Rooted in Poverty
(Internet Published) Oct 2000
The Mecca of Tippler flying sport was Sheffield England. It was created in
Poverty and extremely hard times. Many men took to Tippler contesting
because they could not afford the expenses of the more lucrative sport of
racing pigeons.
The only real expense to train and fly a kit of Tipplers is the time and
many men of Sheffield, even on the bread line had plenty of that and nothing
else. These days of course, men have everything but the time, which is the
essential ingredient of Tippler contesting. It is exceedingly difficult to
understand that in those "breadline" days in Sheffield, some men lived for
their Tipplers and it is remarkable that in extreme poverty men will gamble
and compete. I'm saying that the original Tippler sport was based on
gambling, competition and poverty. Hard times have always made exceedingly
hard men.
Nevertheless, those days are gone and we English have become a race of
softies where the criminals have more rights than the victims. There are
more evil and wicked men in affluence than there ever were in poverty.
We now get to the basics and we come to Barley - The bread and water diet
that will bring Tipplers under control. It is written that any man will work
and do as he is told on bread and water, with the odd lash of the proverbial
whip. Low diet is a form of control. On the pigeon diet list, Barley is the
lowest. In Sheffield, it was the very cheapest of grain and the Sheffield
Tipplers had to fly on that in training, or have their necks dislocated,
regardless of price or pedigree.
A kit of contesting Tipplers is three, by ruling, so why fly more? The
build-up feeds have caused men to argue and fight in the gutters of old
Sheffield. Brothers have fought brothers, yet we "Sheffielders" have become
more civilised now, or so I am told. But now, in Sheffield, the contest
flying Tippler is extinct.