Just reading Bert Brasspenning on the decline in pigeon racing. It's not just hear its everywhere. There are almost no more fanciers Young members hardly exist, they are busy with completely different things. They have so many possibilities that they do not embark on a time-consuming and expensive hobby such as the pigeon racing. The sport is aging, the largest group of fanciers are the ‘pensioners’ and they are certainly not interested in making changes. They want to enjoy their game every week. They have been used to it for many years so we would they want to change that. Yet that happens. Theumber of members is declining and that is not only due to the aging population. All kinds of working groups have been formed by the NPO for each type of game. The people who have taken part in it come up with all kinds of novel ideas, especially more races. People should have thought that 40 years ago when there were enough members. There were even associations that had to restrict membership numbers. Unfortunately the managers at the time did not think of aging, after all it went well and everyone was enthusiastic. Because of the working groups there are far too many races and after only one year racing the National NPO programme there are many dissatisfied fanciers. I know you don't have to participate in everything. But in the past it was true that everyone participated because it was a racing programme that fanciers with a small number of pigeons could take part in every week. The sport for the common man was affordable, now the prices have risen out of all reason. It is no longer fun and that is why more and more fanciers are throwing in the towel. The sport is becoming too professional and too commercial. The professionals with their mega lofts are taking advantage from all those older fanciers who come to the room every week with their pigeons. They ensure that there are still quite a few pigeons participating in the competitions for the glory of the professionals. The same professionals can then compete for the National titles and participation in the Olympiad which is held once every two years. Ridiculous, the Olympics are once every four years, but not in the pigeon sport. This way the commercial men can make a lot of money every two years from the pigeons or their youngsters. Fine, but that should not be above the heads of all those old grey men who often achieve a much better prize percentage than the mostflyers, all those who can read a result know that. Our National board, the NPO, is contributing to this. They have forgotten what it was like or perhaps they have never experienced how cosy the pigeon sport used to be. Now a pigeon club consists of an average of ten members. In the golden years there were many associations that had 80 to 100 members and some clubs had even more. Then there was a race within every club. Now it is often the same two or three that make up the leaders and they dare to advertise the fact. They should be ashamed of themselves. No, there is not much fun left. You have to find the pleasure on your own loft and that has nothing to do with whether you are a member of a Club with 10 or 50 members. Pigeon sport is a sport enjoyed at home and the whole family can be involved. It is what it is! In the Netherlands, the golden years are over and I am very happy that I was able to experience them. Now we are struggling along. Pigeons are still great fun. Every day I enjoy caring for them in order to get a good result at the weekend. Just relax in your loft, shake off all worries and be busy with your birds. The time that I wanted to race multiple races in one day is far behind me. I no longer have to think about going to the club several times a week. Friday evening is the nicest evening for me and everything else can now be done online. Money prizes are gone, so what does a result say? What matters now is the champion points, nothing more. We can forget large numbers of pigeons competing, because that will never come again. It just seems a little pathetic. This week in my club we had with 22 members from six participants for the third one-day long distance race and three of them did not appear in the results. It really means nothing anymore. In a little while we will no longer be able to find a cost effective way to take the pigeons to liberation sites of 500km and beyond. I don't think the NPO board is working on that yet. They are preoccupied with the organisation of the Olympiad to be held in 2021 in The Netherlands. That costs a lot of money while the event is only interesting for the ‘bobos’ and that can never be the purpose of an Olympiad. Still I hope to be there in two years, when I have become 84 years old! BERT BRASPENNING
