Same old question
What is going to be needed to save this sport? I am fed up of these podcast all giving their thoughts. and to be honest nothing real coming through. same old Same old. Lets get real.You have a forum to help to keep others involved, but really is it being used to help each other? members make a forum alive. And keep the sport going.
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Diamond Dave
- Posts: 1176
- Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2024 7:05 pm
Dev, in my opinion, it is not down to us as individuals to try to save the sport - I, along with several others have tried to do things that might have made some difference but failed - miserably.
You need to put these same questions to our governing body and demand of them to do something about it!
As individuals we have no say, as a group with different ideas/opinions - we still have no say. It is a closed shop and the dinosaurs responsible couldnt give a toss about the future of the sport because they are only interested in what they can get out of it whilst they can still stay in office.
You need to put these same questions to our governing body and demand of them to do something about it!
As individuals we have no say, as a group with different ideas/opinions - we still have no say. It is a closed shop and the dinosaurs responsible couldnt give a toss about the future of the sport because they are only interested in what they can get out of it whilst they can still stay in office.
I follow a live stream each Sunday starts at 8pm been going for about 2 months now.
It's run by 3 fella's but mainly by a fella called Bobby, all 3 of these fella's have been in the sport for many years and have seen many changers over their time in the sport (like many of you people) they have guessed on most weeks as it's done over a team's call.
People watching can write in live and ask questions or put their issues forward.
All your concerns have come up many times over the last few months about club numbers, joining clubs and the fed's together to save on cost of transport to LIB'S ect.......... well worth joining in I think its called THE LOFT LINE well worth joining fellas.
It's run by 3 fella's but mainly by a fella called Bobby, all 3 of these fella's have been in the sport for many years and have seen many changers over their time in the sport (like many of you people) they have guessed on most weeks as it's done over a team's call.
People watching can write in live and ask questions or put their issues forward.
All your concerns have come up many times over the last few months about club numbers, joining clubs and the fed's together to save on cost of transport to LIB'S ect.......... well worth joining in I think its called THE LOFT LINE well worth joining fellas.
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Diamond Dave
- Posts: 1176
- Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2024 7:05 pm
Thanks for that Tony. I will check it out. There is also one called pigeon pathways cic which I hope that given time will supercede the RPRA.
I hope you don't mind if I can correct one item on your post where you say the sport has seen many changes - I'm afraid it hasn't and therein lies the problem. Our governing body has failed us - its failed to change with the times. Its failed to change with technology and its failed to acknowledge and adapt to the change in circumstances that our sport has been going through over the past 15 to 20 years.
I hope you don't mind if I can correct one item on your post where you say the sport has seen many changes - I'm afraid it hasn't and therein lies the problem. Our governing body has failed us - its failed to change with the times. Its failed to change with technology and its failed to acknowledge and adapt to the change in circumstances that our sport has been going through over the past 15 to 20 years.
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Winfort Lofts
- Posts: 228
- Joined: Sun May 01, 2022 10:47 am
- Gender:
I think there's multiple factors that are having an impact on the sport.
We need to break the stigma of it being an old man's sport, the general public still have the idea that its older men, in flat caps with there thermas and their whippet.
That's no longer accurate, theres now young lads with flat caps and a thermas instead.
The other two big stigmas are that pigeons are dirty, diseased animals! For the general public the closest they get to pigeons are seeing them peck about in the gutters by Gregg's with greasy feathers and toes missing!
I'm sure you will all agree that's a far cry from what we have in our lofts back at home!
The other one I mention here is fanciers shooting themselves in the foot, and not challenging the public opinions that any lost or late birds are culled, rather than nursed back to health and given another chance. You see it all the time on local Facebook groups, that fanciers will cull the bird, contact a rehabber instead.
So those are all contributing factors, another big one in my own opinion, is that lifestyles have changed.
More often now younger people are forced to rent homes rather than buy, this means we are restricted as to what we can do at home, whether we can even have lofts or not.
As a household we are often both working 40+ hours a week, just to pay for the house that we don't own, to buy food that we can't afford. To add on top of this the idea of a sport that initially can be expensive to setup, and if not expensive, then significant management costs, it can be rather difficult to sell the idea to people who are completely out the loop to the sport!
So in conclusion,
I think the best way to save the sport, would be to simultaneously raise the average household income, whilst also crashing the housing market!
We need to break the stigma of it being an old man's sport, the general public still have the idea that its older men, in flat caps with there thermas and their whippet.
That's no longer accurate, theres now young lads with flat caps and a thermas instead.
The other two big stigmas are that pigeons are dirty, diseased animals! For the general public the closest they get to pigeons are seeing them peck about in the gutters by Gregg's with greasy feathers and toes missing!
I'm sure you will all agree that's a far cry from what we have in our lofts back at home!
The other one I mention here is fanciers shooting themselves in the foot, and not challenging the public opinions that any lost or late birds are culled, rather than nursed back to health and given another chance. You see it all the time on local Facebook groups, that fanciers will cull the bird, contact a rehabber instead.
So those are all contributing factors, another big one in my own opinion, is that lifestyles have changed.
More often now younger people are forced to rent homes rather than buy, this means we are restricted as to what we can do at home, whether we can even have lofts or not.
As a household we are often both working 40+ hours a week, just to pay for the house that we don't own, to buy food that we can't afford. To add on top of this the idea of a sport that initially can be expensive to setup, and if not expensive, then significant management costs, it can be rather difficult to sell the idea to people who are completely out the loop to the sport!
So in conclusion,
I think the best way to save the sport, would be to simultaneously raise the average household income, whilst also crashing the housing market!
Dave, when I said changers I meant not for the better (never made that clear) to many people packing in, not enough Young people starting up and all the old time people in the high positions not moving on to let others have ago with fresh ideas.Diamond Dave wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 9:12 am Thanks for that Tony. I will check it out. There is also one called pigeon pathways cic which I hope that given time will supercede the RPRA.
I hope you don't mind if I can correct one item on your post where you say the sport has seen many changes - I'm afraid it hasn't and therein lies the problem. Our governing body has failed us - its failed to change with the times. Its failed to change with technology and its failed to acknowledge and adapt to the change in circumstances that our sport has been going through over the past 15 to 20 years.
some great point there.Winfort Lofts wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 9:47 am I think there's multiple factors that are having an impact on the sport.
We need to break the stigma of it being an old man's sport, the general public still have the idea that its older men, in flat caps with there thermas and their whippet.
That's no longer accurate, theres now young lads with flat caps and a thermas instead.
The other two big stigmas are that pigeons are dirty, diseased animals! For the general public the closest they get to pigeons are seeing them peck about in the gutters by Gregg's with greasy feathers and toes missing!
I'm sure you will all agree that's a far cry from what we have in our lofts back at home!
The other one I mention here is fanciers shooting themselves in the foot, and not challenging the public opinions that any lost or late birds are culled, rather than nursed back to health and given another chance. You see it all the time on local Facebook groups, that fanciers will cull the bird, contact a rehabber instead.
So those are all contributing factors, another big one in my own opinion, is that lifestyles have changed.
More often now younger people are forced to rent homes rather than buy, this means we are restricted as to what we can do at home, whether we can even have lofts or not.
As a household we are often both working 40+ hours a week, just to pay for the house that we don't own, to buy food that we can't afford. To add on top of this the idea of a sport that initially can be expensive to setup, and if not expensive, then significant management costs, it can be rather difficult to sell the idea to people who are completely out the loop to the sport!
So in conclusion,
I think the best way to save the sport, would be to simultaneously raise the average household income, whilst also crashing the housing market!
also these new houses that are being built all round the country have stipulations on them that you can't build pigeon lofts on them, so anyone moving in to these either rent or buying can't keep pigeons not even sure if they would be able to keep other types of birds like budgies ect.....
Wow the site as come alive, some great points made there. And i would have to say many points are so true. what we have to remember its not just the Uk. This is were i feel more and more OLR are being joined by members packing in racing from their own gardens. Some may have had enough of how the sport is being run, or maybe it is much cheaper to send a team of 5 to a OLR. Thank you for your replys.
A Time Machine. I can't believe fanciers are still asking the question. The sport has been in decline for 40 years, it's had it's peak. Whilst I admire efforts to attract new members, for every new member the sport gets it's losing 10. Even Rachel from accounts can see the problem.Devo1956 wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 11:52 pm What is going to be needed to save this sport? I am fed up of these podcast all giving their thoughts. and to be honest nothing real coming through. same old Same old. Lets get real.You have a forum to help to keep others involved, but really is it being used to help each other? members make a forum alive. And keep the sport going.
So the question is "Why is nothing getting done about it"king wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 11:35 amA Time Machine. I can't believe fanciers are still asking the question. The sport has been in decline for 40 years, it's had it's peak. Whilst I admire efforts to attract new members, for every new member the sport gets it's losing 10. Even Rachel from accounts can see the problem.Devo1956 wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 11:52 pm What is going to be needed to save this sport? I am fed up of these podcast all giving their thoughts. and to be honest nothing real coming through. same old Same old. Lets get real.You have a forum to help to keep others involved, but really is it being used to help each other? members make a forum alive. And keep the sport going.