A TRIBUTE TO PETER (PIERO) OBERTELLI OF ASHFIELD.
It is with a heavy heart that I have to inform the fancy of the passing of my close friend, Peter Obertelli, on the evening of Sunday 1st October, just a few days short of his 82nd birthday. I loved the ‘Italian Stallion’ like a brother and can’t believe he is no longer with us. He was a great person and a very special pigeon racer. Some people knew him as Piero the Italian pigeon racer, others call him the ‘Italian Stallion’, but for the over 40 years that I’ve known him he has always been Peter Obertelli. He worked very hard with his 2017 young bird team and had a brilliant first race, winning two clubs, plus other premier club and Federation positions. He became so ill with chest problems in the days after that race; he couldn’t send to the second race and never really saw his birds again. What a way to go out, winning. Peter Obertelli was a winner all through his pigeon racing life and loved racing and showing his birds. He was a farmer’s son from the mountains in northern Italy and there was no fancy loft or management with his pigeon racing, he was very successful in club, Federation and National racing by using his outstanding stock man ship. I was lucky enough to have a couple of short phone conversation with before he became too ill to speak and we said our goodbyes. He has a wonderful wife in, Jan and a close family who were with him to the end. Our condolences from Betty and myself to Jan and the family at this very sad time.
Piero Obertelli was born in a small village north of Malan called, Piacenza, near Morfasso and the family house was built in the Italian mountains, and on a good clear day you could see the Swiss Alps. Peter was from a big family, with six brothers and five sisters, and only one of his brothers was also interested in pigeons and that was Renato, who is a very successful fancier in the London area. When the family lived in the Italian mountains the older brothers chop down trees for logs for the house fires and to sell, plus they lived off the cattle, sheep and poultry they kept. The young Piero used to hunt for Fox and Badger in the mountains, which often got him into trouble with his parents, as he should have been working in the woods cutting trees. He kept a few Fantails when he was a lad and started racing pigeons when he came to the U.K. in 1976. He bought a house with a nice long garden in Hounslow, near Heathrow Airport, and very soon erected a pigeon loft. Peter told me, the premier fanciers locally in the 1970’s were Jack Knowles, George Burgess, Brian Goodwin and Eric Hurley. At that time pigeon racing was his passion, but still enjoyed hunting and quite often went shooting Pheasant and Hare.
I first met Peter Obertelli on one cold winters night in the 1970’s, when I judged an old hens show class for Isleworth S.R. Club and he had just finished the season of a lifetime. There were two classes that evening and Peter had entered four hens, lifting 1st, 2nd and Commended in the young hens class and 2nd in old hens. After the show we had a chat and he told me about the fantastic young bird season he had had flying in the Thames Valley Federation. Peter started up in the sport in the spring of 1976 with birds he purchased for 50p each from Petticoat Lane Market in London and after doing no good with these birds he decided to purchase some better stock. About that time Eric Hurley of Hanwell was packing up so Peter purchased four hens and a cock, all Stassarts, from him and these birds were the base of his 1970’s family. He also purchased Eric Hur1y's 16ft x 6ft one compartment loft and after added a 8ft x 6ft young bird loft. He kept 50 old birds and bred 28 young birds each year. Peter broke his novice status at Leicester the first young bird race in 1976 and also won the longest young bird race from Durham that same year. Peter's three most outstanding 1977 young birds were the red chequer cock, ‘Albion Lad’, winner of 1st Club, 1st Thames Valley Federation Pontefract, a blue pied cock named ‘Albion Galahad’, winner of 1st Two Rivers 2-B Club Nottingham and 2nd Club, 3rd Thames Valley Federation Leicester (beaten by loftmate) and last, but by no means least, the dark chequer cock, ‘Albion Rocket’, winner of 1st Club, 2nd Thames Valley Federation Leicester. The early Obertelli racing team was formed mostly from the Stassart and Busschaert bloodlines and a good pigeon that Peter recilected from that time was the Busschaert cock, ‘Blue Boy’, and he was always the first bird home, but not always the first on the clock, having been caught to many times.
On moving up to the midlands in 1990, Peter and Jan packed up the pigeons, but later aquired a field near their home in Sutton-in-Ashfield, and started keeping a few chickens, sheep and of cause Jan’s beloved Horse. Peter restarted with pigeons in 2004 and the lofts were erected on the field, which has proved to be an excellent enviriment for the birds. The field was complete with stables and housed Jan’s very successful Show Jumper for many years. Jan was very interested in the pigeons and helps out any way she could, including stitching up and repairing broken legs on the damaged birds. She was very good with the pigeon having a vast experience of looking after live stock, after many years in Africa working with wild animals.
In recent years Peter has raced his birds successfully at his home in the Midlands and competed in a hot bed of pigeon racing, including being a fellow member of the very strong Sutton Central Flying Club with the great Ron Vardy. Peter’s several lofts at Sutton-in-Ashfield were set out in a square, with a slabbed area in the middle and he told me, the most important factor of his set up was all the structures are built at least 2ft off the ground. The Obertelli family of pigeons were mostly Janssen and Busschaerts based and the birds were paired up at the beginning of February, with the 24 pairs of old birds were raced on the roundabout system. Peter repaird the old birds for the longest races and liked them sitting ten day old eggs for the major 500 mile events, which produced fantastic results for him. Peter prefered sprint racing and although he won his fair shair of old bird races, he liked young bird racing best. The Obertelli’s enjoyed one of their best young bird season flying against the very best company in 2009 and won: 2nd, 3rd, 4th club, 12th, 14th Notts & Derby Borders Federation Stratford (2257 birds), 1st, 2nd, 3rd club, 15th Notts & Derby Borders Federation Windrush (2109 birds), 1st club, 6th Notts & Derby Borders Federation Newbury (2829 birds), 3rd club Salibury, 1st club, 7th Notts & Derby Borders Federation Portsmouth (2282 birds), 1st club Newbury, 4th club Messac. He was a member of one of the strongest clubs in the Midlands, in the form of the Sutton Central Club and was flying against premier fanciers like Ron Vardy and Phil Elliot, but he said this was great to keep his approach sharp, and spured him on to try harder to win. Peter loved to show his racing pigeons and has won many firsts through the years in club and open events, with big birdage. This is a testiment to the wonderful condition he kept his pigeons in! He has judged at several premier shows, including twice at the RPRA Southern Region Show.
KEITH MOTT (OCTOBER 2017).