The Future of Pigeon Racing in the UK: Is the Sport in Trouble?

[@AndrewKenmare]

Could you put a link to your new channel...can't find it using the search function??

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

www.youtube.com/@pigeonracerTV

[@AndrewKenmare]

@@howtotrainyourpigeon cheers Dan....I've subscribed and look forward to seeing the full video and other content.

[@davidmitchard1330]

Hello Dan, enjoyed the clip with you, John Water's & Ian Evans, I'm in the SWest Region, is it your intention to submit a letter into your club for the Hall Report to be implemented in full. Council need to wake up & move forward & be compliant with technology that's available instead of being stuck in the 1950. I look forward to your racing clip's this year best of luck.

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

@@davidmitchard1330 thanks. I don't think it's something I will (or can?) submit until I've heard what the RPRA's plan is. I'm hoping they've spent the last 2 years making one and we should all be looking forward to what they've come up with, and review it objectively. Failing that, well I don't know.

[@kevinkenneally8808]

Love the videos great job keep em coming 😊

[@Sleepwalk60]

I’m hoping to take the sport back up again , one off putting thing for me is so many clubs with only a handful of members would rather fly in a club where there was 50 odd members so I know there would be decent competition. Keep up the good work you’re doing.

[@Freddie-fo7zu]

Ok so been watching your channel so I have decided to take up the sport !! Thank you for your inspiration I’ll also be making a KZbin channel as I think animal care is amazing to support veterans with PTSD and could be useful in giving injured veterans a hobby

[@tonypeters9763]

Great video Dan, good to see you have started to look deeper into the sport but sad to see a new comer doing this and not people who have been involved for many years, as one of the fellas said it always gets left to others to sort out. Keep the videos coming and it would be good to see and up date to see how things are getting on

[@johnstewart1148]

Thank you for your hardwork raising these issues 😊

[@CountryEBT]

Great content nice to see something more “modern” 😅 I’ve just taken a kit of 12 birds from my dad who’s been flying for the past 10 or so years. Definitely don’t know anything myself about flying however it’s just for me, my wife and the kids to enjoy. Keep up the good work! Nice to see a local lad thanks.

[@death5913]

Definitely will get back at the sport once i got my own place 😅, never got involve in racing but been flying em as a hobby, would really look forward. The entire process seems fun from breeding-training-racing

[@richardmarsden3724]

Great videos, really promotes the sport. lots of good sense put across. To me I think raising the RPRA fee is rather short sighted as it produces a barrier to entry for new starters. Instead i think an increase in the ring price would be a better option. For example, someone ordering say 200 rings would pay more and debatably use more of the RPRA resources (transfers , stray reporting etc), but its there choice to breed that amount of YBs; however a new starter may only breed say 20 YBs so would pay a smaller contribution and less of a barrier to entry.

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

Good point 👍

[@bobbywickes8937]

I've been doing this 5 years now. I have never once known when a region meeting is happening. I have never once been empowered to suggest changing the way anything operates. From what I gather, you can raise an issue at the club, if the club votes in favour (getting a dozen pigeon men to agree on a subject is basically impossible) then it can go to a vote at the region which makes it even more unlikely to be agreed. I am only speculating this because as I said, I've never been aware of the regional meetings. The whole organisation needs to operate differently and stop being so wasteful. I agree with you that the increase is not the issue, it should have been this value years ago. The organisation needs to tighten it's belts and create a more automated environment which relies far less on expensive manual processes.

[@The71PigeonFancier]

Brilliant well done and your definitely promoting the sport. Keep up the good work

[@alecmcdonald744]

Dan , well done 👍 . I think people need to open there eyes even with an increase to £35 . Its less than ,68p a week . For crying out loud . Should have been £35 10 years ago

[@colinbrooks6290]

Hi, fantastic important episode…. The contents so relevant…. More please

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

Coming.

[@thegeordiefellwalker8878]

without people like yourself doing their bit to save a declining sport its going to be tough. modernisation sounds good.I must admit when I raced I sort of took the club & fed secretary for granted. good to see you working on your trapping system its where races are won & lost 👍

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

Secretary's are definitely undervalued too. A job very few people will volunteer to take on from the sounds of it.

[@pietswiet1134]

Once again great video, keep up the work promoting this amazing sport/hobby

[@dennischampness1174]

Our club rules state that the pad for a ets system has to be inside the loft the way you have yours set up it is outside so think it's worth checking the rpra rules just to see if your set up is OK 👍

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

Yes I've checked and the RPRA rules specifically say birds cannot be timed in the loft is closed. By shutting the landing board/door it closes the loft and prevents the birds from gaining access to the loft and prevents them from timing in. I spent a good while checking because I wanted to make sure it was legal 👍

[@stuartfawcett6726]

Club rules can't override or contradict Union rules. The trap is within the rules.

[@BalanGTI86]

Well done m8 👏🏼👏🏼! Greets from Belgium

[@maryahfoo]

Great discussion on that issue Dan, Could you please tell me which camera and mike you are using if you don’t mind. Thankyou 😊

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

Gh5 and radio mic. I can't remember which one but any is better than an internal mic.

[@mickclarke8749]

This is the trick I couldn't explain your on it I'd love to have the space I'd be flying too your doing great good luck this year

[@Freddie-fo7zu]

I watched the episode about the sport struggling and I do think there is a simple answer to helping the sport and I have only been involved 13 days but the answer is clear to me! Have you got a way I can contact you

[@johnstewart1148]

Which country has the best system in place ? Probably Belgians or possibly Dutch . Why don’t we copy their system, with maybe a few tweaks here and there to suit the uk . It needs modernising for sure . It would help If fanciers actually went to meetings and play a part .. it needs a new system with strict rules . There’s also a lot of corruption. All organisations books should be transparent.

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

I was talking to someone in Belgium that said they have exactly the same issue 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@stefanzimmermann4695]

I like your Videos! Greetings from Germany!

[@owenjason7075]

Good information 🇿🇦👍👍👍

[@chriswilliams1639]

Great video again well done

[@danielwagner6290]

Nice monkey puzzle tree. I am very much a fan of putting the trap, clock plate and landing board as close to the roof as possible or as high as possible and you cut some trees as down. Now your thinking like a racer.

[@StephenGlencross-yg4nt]

You were saying about is there a future in racing pigeons,,,well it is the greatest of all hobbies sports in this world the problems are ,all made by our selves ,,,,to many rules and to many bullies. Good luck with your pigeons .

[@craig7555]

I think this was a bad move by the RPRA and I tell you why the large increase in fees is madness because they will only see the benefits from it for only one year here why partnerships with 2 3 or 4 members are looking for next year to fly under one name in turn losing more money in the long run

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

Definitely this

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

I think taxing partnerships is also counterproductive because having partnerships encourages people into or to remain in the sport that otherwise wouldn't have the time or resources to do so solo.

[@ianmcpherson5297]

Too many fanciers won't go with the times Still harking on about the past Pigeon racing has moved on So should the fanciers Regards Fae scotland

[@AndrewKenmare]

Great topical video Dan, well done mate.

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

Cheers bud

[@matthewwhittleton4519]

I think Pigeon racing should be modernised into this century as I see lots of fanciers still relying on the old fashioned way eg rubber ring not ETS, also letter posting takes ages when online is faster, make it exciting for young people grab the social media and websites.

[@bxgames4070]

I have to say I much prefer using rubbers. It feels more exciting and hands on than ets

[@matthewwhittleton4519]

@@bxgames4070 ok but I think time wasted to chase the pigeon and take rubber off then in the thimble and clocked that’s my opinion

[@mohdaakram5077]

plz dont put loud music in, i cant watch this at late nite

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

Haha turn it down and put subtitles on. Or watch it in the morning 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@justinhall7489]

Thanks

[@danielwagner6290]

For promotions I would focus on just the basics of pigeon keeping first. If you can get people to just have pigeons as a hobby and train them on there own for enjoyment you may get more people involved. Racing is a whole new animal in commitment and expense. The reasons pigeon racing has become less popular is because of expense and club rules governed by the money people in each club. Here in America a lot of clubs want you to pay for all the races you don't have any pigeons in the race. You pay for everything up front. It used to be pay as you go. Clubs are all about money too much that it dominates everything and takes the fun and fellowship feeling all out of it. As a beginner I quit a club because my birds won the race and the club never put a seal on my punch clock type clock everyone used at the time and I never checked it. As a beginner you may not remember all the rules or notice the club didn't do there job sealing your clock in every race. The rules seam to increase every year. I quit another club because a flyer winning a lot in that club someone came in his loft at night and they killed most of his birds and others were stolen which wiped him out for the year for YB racing. Pretty sad how things are getting. When prices go up so much hobbies like pigeons is hard to take on. It used to be a lot easier to afford pigeons now it's too expensive for me. Feed, wood, housing and equipment have gone through the roof from what it once was for affordability. As a beginner or hobbyist your birds are very healthy and as soon as you start racing suddenly you have all these health issues from other peoples birds and as a beginner it came be quit over powering and even devastating to deal with. These are some of the reasons why pigeon racing has gone down.

[@guybennett3563]

Ask about the dickens meggles.What went missing

[@hendry147147]

My opinion on the whole situation. Our fed charge £285 Club £20 The guys that are in a very good spot are having great value for money, with winning and not losing birds etc . The guys (me) who are really on a dog leg have no chance of competing. Who wants to buy pigeons that’s are winning in a club but actually are “cheating “ on the results. My pigeons look bad that have over flown with the drag. I understand it’s the rules, but if you had the breaking point and calculate your distance differently, all of the sudden your pigeons will be looking far better pigeons with a chance of having a respectable race results. We’re paying £305 just to send and not competing. We’re missing out on being able to sell birds. It’s about time we can change all this old fashioned way of racing. The future of the sport need changing . Let’s all compete on Saturday instead of the best spot .

[@mickclarke8749]

Dats da way I was trying to explain wen you were building

[@DavidAppleton-vm1qe]

Another great video dan

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

Thanks

[@lukefenwick3482]

we need more videos

[@Freddie-fo7zu]

Mate what are these clubs all about ? Found my first one ! It reminded me on only fools where del wanted to be a Freemason ! Apparently they vote to see if I’m worthy

[@John-o7q6y]

You soon learn one thing in pigeons and as someone who has done it all from committee to liberator for a number of years, and that is, members just want to sit on their backsides and let others do the work but they want to whinge when things go wrong, did they vote to change for the better no because they may have to attend a meeting.

[@muiravenue7182]

In the Us they do intro racers for beginners with no clock - Bands old school 100 mile club the Sport is no longer a working class Sport it is for the rich retired and senile to grow the sport school boys and girls and their family need to be able to race A bird cheap and have FUN. Simple as that a simple 100k, 100 mile race no clocks minimal expense Maximum Fun - nothing else. Then they can grow into the sport as they see fit. A sprint series of 100 200 and 300k would work for people with fewers birds who are time starved. Look at the increased fuel costs for Tossing let's get real?

[@johnhawkes8093]

next season will be worse all members paying multi memberships "mr &mrs" & son" will change their names to an individual membership to keep their expences down and the rpra will be down all those paying partnerships

[@paulpace2129]

It’s a nice video

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

Cheers

[@Mal.t123]

A live couple of minutes away from the racing duckets good few years back used to be a good batches racers now just a few best part of the sheds now up there are fancy pigeons about 30 flying Gardens and about 6 have the racing pigeons

[@scot7367]

Too much politics in pigeon racing, puts people off. Certainly puts me off.

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

Definitely. But I think ignoring it just kicks the can down the road and has lead to the problem we've got now.

[@guybennett3563]

Ask him about the medals.What went missing

[@Georgeolddrones]

Done a good job there ,don’t think you’re make a artist 😂👍

[@howtotrainyourpigeon]

Too right!

[@justinhall7489]

The politics is the worst part of the sport 😭

[@guybennett3563]

You cannot bring the sport into disrepute. Rpra rolling 😮 It's been going on for years And they will be carry on doing it No matter what you Say people have tried 4 years.

[@chrissalt8927]

Check out how much the rpra are skint Dan.ive just checking out for a job for a financial assistant.,up to 42k, check it out