Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
A sport and passion which levels the playing field for all
I FELL in love with pigeon racing as a young boy; I was fascinated by the homing ability of the birds. I obtained my first birds in 1993 and started racing the next year, at the age of 12.
One of my greatest memories is winning my first race, at 13. I beat around 250 top pigeon fanciers – some of whom had been racing for a lot longer than I was alive – to win the district.
My dad was my biggest supporter, both morally and financially, and he bought my first pigeons – which cost R8 each, which was considered a lot back then. Today, one of the pigeons I own is a direct son of one of the first pigeons I bought in 1993 and he’s 22 years old.
We maintained average results for many years until we decided it was costing us too much to maintain for not much more reason than having a hobby. Being competitive, I did a lot of research into pigeons, racing methods, feeding, etc. It took everything that I knew and challenged conventional thinking. This paid off when we won our first major title in 2004.
In 2005, I left Cape Town for Johannesburg and left the pigeons in the care of my dad, who had to learn fast about keeping and racing pigeons. Again, we maintained average success until my return to Cape Town in 2014.
Being directly involved in the dayto-day management of the racing and breeding teams, I had one objective: to be in the best position possible. Supported by my dad and brother, I was able to achieve great success in 2014, finishing second in the General Championship and winning the title of champion pigeon in the Platinum Pigeon League (PPL).
At the time, the PPL consisted of top pigeon fanciers and district champions from across Cape Town. Following our success in 2014, we turned our attention to the Federated Board of Homing Unions (FBHU), with the target of finishing in the top 10 out of 500 members.
Last year, we achieved that – finishing eighth in the FBHU All-Bird Championship over 23 races, despite not competing in long-distance races over 750km. We lead our district championship, having won three of the seven races of the season so far, and we’re in the top 10 of the FBHU All Race Championship.
When we started out we sourced pigeons and advice locally from other fanciers and we learned some hard lessons. Today we own some of the finest progeny of racing pigeons. Through advice on how to cleverly procure top pigeons for a fraction of the price and with direction from champion fancier Basil Gossman, we acquired either direct or grandchildren from the very best racing pigeons from Belgium and the Netherlands. I’ve even managed to procure a cousin of world famous Bolt, who was sold for over R3 million in Belgium.
The one thing I value most about the sport is that there is a level playing field. Competition knows no colour and pigeons have no egos. In pigeon racing, even the man with the fewest resources can beat the millionaires on any given day.
I was taught loyalty, integrity and passion for what you believe in. Success breeds success, so associate yourself with and learn from the best.
● Engelbrecht is a pigeon racing enthusiast with the Federated Board of Homing Unions.