In reverence for the noble dead who lie there

ONE hundred years ago, minus a couple of months, a war fund and charity day was held at Greyville Race Course.

World War 1 was in full swing and the Durban Turf Club had made generous contributions to the war effort.

However, according to the book Riding in the Wind: The Centenary History of the Durban Turf Club 1996, an angry letter attacking the club appeared in The Natal Advertiser.

It stated: “So horse racing is in full swing in Natal. While men are dying by their thousands, while women are weeping bitter tears, while the cries of the desolate are ringing in our ears, Natal is enjoying horse racing.

“Natal, the part of South Africa which more than any other claims to be British, the part which more than any other would suffer if our Empire falls, disports herself with horse racing.”

The book goes on to say that the letter writer, claiming to be a member, also said horse racing served no useful purpose whatsoever.

“Fleet horses are not needed nowadays. The motor car and motor cycle have taken their place. Horse racing means a waste of thousands of pounds.

“I ask my horse racing friends to come to France. Come and look at this long, long row of silent figures, lying on the grass clad in torn mud-begrimed and blood-stained khaki. Who are they? They are the young men of your own blood who laid down their lives fighting for your liberty. Yesterday full of vigour, of splendid youth. Today cold in death.

“Then come into the cold, wet trenches. Thousands of these men will suffer all their lives from the pain of disease and weakened bodies. They, too, are paying the price for your liberty.

“Come and look at Delville Wood. One glance and you will feel shame that you are racing at such a moment. Here lies the very cream of our young South African manhood. In reverence for the noble dead who lie there, will not you close your racecourse until what they died for has been finally won? Common gratitude demands that the money you are spending at race meetings shall be used rather in helping the cause they died for. It is your liberty they have died for and from the silence of Delville Wood they call you to share in the sacrifice they have made by giving up your costly amusements.”

Stewards pointed out that racing had not been stopped in England, France or any of the British colonies.