Holly	40.71	31.10.2007
659	Raving Black	40.54	12.09.2009
659	Centurion Enry [20]	40.25	16.09.2010
659	Roxholme Poppy [21]	40.18	13.05.2019	George Ing St Leger semi final
843	Change Guard	53.62	25.08.1986
843	Spiridon Louis	52.98	23.05.2007
1041	Dunmurry Ruby	69.15	06.12.1986

References

1. "Track Search". Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Archived from the original on 25 December 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
2. "Yarmouth Stadium". yarmouthstadium.co.uk.
3. Barnes, Julia (1991). Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File, pages 161-165. Ringpress Books. ISBN 0-948955-61-9.
4. "Official racecard, Saturday 7 December". Yarmouth Stadium. 1946.
5. Furby, R (1968). Independent Greyhound Racing, page 53. New Dominion House.
6. "Remember When - July". Greyhound Star.
7. "Monthly Greyhound Star (Remember When 1975) June edition". Greyhound Star.
8. Genders, Roy (1981). The Encyclopedia of Greyhound Racing, page 95. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN 07207-1106-1.
9. Genders, Roy (1990). NGRC book of Greyhound Racing, pages 60-61. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN 0-7207-1804-X.
10. Hobbs, Jonathan (2007). Greyhound Annual 2008, page 211. Raceform. ISBN 978-1-905153-53-4.
11. "Arc Schedule Released". Greyhound Star.
12. "Result". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
13. "East Anglian Derby semi finals". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
14. "East Anglian Derby 2nd Round". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
15. "St Leger final". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
16. "Result". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
17. "Track records". Greyhound Data.
18. "Result". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
19. "Result". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
20. "16 September results". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
21. "659m track record". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.

External links

• Yarmouth Stadium
• Ernie Wedon & The Yarmouth Bloaters
• Ipswich Stadium