ARE RULES & REGULATIONS REALLY NECESSARY?

The answer, to the above question is obviously ?YES? of course they are but having said that all sorts of anomalies seem to crop up, if existing Rules, often made many years ago, are examined closely under today?s racing circumstances.
Can I ask you a question, when did you last look at the Rules & Regulations of your Club and Federation?
If you?re anything like me your answer will be ?Not for a very long time? or ?Can?t remember when it was necessary for me to look at them?.
The above answers may be very common throughout the Fancy but if so I think we are all neglecting our responsibilities, to some extent, and would be well advised to make a bit of time available and take a look at this important factor in the sport of pigeon racing.
During my short time as President of the Staffordshire Moorlands & District Federation (just about 5 months actually), the question of whether certain Rules have been broken or not has been posed on several occasions. This has concentrated my mind on the whole subject of Rules & Regulations and the way they affect the way we play our sport.
I have practiced what I am preaching and read and reread the Rules etc of my Club and our Federation and certainly some of the Rules seem, to say the least, to be somewhat antiquated and are capable of being misinterpreted. THIS MUST BE CORRECTED, but changes can only be made by members in the form of proposed and seconded Propositions from members via Clubs, which can then be considered by the Federation membership as a whole.
Can I therefore, urge all members and Officials of our Federation member clubs to join me and just take a look at the Fed Rules, see if you agree with them, bearing in mind we now live in the 21st Century, and if not, to spend a few minutes drawing up a proposition to try and change the Rule for the better. I know the Fed AGM may seem to be a long way away but time soon passes and with the passage of time we all forget what we wanted to change. Do it now, and as the season progresses do it again and you may find it not to be such an arduous task as it may be if you do it later on.
I know I am going to try and make some changes through my Club, Macclesfield, so if you would like to join me in improving still further the Federation of which we are all so proud, then put your thinking caps on and come up with the goods. I look forward to seeing the results of your efforts.

Racing with the SMDF
Rules or no Rules the highly successful 2017 racing season continues for the members of the Staffordshire Moorlands & District Federation with a race from Hullavington on Saturday 13 May.
I?m not sure whether or not it is a record turnout in terms of birdage but what I am sure of, is that it is the best support the Federation has had from its members for the first 4 races in many a year and if we continue in the same way from now on the justification of the decision by the Management Committee, to continue paying out Prize money will have been more than justified.
Now down to the race itself. The race team again lived up to their reputation for giving the best possible races by slightly delaying the liberation from the original anticipated time, in order to provide optimum flying conditions at Hullavington, as the photograph on the Fed website (www.moorlandsfedpigeons.co.uk) shows.
The members enhanced their now rapidly growing reputation for top notch results by again preparing birds to compete at an outstandingly high level of performance which can be best illustrated by the following examples from Saturday?s race.
Topping the Federation and also claiming 2nd spot as well, was Hand Bros from the Berryhill Club with velocities of 1877.58 and 1872.57ypm. Quite a performance gentlemen, congratulations on a job superbly done. We won?t say anything about taking the first 5 places at Berryhill otherwise it will look rubbing salt into the wound -won?t it!
However the members of the rest of the Fed can also feel very proud of themselves with the winners of each Club exceeding the 60mph barrier and not just the winners either.
I can highlight some other top of the shop performances gleaned from the early bird times sent into the Secretary - for example, Prince Bros took the first two positions at Ipstones on 1859 & 1853ypm. Whilst at Packmoor, Roberts Bros went one better by claiming the first three slots on 1835,1821 and 1816. Dave Yeomans came up trumps at Shelton, again with the old one, two, three on 1800 and two on 1799 and at Blythe Bridge, Mr & Mrs Andrew Hargreaves recorded the same positions on 1807, 1776 and 1774. Just to finish the outstanding performance that jumped out of those early times comes M Parnell & Sons at Kidsgrove who claimed first and second places recording, 1776 and 1774.
All brilliant performances I?m sure you will all agree but it always seems such a pity that not many Clubs appoint their own Press Officer to enable these fanciers to get their just rewards in terms of publicity in the Fancy Press. Notable exceptions to this are Macclesfield and Packmoor where George Greenwood and Jeff Roberts give outstanding service to their club members by submitting race reports every week to the media for publication well done gentlemen, I?m proud of you.

Perhaps other clubs will follow these two examples, I?m sure their members would appreciate it and maybe buy them a pint for their trouble!
That?s the lot for this week but can I urge you to give the first part of this article your serious consideration and perhaps send in your suggested Propositions regarding the Rule NOW. I?m sure the Secretary won?t mind.
Cheers for now.

Brian T Smith
SMDF - Press Officer