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The Future Of Our Major Clubs


Kyleakin Lofts
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The Future of our Major UK Clubs.

by

John Clements

 

 

The future of pigeon racing in the UK is hanging by a thread. This is due to many things but the main cause is the inability of major or specialist clubs to leave past, died in the wool, practices behind and move into a new way of doing things and a new and wider way of seeing and thinking.

 

Keeping with the Major clubs and how they operate we have to ask them a vital question - that question is from where do you expect new members to come. A further related question is are these new members likely to come from those fanciers who at the moment do not race with major clubs and only race at club and federation level or is it more likely that you expect to poach members from similar major clubs that happen to overlap your boundaries?

 

If the answer is the second consideration (poaching from other major clubs) then it follows that eventually one or two of the existing major clubs will eventually fail and the more efficient ones will be left to take up the slack and possibly increase their membership. If the answer is the first consideration (recruiting from club and Federation flyers) then the major clubs themselves will have to change their strategy in order to narrow the competition gap between flying and competing in a specialist club and flying and competing at the level of club and federation.

 

I think most knowledgeable fanciers will agree the gap between the two types of competition is huge and for many fanciers the gap is at present unbridgeable and therefore out of the question.

 

This wide competition gap should be recognised by the committees of all our major clubs if they are to go forward and want to recruit members from club and federation flyers as a part of their long term growth strategy. The difference between the two types of racing has to be gradually closed by extending the pools to where it is possible to win something further down the list (even if only a small amount). .

 

The days of top flyers hogging the spoils simply because they are top flyers and happen to be located in a good position and possibly sending the most pigeons, is I feel, over. This attitude is in fact damaging the very club in which they compete. Surely there is enough respect and country wide publicity that comes from competing and doing well in a major club without also hogging the majority of the spoils as well.

 

Hogging spoils is certainly short term thinking. A growth strategy is long term thinking. A club without any growth strategy is suicide.

 

Opportunities therefore have to be distributed more widely if major clubs want to thrive and attract fanciers who at the moment are not competing and think it stupid to do so. Of course there will be opposition to these ideas. Some conceited fanciers with huge ego’s will describe those who do not compete at the top level in derogatory terms. Some will no doubt urge them to 'get their finger out and get some good pigeons (implying pigeons ’like I have’ for sale). Again, this is an old fashioned attitude designed to alienate and degrade rather than to encourage and help.

 

The whole attitude is the difference between good and bad thinking. We have to begin to understand better and wider. To get slightly philosophical about it, clubs that are controlled by bad selfish thinking will fail while those that follow good and unselfish thinking will succeed - it’s as simple as that. There is artistry in running a club and it is not just about maximising chances for the few and charging the rest very high prices. There is more to it than that. Much more I would say.

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The sport is declining for a lot more than that, the BOP infestation is getting worse year on year, not enough young people are interested in the sport of pigeon racing. Some specialist flyers are also members of their local clubs and use it for preparing their birds for the longer races.

John's views are a bit harsh and one of the main reasons that certain pigeon fanciers are refused membership to their local clubs just because they are good fliers. Wheres the sport in that :(

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