Comments on: The future of the racing pigeons sport

By: Hugh McCann

Hugh McCann — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:38:55 +0000

I have read some of the comments on this site and it is great to see so many young people from different nationalities keen on the sport. I raced pigeons in Dublin many years ago in two clubs. The sport was very popular in those days and competition strong. I have been out of the sport for many years and live in Canada. I would eventually like to return to the sport. I find the sport has become very expensive and I think this has a negative effect on people getting involved. Money plays an important part in this sport in buying good stock as a foundation. I do agree with this but prices of birds has become somewhat out of the reach of people both young and not so young. To me it will always remain a great hobby and a great sense of joy when your birds return from an upland race or overseas race. Pigeon fanciers need to start looking at the sport as a hobby and not focusing in on the financial aspect alone. I do hope the sport survives for a long time to come.
Regards Hugh.

By: Robert Yumul

Robert Yumul — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:48:26 +0000

I my self was a big fan of a homing pigeons,It’s hard for me to express my story in English since its not my born language,Just to infrom you all. Here in my country(philippines) The Fanciers are still alive, young as 7y/o, even though they are not a member of those expensive clubs, still they manage to take care of Racing Pigeons, up to 4pairs.
Long live for all the Fanciers!

By: Bob May

Bob May — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 19:31:57 +0000

The fact is the sport was never that popular. I toured the mining villages of the North East in the 1940s with my father who sold household goods door-to-door. Being a boy of 8-9- 10-11, I was dead keen on all aspects of pigeon keeping and racing and was keen to view and visit coal miners lofts. To be frank we rarely saw any. And I’m talking Blackhall Colliery, Easington Colliery and places like Trimdon. The same when years later I visited Cardiff and the Welsh valleys and Belgium and the Kortrik pigeon hotspot areas. The reason for this is a typical mining village had 6 local fanciers and another 8 – 10 out in the wilds so it was’nt exactly bouncing with pigeon activity. Pigeon fanciers then had the ‘anti-social stigma of keeping pigeons or of being known to race them. No one said anything but the back street gossips 250+ had a field day. In a way what they said made sense, they said “Fancy wasting your time and money on racing pigeons when [his] children need clothes, shoes and food in there stomachs. Another problem was the sort of man who kept pigeons also frequented pubs, gambled on horses and had a few personal vices which pointed him out to the neighbour’s as [in their own words] not-a-full-shilling. Newcomers to the sport were treat rather shabbily by the other members. They had to learn to be very diplomatic indeed at club meetings, in fact to shut up and say now’t and heaven forbid they should buy good birds, erect a nice loft or be serious contenders for top club honours. If this was the case then more often than their birds got stolen, the loft set on fire and the club would be quickly disbanded and then reformed again shortly thereafter with ‘this better-class newcomer’ refused membership. Lets take ‘helping the club to raise funds’. Big mistake, if you did this you soon found that you were doing everything yourself, if you organised a young bird sale then it was you and you only, your so called club mates didn’t attend the sale, didn’t buy any birds and the carping [at you] soon got out of hand and as every one knows those who spoke the loudest won all the arguments and ‘invariably did the least amount of club work. Apart from all this you were responsible for feeding and watering the birds, for cleaning them out, and human nature being w hat it is having the heartbreak of losing quite a lot of favourite youngsters, to rub it in in a little you soon discovered the local cat was ‘out to get you’, a ferret or wild mink could soon wipe you out and a bag of corn didn’t last a week. Worse still at least a 25% of the pedigrees you were supplied with when you bought birds in the UK were completely fictitious, and if you bought Belgian birds it was 75% untrue if you had paid good money for them. Take it from me if your pedigree says from De Grand Old Champion when paired to a daughters of De 1st national De-Holland is all holy-baloney. You soon learn the Belgies sell racing pigeons that have won races to the local butcher for £1.00 each at the end of the year and ‘conning English fanciers is the national sport. One well known Begian fancier toured farms and small lofts buying scemmies which he re-sold as the real thing. Another Belgian family of brothers ended up worth fortunes out of passable-sprinters. And in the UK a well known breeding establishment have 6 large barns in which loose pigeons fly all over the place mating at will and this is their select breeding establishment. This is the pigeon sport. And ask yourself why each year do so many top-class fanciers pack it in?

By: Yaset

Yaset — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:38:23 +0000

i think it has a lot to do with what you where taught when you where little. i’m from cuba and since not every body can have video games. pigeons over there are a major sport we have racing pigeons but the most commun is the horseman thief pouter.

By: Charlie Hall

Charlie Hall — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:46:56 +0000

Why not try local television to announce race results and perhaps have a regular pigeon feature – say half an hour once a week? After all they do it for canal boats, caravans, and fishing so why not pigeon racing?
Unless the picture that many people have today of the pigeon being a scrawny, disease ridden, filthy pest is dispelled then no future interest is going to be created. That would be a pity. There’s so much pleasure to be had from raising a youngster and watching it mature. There’s pride in seeing it return from its first race even if it doesn’t win and there’s a sense of achievement when you start to pick up prizes. I raced pigeons many years ago. Regretfully my health and financial circumstances prevent me from doing it now but I’ll never forget the sense of anticipation when waiting patiently beside the loft on a Saturday afternoon. It was magic.