Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: dave.woodhall on October 04, 2021, 08:55:51 PM
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John Russell and the longest article ever, with barely a Villa word.
https://heroesandvillains.info/2021/10/04/sporting-debuts/
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It’s always great when I see John and get to talk Baseball with him.
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There were five greyhounds in all the races in the period being written about at Perry Barr, Kings Heath and Hall Green as well as the Black Country tracks at Wolverhampton, Willenhall and Cradley Heath.
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I bloody loved cradley heath dogs. Like going back in time as it was dilapidated but a great buzz. One story I have to tell about it was the terracing was packed and the bookies stood about half the way down. There was a bookie called Joe large. Well into his 80's and as blind as a bat. Lovely chap though. One night the tik tac men were doing there bit and joe got it all wrong. The red hot favourite was crashing in price and joe pushed it out. The rush to get the money on with joe was to much and knocked him off his stool. As he flew through the air he managed to grab his satchel containing the money and finished up on the terracing with his arms around it
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Thanks for that Clash. Great memories of Cradley. The Cradley dogs were a very mixed bunch of canine athletes. My Dad being the habitual punter he was loved to bet in the Cradley handicaps on a Saturday night. His certain winner finding system was to back a treble with his own initials - R V G. Invariably the only V on the card was an ancient greyhound called Vimto Besant that was so knackered it used to get 20 yards start over 500 yard races. Inevitably it was caught by the first bend and my Dad's dream of wealth finished up down the swanee. I was about seven when I started to try to convert him to using his brains not his initials when having a bet but it fell on deaf ears.
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Yes I loved Cradley greyhounds used to go regular in the mid to late 70s with my Grand Dad and my 2 uncles - great memories
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Yes I loved Cradley greyhounds used to go regular in the mid to late 70s with my Grand Dad and my 2 uncles - great memories
Do you remember seeing an old chap Sid, usually in the bar that always had a radio to his ear held there by pulling his shoulder up. I think he had done it for so long that his shoulder had actually become deformed.