BBC Documentaries

The Flapping Track (2008x125)

Air date: Jun 19, 2008

The story of South Yorkshire's Highgate Greyhound Stadium, which each week attracts a motley crowd of characters to the world of flapping - independent, unregulated greyhound racing. In the days when the mines dominated South Yorkshire, flapping was a way of life. But as the mines have closed, so have the tracks. In 1948, there were over 130 flapping tracks in the UK. By 1984, the year of the miners' strike, there were less than 60. Today there are just 11. The tracks may be dwindling, but to those involved flapping remains an obsession and Highgate is at the centre of these dogmen's lives. At Highgate, 'Tricky' Russ is in charge and as proprietor is all powerful in this unregulated world. But financially, the track is in trouble and his son shows no interest in entering the family business. In step the track's landlords who have regretted their decision to lease the track and are now determined to restore it to its former glory.