A Funny old game by Milne Mairs -

[willie reynolds]

I think it was Jimmy Greaves ,in discussion with Ian St John, who called football a funny old game on their programme Saint and Greavsie, and having played a fair bit of football in my time I have to agree with that statement. But for me there can be fewer funny old games than pigeon racing. Imagine sitting down with someone who knew absolutely nothing about the sport and trying to tell them how it works.

So you you race pigeons do you, how does that work. Well I keep pigeons in a loft in my back yard and send them to races most weekends in the summer. Are you in a club. Yes I race in the local club along with 20 or so other fanciers. Where do you race from. We have a number of race points in Ireland, Wales, England an France. France, how can a pigeon find it's way home from France. Nobody really knows for sure with all sorts of theories put forward. So the pigeons are taken to the release point and let off with the first bird home being the winner. No the first pigeon home to it's loft is not always the winner ,the winner is the one with the highest velocity. How do you know their velocity. Each fancier has a measurement from race point to loft down to the last yard, and the velocity is worked out using this measurement and time on the wing. How can the first bird home not be the winner. Well if the first pigeon home is flying to a loft that is say 200 miles from the race point it could be beaten by one timed a few minutes later flying 210 miles. Are they not all fiying the same distance.

No that is not possible as all lofts are situated at different distances from the racepoint. Then how can it be a fair race, surely the bird flying the shortest distance must always have the best chance. You would think that but it dosent always work out that way as often some of the longer flying pigeons win a race. That is like timing a sprinter over 100 metres, and asking someone else to run 120 metres at the same pace. You could say that but unlike a sprinter who can see the winning line at the start of the race pigeons must navigate their way home as well as flying faster than the rest of the convoy. I see what you mean, the bird must use it's brain as well as it's physical power to return to the loft. Yes a very fit well conditioned pigeon may fly faster than another pigeon, but it also has to find as direct a line home as possible, otherwise it may well be beaten by a bird flying a little slower but very directly home. How many birds do you send to each race. Usually a team of about 10 or so to most club races and around half of that to the National races.

Is there a prize for the first team home. No there is no team prizes as everybody dosent send the same number of pigeons to a race. Is there a limit to the number you can send. In the National races the limit is 20, but most clubs will allow you to send as many as you like. How is that fair if you send 10 and the others send more. Some people keep a lot more pigeons than me so they want to get them raced. Surely they would have a better chance of winning the more pigeons they send. Thats the way it is in most clubs but the man who sends 10 or 12 can sometimes beats those who send maybe over 100 pigeons in some clubs. Your joking, how can any club allow someone to send 10 times more pigeons to the race than some of the other members. Thats the way it is although some clubs will limit the number of prizes you can win to 2 or 3 , although that dosent reduce the big team man's chances of taking the first 2 or 3 prizes.

It must be very disheartening for anyone being outnumbered 10 to 1 in a race. You get used to it, but men sending really big teams are not the norm in most clubs. Some of these men must have very big lofts to keep that number of pigeons. Indeed they do, some of them resemble a row of Butlins Chalets. Correct me if I'm wrong, You can take 10 pigeons to your club to race against other fanciers sending possibly more than 100 pigeons, plus the fact they could also be flying less distance than you. No correction needed you are absolutely right, funny old game is'nt it. MILNE MAIRS.