Sporting Disaster Of The Week

It has been described as the worst day in the sport’s history. For many pigeon fanciers around the country, June 19th will be a day they will never forget.

Up to a quarter of a million birds were released that day in around 50 races staged throughout Britain and yet, belying their strong homing instincts, only 10% made it home in the expected time. Thousands are still missing, and some have turned up as far as Holland and Majorca.

Race organisers are far from clear as to what went wrong. Although there was nothing exceptional about the weather conditions, most organisers reporting overcast conditions in the morning and clearer skies in the afternoon, they can only surmise that something occurred which was invisible to the naked eye which messed up with the birds’ internal navigation system and sent them awry.

Three Lions is not a song many pigeon fanciers have been humming in recent days.