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So back in December 2020 i was attached to Doncaster track and doing quite well. Out the blue the racing manager rang me and told me that my dogs were no longer needed so therefore i was left in limbo. I gave it a couple of days and rang the gbgb and cancelled my license because i thought whats the point in paying for another year when i couldn`t race anywhere. The woman in the gbgb office agreed to cancel my license that i`d only just paid for two weeks earlier and she said because my new license hadn`t officially started it wouldn`t be a problem. She agreed to refund me and i left the call and never thought about it again. A few months later Newcastle were looking for dogs and trainers so i applied and basically didn`t get a response for week. I rang my stip to which he said he was attending Newcastle and would let me know what they said (i`m still waiting)! 7 times i rang the man and 7 times he ignored my calls. Alex Mc Taggert is his name and he shouldn`t be in that job, he`s a waste of space. Anyway as the months went on and i kept getting emails from the gbgb about different things, i finally got fed up and in October last year i received one off someone called Illingworth. Turns out to be a snowflake holding a position of power in a sport where you need to have a thick skin, but unfortunately he hasn`t. In fact he`s offending by little words. Anyway i told him where to go and a couple months later, the stip i couldn`t get an answer from suddenly wants to talk! He said he`s coming to my house to hold a local inquiry! I told him in my best voice that he`s got no chance of coming to my house ever again. Following this i received notice of an inquiry to be held at Newcastle to which i told them i`d not be attending. Again i told them i wasn`t a trainer and they had no authority over me but they decided they had and in fact no one at their office could remember me cancelling my license so therefore i was still a holder. To sum it up they`re calling me a liar and fined me 500 for abusive emails. Who are these people who run this great sport in the UK. Not a backbone between them and to top it off 99% of them have never touched a greyhound in their lives. I`ve been involved in greyhounds for over 40 years and never been treated as bad as these clueless fools have treated me and my dogs. We were hung out to dry over 16 months ago and my dogs are now over 4 years old and i`ve got to start rehoming them at my own cost because the gbgb won`t help. At the end of the day my dogs are very well looked after and have had a good life and the gbgb haven`t contributed to them in the slightest.
from the gbgb calender. Too many lies are written for me to go through them all.
DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE INQUIRIES The Disciplinary Committee of the GBGB were in attendance at a meeting held on 15, 17 and 25 March 2022 Those present: Mr H Starte (in the chair) Mr M Harrod Mr P ODowd Mr Glen Rafferty Former Greyhound Trainer Mr Glen Rafferty was found to be in breach of rule 152 (ii) of the GBGB rules of racing in that he sent abusive and offensive emails to GBGB staff on 28 October 2021 and 14 January 2022 thereby acting in a manner prejudicial to the integrity and proper conduct of Greyhound racing. Mr Rafferty was in attendance on 15 March 2022, as were Senior Stipendiary Steward Paul Illingworth, Stipendiary Steward Simon Storey and Area Stipendiary Steward Alex McTaggart. The Committee met on 17 March to decide whether there had been rule breaches on the evidence taken on 15 March. Mr Rafferty was invited but declined to attend at the resumed meeting on 25 March 2022. The Committee heard that in 2017 and 2018 Mr Rafferty had been registered as an Owner Trainer. He had applied and been granted a licence as a Greyhound Trainer in February 2019. The Register showed that he had renewed his licence for 2020 and 2021. On 28 October 2021 Mr Rafferty was contacted by the Senior Stipendiary Steward Paul Illingworth preparatory to the residential kennels audit required for renewal of his trainers licence being carried out at his home in Workington, Cumbria. In that email, addressed to Dear Trainer, Mr Illingworth provided details on how to prepare for the audit and instructions on how to access the Trainers Portal on the GBGB website to find documents that had to be completed before the audit. Mr Rafferty replied to Mr Illingworth by email the same day. He wrote: Whats (sic) the point in all this crap when this time last year I was racing at Doncaster and out of the blue I was discarded like a piece of s**t. My dogs are approaching 4 years old and Ive not had a dog race since last November. You along with the rest are taking the p**s out of smaller trainers like myself so go and f**k yourself. The Committee heard that Mr Rafferty had also posted a number of Tweets containing abusive criticism of GBGB staff and others. It was decided to hold a local inquiry into this apparently abusive and obstructive behaviour. In December 2021 Area Stipendiary Steward Alex McTaggart attempted to arrange for the hearing of the Local Inquiry with Mr Rafferty. Mr Rafferty responded by email on 21 December 2021 asserting, apparently for the first time, that soon after he submitted his application to renew his Greyhound Trainers licence at the beginning of December 2020, he had withdrawn that application and had told the GBGB he wished to cancel his licence. He subsequently stated that he had telephoned the offices of the GBGB and that the GBGB staff had agreed in that call to cancel his licence and to refund the 50 deposit he had paid when applying to renew. Mr Rafferty claimed that since this cancellation he had not been a licensed trainer, so that he was not subject to the jurisdiction of the GBGB under the Rules of Racing and there could be no inquiry. On 14 January 2022 Area Stipendiary Steward Alex McTaggart sent Mr Rafferty an email with a calling in letter, giving the time and date for the proposed Local Inquiry and inviting him to propose a suitable alternative if the proposed time and date was not suitable. Mr Rafferty responded that he would not be attending an inquiry, repeating that the GBGB had no authority over him because he had cancelled his licence. When Mr McTaggart replied by email that the GBGB only accepted cancellations of licences in writing, which Mr Rafferty had failed to do, Mr Rafferty responded by email in the following terms: So lets get this straight. Your employer told me theyd cancel my licence and without my knowledge they didnt. (They lied) or forgot. Either way the call will be recorded somewhere so its not my problem. Then 10 months after cancelling my licence one of your retarded friends gets offended by a few words that I sent. The fact I still get emails 10 months after quitting frankly p****s me off. So do your job like Ive told you many times before and look into and itll prove without a doubt that you, along with your best buddies are lying c***s. Complaints The Greyhound Board of Great Britain will receive complaints in confidence from anyone concerned about a possible breach of the Rules of Racing. Send emails to [email protected] or call the GBGB office on 020 7822 0900. Alternatively, write to: The Greyhound Board of Great Britain Ltd, Genesis House, 17 Godliman Street, London EC4V 5BD IMPORTANT NOTICES Welfare Hotline If you are concerned about the welfare of any registered racing greyhounds, please call our confidential Welfare Hotline on 020 7822 0917. The line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You will be prompted to leave a voicemail message giving as much information as you can so that our team can investigate your concerns fully and ensure appropriate action is taken. The Disciplinary Committee wish to advise those appearing before them as the affected person that the Disciplinary Committee has the discretion to take account of any previous breaches of the rule(s) of racing which they consider are relevant to a case being heard before them irrespective of the date of commission of the breach. CALENDAR 3 Presenting for the Board, Director of Regulation Mr Phillip Law told the Committee the Boards case was that Mr Rafferty was in breach of Rule 152 (ii) and/or Rule 174 xii (a) by sending the emails to Mr Illingworth on 28 October 2021 and to Mr McTaggart on 14 January 2022. The Committee heard that Mr Rafferty was notified that a Local Inquiry would be held by Stipendiary Steward Simon Storey at Newcastle Stadium on 1 February 2022. Mr Rafferty did not attend. At that point no record had been found of any telephone call by Mr Rafferty to the offices of the GBGB. Mr Storey decided that the emails of 28 October and 14 January had contained improper and offensive language towards GBGB staff and the matter should be referred to the Disciplinary Committee. The Committee heard that telephone records had subsequently been found to show telephone calls between Mr Rafferty and the offices of the GBGB on 1 December and 14 December 2021. The records, seen by the Committee, showed that Mr Rafferty had been called from the offices on 1 December, a call which lasted 3 minutes and 47 seconds. He had then made a number of unanswered calls to the offices on 14 December before a call had been answered just after 11am. That call lasted 4 minutes and 26 seconds. The evidence for the GBGB was that Mr Rafferty was called on 1 December from the number of Registry Assistant Bridget OToole. His call on 14 December was received on the general switchboard number. Mr Rafferty had told the GBGB that when he made this call he spoke to a woman in the offices who had then spoken with a man about Mr Raffertys inquiry before returning to the phone to conclude the call with him. The woman was probably Registry Assistant Bridget OToole or the then Assistant Registrar Tracey Moore. The man was probably David Levy, the Registrar. Neither Ms Moore nor Ms OToole nor Mr Levy had any recollection of receiving a call as described by Mr Rafferty, agreeing to cancel his licence and refund his deposit of 50. Acting Deputy Registrar Jamie Norris told the Committee that the GBGB could not and did not accept cancellation of trainers licences orally, by telephone, but had to and did require a trainer to make a written request by post or email. This was necessary to confirm the identity of the person requesting cancellation and so that, before cancellation, inquiries could be made to ensure the welfare of greyhounds in the trainers care and, if the trainer was attached to a track, to confirm with the track that they had been notified of the trainers intention to relinquish their licence. A note would also be put on the trainers client file stating the date they wished to relinquish their licence and the date they requested this. Once this process had been completed notice of the trainer relinquishing their licence would be published in the next edition of the GBGB Calendar. Mr Raffertys file showed that a signed licence renewal application form was received from him on 28 November 2020. There was a note on the file that a payment was subsequently received but the date or amount of that payment was not recorded. In his evidence to the Committee Mr Rafferty said that after he had applied to renew his licence and the 1 December telephone call, on about 10 December he had been told that he was not needed as a trainer at Doncaster Stadium. He said the track had been getting rid of smaller trainers like him. He rang the GBGB offices on 14 December to stop his licence renewal and cancel his licence. He said he had spoken to a woman saying he wanted to cancel his licence. She had put him on hold for a couple of minutes while she went to speak to a man and she was still speaking to this man when she came back on the line to him. She had said it would be fine for him to cancel and that the GBGB would refund the 50 deposit he had paid. Mr Rafferty said he was a bit hazy about what was said about giving written notice to cancel his licence, but he remembered that the woman had said that normally he would have had to give notice in writing but that, for some reason he did not recall, he did not need to. The Committee heard that Mr Rafferty had not had his 50 deposit refunded or asked for it to be refunded before the inquiry into his Tweets and emails to GBGB staff had begun. The Committee heard that in March 2021 Mr Rafferty had been trying to race his greyhounds at Newcastle Stadium. In Tweets posted at the end of April 2021 Mr Rafferty complained that he had been emailing Newcastle stadium for 3 weeks without getting a reply and he was frustrated that he could not get his greyhounds onto a track. In evidence to the Committee Mr Rafferty complained that he had tried to contact Senior Stipendiary Steward Paul Illingworth 7 times by telephone about racing greyhounds at Newcastle Stadium but had not received any reply to his calls. Mr Illingworth told the Committee that the first time he heard from Mr Rafferty that he did not consider he was still a licensed trainer was after he received the 28 October email. The Committee was shown a Tweet posted by Mr Rafferty on 27 October 2021 in which, referring to himself, he wrote when you own numerous greyhounds and have a license (sic) but dont have anywhere to race. The Committee noted that in his email on 28 October 2021 Mr Rafferty did not say he was no longer a GBGB trainer and did not require his kennels to be audited. He described himself as one of the smaller trainers that he claimed Mr Illingworth and other GBGB officials were taking the piss out of. The Committee noted that Mr Rafferty cooperated with and facilitated the inspection of his kennels that took place on 23 November 2021. Jurisdiction In submissions for the Board, Mr Law said it was accepted that there was a telephone conversation between Mr Rafferty and someone in the GBGB Registry on 14 December 2020. No member of staff in the Registry remembered this conversation and so no GBGB member of staff could dispute what was said. However, the Board maintained that a trainer such as Mr Rafferty was required to give notice in writing to terminate his licence, which he had not done, so that Mr Raffertys licence had not been terminated and he had continued to be a licensed trainer. Further, Mr Raffertys conduct after 14 December 2020 had been consistent with him believing he was a licensed trainer. Mr Law further submitted that Mr Rafferty was still subject to the jurisdiction of the GBGB and answerable for breaches of the Rules of Racing on 28 October 2021 and 14 January 2022, by virtue of Rule 2 and Rule 162 (vi) (d), even if his licence had been terminated by him orally by the telephone conversation on 14 December 2020. Rule 2 made it a term of the contract with the GBGB made when a person became a licensed trainer that they were thereafter subject to the GBGB Rules of Racing and to the jurisdiction of 4 VOL 14 NO 7 8 APRIL 2022 the GBGB, both while they were licensed and after they ceased to be licensed. Rule 160 (vi) (d) showed that the Disciplinary Committee could consider sanctions against a person who was not (or was no longer) bound by the Rules of Racing by virtue of Rule 2. The Committee considers that everything about Mr Raffertys conduct in relation to continuing to participate in GBGB regulated greyhound racing, his communications and professed attempted communications with GBGB personnel and his public statements in his Tweets through 2021 contradicts the contention that he considered himself no longer to be a GBGB licensed trainer. In the Committees view, this subsequent behaviour by Mr Rafferty makes it even more unlikely than it inherently was that the telephone conversation between him and the person at the GBGBs offices on 14 December was as Mr Rafferty says he hazily recalls. The Committee considers it very unlikely that he was told that he would not need to notify or confirm in writing, by email or otherwise, that he was terminating his licence. On the contrary if, as he says, the issue of written notification was discussed, it is very much more likely that he was told to confirm his cancellation by an email and that, for whatever reason, he chose not to. The Committee further finds that if Mr Rafferty was mistakenly told he would not need to give written notice to terminate his licence and that he would recover the deposit he had paid, he treated this as informing him what he could do but he did not in fact give notice. The Committee does not consider that the Board has shown that there was any contractual requirement of Mr Rafferty as a licence holder that his licence could only be terminated by notification in writing. Equally, the Committee considers that GBGB personnel could, if asked, have varied the agreement to allow termination without written notice or waived the requirement for written notice. But the Committee finds that Mr Rafferty did not in fact give any notice in the call on 14 December 2020 that cancelled his application to renew his licence and terminated his licence. The Committee accepts the Boards submission that, irrespective of whether Mr Rafferty ceased to be a licensed trainer as a consequence of the telephone conversation on 14 December 2020, by virtue of Rule 2 Mr Rafferty was at the time of the alleged breaches and remains subject to the GBGB Rules of Racing and subject to the jurisdiction of the GBGB in respect of those breaches. However, the Committee does not consider that Rule 160 (vi) (d) establishes the GBGBs jurisdiction to pursue these matters. That Rule is not directed at enabling GBGB to bring disciplinary proceedings to warn off (or impose any other sanction on) persons not subject to the Rules of Racing and the jurisdiction of the GBGB by virtue of Rule 2 independent of proceedings against persons who are. Rather it is directed at the position where the Board seeks to warn off such persons as well as persons proceeded against who are subject to the Rules and jurisdiction of the GBGB by virtue of Rule 2. Breaches Addressing the Committee, Mr Rafferty did not identify any treatment by the Senior Stipendiary Steward or any other GBGB official to justify his assertion in his email of 28 October 2021 that they had been taking the piss out of him or other trainers. He did not attempt to justify his statement in his email of 14 January 2022 that the Area Stipendiary Steward or other GBGB staff were liars. His position was that other people may get upset by the words he used in his communications with GBGB staff but that was their problem not mine. The Committee accepted that Mr Rafferty may have been entitled to be frustrated or angry at the situation he said he had found himself in, of being a trainer with good, well cared for greyhounds who could not find a stadium to race them at. But his emails had been unnecessarily and violently abusive and offensive. GBGB staff and officials were entitled not to be subjected to this treatment and the GBGB was entitled and bound to protect its staff and officials and the conduct of the sport of greyhound racing from such conduct. The Committee found that Mr Raffertys conduct in sending each of the emails in question did not come within the conduct proscribed by Rule 174 xii. In no realistic sense had Mr Rafferty acted in any violent or improper manner on any land or premises as required for there to be a breach of this Rule. However, the Committee was very clear that Mr Rafferty was in breach of Rule 152 (ii) in that by sending each of the emails in question he had acted in a manner that was prejudicial to the integrity and to the proper conduct of greyhound racing as regulated by the GBGB. The Committee heard that prior to these breaches Mr Rafferty had an unblemished disciplinary record. That made it particularly regrettable that these proceedings had been necessary. However, his email of 28 October 2021 was seriously and entirely unnecessarily abusive to the senior stipendiary steward, Mr Illingworth, who had simply been carrying out his duties trying to assist trainers with the audits of their kennels in the particularly difficult circumstances of the Covid pandemic. Mr Rafferty may have felt he had grounds for grievance in what were difficult times for him personally, but that was no excuse for abusive and disruptive behaviour that was damaging to the integrity and good conduct of properly regulated greyhound racing. The email sent to Mr McTaggart in January was equally unacceptably offensive and abusive behaviour towards GBGB officials and was disruptive of the disciplinary proceedings required by the October email. It showed a complete lack of insight on Mr Raffertys part why his conduct had been and was unacceptable. Appearing before the Committee, Mr Rafferty had shown some greater insight, but he had shown no remorse or regret and had offered no apology. The appropriate sanction was that Mr Rafferty receive a reprimand in respect of both breaches and pay in respect of both breaches a fine in total of 500.
Full boring video. If you notice in the calender they say Illingworth attended this meeting. Just one of the lies they`ve told. You can see in the video that Philip Law is hell bent of drumming it into the chair what his take on the situation is although he lies on multiple occasions. There`s a lot of convenience in the gbgb statement that goes fully in their favour. I actually can`t believe they can sleep at night knowing they screw people over.
Glen Rafferty United Kingdom (Verified User) Posts 193 Dogs 37 / Races 7 05 Jun 2022 12:35
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Just bumping this back to the front to give people who haven`t seen the liars at the gbgb a chance to read the lies.
On the top of all this, i rang the gbgb last week and they said they`d ring me back. I`m still waiting!
I`m not allowed to own or train greyhounds ever again unless i pay this 500 made up fine that the gbgb concocted.
I am allowed however to breed and rear pups but at the stage of racing i`ve to give them all away....
Is there anyone in the gbgb office thats actually put a lead on a greyhound?
Francis Walsh Ireland (Verified User) Posts 390 Dogs 0 / Races 0 10 Jun 2022 06:55
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Put up the emails you sent them and we can judge whether you deserved this treatment or not.
Glen Rafferty United Kingdom (Verified User) Posts 193 Dogs 37 / Races 7 14 Jun 2022 15:24
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The emails and content are in the three page statement in the calender. If lies are told to get the outcome the gbgb desired then there's massive flaws. Like I've said in my original post, my license was cancelled in December 2020 but yet 11 months later the gbgb clowns, were still emailing me about crap. I told them to go away and leave me alone but not as politely.