A PASSION FOR PIGEONS
JOE MURPHY & CAMERON STANSFIELD
CHAT ABOUT THE SPORT
Part 2
CS: Joe, in the first part of this series you alluded to your performance in 1976 from Palamos. I was weaned on the pigeon magazines and recall reading about the Scottish 1000 milers – I can still picture an eye feature in the Pictorial now. There was a real pioneering spirit in Scotland back then. Tell me about the lead up to your attempt from Palamos.
In 1973 we timed 3 birds from Beauvais, a distance of 515 miles on the day winning 99th open Scottish Continental Club with a chequer hen and I also timed a red yearling cock but he failed to make the result by just a few minutes. He put up a great effort for such a young pigeon and was named ‘Trailly’ after a work colleague who came to see the pigeons come home from the race.
Two years later we won 1st club 1st federation 32nd east section 44th open SNFC Avranches 5679 birds with our ‘White Headed Hen’. This was us hooked on long distance racing. We had joined the 1000 Mile Club which was newly formed in Scotland along with another young member of the club at that time, Danny King. We entered ‘Trailly’ who was now 4 years old as our only entry into this race with Danny sending 2 hen birds. We had to take the birds to Perth to be race marked in Scotland before being shipped down to meet the BBC main convoy. I’m not sure how long it took for us to get the red cock back but I think he was about 10 days and he won 13th 1000 Mile Club Palamos 1026 miles and was also 24th section E and 327th open British Barcelona Club 1144 birds. What a start to our long distance career and one we will never forget for a number of reasons. One was I worked in the coal mines at the time and Margaret phoned the pit and asked the controller if he would pass on a message to me underground. (They only did this if it was an emergency i.e. someone had died or been in an accident.) Anyway the lad came on the underground intercom and shouted my name. Well, I thought the worst and when I replied it was Joe Murphy speaking he said, "Your wife says to tell you that ‘Trailly’ is home from Palamos." "You beauty" I shouted and then everyone came on the intercom wondering what was going on. They thought my long lost brother had turned up and when they found out it was one of my pigeons back home, they went mad. And when they also found out it had taken 10 days the remarks came back, ‘It must have walked home’ and ‘I could have walked quicker than that’ and ‘Did it take a boat?’ Anyway I was not bothered, he had made it home and later on at the Doncaster Show of the Year (pre-Blackpool) the 1000 milers had a stand with orders taken for youngsters from them; obviously the winning pigeons cost more. The red cock had his eye photo taken and was put in the 1000 Miler issue of the Pictorial, so another first for me. The red cock was to be paired to Danny’s hens and we were to get a percentage of the money. This is another story. I think they had sold 4 or 6 and we were to get such and such an amount.
The lad not far from where we lived gave up the birds and his wife was selling his loft and on the strength of the money for the 1000 mile youngsters Margaret and I purchased this loft. We even dismantled it and carried it over the gardens and re-built it with the help of a teenager who came about our house. Poor Margaret, she had sore arms, legs and back for weeks afterwards but we had a better loft and were happy until…! Yes you’ve guessed, the deal for the youngsters fell through as the purchaser never came up with the money and I had to work every extra shift I could. We lived on toast and beans for a while till we got back on our feet.
CS: Is there an appetite these days amongst Scottish fanciers to tackle Spanish racepoints?
JM: When I went to Palamos in 1976 the birds were liberated with the BBC with an entry of 1144 birds so the Scottish pigeons had a help up through Spain and France before crossing the channel and finishing the last part of the race on their own. Some fanciers from the Gretna/Annan area wish to go with the BICC or BBC again to Barcelona, which is about 900/1000 miles into Scotland. I know that Dave Pirie of Aberdeen had a pigeon he wanted to try at the extreme distance but there is not a marking station in Scotland and it is too far to travel all the way to the south of England to get a pigeon race marked. I do not think fanciers in the central belt or the majority of lads from the north of Scotland are prepared to have a go at this type of racing. There are not many lofts in Scotland with 5, 6 or 7 year olds in their race team and the way pigeon racing is going on just now it seems impossible to get birds to the 4/5 year old stages in their life. Even this year 2012 the amount of youngsters lost has been horrendous never mind the losses at the longer distance races with the old birds. Yes I would like to see fanciers from Scotland once again competing from the 1000 mile race points but to be honest I do not think it will happen; you may get the odd fancier willing to give it a try but you need the weather and a lot of luck.
I want to test my pigeons against the best hence I have supported the Barcelona Challenge Loft in Hernicourt Court in France who compete in these International races from Barcelona, Perpignan and Narbonne. I think this is the only way we have a chance of competing against the best at this distance. I have the greatest admiration for John McGhee whom I think is a wonderful fancier and of the 4 pigeons I first sent to him in 2008 the hen has been to Barcelona 3 times and Perpignan twice, while the cock flew both this year. I sent 6 babies in 2010 and as 2 year olds the six of them have flown Narbonne 503 miles with 5 of them on the loft result and some have achieved International performances into the bargain. The other thing I like about the McGhee set up is they race their birds in the French federation and when the birds go to the internationals they have to abide by the International rules and there is no chance of any hickory pokey going on. If your bird is good enough and wins you can hold your head high but it is hard to compete against the best birds from every country in these International race with over 24.000 birds competing; but to win a prize is a great achievement of both pigeon and man and I look forward to 2013 and hope to have 8 entries into the Barcelona International race.
To be continued...
