Product Description

Since 1926, when the first modern greyhound race was run, "the dogs" has apparently established itself as the nation's second most popular spectator sport. Yet, save for a brief slot on ITV's World of Sport in the 1970s, the cover of Blur's Parklife album and now this excellent book on the subject, it has kept a low media profile, and the governing bodies' attempts to rebrand the tracks in the 1990s largely failed. Thompson describes the history and the appeal of the sport, which is largely born of the fact that the tracks' bends are invariably too tight for the dogs to negotiate, making the result unpredictable. But, as in Hornby's Fever Pitch, the sport's appeal for Thompson is inextricably linked with her childhood and her memories of her father, a successful greyhound owner. The Dogs is about the feeling of petting your dog, the sound of the crowd at the track's edge, the smell of Golden Wonder crisps and Embassy fags in the stadium bar. The very best kind of sports writing, it makes sense of the grandiose emotions and bizarre futility felt by the spectator and the gambler alike. It's perceptive about class, masculinity and economics, and it seems to radiate Thompson's affection for the men and dogs that have made the sport. (The Independent on Sunday)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #387029 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Independent on Sunday
The very best kind of sports writing, radiating Thompson's affection for the men and dogs that have made the sport.

The Independent
This is a book with a lifetime’s research behind it, that exhibits more knowledge than a London cabbie.

From the Publisher
Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award (1995)

Customer Reviews

The Inside Track
Greyhounds have been revered since ancient times where they appear on the walls of the tombs of the Pharos. For Henry VIII they were his favourite hunting dogs. But in Laura Thompson's book we find a personal testament to a more modern chapter in the history of this noble creature.

Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom came to prominence in the dark economic recession of the 30's, being in some ways a cameo of its elder sister - horse racing. Sharing a deep and longstanding affiliation with Ireland champion racing greyhounds, like cup-winning racehorses, often drew their first breath on the other side of the Irish Sea.

Laura Thompson's book takes us right into the heart of people, places and of course the dogs she knew as a child. With the hindsight of an age in which some of the great Stadia like White City in West London have already been lost, she takes us on a journey which immortalises a generation of owners and trainers.

For anybody who has ever spent an evening at a Greyhound Stadium and wondered what lay behind it all.. this book is the inside track.