Both from the Romanian pigeon fanciers, and from the pigeon fanciers from Europe, who visit us on different occasions or follow our pigeon fancier route, we have heard many times stating the fact that the Romanian pigeon fancier sport is constantly growing. Obviously, this evolution refers both to the competition itself and to the number of pigeons and pigeon fanciers competing in the Romanian national championship, which also reflects to the statistical data. From the same statistical perspective, we thought of presenting a comparison of the 2020 and 2021 seasons, to see what figures we are really talking about, but also if this growth that is still being talked about really exists.

The National Federation of Pigeon Fanciers in Romania is represented in the territory by a pigeon fancier association for each county, to which is added the Bucharest Pigeon Association. This means a number of 42 pigeon entities, in which about 9000 pigeon fanciers are currently active. As for the number of pigeons, it is over 350,000, as you can see below.

Almost 300,000 pigeons have started in the first stage of 2020

The first season we analysed to see how many pigeons were engaged for the first official stage of each association is the 2020 season. We were not a little surprised when we found that, at national level, almost 300,000 pigeons entered the competition. Specifically, we are talking about 289,500 pigeons. However, it is known that, for some pigeon fancier associations, such as Galați, the first official stage was only the first long distance race, the competitions in the country being considered training. At the same time, in the ranking program of the FNCPR were validated almost 8000 fanciers.

In 2021, these numbered were much improved

The 2021 season is still ongoing and has every chance to be extremely competitive. Firstly, the number of pigeon fanciers has increased considerably compared to the 2020 season. This is about 1000 more pigeon fanciers, a figure that clearly reflects the phenomenon of migration of fanciers from UCP and FRSC to FNCPR. Especially in Oltenia, important groups of pigeon fanciers have registered since this season in the National Federation of Pigeon Fanciers in Romania, the first impact being on the competition, which obviously got stronger. At the same time as the number of pigeon fanciers, the number of pigeons “thrown into battle” also increased significantly. If in 2020 we are talking about 289,500 pigeons, at national level, at the first stage of 2021 no less than 342,175 pigeons were engaged. Therefore, an increase of 52,675 birds compared to last competitive year and, in total, one of the highest figures at European level in terms of pigeon fancier. At the level of associations, one of the most obvious jumps can be seen in Olt, where the number of pigeons for the 2021 season has increased by over 6,000 birds. The same situation is found in Mehedinți, where, at the first stage of the current season, 15,822 pigeons were employed, compared to 7,244 who were embarked at the first competition in 2020, and in Dolj and Gorj, the number of pigeons this season is higher by over 3,000. On the other hand, the most explosive debut stages of this season were organized by Suceava and Prahova, which inaugurated the 2021 season with two competitions in which 24,121 and 22,022 pigeons participated, respectively.

Gold Club, record of rings sold since the beginning of the competition

We are also talking about improvements also for the Gold Club competition, a championship that, with each edition, is becoming more and more popular and appreciated by Romanian pigeon fanciers. Almost every competitive year since the Gold Club was established, it has offered a record number of rings sold. The same happened last season, when 15,731 rings were distributed and, of course, the 2021 season does not discount this trend. However, the increase in the number of Gold rings requested by Romanian pigeon fanciers for this year is more than noticeable. We are talking about a spectacular increase in the number from 2020, so far over 25,000 Gold rings have been distributed, which is the highest figure since the establishment of this special championship.

Therefore, the statement according to which the pigeon competition in Romania is growing is perfectly founded and not just a motto or the expression of a wish. It is gratifying to note that the figures of pigeon fancier sport in our country are important, but the most important thing is that it tends towards a homogenization and increases the desire of Romanian pigeon fanciers to compete in the same championship.