1. Save our tracks initiatives and track support and sponsorship.
*The IGOBF was at the heart of negotiations and the fight to keep Enniscorthy track open.
Link 1.
*Sponsorship of prizemoney for competitions e.g. The IGOBF National Puppy Final at Shelbourne Park.
Link 2.
https://twitter.com/barkingbuzz/status/1335222397662765060?s=21
The IGOBF also sponsored the private tracks during the Memorial Night of racing on November 12th/13th and The IGOBF were central to negotiations which saw prizemoney for all races doubled on that occasion. The Memorial night was organised to remember all the lives of those people from the greyhound community who passed away between March 2020 and November 2021.
It was very well received by our members and by the wider greyhound community and generated a lot of excellent publicity.
2. Ongoing communications with GRI on behalf of our members.
Promotion of new rehoming, welfare and traceability measures and communication re same to all our members via social media, emails, WhatsApp groups and through the individual GOBAS.
3. Delegates from The IGOBF and affiliated GOBAS have spoken positively about greyhound racing on several occasions on local and national radio programmes.
They have also defended the greyhound community in the national and local media.
Link 1.
Link 2.
4. Letters to newspapers have been written and published and The IGOBF, the Irish Coursing Club and Greyhound Racing Ireland issued a joint statement objecting to the text in a Folens school textbook which caused widespread consternation amongst greyhound families and the greyhound community.
This matter is still ongoing between Folens, GRI, the ICC and The IGOBF.
Link 1.
Link 2.
https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/greyhound-industry-objects-to-portrayal-in-school-textbook/
5. Throughout the pandemic the IGOBF has shared the numerous updates and changes in health and safety protocols with all members and our GOBAS cooperated so there were COVID officers in place at the tracks.
6. Individual GOBAS have sponsored stakes and various races at their local tracks.
E.g. The recent Intertrack (Thurles v Clonmel) competition held at Clonmel stadium during the 2022 Coursing festival was sponsored by Tipperary GOBA.
7. The IGOBF surveyed the nine GOBAS for their key priorities and have made an executive summary of these priorities which will be discussed with our new CEO at a meeting the date of which remains to be confirmed.
8. The IGOBF commissioned and sponsored two series of videos entitled BehindTheTrack in 2021 and 2022.
These docuseries have been very well received and supported and have been shared with hundreds of thousands of views on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok and Youtube.
Series 1 BehindTheTrack 2021
Series 2 BehindTheTrack 2022
9. Statements pertaining to important matters in the greyhound industry published on The Greyhound Star.
Link 1.
https://greyhoundstar.co.uk/statement-igobf-22-07-2021/
10. Positive media coverage.
Newspapers, Racing Post TV appearances by The IGOBF chairman Damian Matthews, podcast interviews and YouTube videos.
Some examples:
Link 1.
https://greyhoundstar.co.uk/irish-owners-launch-video-campaign/
Link 2.
https://greyhoundstar.co.uk/damian-matthews-derby-challenge/
Link 3.
Link 4.
https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/greyhound-industry-objects-to-portrayal-in-school-textbook/
Link 5.
https://twitter.com/barkingbuzz/status/1335222397662765060?s=21
Link 6.
Link 7.
https://www.nenaghguardian.ie/2021/03/05/get-behind-the-track-in-video/
Link 8.
https://greyhoundstar.co.uk/profile-damien-matthews/
Link 9.
https://donegalnews.com/2021/06/breeders-federation-weighs-in-behind-lifford-reopening/
Link 10.
Link 12.
Link 13.
Link 14.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/racing/arid-40227557.html
Link 15.
https://soundcloud.com/barrydrake88/damien-matthews-greyhounds
Link 16.
11. The IGOBF has been working very hard to bring about the restoration of greyhound racing to Northern Ireland.
Link 1.
https://greyhoundstar.co.uk/damian-mathews-irish-view/
Link 2.
https://donegalnews.com/2021/06/breeders-federation-weighs-in-behind-lifford-reopening/
Link 3.
12. Promotion of Greyhound racing on local radio stations and in the local newspapers.
The chairman of The IGOBF coordinated with delegates to organize regular reports and slots on the sports programmes on the local radio stations.
13. The IGOBF has coordinated communication to the Minister for Agriculture on behalf of its members on many occasions.
(Letter writing from members saying what greyhound racing means to them).
14. Represented and brought local issues from various tracks to the board of GRI and at the Greyhound forum on behalf of members.
See minutes of meetings with GRI and Consultative forum minutes.
15. A dedicated team of loyal members that work closely with the executive of The IGOBF have established very popular and well supported social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok.
All these social media groups are helping the IGOBF discuss, plan and attain the objectives for our members.
These online groups have many thousands of members and have had millions of views online.
Link 1.
Facebook – Irish Greyhounds Sunrise to Sunset
https://www.facebook.com/irishgreyhoundssunrisetosunset/
Link 2.
Twitter – GreyhoundsSunrise2Sunset
https://twitter.com/greyhoundcommun?s=21
Link 3.
Instagram – Irishgreyhoundsunrise2sunset
https://instagram.com/irishgreyhoundsunrise2sunset?utm_medium=copy_link
Link 4
Tiktok – Irish Greyhound Community
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMLYoF6oj/
All these groups have numerous links with other pro racing supporting websites and social media networking.
E.g. Racing Greyhounds Of Ireland (Facebook), Greyhound Chat (Facebook)
It means that the online greyhound community plays a vibrant and active role in communicating knowledge, best welfare practices, news from racing and the most recent updates relevant to our sport.