Bob Betts: an absolutely brilliant man who did so much for greyhound racing

Greyhound racing retains a pulse of sorts but its soul has withered since the heady days of the 1980s when superstars Scurlogue Champ and Ballyregan Bob sparked a thrilling revival in the sport.

Crowds flocked to tracks like Walthamstow, Harringay and Wimbledon, as well as numerous provincial venues either for a fun weekend night out or for some serious punting, and the dawn of SIS meant live pictures were beamed throughout the nation’s betting shops, sparking even more interest.

And at the beating heart of this fervour for a sport that had been the only show in town four decades earlier sat the legendary Bob Betts, orchestrator of The Sporting Life’s greyhound team of reporters and tipsters.

Sensing the opportunity to capitalise on the return to fashion of these quicksilver quadrupeds, Bob twisted his bosses’ arms and got the go-ahead to launch the Greyhound Life, a magnificent daily supplement packed with form, tips, news and features.

Only Bob could have had the vision and the drive to make it happen, and to make it so consistently good. It was a monument to his journalistic brilliance, his infectious appetite for work and his love of greyhound racing.

Bob’s creativity gland pumped out ideas like nobody else I have ever known. He was always looking for an angle, for the up-and-coming trainers to feature and the best coverage of the big races.

He evangelised about dog racing but also held it to account. Fishy performances were closely scrutinised and he would admonish the regulator if he felt it had come up short.

In a 38-year career at the Life, Bob established himself as the greatest greyhound journalist the sport has known and never left any stone unturned in his quest for stories.

Bob Betts at Wimbledon in May 2002Credit: Steve Nash

As an 18-year-old racing office employee at Hackney in 1985 I left the track after a Saturday morning meeting carrying a briefcase containing form cards. The mugger who gave me a good hiding before making off with the case would not have been amused to have discovered its contents.

Four hours later, as I nursed my bruises, the phone rang. It was Bob, who had somehow heard about the incident, leading to my first appearance in the Life, under the headline ‘Dog steward beaten up’.

Happily, I went on to have a more uplifting association with the paper and it was all thanks to Bob. Having mentioned to him that I was keen to try journalism he gave me my chance in 1986 and so I became one of many to have enjoyed a career at that wonderful organisation because of Bob’s willingness to give people a foot in the door.

Working with Bob was just a joy. He made every day fun, he supported and encouraged the team and created a huge sense of collective pride in what we produced every day.

His energy and enthusiasm were boundless, even to the extent he created greyhound racing’s first band, Trap Five, whose gig at Harringay’s closing night was memorable, as Bob smashed away on the drums while racegoers stripped the place of all possible souvenirs and drank the bars dry.

Bob was always immensely proud of his children, Steve, Zoe and Lucy, and loved the fact Luzostev, the greyhound he bought and named after them, went on to become open class.

At 75, Bob should have had many more years of happy retirement with wife Di, the children and grandchildren, but it was not to be.

I am so glad I called him a few days before the fall that was to claim him. I asked him how he was enjoying life and he replied with his trademark: “Absolutely brilliant.”

No two words sum up Bob Betts better than that. An absolutely brilliant man who did so much for greyhound racing and will be greatly missed by so many.

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