UkPigeonRacing

CHARLTON34 wrote: Fri Jul 10, 2026 7:35 pm I just think with the falling membership year on year of the RPRA & being blunt the younger generation aren't interest it will gradually decline further. How you change that scenario I haven't got the answer to that unfortunately I wish I did. Does anyone know like in a Country like China & Romania it's totally different, I know the population is massive in China, I did think that there is a club in the UK that I think buck's the downward trend maybe up near London someone will correct me if I've got that wrong with a high % of Romanian fancier's.

Pigeon racing is booming in the east countrys like you mentioned romania etc are growing alot whilst the sport here is dying at a rapid pace...

So if that's the case what are they doing differently that buck the trend they must have a governing body the same as in the UK & Germany.

I was watching a video, it says there is a 8% decline in membership yearly. So i am not sure if this will carry on, but it is worrying for the sport. Asia the sport is thriving, I feel OLR helps with so many people joining. But time will tell i guess.

CHARLTON34 wrote: Fri Jul 10, 2026 7:42 pm So if that's the case what are they doing differently that buck the trend they must have a governing body the same as in the UK & Germany.

What i can say is maybe they don't have as many restrictions as we got. Plenty of people that i talked to that quit here in germany over the past 3 years are fed up with the regulations and new rules year in and out.
Within 1 week the release point and date etc changes 5x for the next race people are fed up with it just because of that reason 2 people in our combine already quit last year.
Then we dont have a 370+ mile race anymore this is more of a combine problem but you rarely see them accros germany anymore anyways. Up until 3 years ago we had atleast 1 race above 370 miles every year.
This year we haven't reached over 280 miles once...
Championships are another story which probaly inclines people in countrys like belgium and netherlands to race more then we do. Up until this year we didn't even have national ace yearling. There was a handfull of titles you could win on a national level and thats it. I could name you over 20 national titles in belgium and netherlands and thats probaly not even all.

These are all things i heard people complain atleast here in my region and these are also reasons why people have quit here.

Things like the peta etc also make things hard. I just got send a link today that they are trying to stop a race in verl a city in germany on saturday.
They complain about the temperatures and that the birds are beeing seperated from their babies etc

Diamond Dave wrote: Fri Jul 10, 2026 5:57 pm Pass on my best regards to him please Dave.
We had a little 'spat' while he was on but it was over nothing.
I have a lot of respect for him. Everything is meticulously calculated and measured to the "nth" degree and no stone is left unturned. He deserves all the credit he gets.
Love to see him back on here, he was sooooo helpful.

Agree totally

It's an interesting thing, how do you slow the decline of numbers in the sport. As was said in some parts of the world it's growing but in others it's not.
It's going well in Australia, because of migrants. 20 years ago the Fed results were full of Smiths and Wilsons and McTavishes. Now it's like the United Nations.
The people from Asia and the middle east especially love the pigeon racing. I did a rough count up of the birds sent last weekend from the 5 Melbourne Federations, it was about 11250 pigeons. There are probably more up in Sydney. And the season is not fully underway yet, more flyers will come in over the next few weeks.
I suspect that rather than trying to attract young people who aren't interested, we should be looking at people from overseas who very possibly are.

CHARLTON34 wrote: Fri Jul 10, 2026 7:35 pm I just think with the falling membership year on year of the RPRA & being blunt the younger generation aren't interest it will gradually decline further. How you change that scenario I haven't got the answer to that unfortunately I wish I did. Does anyone know like in a Country like China & Romania it's totally different, I know the population is massive in China, I did think that there is a club in the UK that I think buck's the downward trend maybe up near London someone will correct me if I've got that wrong with a high % of Romanian fancier's.

If you check out pigeon racing in China/Taiwan you will be surprised. It's not like pigeon racing over here. Pigeons compete in EVERY race on the program the one that is left is the Winner just 1% actually fly the entire program.

king wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2026 12:18 am

CHARLTON34 wrote: Fri Jul 10, 2026 7:35 pm I just think with the falling membership year on year of the RPRA & being blunt the younger generation aren't interest it will gradually decline further. How you change that scenario I haven't got the answer to that unfortunately I wish I did. Does anyone know like in a Country like China & Romania it's totally different, I know the population is massive in China, I did think that there is a club in the UK that I think buck's the downward trend maybe up near London someone will correct me if I've got that wrong with a high % of Romanian fancier's.

If you check out pigeon racing in China/Taiwan you will be surprised. It's not like pigeon racing over here. Pigeons compete in EVERY race on the program the one that is left is the Winner just 1% actually fly the entire program.

The Taiwanese sea races are shocking. That's all you can say. And of course the animal rights people try to tar us all with the same brush.

Murray wrote: Fri Jul 10, 2026 10:50 pm It's an interesting thing, how do you slow the decline of numbers in the sport. As was said in some parts of the world it's growing but in others it's not.
It's going well in Australia, because of migrants. 20 years ago the Fed results were full of Smiths and Wilsons and McTavishes. Now it's like the United Nations.
The people from Asia and the middle east especially love the pigeon racing. I did a rough count up of the birds sent last weekend from the 5 Melbourne Federations, it was about 11250 pigeons. There are probably more up in Sydney. And the season is not fully underway yet, more flyers will come in over the next few weeks.
I suspect that rather than trying to attract young people who aren't interested, we should be looking at people from overseas who very possibly are.

There are also a lot of Italian and Greek and Maltese flyers in Australia, descended from the big numbers of migrants in the 50's and 60's. Of course they are all great family people, Dad has the pigeons, all the kids are involved and then they get their own loft and it repeats.
Australians of all backgrounds love a bet, and aren't afraid to put their money where their mouth is, so there is a lot of money going around in the pigeon sport which makes it more exciting and keeps bringing people in.
Out of our own little setup we have pigeons in races with nearly half a million dollars in prize money up for grabs this year. It does keep you interested.