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The WATA
Harness & Greyhounds
Gilgamesh
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This isn't so much a bitch but more a reflection of where the sport of harness racing seems to be at. I use to hate all the negativity by those in and around harness racing but lately I feel i'm tending more and more that way!
My girlfriend thought a nice christmas present for me would be a membership to the WATA. We won a fremantle membership for last season when having dinner in the Beau Revarge room and were at every fremantle meeting during the last season, comming in at i'd say a third of the age of the average attendee in the members. I mess around/help out in a pacing stable on sundays and if money/time permits i'd like to get a cheap old horse I think can still win a race and try and get my reinsman's lisence. I've owned a share in a couple of slow one's in the past so one would say i'm a semi active participant. I am 28yrs of age.
I was shocked to hear that "due to the recent merger we currently have to many members and you will have to be placed on a waiting list" i.e. they are turning members away! And they wonder why it's a dying sport when in effect I basically have to wait for some of the current members to die before I can get a look in!
Surely relatively young people with more than a passing interest in the sport should be grabbed hold of and never let go not basically shunned. I do get that they may have more members on there books than allocated membership space but I was there Nugget night, if there were more than 10 people sitting in that outside membership area at any one time I will jump from that stand to the track! And it would be a generous assesment to say there were more than 300 people not in the restaraunts. I.E There was vertually no one there on a showcase meeting.
Anyhow my girlfriends assesment was "why don't I just get you one for the turf club". Pretty sure they won't turn me away.
My girlfriend thought a nice christmas present for me would be a membership to the WATA. We won a fremantle membership for last season when having dinner in the Beau Revarge room and were at every fremantle meeting during the last season, comming in at i'd say a third of the age of the average attendee in the members. I mess around/help out in a pacing stable on sundays and if money/time permits i'd like to get a cheap old horse I think can still win a race and try and get my reinsman's lisence. I've owned a share in a couple of slow one's in the past so one would say i'm a semi active participant. I am 28yrs of age.
I was shocked to hear that "due to the recent merger we currently have to many members and you will have to be placed on a waiting list" i.e. they are turning members away! And they wonder why it's a dying sport when in effect I basically have to wait for some of the current members to die before I can get a look in!
Surely relatively young people with more than a passing interest in the sport should be grabbed hold of and never let go not basically shunned. I do get that they may have more members on there books than allocated membership space but I was there Nugget night, if there were more than 10 people sitting in that outside membership area at any one time I will jump from that stand to the track! And it would be a generous assesment to say there were more than 300 people not in the restaraunts. I.E There was vertually no one there on a showcase meeting.
Anyhow my girlfriends assesment was "why don't I just get you one for the turf club". Pretty sure they won't turn me away.
Comments
I attend a few Northam, Bunbury, Pinjarra events when I can.
Work also gets to me on Friday night, and the early starts of 5:20pm is not good at all. I do like the early finishes though. Would be nice to have a race every 20 minutes.
Oh hang on, that was the ladies toilet.
Anyway they have a retirement village upstairs now. They all sit there gazing out at Belmont hoping to live long enough to see the towers of dreams.
Ba Ha !!
I would also suggest that with proposed redevelopment of GP in the winds there will not be a change to that amount any time soon to prevent vested interests becoming members in order to influence votes on the future of teh club and its facilities. A similar freeze on membership occurred at Harold Park for a couple of years prior to the vote to sell, despite the fact that there was hardly anyone in the Member's Bar and those that were struggled to walk as far as the tote.
In saying that, it would not hurt them to perhaps offer a cheaper membership or season ticket style pass which gives the holder entry to meetings, discounted food/beverages, but does not hold the voting or other privileges which come with full membership.
It may be possible to join the Caducues Club which is a private club and has the best viewing and seating facilities on the course. The facility includes private Tote facilities and bar and it is possible to dine but not a prerequisite to being in the room. There is also a limited number of on-course parking bays for members behind Steelo's.
I'm not sure how much a membership to the club is (it used to be $700-$800 pa) but for someone who attends every Friday night it's terrific value. Every membership includes a guest membership and members are permitted to take guests into the room. There are dress standards, as in no jeans and no polo shirts, but I believe they've relaxed the standards somewhat in keeping with modern dress standards.
Not sure if you need to be a member of WATA to qualify for membership but if you don't consider the membership fee too expensive then it might be an avenue worth exploring; given it's an Inter Dominion year though the Cad Club's membership may well be full at this stage.
I would like to thank Harvey Crossman though from the turf club for taking the time out to contact me and be available for any information I would like on their club.
Even if the WATA come up with some sort of non voting, entry only membership. It is prime time to get members now. They have the best 6 months of racing they are probably ever going to have in the future coming up plus with the AFL now being able to be shown live friday night on foxtell I think if they had a decent set up in the under cover area with the game on live coupled with the harness action they could actually get a decent turn out the whole way through winter also. I work with a lot of 18-21 yeard olds who love a punt, mainly on the footy. If they could get that type of demegraphic to turn up it could be a gold mine.
When the Girl friend was talking to someone from the WATA I think they said it was 3 guests you can get in with a membership. So if an older couple (lets face it most of the members are of a reasonable age) both have membership that is 6 guests entries available to them that in all likely hood aren't being used. Why not open that up to people.
I just hope that somebody down there is looking into this sort of thing and trying to look for ways to encourage permenant growth, common sense says there would be but you just don't know...