The enduring charm of the Bangalore Derby

 

The curse of BTC election for members

 

By Sharan Kumar

 

Members are inducted into almost all race clubs in the country based on their credentials after being in the queue till such time the Managing Committee feels that the time is ripe for inducting new members to the club. The size of the membership of the club is dependent on the size of the club. Clubs like Royal Western India Turf Club and Madras Race Club have about 1000 members.

 

In recent times, the Madras Race Club inducted in excess of 200 members. The criteria were simple: the applicant had to pay the requisite fee of about Rs 8 lakhs plus GST besides having an interest in the sport. That is the way it should be. Expansion of the club also fetches revenue to the club and only those who are keen will apply for membership. After all race clubs are not service clubs but clubs run for a specific purpose. In this case, to conduct the sport of horse racing.

 

Essentially, a race club should have members who should be stakeholders in the sport like racehorse owners, and longstanding racegoers. Unfortunately, in Bangalore Turf Club, you can easily become a member if you are part of the family of existing members. There are 350 members in the club and if five or more members die during the course of the year, elections are held to fill up the vacancies. The members are not selected but elected by the general body. The captive electorate rarely votes beyond the family members of the existing members. The others have to bribe their way through by hosting elaborate parties. The aspirant may end up spending lakhs of rupees and in some cases, those wishing to take a shortcut, have to sponsor the races and in those cases, the amount will swell to astronomical figures.  

 

Such a system can only prove detrimental to the promotion of the sport. With most of the members not having any stake in the race, they treat their membership of Bangalore Turf Club like they would with any other social club. The only difference is that at other social clubs like Bangalore Club or Century Club, they are just members, very disciplined, paying all the requisite fee which keeps being revised time and again. They enjoy the facility of using the club but don’t get any freebies as you get in Bangalore Turf Club. The BTC members only look for what benefit they can get rather than thinking of what best they can do for the sport.

 

The Royal Western India Club was in the throes of a financial crisis following the Covid Pandemic. The members willingly chipped in with huge contributions to keep the sport going. The members pay an entrance fee unlike in BTC where the members are the modern-day version of freedom fighters – fighting for everything that is free!

 

There is talk that this time around, the members are condescending to vote for racehorse owners. But blood is thicker than water. Unless the person who is contesting the election can prove useful to members in some way or the other, he or she has little chance of getting elected. Any bureaucrat or police officer has a good chance of getting elected if he has plenty of service left in the profession so that he can be of use not to the club but to the members! And others have to give lavish parties in exotic settings. Or in the hotels owned by influential members! Damn the conflict of interest.

 

When the new TDS regime kicks in April, the club will find it difficult to survive because the incomes are bound to drop on every count. One has to see if the members show any commitment like those at Royal Western India Turf Club or just abandon the ship. The experience thus far is that the BTC members want to enjoy all the facilities at the expense of public money without any qualms.

 

Can you find exceptions among members and find those who are greatly committed to the sport and are willing to contribute more than the Rs 250 that they pay as a membership fee for one year? Unlikely.