THE  NEW  RACING  SEASON  IS  NOT  FAR  AWAY

In my last contribution, I made reference to the still high cost of the sport of racing pigeons and offered a suggestion that could help young fanciers of the future get started now a small suggestion for the more experienced existing fanciers.

Last season the Staffordshire Moorlands & District Federation organised a couple of highly successful Open races during the Young Bird season and paid out a massive £13,000+ in Prize and Pool money, so this year we have decided to repeat the procedure to enable those fanciers who choose to enter either or both races, to supplement their normal Club winnings, by picking up mega bucks in two special races that will challenge their sporting skills.

The races in question are the Gold Ring event which will be flown from Portland on Saturday 9 September and our celebrated Breeder/Buyer race which will take place one week earlier on Saturday September 2 from Yeovil. Gold Rings, which you will need to purchase for youngsters to enter this race, are available from Jeff Roberts (tel:01782 777930), but you will have to be quick because over 600 rings have already been taken up, so there are not very many left. The Breeder/Buyer Auctions, where you can purchase your entries for that Race will be held on 3 March at Kidsgrove, 18 March at Berryhill, 26 March at Macclesfield and 9 April at Kidsgrove. Full details can be found on the Federation website (www.moorlandsfedpigeons.co.uk).

                                                            Gold Ring, Breeder and Buyer 2016 winners

Whilst writing about the forthcoming Season may I remind Federation members of the dangers of Bird Flu outbreaks which seem to be on a steady increase all over the country and to encourage them to take all sensible security measures to try and keep this dreadful disease away from our lofts. Remember too many visitors to your lofts can easily help to spread the disease, particularly if they are not as diligent about matters of hygiene as you are yourself.

Now I must come to a subject which is very close to my heart and that is the rapid increase in the use of technology in the sport of racing pigeons.

Let me say right from the start that I am not totally against the use of superior technological improvements in our sport but I think we must ask ourselves some searching questions before we go headlong down this particular route.

Firstly, will the use of some forms of so called technical advancement really do what it is purporting to be going to do namely to extend the life of pigeon racing in, what is quite obviously a declining market, by encouraging a new generation of Fanciers to join the Sport, because it appeals to their greater love of the computer/smart phone era. I have my doubts!

 It will certainly have the reverse effect on the older generation fanciers who are too old to be taught new tricks and in truth enjoy the more direct contact with their birds and the means of racing them.

The use of technology where it is for the benefit of the birds, such as ETS clocking, and accurate weather forecasting (if only they could get it right) and means of communicating between organisations, together with its employment in the catching of cheats, is all well and good and to be encouraged but in other areas, where it is largely being introduced in order that companies can profit from the sale of new software and in some cases, hardware it is, in my opinion, detrimental to the sport’s future (limited though that may be).

Consider some of the implications of greater use of advanced technology.

If you will want to keep totally up to date you will more than likely have to keep updating your smart phone apps (I know they are mostly free at the moment but how long will that situation prevail in this hugely commercial world we live in), your computer program will need to be brought into line with any changes that your server imposes upon you (Windows 10 to Windows 11 etc), all expenses you need to include into the sport you wish to participate in. It’s rather like Football Clubs wanting to increase the cost of their Season Tickets without first consulting the supporters and we all know how some Clubs have been made to change their minds due to Supporters’ protests.

Can I ask you to consider two questions.

Can you afford to keep up to date with the ongoing developments of technology and even if you can, will newcomers to the sport consider all the investment worth it?

Will you get greater enjoyment and satisfaction from keeping things simple and saving money, that you can use for other purposes, rather than lining the pockets of other people?

Or, would you rather do everything at the click of a button?

That’s all for this week keep those youngsters nice and warm.

Cheers.

Brian T Smith

Press Officer - SMDF