On Getting Joe Punter Back to the Track
By Matt Smith
Harnesslink Editor
For those of you who had the pleasure of reading my press release on our brand new blog system, you’ll notice how keen I am to see people return to the track to soak up the atmosphere that is the sport of harness racing.
Since getting more involved in the sport in the last five years, I have been massively under-whelmed by crowd attendances on-course.
Just one day – the New Zealand Trotting Cup at Addington – gets the stands full and the atmosphere charged with some form of vibrancy.
Yes, most of those 20,000-25,000 people on course might not know the difference between a colt and a gelding or a trotter and a pacer, but that – in the grand scheme of things – doesn’t really matter.
Elsewhere, the attendances really have been depressing. Even the crowd at the Woodlands Northern Derby at Alexandra Park on Friday night was noticeable by its absence, while I’ve had nights at Forbury Park in Dunedin when my friends and I have made up approximately a quarter of the crowd braving the chilly South Dunedin conditions.
So what to do?
The answer is difficult. Certainly clubs have accepted defeat on the matter of entrance fees – aside from the New Zealand Metro Trotting Club on New Zealand Trotting Cup day which is sure to draw the crowds anyway – but even that’s not enough.
Perversely, the good crowds seem to come at meetings where it costs $5 to get in the gate – the Destination Summer Racing meetings at holiday locations around New Zealand.
The problem with people these days (myself included) seems to be the short attention spans.
Sadly, it appears 30 minutes is too long between races for the average twice-a-year punter, as they have to twiddle their thumbs while waiting for the next race on the card.
Of course, it’s near impossible to speed things up at all – particularly when trainer-drivers have horses in consecutive races and need to ungear one horse and attach the sulky to the other in a matter of minutes. And if they had been lucky enough to win the previous race, there’s even less time to spare once the winning circle formalities are complete.
But Joe Punter doesn’t care about that. All he wants is his next fix of entertainment and as soon as possible.
So the answer is entertainment. But what kind? Music? The problem there is you need something that pleases everyone and at some of the smaller clubs, Roger Whittaker seems to be the order of the day on the PA system.
The presence of the Kidz Karts programme – which gives youngsters the chance to drive ponies around a premier venue like Alexandra Park – is great, and almost more entertaining than some of the processions masquerading as competitive races.
The dual effect of this is it gets the next generation of harness racing fans and industry members involved on race nights, where just a few year ago they would have wandered around the course aimlessly while their parents were working or punting.
The big sector of the population that’s missing is my age-group of 20-35, but it’s not easy to draw them back. The Generation X/Y (not a chromosome) crowd don’t mind a yearly visit to a race course, but too often it’s to the thoroughbred events.
What we need to do is turn those once-a-year visitors into six-a-year visitors and start seeing those areas in front of the grandstands start to fill up again.
The question, which still remains largely unanswered, is how. I’m open to ideas.
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[Above Image - Belleville Exhibition and Raceway no longer is open, in terms of harness racing; however, the grounds are still used as a training and horse show facility.]
March 7th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I agree that harness racing should be aiming to get those generation X and Yers who attend once a year to attend, say, 6 times per year. To achieve this, some things need to seriously change.
As a starting point, the powers that be would do well to remember that harness racing is a sport. It competes with other sports. The way people have attended live sports events has dramatically changed over the past 50 or 60 years. Harness racing doesn’t seem to comprehend this.
For example, if you look at pictures from Lancaster Park in the mid 1950s, you will see that most of the men attending are attired in 3-piece suits. It is difficult to imagine such a scenario at a Crusaders game today. Yet racing retains this idea that people should get dressed up to go to the races in 3 piece suits. Why?
This has nothing to do with encouraging a glamorous or sexy atmosphere. I dress up to go out to bars, events, plays and the like all the time. But I don’t do it in a 3 piece suit.
Sport has changed a lot in that people watch probably about 50 times more on television than they do live. So to get someone to go anywhere 6 times a year to watch sport the expense and inconvenience has to be outweighed by the experience. At live rugby matches, that experience includes the atmosphere but there is no atmosphere at Addington.
The biggest thing live harness racing does have is that you can get up close to the horses, which remain the chief drawcard. But at Addington they have recently done away with horses walking around the birdcage for 5 minutes before going out on the track. That is the worst crime of all.
You have to bring the horses to the people, because the people love them. That’s how you sell the sport. Addington should have taken every opportunity to show people the horses up close. They have done the very opposite.
Secondly, attending harness racing is entertainment, leaving the races to one side. 90% of the time there is not a race running, so you need to give people good facilities in which they can talk, drink, consider the form and bet. (This is a no-brainer, because all this involves attendees spending money.)
If the facilities are crap, then 90% of the night is a disaster. Take a look at the food at Addington. I took my girlfriend to Addington for what I hoped would be a nice night out earlier this year. However the trackside dining had long since been done away with. We had to make do with the Twiggers smorgasboard of Alison Holst 80s classics. The barmaids were 80 year old boilers. Good luck getting a cocktail.
And there was actually a lift operator sitting in the lift, asking people whether they wanted her to press 2 or 3 for them. She may be the last lift operator in the world still employed! These are a throw-back to the days before lifts with buttons in them. Again, this is a case of the powers that be conflating what was done in the past with what people would find classy and cool now.
There is still equal demand these days for top-notch, classy, dressy, glamorous evenings out (as opposed to the scunge pit that Addington has become; more about that below). But you can’t run it like it was run in the 1950s because we’re not in the 1950s any more.
On an ordinary night Addington gives you the choice between being in a deserted grandstand or heading over to the members stand and being in an overcrowded prison. The so-called “lounge” is like a feral TAB with a pub inside it.
Do not get me started on the cars parked by the outside rail, either.
If the powers that be do not understand that what is on offer in terms of food, beverage, facilities etc is not good enough for what our age group want and expect, then there is no hope as things currently stand.
Basically, no less is required than a complete sweep-out of all the old administrators and ideas.