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Northholme Football Ground, North Street, Gainsborough, DN21 2QW

Lincolnshire certainly has been blessed by the number of temporary greyhound tracks, with the town of Gainsborough becoming another of its towns added to that list.

The sport took place at the towns football ground, known as The Northolme Ground, the home of Gainsborough Trinity Football Club. History tells us that the venue originally developed as a cricket ground during the 1850’s, and that it wasn’t until the 1880’s that football first took place. The success of the football club had seen Northholme stage League Football for a number of seasons around the turn of the twentieth century, but by the outbreak of The First World War, Trinity had returned to playing amateur football.

But it was during the mid 1960’s that Greyhound Racing and also Whippet Racing featured at Northolme. It is not clear on how or where the track was laid, but it is known that the course was 220 and 250 yards in length. Spot grading was used to assess the dogs, who would eventually contest behind a ball hare type lure. Little else is known regarding dog racing, but no doubt The Northolme Ground still exists today, and of course still hosts amateur football, and even more so, some of the features of the ground still exists from the days of Greyhound Racing.

Two cuttings from The Greyhound Owner newspaper. The above one dated May 1966, the lower one dated June 1967.