It may not be the sport of kings, but Werribee’s Noel Ryan is proud to have been crowned the greyhound coursing industry’s volunteer of the year.
Ryan says while horse racing is for royalty, the “dishlickers” are for common folk like himself.
“Anyone can own a greyhound; they’re lovely, placid dogs and reasonably cheap,” he says.
The 77-year-old took over as president of the Werribee Greyhound Coursing Club 33 years ago and didn’t retire until September last year.
Ryan was recently awarded the National Coursing Association’s Noel Banks Medal for continuous and outstanding volunteer service.
Greyhound coursing involves racing two dogs over a 400-metre straight track and complements speed racing of eight dogs around a circular track.
But the confusion has caused problems for the local coursing club’s goal of securing a new track in Werribee.
“People think we need a huge track, but we only need a narrow grass track 400 metres long,” says Ryan, who helped secure the club’s original track at Werribee racecourse in 1982. That track closed in 2009 to make way for the International Race Horse Quarantine Centre. The club is still searching for an alternative venue, with members forced to travel to coursing tracks in Melton and Ballarat.
In coursing or racing over a straight track, Ryan says “you do it for the trophies, not the money”.
But these events train the dog for the money-making speed racing, and he admits to a few winners.
Ryan and local club secretary John Barsby, who nominated Ryan for the award, raced Wyndham Whiz in speed races, collecting more than $60,000 in prizemoney, including $10,000 for the 2006 AWM Electrical Final race at Sandown Park.
Ryan says his favourite dog was Waltz Boy, who won the Sandown Park sprint championship in 1978.
Ill health means he no longer races dogs and he has relinquished the Werribee club’s presidency to his brother Bernie, a “youngster” at 71.
“We have to keep it in the family,” Ryan says.
