Why Are Pigeons Getting Worse?

By

John Clements

I recently wrote a piece about what I called the 'Busschaert Revolution'.

This revolution took place at a time in our recent past when ‘Open’ races were common. It was at a time when every club organised at least one open race for Old birds and one for Young birds every year; that was the Manchester pigeon fashion in those days.

Two Conflicting Views

The thing to notice about this time was the two conflicting attitudes fanciers seemed to carry at the same time. In club racing there was a radius or boundary that limited those who could compete. In 'Open' races these boundaries were temporally set aside so a larger area operated and everyone was encouraged to take part and have a go. .

This seemingly conflicting attitude resulted in fanciers in a club situation  voting not to compete against those outside the club radius but at the same time were quite happy to compete against outsiders when it came to their own 'Open Race'.

The Battle for Control

This battle of ideas for the future of the sport was eventually won by the 'Restricted Radius' club clan  and lost by those who favoured wider 'Open Race' ideas and a wider and less local view of pigeon racing - so today  only a few 'Open Races' take place, ideas are pretty much local ideas and why the Midlands National FC  now has a whole lot more smaller sections than it had when it was originally conceived in 1961. .  We have all become local minded.   The result is of course a steady decline in the quality of pigeons simply because Club and even Federation races are now contrived to exclude competition rather than welcome competition. .

Keep them out

By excluding top pigeons - by discouraging  open competition we are in fact also excluding pigeon history or anything meaningful  and when we exclude history or anything meaningful we are also wiping out artistry or skill in pigeons  and the possibly of top individual pigeons and top individual fanciers ever getting recognised. .   Thus the best pigeons and the best fanciers do not now earn their rightful place in our collective memories. They are purposefully hidden or purposefully forgotten because local thinking is designed to outlaw everything outside a local limited view.

A Gradual Decline

The result is of course a gradual decline of quality pigeons which is exactly what is happening on the ground. A stark illustration of what I mean is the situation where only one fancier sent to a club race but expected a result of his sole performance to be published. Last Year I counted seven instances of club results being published where only one member sent to his local club race.  This kind of 'Alice in Wonderland' local thinking  must be connected in some way or other  to the expectation of being able to sell  pigeons of inferior quality by some  kind of clever advertising, 'Slight of Hand' or  blatant use of the 'Half Truth' posing as the whole truth.

A Huge Deception

We are now all living a huge deception of our own making simply because many cannot stand ‘Open’ or ‘Big Race’ exposure and certainly cannot hope to sell pigeons if the whole truth ever came out.