Latest news with #Eade


Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Injunction ‘last lifeline' for racing
File photo: Stephen Jaquiery A High Court interim injunction is the "last lifeline" left for the greyhound racing industry, a former trainer says. Greyhound Racing New Zealand is seeking the injunction to stop the government's plan to end greyhound racing in New Zealand. The hearing will be held in Wellington tomorrow. In December last year, Racing Minister Winston Peters announced the government's 20-month plan to wind down the industry to enable the re-homing of racing dogs and to provide a transition period for people involved in the industry. The first race of what could be New Zealand's last season took place last Wednesday. There are six trainers in Southland and Otago and about 40 greyhounds, but not all the dogs race. Southland Greyhound Racing secretary-manager Bronwyn Eade said an interim injunction could buy the industry some time. If the injunction was successful it would stop the process of closing down the industry until a court hearing could be held. "There's a little bit of hope." It would also allow racing to continue beyond July next year when it was scheduled to stop which would extend the time trainers and owners could earn an income, Mrs Eade said. When there was no more racing the owners would be left with the dogs. "The government has said there won't be any compensation for the greyhound owners and trainers." Throughout the country there were about 1500 dogs that would need to be re-homed, Mrs Eade said. Every year about 670 dogs were re-homed at a cost of more than $8 million to Greyhound New Zealand. "You take the racing away, how is that going to be funded?" While the prospect of the sport ending was sad, people were more angry than anything else, she said. Animal welfare was the reason given but the industry had made big improvements in the past eight years, Mrs Eade said. It was hard to know why the government had decided the dogs were not well looked after when the opposite was true, she said. What she found even more puzzling was why the government would continue to allow New Zealanders to bet on Australian greyhound races, which equated to about $48m gross revenue coming into the economy. "There's a double standard and its hypocritical." She said the Australian dogs were not better cared for because New Zealand dogs were the most regulated greyhounds she knew of anywhere in the world. To add insult to injury, the government planned to requisition $15m of Greyhound New Zealand's money. To take money from an incorporated society the government had to prove there was financial misconduct, insolvency or failure to submit returns, she said. As there was no evidence of this the government would need to "fabricate a new law" to allow the money to be taken, Mrs Eade said.


Irish Times
24-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Racecourse attendance in Ireland up nearly 7% for first six months of 2025
Total racecourse attendances in Ireland for the first half of this year were up almost 7 per cent, according to Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) statistics released on Thursday. HRI reported that total crowd figures reached 566,377, an increase of 6.9 per cent compared to the corresponding first six months of 2024. A key driver in the increase was a record-breaking Punchestown festival where, on the back of notably good weather, attendance jumped 15 per cent to 136,651 over the five days. The figures here emulate increases in British attendance levels so far in 2025. 'This period last year was blighted by significant disruption to the fixture list due to the weather and with a clearer run this time, most of the key numbers have recovered well,' said HRI chief executive Suzanne Eade . 'The reported rise in attendances across the board is most encouraging. The terrific success of the Punchestown festival not only shows how popular our sport remains with all age groups, but how important it is from a social and economic perspective,' she added. Betting turnover is up so far this year, with total on-course betting reaching €39.3 million, an increase of 12 per cent on 2024. It included a 14.1 per cent hike in on-course bookmaker betting to €35.7 million. Total Tote betting reached €34.2 million, up 6.2 per cent, although Tote betting on-course was down €200,000 or 5.3 per cent. Strong overseas business, particularly in breeze-ups and store sales, resulted in a 17.1 per cent increase of bloodstock sales at public auction to €68.4 million. New regulations on traceability and horse welfare have resulted in two new categories introduced by HRI to record the numbers of horses, and their status, with a licensed trainer. Across the first six months of the year, the number of horses in training, declared 'Racing Active', by their designated trainer is 8,594, an increase of 2.4 per cent on last year. There were 2,888 horses in the care of a licensed trainer registered as 'Racing Inactive' in the first six months. 'Since February of this year, new guidelines have been introduced to improve equine traceability and welfare. Our figures for the numbers of horses in training are now recorded in two distinct categories, allowing for a clearer assessment of a horse's status while in the care of a licensed trainer for the first time,' said Ms Eade. There was a reduction in the number of new owners to 412 from 486, but the number of active owners – those that made an entry – is up 2.6 per cent to 3,860.

Sydney Morning Herald
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
The ex-AFL coach helping dads tackle the Andrew Tate factor
This story is part of the June 21 edition of Good Weekend. See all 15 stories. Rodney Eade spent more than half his lifetime within the hypermasculine world of Australian rules football, first as a player with AFL clubs Hawthorn and Brisbane, then as coach of, respectively, the Sydney Swans, the Western Bulldogs and the Gold Coast Suns. 'One thing I learnt,' says Eade, 67, who retired his clipboard in 2017, 'is that boys and young men need direction and mentoring. And when they become partners and fathers, they continue to benefit from support.' Such lessons continue to resonate in Eade's current role as partnerships manager for The Fathering Project, a secular, not-for-profit organisation that he says is in increasing demand for the father-focused support groups and programs it runs through schools, corporations and sporting clubs. 'Most fathers are looking for a better connection with their kids and to be a better role model, but often they don't know how,' he says, stressing the considerable benefits of addressing this. 'Evidence shows that the developmental outcomes of children [improve] exponentially when they have an engaged father, or father figure, in their life,' he adds, referencing research linking attentive fathering to a reduction in children's behavioural problems, emotional problems and delinquency. Founded in 2013 in Western Australia by respiratory physician Professor Bruce Robinson, The Fathering Project facilitates almost 500 dads' groups around the country. Demand has never been greater, says its CEO, Káti Gapaillard, something she puts down to fathers feeling caught between expectations of providing for their families during a cost-of-living crisis and what can feel like a conflicting desire to be a more present parent. 'So they come to us looking for tools to help them connect with their kids and to other fathers – without judgment,' she says. While The Fathering Project's focus is on fathers and children of both sexes, it has highlighted many boys' struggles with emotional regulation, aggression and gendered stereotyping, issues highlighted to devastating effect in Netflix shows, such as the universally acclaimed British drama Adolescence and the Danish thriller Secrets We Keep. 'Boys, especially, are looking for a way to see who they are and express their masculinity,' says Gapaillard, 'and if we don't provide that identity-development support, then they find it somewhere else, either through a peer group or online, via potentially harmful male role models.' Professor Michael Flood, a Fathering Project associate and researcher on masculinities and gender at the Queensland University of Technology, says influencers such as Briton Andrew Tate use discussions about finance, fitness and self-improvement as 'Trojan horses through which sexism and misogyny are smuggled in'. Fathers, he says, can help inoculate their sons against such things: 'Just as violence can be passed down through generations, so can nurturing.'

The Age
20-06-2025
- Sport
- The Age
The ex-AFL coach helping dads tackle the Andrew Tate factor
This story is part of the June 21 edition of Good Weekend. See all 15 stories. Rodney Eade spent more than half his lifetime within the hypermasculine world of Australian rules football, first as a player with AFL clubs Hawthorn and Brisbane, then as coach of, respectively, the Sydney Swans, the Western Bulldogs and the Gold Coast Suns. 'One thing I learnt,' says Eade, 67, who retired his clipboard in 2017, 'is that boys and young men need direction and mentoring. And when they become partners and fathers, they continue to benefit from support.' Such lessons continue to resonate in Eade's current role as partnerships manager for The Fathering Project, a secular, not-for-profit organisation that he says is in increasing demand for the father-focused support groups and programs it runs through schools, corporations and sporting clubs. 'Most fathers are looking for a better connection with their kids and to be a better role model, but often they don't know how,' he says, stressing the considerable benefits of addressing this. 'Evidence shows that the developmental outcomes of children [improve] exponentially when they have an engaged father, or father figure, in their life,' he adds, referencing research linking attentive fathering to a reduction in children's behavioural problems, emotional problems and delinquency. Founded in 2013 in Western Australia by respiratory physician Professor Bruce Robinson, The Fathering Project facilitates almost 500 dads' groups around the country. Demand has never been greater, says its CEO, Káti Gapaillard, something she puts down to fathers feeling caught between expectations of providing for their families during a cost-of-living crisis and what can feel like a conflicting desire to be a more present parent. 'So they come to us looking for tools to help them connect with their kids and to other fathers – without judgment,' she says. While The Fathering Project's focus is on fathers and children of both sexes, it has highlighted many boys' struggles with emotional regulation, aggression and gendered stereotyping, issues highlighted to devastating effect in Netflix shows, such as the universally acclaimed British drama Adolescence and the Danish thriller Secrets We Keep. 'Boys, especially, are looking for a way to see who they are and express their masculinity,' says Gapaillard, 'and if we don't provide that identity-development support, then they find it somewhere else, either through a peer group or online, via potentially harmful male role models.' Professor Michael Flood, a Fathering Project associate and researcher on masculinities and gender at the Queensland University of Technology, says influencers such as Briton Andrew Tate use discussions about finance, fitness and self-improvement as 'Trojan horses through which sexism and misogyny are smuggled in'. Fathers, he says, can help inoculate their sons against such things: 'Just as violence can be passed down through generations, so can nurturing.'