The Last Waterloo Cup

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The Waterloo Cup is a knock-out competition to find the champion greyhound which has been run continuously since 1836 at Altcar, near Liverpool. A six-month long search for the champion greyhound, it was started by the same man who founded the Grand National.

Set in 2003 against the background of the impending ban on Hunting by the UK parliament, this finely observed and emotionally charged documentary follows the very last grand-prix of hare coursing.

With unprecedented access, the film documents a rarely seen slice of English life while following the arguments both for and against its demise.

The climax of the documentary is the running of the last ever Waterloo Cup Final, on the day before the ban on hunting comes into force, a ban which made hare coursing illegal in England and Wales.

The Waterloo Cup has not taken place since.

The Waterloo Cup is run as a knock-out tournament between sixty four coursing greyhounds from Great Britain and Ireland. Supporters describe it as the ultimate test of a greyhound.

Opponents of hare coursing, such as the League Against Cruel Sports, see it as a celebration of cruelty.