The sport of pigeon racing is one of the most social sports in the world. Roy Musto was part of the sport for 60 years and speaks to ANGHARAD WILLIAMS about his racing days and winning the pigeon Olympics.

“I HAVE lived here in Crumlin for 83 years, I was only a couple of weeks old when I came here.

We did move a few doors down on the same street in 1939, then my brother was born a week before the war started on August 25.

When myself and my wife Marlene got married when I was 24 my grandmother lived on her own, so we moved back into the house and my wife looked after her.

We had three sons; Graham the oldest who is in the Ministry of Defence (MOD) police, Robert who works in Slough and David. I now have grandchildren and great-grandchildren who I see occasionally.

I was nine-years-old when I started with the pigeons. I have been involved ever since and it’s been my life. I did play a bit of rugby but I wasn’t very good. My brother Garry was a good player, he played against the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks.

I started pigeon racing with Ray Webb from Hafodyrynys for a short time when I was in school and the first meeting I attended was the Welsh region in 1947.

My cousin Viv Phelps had pigeons before the war and he knew I had some so we decided to share them. We put up a loft in 1953 and it was there until 2011 and it was known all over the world because the birds appeared all over the world.

We had bits of success early on, a fair amount for new-starters. We started like most people, we had a bit of success and then gradually got better. We won the odd race here and there but we were getting into it and became more established. By 1954 we won our first Welsh Championship, and I was hooked.

You get really mad on them to be honest, I used to live for them. We had many fabulous hours.

Then we flew in a club week by week with the Llanhilleth club. There were about 20 races a season and we used to compete in most. Sometimes we would do alright, and then we got to do pretty good. Then they started a club in Crumlin and we were then until we finished flying pigeons.

In the normal competition you take your birds to the club from your loft and they will have rubber rings that would be put on their legs and each one has a number. They calculate velocity by dividing distance by time they arrived and the one with the best velocity is the winner.

The furthest flew 591 miles from Lerwick in the Shetlands in 1995 and got first place. You could be waiting all the day and the next day for a pigeon to come home, I have slept at the loft waiting for one.

It’s a thrill when they come back, non-pigeon fanciers wouldn’t appreciate it. Especially on the long races where you know it’s a struggle and perhaps the weather has turned bad, you would be delighted you hear them come back.

You send a pigeon and they weigh just under a pound when they are really fit. I have seen them come home and lose half their weight in one day. You couldn’t do that to a dog horse, and you can’t force them. They have to come home because they love coming home and have something waiting for them.

Every night I would be there playing about with them and you would build a good relationship with them.

To enter the Federation Colombophile Internationale (FCI) Olympiad you have to send in your qualifications. There was different criteria – a sporting class and a standard class. In recent years that has altered. When they had been selected the team manager takes them to the Olympiad. They have to go into quarantine before they go. A vet had to come from Rippon to check the birds and we would have to abide by the rules and conditions.

The first Olympiad we entered was in Dusseldorf in 1973 and we had gold and silver medals. We then entered Budapest in 1975 where we got a gold medal in the sporting class, then Katowice in Poland in 1989 where we got another gold medal in the sporting class and then Verona in 1991 where we also got gold. Then in Utrecht in 1995 we got gold in the standard medal class and had the best British bird.

The birds are judged on their performances in the local clubs, the birds would be on display in the pens and they would compare the birds. In the sporting class would be on performance while the standard class was made of six categories and would be judged on the way they look, feather quality and eyes. No other loft has had birds selected for six Olympiads.

We would find out the result after, sometimes four or five days later because people didn’t have mobile phones like what we have now.

My racing partner was Viv until he died and then his son John Phelps took his place until I gave up racing when my wife got ill with cancer. She died on April 26, 2011.

I was the elected president of the Welsh region Royal pigeon racing association in 1974 and did that until 2000. I represented Wales at council meetings that would be held in Coventry. I am still vice-president of the Welsh region.

I have had been honoured to have judged all the specials, best in show, supreme champion competitions. In 2008 and in 2016 - I had the honour of judging the supreme champion birds at the Blackpool show. It’s the best show in the world.

I was in the pit for 38 years at North Celynen Colliery. I was 17 when I started and was there until the pit finished. It could be hard work, some of it was pretty bad. But if I had my time over I would do exactly the same because the banter was brilliant, my biggest regret is not keeping a diary of things that happened. I tell you what, it would be a bestseller.

My finger was buried in a pit, I lost it due to a falling stone. The last two men that were killed was a chap by the name of Billy Jones and Mike Filer, actually there were five buried.

When I left I couldn’t get a job. We had to go to the labour exchange, they didn’t attempt to get you a job. As it happened I was old enough to retire and as it happened I was having trouble. I have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, then on July 14, 1998, I had a quadruple bypass.

We went to Buckingham Palace in 1988. An invitation came from the Lord Chancellors office for a garden party. The invitation came to the Royal Pigeon Association and myself and my wife - we had a photograph taken outside the gate.

I felt uncomfortable in that suit, but I went for my wife Marlene.

I got invited to places all over the world, but I have never been out of the country. My pigeons have gone further than I have.

In the next 20 years you will be lucky to have any racing pigeons because the hawks are killing birds every time they go out. The main cause of the pigeons being packed in is because of the hawks. In the last 10 years I expect a third of pigeon fanciers have finished, and the hawks have spoilt the racing.

You didn’t like losing one bird, now you get 10 per cent of your birds injured or killed in a year it’s not sustainable. In my eyes there is no bad pigeon. I think I saw the best days of the sport.

I don’t think it will ever get to the stage it was, but if we don’t try do something about it - it will die out."