Time flies (20-12-22)
2022 is almost behind us. We are another year older. Well, "we". Getting older is not something to be taken for granted. In particular, the following greats have passed away in a relatively short time: Jan v d Pasch, Koen Minderhoud, Jan Hermans, Dirk van Dijck, Roger Buvens, Philip Herbots.
2022 is the year that another war broke out in Europe, that poverty also struck our little countries and it became clear to everyone that the climate is really changing. Glaciers and polar ice are disappearing at a rapid pace, rivers are drying up, football has essentially changed from an afterthought.
Ronaldo is said to move to Saudi Arabia. Earn 200,000 € a year there? Come on. This is football. Ten times as much, 2 million then? No, not that either. Not 20 million, but 200 million. Per year !!! It can't get much crazier in this world.
SUMMER
We did have a very enjoyable summer. Not unimportant if you practice a sport that is so intertwined with the weather. Beautiful 'pigeon weather' with clear skies and a calm headwind were the rule rather than the exception. And with that, watching pigeons was a pleasure for many.
After all, the medal had a flip side.
The fanciers with good pigeons in shape scored amazing prize percentages. Natural consequence:
Too many flights with too many results with too many participants that were not on the prize list. Which also has to do with increasing professionalization.
People start keeping more pigeons and if someone scores a high prize percentage with roughly 75 pigeons, it has a much greater impact on the total result than someone who scores 100% prize with 5 pigeons.
BELGIAN BETTER
Yet again there were weekends in which those responsible for releasing had a hard time and where it turned out again that the Dutch and Belgians have a different view of the weather.
Several times it happened that halfway through the morning all Belgian pigeons were released and not a Dutch one. Who made the best decisions? As far as I'm concerned, the Belgians.
Apparently those responsible in the Netherlands do not realize how disappointing it is for the fanciers if the birds were not released when they could have been.
Don't they realize that a few showers won't hurt the pigeons?They are better off holding 'indoor competitions' is sometimes said scornfully.Even in very hot weather, the Belgians seem to have their stuff better organized. They do not immediately cancel everything like the northern neighbors, but leave the speed game untouched. After all, what is the problem if pigeons can be home before 10 am and sometimes even 9 am?Because we may have to learn to live with those hot summers, people could think about basketing later in the evening in very hot weather.
Left Roger Thijs. As for me he was the best in Belgium in 2022.
BARCELONA
Barcelona was again real hard: scorching hot and headwind. It may not have come as a surprise to long distance racers, but many were astounded that the pigeons managed so well with that heat and wind. Even from 1,200 km. Narbonne was a blemish on the long distance season. Not so much because of the difficult process, but because of the commotion.
It is unknown who started it, possibly someone who had played badly and found it necessary to foul their own nest, but the arrows of the media (how they copy each other), were once again aimed at our sport.'Lost 70% of the pigeons', wrote a certain medium and other media were quick to copy that. How can this be reconciled with closing the competition after a day? Several long distance players have reported that they have lost hardly any pigeons.
STOOD OUT
Who stood out his year? Of course then we are talking about long distance.
They are often the same, but not always. Who made a gap in 2022? Really wouldn't know. The unchained Roger Thijs with son and wife Godelieve? They had the 4 first provincial Ace pigeons with the youngsters; unknown. In the long distance, Batenburg v d Merwe was outstanding in the Netherlands and Falco Ebben again showed that it is possible to beat the mob flyers if you have good birds.
Roger Buvens one of the iconic fanciers that passed away in 2022.
Unknown abroad but he is considered by some as one of Belgians best.
MAYBE BETTER
Unfortunately, the abundance of long distance races, according to the majority, did not change anything. Not in the Netherlands and not in Belgium.
That is not smart of the unions now that pigeon sport is becoming so much more expensive. Fewer fanciers, but many Belgians still hold on to two short races every Sunday, often resulting in laughable participation. Some people from Antwerp grumble because the basketing for Middle Distance will take place on Thursday from next year on.
These are mostly fanciers who are against everything. Is that concern justified? I am experienced about this matter.
EXPERIENCED
I live in a border village and for almost a century it was basketing for the Dutch on Thursdays when the race was on Saturdays.
Almost opposite the Dutch club was a Belgian club. Both are now history, but that aside. Now it regularly happened that the Dutch and Belgians flew from the same release station on the same day.
When Belgian fanciers saw that the Dutch had basketted for the same flight 24 hours earlier, they shook their heads pityingly. "What a losers those Dutch with their modern transport."
Many Dutch did not understand it either. "Why not basket those poor animals a day later, like the Belgians, so that they spend 24 hours less in the basket?"
BUT THEN
But almost every time when the Dutch and the Belgians raced from the same station it was the same scenario. The Dutch pigeons flew faster, the competitions lasted shorter, the pigeons arrived fresher.
The Dutch (some of them anyway) had their answer ready:
“The Belgians have bad pigeons if things get any further.” They forgot for a moment that some of them themselves raced with pigeons they had bought in Belgium. And some Belgians played moderately with Dutch pigeons.
EUREKA
But many eyes were opened after seeing pigeons from Middle Distance and Long Distance in Belgium arrived on the same day.
The ‘long distance pigeons’ which had flown about 200 km more and had been basketed a day earlier, arrived considerably fresher than the ‘Middle Distance birds.
Ánd such things happened too often to be a coincidence.
I can't prove anything, but it seemed that the Dutch pigeons did better because they were better equipped.