Dubai.

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......Good news about British success is exactly that, Dubai represented a wonderful good news story for Cheryl in particular and I really cannot imagine any national paper turning down a story on that.

To go back to Nicola's original point, the associations didn't even have a story on their own websites, that is nothing short of disgraceful and that certainly needs nothing more than someone who can write reasonably well.
We can't even get our associations to run a story so what hope do we have with the national media?   Honestly, it is a lot harder than you think.  The average editor/reader/ person in the UK know very little about shooting, don't like what they may know and has no interest in knowing any more.

When I was checking a shotgun in at the Emirates desk at Heathrow on the Fri for Dubai, we had a slight wait for the security guys to come and take the gun through security. The polite young chap behind the check in desk asked, "Excuse me, and I hope you don't mind me asking, but how can guns be considered "sporting goods"?

He now knows!  Only 65,000,000 more to go.  Allowing for the CPSAs 20k ish members and BASCs 140,000.

 
We can't even get our associations to run a story so what hope do we have with the national media?   Honestly, it is a lot harder than you think.  The average editor/reader/ person in the UK know very little about shooting, don't like what they may know and has no interest in knowing any more.

When I was checking a shotgun in at the Emirates desk at Heathrow on the Fri for Dubai, we had a slight wait for the security guys to come and take the gun through security. The polite young chap behind the check in desk asked, "Excuse me, and I hope you don't mind me asking, but how can guns be considered "sporting goods"?

He now knows!  Only 65,000,000 more to go.  Allowing for the CPSAs 20k ish members and BASCs 140,000.
Dunc, that anecdote about airport security highlights the problem particularly well.  Shotguns are not seen as a sporting item, they are regarded as a weapon.

We can look at the 65,000,000 and say it's their fault for being ignorant, or we can set out to educate and inform.  I understand that a low profile event in some farmers field somewhere has limited appeal, I really get that.  To try and promote the sport on the back of that is tough, but Dubai was like a gift on a Christmas tree, especially with Cheryl's brilliant win.

"British woman wins in the worlds biggest shooting competition, with a prize fund of $2,000,000 and supported by the crown prince of Dubai." That is bread and butter for any PR person, to get that in the press doesn't get any easier.

I don't suggest that it is an easy gig overall, but if we let opportunities like this sail by then that is a shocking inditement of the appetite for our shooting org's to try and actually make a difference.  Doing absolutely nothing makes it an impossible task to educate the 65,000,000, but every successful campaign started with a first step.

Maybe they are happy to sit back and work out classifications and update records, maybe they are content to simply deal with a pre-conditioned and favourable audience and not try and do anything more because it might be a bit difficult or mean trying something new, but there lies the road to further marginalisation and decline.

Look at the amount of views this topic alone has had on this forum, the appetite of the shooting community to find out what was happening in Dubai and cheer for our own was huge.  It is a manifest failure of the shooting org's to capitalise on that even if it was just limited to an already established audience.

I daresay that it will get a mention in one of the monthly magazines weeks after the event and when any momentum has been lost.

 
Tinker bell said:
(Psst Prize fund was 1,000,000 USD this year. But who knows what it may be next year. This is an experiment....and i for one love the way that it keeps changing...! That holds the interest for me......what will he do next??)
Buggers !!

 
Surely a gun of any type is a weapon. That's why you need a license to own one. Sure it says weapon on it somewhere (but not sure).

But if it is used for sporting purposes so is it not sporting goods.

Why else would anyone own a shotgun if not for sporting purposes.

 
...biggest difference between golf and clay pigeon shooting is that golf is the largest participation sport on the planet and clay pigeon shooting is near the other end of the scale.

 
Excellent post Gavin.

A baseball bat is a bat but also a weapon potentially.

Just saying

 
Excellent post Gavin.

A baseball bat is a bat but also a weapon potentially.

Just saying
My mates wife is a JP, she told me that under certain circumstances all manner of things can be viewed as a weapon! 

 
I didn't mean to derail the thread even more by referencing a shotgun as a weapon, I was trying to illustrate a point that perception of our sporting equipment is probably misplaced in the public conscience.

In Dunc's anecdote he said that the airport staff wondered how a gun could be considered as "sporting goods", to that person a gun obviously was not thought to be sporting equipment, we look at it very differently and rightly so.

The point of highlighting that is that by capitalising on the great news of British success in Dubai then we can positively influence the perception of a wider audience and so break down misguided prejudice, whether that be baggage handlers or anybody else.

 
Excellent post Gavin.
A baseball bat is a bat but also a weapon potentially.
Just saying


 
My mates wife is a JP, she told me that under certain circumstances all manner of things can be viewed as a weapon! 
Absolutely Les, it's the intention behind the ownership that identifies the category of the item.

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James - clay pigeon shooting was the fastest growing individual pursuit in the UK 5 years ago, golf will always dwarf all over individual sports for multiple reasons. The story about Emirates is interesting, when I booked our flights with Virgin I asked about sporting equipment, girl said sporting equipment was carried free and what type of sporting equipment was I taking, competition shotgun I said, she said great, can you please call us 24 hours before you fly and to ensure we are prepared for you at the check in desk. Subtle differences in how you describe what it is you are taking can change how you and your equipment are perceived.

BUT - back on topic, the CPSA are rubbish... oh wait, what was this thread about?

 
I'm pretty sure biggest participation sport in the UK is fishing, the world may be something else but doubt it's golf. 

 
Yes every one go's on a fishing trip when there going for a dirty weekend with the bit on the side, Even in the movies

 
I'm pretty sure biggest participation sport in the UK is fishing, the world may be something else but doubt it's golf.
I'm friends with the guy who owns the largest angling retail and mail order business in Europe, he says if there was 1/2 the anglers in the UK as there is golfers, he'd have to increase his 42 full time staff to 142 to service the same market share!!! His words...

 
I don't play golf but most of my friends do, and there as bad as us shooters thinking the magic club will bring down there handicap, only friends I have that shoot and fish iv met thru the sport

 
I don't want to dispute James info from a reliable source but I am suprised as I have always been lead to believe fishing was the biggest participation sport (I use the word sport loosely)

But one thing for sure a darned sight more golfers than us.

Ps

I don't like golf it's silly.

 
I think fishing is the biggest too, although I suspect golf probably has a higher retail spend. Interesting comment from your mate though James, he must base that on some sort of market info.

Seeing as we are in full on thread drift now I think there are a huge amount of similarities between shooting and golf, most pertinently in that the setup is probably the single biggest important factor and it is very much a mental game.

Oh and well done CPSA for updating the website.

 
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