The end of pigeon racing

[johnyboy]

will there be pigeon racing when we are not around any more i ask myself, when we ever try and get the youngsters interested in pigeons these days they dont want to know,and the odd one that takes interest the mums and dads put a stop to it, so i ask myself will the sport of racing pigeons be a thing of the past in 50 years time.well if the youngsters of today dont take up the sport like we the youngsters of yesturday did then yes the sport will come to a end in time to come.i blame what im sitting here doing now playing around on a pc or play stations and game boys and stuff like that its stopping the youngsters of today takeing interest in the outdoors i seen it with my own kids they would rather sit in and play on all the electronic crap. god help us lol.

 

john boy

[Guest paulrstokes]

I think it will always be with us but differnet forms such as one loft races etc will be the norm.

[Guest]

when they make pigeons games on x box, play station, then youngsters may get into it.

[johnyboy]

lol dark chequer they better hurry lol

[Guest]

As far as I know there are no SHU 'youth programs' to encourage young people to take up pigeons, so unless there 's a steady influx of young fanciers to replace us aging ones, there aint going to be any pigeon anything by the end of 21st Century ... here anyway.

[Scotty]

You all seem to look at it as doom and gloom, pigeon racing will adapt with the times, it always does.

Who thought we would be having races for $1000000 and 1 loft races, all over the place 20 years ago?

 

You only have to look at the cost of pigeon racing today (not cheap) but fanciers keep and breed a lot more birds than in the past.

 

While ever there is the thrill of timing the winner in pigeons will keep racing

[ADE]

MY NEPHEW IS WELL INTO HIS BIRDS AND IT'S GREAT TO SEE AND HAVING A GOOD SEASON SO FAR, IT REALY IS A PITY OTHER YOUNGSTERS ARE NOT INTERESTED IN OUR SPORT BUT IT IS THE SIGN OF THE TIMES I'M AFRAID. IF IT'S NOT PART OF A PC OR GAMES CONSOL OR SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN PLAY ON YOUR PHONE IT AINT ANY GOOD TO THEM. THERE ARE A FEW YOUNG LADS JUST STARTED UP WITH TUMBLERS BY ME AND THEY ARE ALWAYS WELCOME AROUND MY LOFTS TO HAVE A LOOK AND GIVE EM INFO, JUST HOPE THEY TAKE UP RACING THEM.

[johnyboy]

we not be all doom and gloom scoty we just looking at the facts and haveing  a chat about it. thats what this forum is all about. chill man.

[me]

will there be pigeon racing when we are not around any more i ask myself, when we ever try and get the youngsters interested in pigeons these days they dont want to know,and the odd one that takes interest the mums and dads put a stop to it, so i ask myself will the sport of racing pigeons be a thing of the past in 50 years time.well if the youngsters of today dont take up the sport like we the youngsters of yesturday did then yes the sport will come to a end in time to come.i blame what im sitting here doing now playing around on a pc or play stations and game boys and stuff like that its stopping the youngsters of today takeing interest in the outdoors i seen it with my own kids they would rather sit in and play on all the electronic crap. god help us lol.

 

john boy

 

50 years time? don't be daft lad it will be a lot sooner than that. The ageing membership will mean that sooner rather than later the numbers will plummet relatively speaking "overnight" and the practical aspects of the sport i.e. finances, will be the death knell for it. It might still continue in a minor way with lots of wee inland races for the few that remain.

 

 

[frank-123]

there might not be as many fanciers around in twenty years but the end no way

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[me]

there might not be as many fanciers around in twenty years but the end no way

 

 

hope you are right Bart lad but I fear you are confusing people keeping pigeons because they love them with racing as we know it today. There will only be one union, finances will dictate that as well, but you only have to look at the balance sheet the Shu send out every year to work out roughly when it will go pear shape for us guys up here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

I don't think that pigeon racing will totaly die out. But I do think that it will come close to it! Up here in the UNC, I believe that Feds will become clubs, and Sections will become Feds, the UNC will survive, but birdage will be at most, a quarter of what it is now for the classic races. We will probably only need a couple of transporters rather than the 6 or 7 we currently have!

In far, far, far off future years, maybe not even in my lifetime, I feel we may see an influx of new starters as people will eventually turn and look for "natural" alternatives to the computer age we currently live in! If you work on computers all day, would you really want to spend your free time doing the same? Only my opinion!

[swilcox]

We should put all our efforts in to recruiting guys in there 50s and 60s! They have the time, money and temperment for pigeon racing (and a wish to get away from the wife), kids just have too much on there plate.

 

Stuart (Aged 33)

[Guest]

We should put all our efforts in to recruiting guys in there 50s and 60s! They have the time, money and temperment for pigeon racing (and a wish to get away from the wife), kids just have too much on there plate.

 

Stuart (Aged 33)

 

 

I have posted elsewhere that this is the group that should be targeted because these folk are usually settled / established so it is far easier for them to get started. Keeping a few pigeons was a very normal thing to do a hundred years ago, now very few keep them - and maybe it is no longer considered normal to keep them ... which makes it harder for new starts.  But we had a joke down the club just the other day about age: What is a young member? A young member is anyone under 50 yo.  

 

There needs to be a steady influx of younger folk every year to replace those older folk leaving. Without that you get what you see happening now , stagnation & overall membership dropping year-on-year. That's the reality. If we don't do anything to halt that decline, keeping pigeons is got to disappear eventually - it'll just peter out. Its a simple numbers-crunching fact.

[Guest]

my 12 yr son has started coming down to the club on a friday night and helping out with basketing...his own choice ...surprised me..but yet to have any interest with the birds at home, but on occasions asks wot time the birds are up?...maybe theres hope yet lol....paul

[THE FIFER]

youngsters sometimes take an interest, but appart from a few drift away, my g/son has been into my pigeons since a tot but he is 12 now and its all football, has a look occassionally but not much now, keeping pigeons involves too much time and work now for the younger ones, they like just pressing buttons etc and things happening, and even although they come in at some stage they meet the young lady of their life and that takes up a lot of their time and makes a change to their life, then the big change comes when they settle down to their own home, and i think in all those changes pigeons take a back seat if any, as they cost time and money,

[johnyboy]

i got a couple of lads into it they turned a old shed into a loft and got some birds but by the end of the first season they were gone again they dont want to know these days or they get fed up easyer these days.

[drewskitou]

when they make pigeons games on x box, play station, then youngsters may get into it.

 

This would help alot!  game would have virtual pets that breed, prize money,training......It remind me of DOCWE  (the horse racing game.    It could happen...

 

[Guest Paulo]

the non feathered birds always get involved otherthing too is all the political bollocks and fighting that goes on in pigeon racing theres some right fools in the sport it has too be said. I've never known a sport like it for bother

[Ronnie]

The two main thing's that are needed to attract new fanciers.

1 .Advertising .Lots of people often say to me how do them birds come back dont they just fly away?People are Ignorant towards pigeons i even had a guy knock on the door asking about keeping birds when i said are they to race or just as pets to fly round the house he looked gobsmacked"what you can race them" was his reply.So my opinion is first and foremost get some sort of advertising and lets get pigeon racing in the public eye for the right reasons.

2. ATTITUDE . Pigeon fanciers in the main (this is my opinion being new to the sport and only having birds 12 month's) are just plain nasty people who are scared of competition and bad loser's.I heard the secretary saying how he only clocked three birds to let the new guy's have a chance in our club last week he was tellin this in another club.What he failed to tell the other club members was how he wasnt even in the top 5 place's and the new guy's didnt fly cos i was flying the national and the other two guy's only have youngsters.Another example and if the fancier is reading this will know who he is.

when marking at the national for alencon some guy behind me comented on a bird in front of me (a red grizzle it looked like) i said yeah my kids would love that.Well the guy threw a temper tantrum saying how good this bird is and how it wont be beaten by the sh** in my basket and so one.I just laughed at him and told him to put his dummy back in.These are a few examples and not meant as a rant just to highlight the main problems i see for the future.

I am certainly starting to think if it was the right hobby for me.Just because of the miserable gits who seem to be attached with the sport.

This is my opinion and there are exceptions to the rule certain people on this site for instance are real gem's and some of the most generous people i have met in the sport are also on here.(also heard of some real assholes on here as well)

 

 

[Guest]

the non feathered birds always get involved otherthing too is all the political bollocks and fighting that goes on in pigeon racing theres some right fools in the sport it has too be said. I've never known a sport like it for bother

 

your remark about non feathered birds always get involved, please explain, AMANDA :-/

[Guest Paulo]

 

your remark about non feathered birds always get involved, please explain, AMANDA :-/

 

well when your a young lad in his teens to his twenties your too busy chasing women and drinking to be messing around with pigeons. Plus they aren't very trendy really are they my workmates are always ripping the mick out of me for having them apparently I'm not the type lol

[RAMA]

 

well when your a young lad in his teens to his twenties your too busy chasing women and drinking to be messing around with pigeons. Plus they aren't very trendy really are they my workmates are always ripping the mick out of me for having them apparently I'm not the type lol

 

must be somthing to do with all that icecream ;D ;D ;D ;D

[wee_peg]

i think johnnys right. there may not be any racing or very little racing in 50-100 years. its because there is no youth, i am 17 now, the youngest solo member in the fed i think. and there cant really be much more throught scotland!!!       its realy down 2 the fact that they are all lazy b*stards

[Guest Paulo]

 

must be somthing to do with all that icecream ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

Had one this morning when I got the birds training as well no wonder I've truned into a salad dodger