THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - RECOGNISING AN OPPORTUNITY IS HALF THE BATTLE

By Graham Potter | Sunday, June 23, 2013

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily

Provincial Cup race-meetings, such as the upcoming Caloundra Cup meeting at Corbould Park next Saturday, have always played a vital role in the general make-up of Australian racing.

Their strength lies in the fact they are largely community orientated race-days and, as such, the source of the support they receive differentiates them from the bigger metropolitan carnivals to a marked degree.

They are race-meetings where town residents come out in their thousands to support their local race-club and the club returns the compliment by putting on a show worthy of the turnout on a social day out where the emphasis is often far removed from the pure guts, glory and gambling aspect that dominates the city carnivals.

Not everybody likes the format.

It is true to say that, to some, the partying and fun grabbing attitude that most bring to the track on these occasions can be an unwelcome distraction.

In part, at least, any downside in this regard, with the exception of anything that adversely affects the horses, could be tolerated with the understanding that these meetings do help bring racing first-hand to not only a wider audience but, very importantly, to a far younger audience demographic than usual.

So it is that, on one hand, racing benefits from the opportunity provided by these provincial feature races to show off its wares to non-regular racegoers … some of whom might get just enough of a taste for the action to want to return on another day.

On the other hand, the level of positive spin-off carried on from there to future meetings is debatable.

Popular racing opinion is that the majority of Provincial Cup day crowds are ‘one day wonders’ who will not be seen again until the corresponding day the following year and the race-clubs involved would do well to consider their options and efforts in reshaping that situation.

Perhaps complimentary tickets for the next meeting should be handed to a portion of the crowd as a ‘welcome back’ gesture to try and get some momentum going in attracting new clientele.

Creating better attendance figures at the track has to be a priority for racing authorities. They can no longer walk around muttering the old self-fulfilling prophecy of, ‘we can’t get people to the track anymore.’

There is an exciting new Racing Board in place. Their view has to take in a two-part question: 1) Why are we not getting people to the race-track? 2) What must we do to get people to the track?

Spectators arrive in droves at Suncorp Stadium and the Gabba because most of the games played there create a situation amongst spectators where they feel embraced by a warm, pulsating atmosphere which is very much part of their match experience.

Because of the dramatic fall in on-course attendance, atmosphere, carnival days apart, is almost non-existent at the race-track these days, hence any attempt to market racing as a premier sporting venue will fall flat … that is until racing can again get a decent crowd into the place.

And for those shaking their heads, I’m not talking about the old jammed-packed, standing room only days. I’m talking about a decent sized crowd which is surely an attainable goal.

Every time racing gets a crowd it is an opportunity to market and promote the sport to that audience to help take racing into a better future. That promotion has to be maximised through fine focus and planning.

Days like next week’s Caloundra Cup can provide a stepping stone towards that ultimate goal if the options are managed correctly.

It is still a world of opportunity out there. Racing just has to recognise it when it is offered.

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