Soccer and pigeons
I guess few of you know about RKC?
That is nothing to be ashamed about.
Those letters stand for a football team in the village of Waalwijk Netherlands.
They play at the highest level, which means that the top teams come to visit.
Feyenoord is one of them. The team came with many fans to attend this memorable day. The question was not IF Feyenoord, the team that had won everything, would beat RKC, but by how much.
In fact it was superfluous to play this match. None of the fans had any doubt about the result.
HANGOVER
But what a letdown. Their club was put on the chopping block. The supporters of this great team went home "with their tails between their legs" as they say in Holland.
For eleven millionaires it was a day of disaster, expected by no one.
I do not begrudge the Feyenoord team but could not help smiling.
The immense Feyenoord home stadium can house 50,000 fans, the little stadium of RKC 6.500 fans maximum.
In the week the RKC players deliver the post or work in the farm of their father, in the weekend they are working on the field. And how hard they work then!
Even the famous team of Ajax could not beat the Robin Hood of Dutch football.
RKC stole soccer from the rich and gave it back to the rightful owners; the common people. My tears of joy are barely dried after the confrontation of the dwarf against the giant.
STILL A SPORT
In Waalwijk, hardly to be found on the map, football is enjoyable though the total yearly budget is the amount that Ronaldo earns in one month only.
But do we want eleven "businesses" on the field?
No, we do not. We want players to go for it.
Sportsmen who do not care about reputations or multimillionaires.
RKC proved that there is hope.
How appropriate is all this in a sport in which 310,000 euros were paid for a pigeon. And lets be honest. 310,000 euros for a bunch of feathers? That madness is as large as the salaries of Messi, Ronaldo, Suarez and associates.
COMMERCE
People complain about the commercialization of pigeon racing. Some even want to quit because it is no longer a sport, is what they claim.
But expensive pigeons or good racing pigeons are two totally different stories.
It is my habit to keep memorable race results.
One of them is the race from Dax, few years back for example.
German Seegmuller won the 1st International with his 40th nominated bird. He had entered 88.
Hermes was second with his 228th nominated bird. His first pigeons were his 228th, 69th, 61st, 37th, 95th, 78th and 159th pick birds!
The results of those fanciers, which were in fact not that good, were put in the spotlight. And you cannot blame them but the press.
It is some "media men" that frustrate so many, including me.
It happened too often that 3 of the 4 birds that I had entered were home, or 3 of my 5 birds while no one of those famous mob fliers had 50% of their birds home.
Would those people also race 100 birds or more if there were no Chinese, I sometimes wonder.
THE PRESS
Numerous fanciers with a tiny income, a tiny garden containing a tiny loft can be compared with RKC. They are not afraid of anyone and are often infinitely better than many so called mega lofts (mob fliers).
Take that race from Dax, mentioned before, for arguments sake.
That Seegmuller, Hermes and Kipp are known throughout the world.
A fancier called Ehm however has no name. He also played that same race from Dax. with THREE pigeons only but still he won 6th and 7th prize.
When only one of his 3 birds were missing world famous Hermes had one bird home from his 230 and the equally famous Kipp had 2 birds out of 74.
Hermes, Kipp and Seegmuller stole the show, in the most literal sense of the word, the unknown Ehm MADE the show.
Normally he should have orgasmic feelings just like the players RKC after their victory. But I doubt if that is a fact.
Many of those little supermen know beforehand that they will be ignored in the media. Especially the so called "sales sites" are doing everything to deceive mainly foreign potential buyers and keep them ignorant.
From those mob fliers they can make money, but from the so-called little man with the super birds or men like Ehm they can make no money.
NAMES
People pay for the name. Whether it is clothing, pigeons or whatever.
Take the frantic and controversial "bak 17" ("box 17").
The propaganda around it is just ridiculous. You can not say it out loud, therefore I whisper it: "How stupid many fanciers are."
And even I am one of the "many".
My middle distance birds are good enough to say the least of it but I wanted long distance birds.
And to get them I went to the famous names where I bought expensive pigeons with impressive pedigrees. They brought me noting.
But I also did things right. I traded birds, got birds for free and guess what?
One gave a young that won two times in the top ten at long distance in Antwerp.
The other was even better.
Believe me. Some media catch more na've fanciers in their nets than the average anglers catches fish.
NO PROBLEM
Quality may be paid, also in the pigeon sport, no doubt about it.
But too many in this sport do not get the credits that they deserve.
In no other sport the discrepancy between prices paid and quality is so enormous.
An expensive car is better than a cheaper one.
An expensive suit better than a cheap one.
But that is a logic that does not count for pigeons! Thanks God!