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Patrick Brothers win First in the Limburg Province from Perpignan.
The closest thing in the UK to a Province in Belgium is a Section within the National Flying Club. Although the geographic size of the two (Section and Province) may be similar they are not absolutely the same for there are many more birds competing in a Belgian province than in an NFC Section. Take the Perpignan International race as an example and compare it with section ‘L’ in the NFC Tarbes. There were 278 pigeons in the NFC Tarbes section ‘L’ but 1084 birds entered from the North East Limburg province of Belgium from Perpignan. Limburg is on the border of The Netherlands. The reasons why a province gets a greater birdage than a UK section are simple - In Belgium no other similar competing races exist to hive off birds to other organisations on that particular day. You are in the Perpignan International or you do not race ‘Marathon’. There are other differences, some of them the attitude of non fanciers - Steve Patrick and his brother Philip, after their provincial win, had two bottles of Champagne gifted to him, one from a Neighbour who thought a big pigeon win was good for the village and the other from a fellow competing fancier who just thought it a good performance. Here both the neighbours and other fanciers would hardly have heard about it unless they were actually competing. In the UK we tend to live in our own pigeon world uninfluenced and unknowing to the world outside pigeons. Pigeons and pigeon racing in the UK does not have a good BRAND name.
The closest thing in the UK to a Province in Belgium is a Section within the National Flying Club. Although the geographic size of the two (Section and Province) may be similar they are not absolutely the same for there are many more birds competing in a Belgian province than in an NFC Section. Take the Perpignan International race as an example and compare it with section ‘L’ in the NFC Tarbes. There were 278 pigeons in the NFC Tarbes section ‘L’ but 1084 birds entered from the North East Limburg province of Belgium from Perpignan. Limburg is on the border of The Netherlands. The reasons why a province gets a greater birdage than a UK section are simple - In Belgium no other similar competing races exist to hive off birds to other organisations on that particular day. You are in the Perpignan International or you do not race ‘Marathon’. There are other differences, some of them the attitude of non fanciers - Steve Patrick and his brother Philip, after their provincial win, had two bottles of Champagne gifted to him, one from a Neighbour who thought a big pigeon win was good for the village and the other from a fellow competing fancier who just thought it a good performance. Here both the neighbours and other fanciers would hardly have heard about it unless they were actually competing. In the UK we tend to live in our own pigeon world uninfluenced and unknowing to the world outside pigeons. Pigeons and pigeon racing in the UK does not have a good BRAND name.
There were over 18,000 pigeons in the whole Perpignan International - 7,478 in the Belgian National and 1084 birds entered from the Province of Limburg. Winning a province is a huge thing in the Belgian pigeon sport especially when the race is part of a much larger Semi National or International race where several countries compete. For the Patrick brothers to win their first provincial race from Perpignan was huge boost to their international pigeon career. This win puts them firmly on the map of being recognised as top competitors. To emphasise this point the pigeon authorities have got their name right at last -When they first started their published name has varied in results from being Bros Patrick through Bro Patrick not exactly knowing which word was their surname and which was their Christian name, to finally Patrick Gebroeders - the word ‘Gebroeders’ means brothers in Flemish.
This simple switch means they are finally being recognised by their name as the two English (Twee Engels Gebroeders ) brothers who have come to race pigeons in Belgium at International level. This is a kind of complement to British fanciers as a whole for at last we have two men who have been brought up and received their pigeon
This simple switch means they are finally being recognised by their name as the two English (Twee Engels Gebroeders ) brothers who have come to race pigeons in Belgium at International level. This is a kind of complement to British fanciers as a whole for at last we have two men who have been brought up and received their pigeon
education in England, who have already won an English National are now showing signs of doing well at the highest level Nationally and Internationally in Belgium. This means in the Belgian mind there must be quite a few others in the UK of equal potential if only the Engels got their act together and decided to have a go in sizeable numbers. Unfortunately the current British feeling is that we stand no chance of being FIRST so why bother, or alternatively, somewhere in the UK stands someone stands better than we do so lets avoid them. What we in the UK have yet to realise is that the outright winner is not everything provided the competition is BIG. Big is everything in that it often provides a pigeon out on its own racing to a hard and difficult location. This pigeon should be celebrated and not treated as a threat to those already n an easy location. Big races are news worthy in that they widen the competition and gives greater meaning and increased status to everyone involved. We in the UK seem to have so far not recognised the grades of competition from outright International win through National - Provincial down to the Local club and above all we do not seem able to attribute quality at all distances and all locations. We tend to be parochial in our attitude and as a result diminish rather than enhance the status of our races.
In Europe the competitive area is so wide the chance of everyone competing can never be equal. To over come this inequality The International authorities have devised a variable pooling system that grades pooling difficulty so that all good pigeons can win something regardless of area and difficulty on the day. This variable pooling system unites everyone under one banner in BIG competition.
Big International competitions such as the International Barcelona and Perpignan now have ‘BRAND NAME’ status that sell their good pigeons to the wider world and thus Individual fanciers who do well in competitions of this type achieve a kind of ‘glamour status’ because of it even if they are in a difficult location. I am not saying Steve and Philip Patrick are glamour sorts of guys - but if they continue to achieve results like his Perpignan provincial win they soon will be. Steve and his brother could not have done it in the UK - As yet, UK conventional wisdom is not developed enough to recognise good pigeons from difficult areas. We love outright winning too much and negatively hate what looks like failure, far too much.
John Clements
Big International competitions such as the International Barcelona and Perpignan now have ‘BRAND NAME’ status that sell their good pigeons to the wider world and thus Individual fanciers who do well in competitions of this type achieve a kind of ‘glamour status’ because of it even if they are in a difficult location. I am not saying Steve and Philip Patrick are glamour sorts of guys - but if they continue to achieve results like his Perpignan provincial win they soon will be. Steve and his brother could not have done it in the UK - As yet, UK conventional wisdom is not developed enough to recognise good pigeons from difficult areas. We love outright winning too much and negatively hate what looks like failure, far too much.
John Clements
Second pigeon 10th Provincial 5196019.05 CHRETIEN Blue Cheq Cock (named after Chretien Van Oppen who won the smash Barcelona international of 1987). 10th Limburgse Fond Provincial 1.084 pigeons, provisionally 86th CFW Perpignan 2,331 pigeons, 97th Belgian Nat Perpignan 7,478 pigeons, about 200th International Perpignan 18,390 pigeons.
Limburg Provincial result from Perpignan 1084 Pigeons