Are the cost affecting the sport?

[Devo1956]

Yes, there is some racing starting on the 25/05/2025, also 31/05/2025. Be good to see who is doing what.

[Diamond Dave]

Fair play BB. I am not saying my ideas would be fruitful and I agree, no collection of ideas will replace the natural decline that has occurred over the last 20 years but it could be enough to keep the game going for a bit longer than your estimated demise.
You dont need to waste your time looking for anything positive from me as I certainly wont be contributing anything to the RPRA in its current format.
Aaah - you forgot to tell us what "the future of the sport" committee achieved over the 4 or 5 years of its existence.?

Thought not, I have no idea of anything related to th FOS committee as despite your apparent misguided insistence I had nothing to do with it

Misguided or not BB you know as well as I do exactly what the FOS committee achieved - absolutely nothing!
Why?
Could it be because they are all ageing stalwarts
( refrained from using the D word again) who dont want change and are afraid of modernisation and have a similar attitude to your goodself.
With ppl like that in control of the future of our sport,
I have to agree, there is only one direction left to go.

[Andy]

Fair play BB. I am not saying my ideas would be fruitful and I agree, no collection of ideas will replace the natural decline that has occurred over the last 20 years but it could be enough to keep the game going for a bit longer than your estimated demise.
You dont need to waste your time looking for anything positive from me as I certainly wont be contributing anything to the RPRA in its current format.
Aaah - you forgot to tell us what "the future of the sport" committee achieved over the 4 or 5 years of its existence.?

Thought not, I have no idea of anything related to th FOS committee as despite your apparent misguided insistence I had nothing to do with it

Misguided or not BB you know as well as I do exactly what the FOS committee achieved - absolutely nothing!
Why?
Could it be because they are all ageing stalwarts
( refrained from using the D word again) who dont want change and are afraid of modernisation and have a similar attitude to your goodself.
With ppl like that in control of the future of our sport,
I have to agree, there is only one direction left to go.

I do still think that pigeon racing will continue for sometime yet, with or without the RPRA. Unless those anti pigeon people have their way. There are still far too many people involved in the sport for it to completely disappear. It will change but hopefully for the better for those still involved.

[Winfort Lofts]

Thought not, I have no idea of anything related to th FOS committee as despite your apparent misguided insistence I had nothing to do with it

Misguided or not BB you know as well as I do exactly what the FOS committee achieved - absolutely nothing!
Why?
Could it be because they are all ageing stalwarts
( refrained from using the D word again) who dont want change and are afraid of modernisation and have a similar attitude to your goodself.
With ppl like that in control of the future of our sport,
I have to agree, there is only one direction left to go.

I do still think that pigeon racing will continue for sometime yet, with or without the RPRA. Unless those anti pigeon people have their way. There are still far too many people involved in the sport for it to completely disappear. It will change but hopefully for the better for those still involved.

Exactly,

There are already people flying and racing with being part of the union.

It will go to individual clubs/fed organising races independently long before it stops completely!

[Diamond Dave]

Thats my way of thinking too Andy. Having lost the "Royal" approval of the pigeon racing association the next stage will be to lose the RPRA itself (this will come sooner rather than later if they continue in this current format)
I see "governance" coming through " breakaway" regions and/or one or two of the other existing Unions and maybe having the national clubs involved in some form.
We dont need the RPRA anyway and they will soon become a victim of thier own abilities to change with the times but moreover a simple central agency will suffice to oversee ring registration and control and a few other record keeping necessaties.
This post is designed to be controvertial but no animals were harmed in its formulation - Unless of course the author gets culled because of its content. (Only joking lads - just trying to keep a bit of light-heartedness about the thread)

.

[Andy]

Misguided or not BB you know as well as I do exactly what the FOS committee achieved - absolutely nothing!
Why?
Could it be because they are all ageing stalwarts
( refrained from using the D word again) who dont want change and are afraid of modernisation and have a similar attitude to your goodself.
With ppl like that in control of the future of our sport,
I have to agree, there is only one direction left to go.

I do still think that pigeon racing will continue for sometime yet, with or without the RPRA. Unless those anti pigeon people have their way. There are still far too many people involved in the sport for it to completely disappear. It will change but hopefully for the better for those still involved.

Exactly,

There are already people flying and racing with being part of the union.

It will go to individual clubs/fed organising races independently long before it stops completely!

Yes there is already one club down this way racing totally independently of the RPRA.
I assume that since the NWHU has stop being recognised by the RPRA are still going independently.

[Murray]

I'm not in the loop, obviously, but it appears the RPRA has very much lost it's support, indeed it's remit to be the overseeing body.
I'm not even sure such a body is required. The Combines and Feds can organise the sport.

[Devo1956]

What is needed for the sport to carry on, is a new view on the future of the sport. Looking at different parts of the UK, and making flying zones. If you look at the North east combine, they could control there own racing. Then start looking at the North west combine, and so on. It would be far better controlled, bigger races to reduce cost of birdage. Then you could look at each combine area, having a feed supplier in that area helping the community of members with cheaper prices of feed. Rings could be bought by the combines, from China saving more money for the members. I feel racing needs to change, and the way it is being run. If it is run well you may get some big sponsors for each combine. Just my thoughts.

[Winfort Lofts]

Thats my way of thinking too Andy. Having lost the "Royal" approval of the pigeon racing association the next stage will be to lose the RPRA itself (this will come sooner rather than later if they continue in this current format)
I see "governance" coming through " breakaway" regions and/or one or two of the other existing Unions and maybe having the national clubs involved in some form.
We dont need the RPRA anyway and they will soon become a victim of thier own abilities to change with the times but moreover a simple central agency will suffice to oversee ring registration and control and a few other record keeping necessaties.
This post is designed to be controvertial but no animals were harmed in its formulation - Unless of course the author gets culled because of its content. (Only joking lads - just trying to keep a bit of light-heartedness about the thread)

.

What is needed for the sport to carry on, is a new view on the future of the sport. Looking at different parts of the UK, and making flying zones. If you look at the North east combine, they could control there own racing. Then start looking at the North west combine, and so on. It would be far better controlled, bigger races to reduce cost of birdage. Then you could look at each combine area, having a feed supplier in that area helping the community of members with cheaper prices of feed. Rings could be bought by the combines, from China saving more money for the members. I feel racing needs to change, and the way it is being run. If it is run well you may get some big sponsors for each combine. Just my thoughts.

Funnily enough I recently built a website and functional framework to handle online membership, bird transfers and stray reporting.

Dunno if you guys remember the brief survey I did a while back, but the feedback from that gave very few positives from the RPRA, however they did highlight the online transfer process and the stray reporting!

[Devo1956]

Thats my way of thinking too Andy. Having lost the "Royal" approval of the pigeon racing association the next stage will be to lose the RPRA itself (this will come sooner rather than later if they continue in this current format)
I see "governance" coming through " breakaway" regions and/or one or two of the other existing Unions and maybe having the national clubs involved in some form.
We dont need the RPRA anyway and they will soon become a victim of thier own abilities to change with the times but moreover a simple central agency will suffice to oversee ring registration and control and a few other record keeping necessaties.
This post is designed to be controvertial but no animals were harmed in its formulation - Unless of course the author gets culled because of its content. (Only joking lads - just trying to keep a bit of light-heartedness about the thread)

.

What is needed for the sport to carry on, is a new view on the future of the sport. Looking at different parts of the UK, and making flying zones. If you look at the North east combine, they could control there own racing. Then start looking at the North west combine, and so on. It would be far better controlled, bigger races to reduce cost of birdage. Then you could look at each combine area, having a feed supplier in that area helping the community of members with cheaper prices of feed. Rings could be bought by the combines, from China saving more money for the members. I feel racing needs to change, and the way it is being run. If it is run well you may get some big sponsors for each combine. Just my thoughts.

Funnily enough I recently built a website and functional framework to handle online membership, bird transfers and stray reporting.

Dunno if you guys remember the brief survey I did a while back, but the feedback from that gave very few positives from the RPRA, however they did highlight the online transfer process and the stray reporting!

Yes I remember you doing the survey Winsfort, thank you for feedback.