White City Sports Ground, Paisley Road West, Govan, Glasgow.
POSTCODE————————————G52 1EE
LOCATED—————————————Roughly four miles south west of Glasgow city centre and about half a mile south west of Ibrox stadium.
ORIGINAL SITE——————————-Constructed on Farm grazing land south of Glasgow Joint Railway.
DATE CONSTRUCTED———————-1927/28
DATE VENUE OPENED———————1928
Meaning other sports may have taken place prior to the arrival of Greyhound Racing.
FIRST MEETING——————————-April 7th 1928.
Greyhound Racing only.
LICENSED OR INDEPENDENT————NGRC.
All venues covered would have to be licensed with the government, licensed suggested in this section would refer to tracks operating under NGRC Rules.
INSIDE OR OUTSIDE HARE TYPE——–Outside MS Cable type before becoming an outside Sumner.
Please note that the Electric Hare suggested is only a guidance and would have been in operation for a certain amount of time at this venue. Although it is not necessarily guaranteed that it was operational all the time, as other types of lure may have been used and updated as time progressed.
DISTANCES————————————320, 530 and 550 yards.
Please note that most racing venues distances had become varied throughout the years, the ones given above were at once point set and offers only a guidance to the track size.
CIRCUMFERENCE—————————-Don’t know.
Please note that alterations at most racing venues throughout its existence would see that the circumference of the track would vary, the one shown above offers only a guidance to the track size.
BIG RACE NAMES—————————-Don’t know.
STADIUM SHARED WITH——————Speedway that first feature during June 1928 then later Glasgow Tigers held fixtures there between 1946 and 1968.
LAST MEETING——————————-April 15th 1972.
Greyhound Racing only.
STADIUM CLOSURE DATE—————-April 1972.
Meaning other sports may have taken place after Greyhound Racing had ceased.
STADIUM DEMOLITION——————-Early 1970’s.
BUILT ON SITE——————————-A section of the M8 Motorway and also building belonging to Strathclyde Police Station on the junction of Paisley Road West and Helen Street.
In some cases, structure’s that originally covered the venue after the stadium had been demolished, may have been themselves demolished too, so the one described is more likely to be the one which now presently covers the site.
EVIDENCE LEFT TODAY——————-Nothing known of.
FURTHER COMMENTS——————–Separated from The Albion Greyhound Racecourse by just a Railway Line.
The site of the old Glasgow White City Greyhound Stadium is found in the district of Govan, a district situated four miles south west of Glasgow city centre. The venue developed on farmland very close to two other Glasgow sporting venues, the nearest being the Albion Greyhound Stadium, which was separated only by the coming together of two railway lines, with the huge Ibrox Park, the home of Glasgow Rangers Football Club just beyond.
The venue developed through the successful beginnings of Greyhound Racing at Carntyne, who happened to be owned by the Scottish Greyhound Racing Company Limited, who’s success had influenced them to build another venue on the West side of the city. They christened the new venue The White City, with its opening meeting coming on the 7th of April 1928, with all the greyhounds being supplied by the greyhound company, and events run under rules similar to those of the NGRC.
Construction of the new stadium had been designed to host another up and coming sport, that of Dirt Track Speedway Racing. The bikes first meeting came on the 29th of June 1928, and would last just three seasons before the Speedway club disbanded, before featuring once again in 1939 and 1940. Once the Second World War hostilities had ceased, Speedway renewed its acquaintance with White City, and continued to host events virtually every season right up until its final appearance in June 1968.
Another motor sport, that of Midget Car Racing also featured during 1937. Greyhound Racing at the White City consisted of six dogs contesting over distances 320, 530 and 550 yards, with the greyhounds chasing an M S cable type outside hare, although an outside Sumner type hare was used during its later years. With the closure of the nearby Albion track in 1960, the decline of the sport was becoming more evident, but the bombshell came in 1967 after regeneration plans had been released by the council, showing not only new dwellings but also the construction of a new motorway covering the area.
With the stadium’s future uncertain, the Speedway promoters decided to pull the plug and move on, leaving the greyhounds to continue to see the stadiums days out. White City’s final meeting came on the 15th April 1972, with the evening programme disrupted due to electrical faults. Only three races were given the green light, the first, the fourth and the fifth, which to everyone’s disappointment became the last. A greyhound called Orient War took the honours in the stadium’s last ever race, this due to the rest of meeting being abandoned.
Today the site of Glasgow’s White City is covered by the Strathclyde Police Building which is situated along the side of Paisley Road West in Govan.
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