Priestfield Stadium, Gillingham
In this present day of professional football it is very difficult to accept that greyhound racing would take place at a football ground, but during the decades between The Great Wars, it seems that a handful of venues did just that.
This paragraph may raise some eyebrows, that one of those venues was that of Priestfield Stadium, the home of Gillingham Football Club. Local press reveals that it staged its first meeting on the 7th of December 1927.
It is known that a trackless hare system was used as the lure, with the hounds contesting around a temporary track laid around the perimeter of the pitch. A meeting had been advertised for Boxing Day 1927, but other press cutting reveals that the meeting was called off due to frost.
Further meetings are advertised in the press although the final one known to appear, is for a meeting dated the 23rd of June 1928. Unfortunately exact details on how it operated remains unavailable at this present time.
The Priestfield Stadium still exists today, although not surprisingly totally transformed and still hosts professional football, but it is very unlikely that any evidence of Greyhound Racing remains.
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